Great Article by Mushnick Yesterday

[mickeef2]

This sums up my feelings perfectly.

 

REESE NEEDS TO BE GIANTS' HEAD OF 'CLASS'

January 19, 2007 -- DEAR Jerry Reese: The following advice, while unsolicited, comes from the head and the heart.

 

Forget, for the moment, running backs and linebackers. As the Giants' new GM, the first thing you should bring to the team is a restoration of class.

 

Throughout this past season, I spoke with scores of Giants fans - of all ages - and they shared this sentiment: This was the toughest Giants team to root for - to stomach - since they became fans. Some of these folks have been live-and-die fans since Charlie Conerly played quarterback. Others don't go back far enough to recall Elvis "Toast" Patterson.

 

But they all said there was just too much compromise of the good senses needed to root hard for this team. It seemed more like the University of Miami than the New York Football Giants.

 

Ignore the rationalists, panderers and yahoos who would excuse antisocial behavior by ridiculing the NFL as the No Fun League. Personal fouls, including taunting penalties, are not a byproduct of having fun, but of a sports world gone nuts.

 

Right-headed Giants fans are not so naive to think that a jersey makes its wearers resistant to the primal behavior that has become the NFL standard. They knew the Giants were not immune from the garbage. But that didn't make it easier to suffer.

 

Start with Tom Coughlin's sideline comportment. Insist that he stop with the tantrums. To see the head coach shattering into pieces when something goes wrong is not an image that kindles one's resolve to overcome, rather it presages more - and worse.

 

Then get in every player's ear and tell them - order them - to grow up.

 

Put an end to that jump-shooting mime after tackles, especially sacks. Even if it doesn't inspire a back-at-ya reply - the return "diss" that now regularly prefaces on-field street hassles - it's bush.

 

And stop all the muscle flexing and chest pounding and all the come-with-it taunts and gestures toward the other teams' sidelines and fans. Impress upon your players that they play for the Giants, not for "SportsCenter" or "The Best Damn Sports Show" or the Bloods.

 

And if it sounds corny, tough. How cool are personal fouls? How cool is it to feed a sports culture that's becoming indistinguishable from prison culture?

 

And demand that your wide receivers and tight ends cease demonstrating their displeasure when the ball's not thrown to them or if it's badly thrown toward them. Such petulance was supposed to end before the first day of high school practice did.

 

It struck me that other teams' right-headed fans were for years terribly compromised, forced to cheer for a Randy Moss or a Terrell Owens.

 

Then there are the fresh, weekly absurdities, such as LaDainian Tomlinson, at the end of Sunday's game, angrily reacting to the Pats' classlessness - which was to mock Shawne Merriman's classlessness. Yeah, No Fun League, yet the next thing you know the "fun" sparks a riot.

 

I don't claim to speak for all Giants fans, but I do speak for a bunch of them. And this past season, for the first time, they felt they were rooting for something that was against their better judgment, a team that was beneath their dignity.

 

Can't something be done? Or should Giants fans just get used to it?

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

Its a well thought out and written article...though I must admit I enjoyed all of the 'Ballin' done in the faces of the Broke Backs...it made up for all of those humiliations past. But I loved how Barry Sanders played....score a touchdown and unless its your first (where can get a hi five or two) just give the ball to the ref and walk off the field.

[Herc]

lol dude i read that article yesterday and was totally thinkiing of you the whole time. i was sure that one of those giants fans mushnick spoke to was you

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

lol dude i read that article yesterday and was totally thinkiing of you the whole time. i was sure that one of those giants fans mushnick spoke to was you

Yeah Papa Well would have been 'Ballin' too after the Arrington safety...."we fly high...ballin!". Papa Well....Papa Well you're looking kind of green there....oh God he is on the ground ....call 911. He should have gone out like Nelson Rockefeller with a smile on his face.

[mickeef2]

lol dude i read that article yesterday and was totally thinkiing of you the whole time. i was sure that one of those giants fans mushnick spoke to was you

 

"A team that was beneath their (the fans') dignity."

 

I think this was the line that really hit home. I honestly don't know how much more of this nonsense I can take. It's just not even fun to root for these guys anymore. It's like when Arrington introduces himself on Monday Night Football as "Mr. Nickles, School of Hard Knocks", how can you root for a guy like that to succeed, even if he's on your team?

[Nesta]

Excellent. He nailed my exact sentiment on this season and our players.

[boohyah]

This sums up my feelings perfectly.

 

REESE NEEDS TO BE GIANTS' HEAD OF 'CLASS'

January 19, 2007 -- DEAR Jerry Reese: The following advice, while unsolicited, comes from the head and the heart.

 

Forget, for the moment, running backs and linebackers. As the Giants' new GM, the first thing you should bring to the team is a restoration of class.

 

Throughout this past season, I spoke with scores of Giants fans - of all ages - and they shared this sentiment: This was the toughest Giants team to root for - to stomach - since they became fans. Some of these folks have been live-and-die fans since Charlie Conerly played quarterback. Others don't go back far enough to recall Elvis "Toast" Patterson.

 

But they all said there was just too much compromise of the good senses needed to root hard for this team. It seemed more like the University of Miami than the New York Football Giants.

 

Ignore the rationalists, panderers and yahoos who would excuse antisocial behavior by ridiculing the NFL as the No Fun League. Personal fouls, including taunting penalties, are not a byproduct of having fun, but of a sports world gone nuts.

 

Right-headed Giants fans are not so naive to think that a jersey makes its wearers resistant to the primal behavior that has become the NFL standard. They knew the Giants were not immune from the garbage. But that didn't make it easier to suffer.

 

Start with Tom Coughlin's sideline comportment. Insist that he stop with the tantrums. To see the head coach shattering into pieces when something goes wrong is not an image that kindles one's resolve to overcome, rather it presages more - and worse.

 

Then get in every player's ear and tell them - order them - to grow up.

 

Put an end to that jump-shooting mime after tackles, especially sacks. Even if it doesn't inspire a back-at-ya reply - the return "diss" that now regularly prefaces on-field street hassles - it's bush.

 

And stop all the muscle flexing and chest pounding and all the come-with-it taunts and gestures toward the other teams' sidelines and fans. Impress upon your players that they play for the Giants, not for "SportsCenter" or "The Best Damn Sports Show" or the Bloods.

 

And if it sounds corny, tough. How cool are personal fouls? How cool is it to feed a sports culture that's becoming indistinguishable from prison culture?

 

And demand that your wide receivers and tight ends cease demonstrating their displeasure when the ball's not thrown to them or if it's badly thrown toward them. Such petulance was supposed to end before the first day of high school practice did.

 

It struck me that other teams' right-headed fans were for years terribly compromised, forced to cheer for a Randy Moss or a Terrell Owens.

 

Then there are the fresh, weekly absurdities, such as LaDainian Tomlinson, at the end of Sunday's game, angrily reacting to the Pats' classlessness - which was to mock Shawne Merriman's classlessness. Yeah, No Fun League, yet the next thing you know the "fun" sparks a riot.

 

I don't claim to speak for all Giants fans, but I do speak for a bunch of them. And this past season, for the first time, they felt they were rooting for something that was against their better judgment, a team that was beneath their dignity.

 

Can't something be done? Or should Giants fans just get used to it?

 

 

Wow, can people ever get off the soapbox on this. The team underperformed "NOT" because it may lack class, it lost because of lack of coaching, poor performance by our QB at times, and lest any one forget a truckload of injuries. Arguing with the press and throwing their hands in the air or beefing about coaching or other players, does not lose games. If the Giants were 12-4, class or lack of it wouldn't be an issue. A lot of teams have been successful and won superbowls with some real scumbags on their teams.

 

Next week though, Mushnick can go back to his favorite topic, bashing Vince Mcmahon, another wrestler from the 80's died yesterday.

[Herc]

Wow, can people ever get off the soapbox on this. The team underperformed "NOT" because it may lack class, it lost because of lack of coaching, poor performance by our QB at times, and lest any one forget a truckload of injuries. Arguing with the press and throwing their hands in the air or beefing about coaching or other players, does not lose games. If the Giants were 12-4, class or lack of it wouldn't be an issue. A lot of teams have been successful and won superbowls with some real scumbags on their teams.

 

Next week though, Mushnick can go back to his favorite topic, bashing Vince Mcmahon, another wrestler from the 80's died yesterday.

 

who?

[RandolphScott]

It's like when Arrington introduces himself on Monday Night Football as "Mr. Nickles, School of Hard Knocks", how can you root for a guy like that to succeed, even if he's on your team?

 

 

Or Fred Robbins who can barely speak coherent English.

[Nesta]

Wow, can people ever get off the soapbox on this. The team underperformed "NOT" because it may lack class, it lost because of lack of coaching, poor performance by our QB at times, and lest any one forget a truckload of injuries. Arguing with the press and throwing their hands in the air or beefing about coaching or other players, does not lose games. If the Giants were 12-4, class or lack of it wouldn't be an issue. A lot of teams have been successful and won superbowls with some real scumbags on their teams.

 

Next week though, Mushnick can go back to his favorite topic, bashing Vince Mcmahon, another wrestler from the 80's died yesterday.

 

 

He never said we lost due to a lack of class Boo.

He said we lost and won without class, and we certainly did.

What other teams have done (ahem Ravens) is not the issue. He's talking about our Giants. And I as a Giant fan have always taken pride in the class of the organization. The fact that we don't hire the TO's, or don't feel the need to put scantily clad women on our sidelines, or don't act like highschool gangstas on the turf was/is important to me and why I became a Giants fan.

 

We don't need all the extra animation on the field. Look at Bavaro. You could barely get a smile out of the guy, and you think he didn't get the team fired up when he ran over some poor linebacker?

[feefifoefum]

This sums up my feelings perfectly.

 

REESE NEEDS TO BE GIANTS' HEAD OF 'CLASS'

January 19, 2007 -- DEAR Jerry Reese: The following advice, while unsolicited, comes from the head and the heart.

 

Forget, for the moment, running backs and linebackers. As the Giants' new GM, the first thing you should bring to the team is a restoration of class.

 

Throughout this past season, I spoke with scores of Giants fans - of all ages - and they shared this sentiment: This was the toughest Giants team to root for - to stomach - since they became fans. Some of these folks have been live-and-die fans since Charlie Conerly played quarterback. Others don't go back far enough to recall Elvis "Toast" Patterson.

 

But they all said there was just too much compromise of the good senses needed to root hard for this team. It seemed more like the University of Miami than the New York Football Giants.

 

Ignore the rationalists, panderers and yahoos who would excuse antisocial behavior by ridiculing the NFL as the No Fun League. Personal fouls, including taunting penalties, are not a byproduct of having fun, but of a sports world gone nuts.

 

Right-headed Giants fans are not so naive to think that a jersey makes its wearers resistant to the primal behavior that has become the NFL standard. They knew the Giants were not immune from the garbage. But that didn't make it easier to suffer.

 

Start with Tom Coughlin's sideline comportment. Insist that he stop with the tantrums. To see the head coach shattering into pieces when something goes wrong is not an image that kindles one's resolve to overcome, rather it presages more - and worse.

 

Then get in every player's ear and tell them - order them - to grow up.

 

Put an end to that jump-shooting mime after tackles, especially sacks. Even if it doesn't inspire a back-at-ya reply - the return "diss" that now regularly prefaces on-field street hassles - it's bush.

 

And stop all the muscle flexing and chest pounding and all the come-with-it taunts and gestures toward the other teams' sidelines and fans. Impress upon your players that they play for the Giants, not for "SportsCenter" or "The Best Damn Sports Show" or the Bloods.

 

And if it sounds corny, tough. How cool are personal fouls? How cool is it to feed a sports culture that's becoming indistinguishable from prison culture?

 

And demand that your wide receivers and tight ends cease demonstrating their displeasure when the ball's not thrown to them or if it's badly thrown toward them. Such petulance was supposed to end before the first day of high school practice did.

 

It struck me that other teams' right-headed fans were for years terribly compromised, forced to cheer for a Randy Moss or a Terrell Owens.

 

Then there are the fresh, weekly absurdities, such as LaDainian Tomlinson, at the end of Sunday's game, angrily reacting to the Pats' classlessness - which was to mock Shawne Merriman's classlessness. Yeah, No Fun League, yet the next thing you know the "fun" sparks a riot.

 

I don't claim to speak for all Giants fans, but I do speak for a bunch of them. And this past season, for the first time, they felt they were rooting for something that was against their better judgment, a team that was beneath their dignity.

 

Can't something be done? Or should Giants fans just get used to it?

 

I read this article yesterday and agree 100%. I even thought about posting it.

[gateb]

Good article. Unfortunately, to answer his last question I think we have to get used to it. The team doesn't have the balls to cut Plax, and he is a big reason for our problems. We need a coach that can instill discipline and get players scared to do the shit they do. That's why I'm really liking the idea as BB as our coach even more. But there's no way I can expect that.

[mickeef2]

Wow, can people ever get off the soapbox on this. The team underperformed "NOT" because it may lack class, it lost because of lack of coaching, poor performance by our QB at times, and lest any one forget a truckload of injuries. Arguing with the press and throwing their hands in the air or beefing about coaching or other players, does not lose games. If the Giants were 12-4, class or lack of it wouldn't be an issue. A lot of teams have been successful and won superbowls with some real scumbags on their teams.

 

Next week though, Mushnick can go back to his favorite topic, bashing Vince Mcmahon, another wrestler from the 80's died yesterday.

 

As someone already said, our record this year has nothing to do with his point. However, if I were on a beat-up team with as bad coaching as we had this year, and had as many "bad" losses as we did this year, I'd like to think I'd have the common sense to hold off on the hoopla until the game was over.

 

As for McMahon, I think Mushnick stopped writing about him when nobody remembered who he was anymore. He was a real upstanding character in his prime, though, so Phil really shouldn't have been so hard on him.

[Sephiroth]

I thought the guy hit the nail on the head with the article.

 

 

And at the end of the day, it's the league's fault. They could have ended it all when high-steppin, danicin "Neon Deon" Sanders used to do all his stupid shit all the time, but instead the league thought it injected a lot of "excitement" and "personality" into the game, so now everybody pulls that shit.

 

Ray Lewis having a gay signature dance (when did tackling have anything to do with dances). Shawne Merriman having an equally gay dance... that is mimicked by the Pats as explained in the article. TO celebrating on the Dallas star... or pulling out a Sharpie... or grabbing pom-poms or doing any of the 100 other idiotic things he does. That asshole from the Bengals isn't that far behind him, either.

 

Isn't this thier job? To go out and catch passes, make tackles, and run over linebackers? To put in in perspective... as a schoolteacher... should I do a dance, pound my chest, and point at the teacher across the hall when my students ace a test?

 

Whether these players like it or not, they're role models for millions of people; that's just a reality. And it's a reality that if they don't like, they can return thier 18 million signing bonuses and join the work force like the rest of us here in the real world. When they rub thier victories in the faces of thier opponents, it's bad sportsmanship; now we have a whole generation of kids who don't know what good sportsmanship is. They should stop acting like 6th graders and start acting like adults.

 

I'd like to be able to point at my Giants as an example, as they were for years... but with the Shockeys, Plaxicos, etc. on the team, I can't do that. That's one of the reasons why I wouldn't shed a tear of we traded Plax and Shock in the offseason... even if it's to move up in the draft.

[mickeef2]

Isn't this thier job? To go out and catch passes, make tackles, and run over linebackers? To put in in perspective... as a schoolteacher... should I do a dance, pound my chest, and point at the teacher across the hall when my students ace a test?

 

Actually, if you're going by the standard set by most NFL players, a B- will suffice.

[fringe]

Start with Tom Coughlin's sideline comportment. Insist that he stop with the tantrums. To see the head coach shattering into pieces when something goes wrong is not an image that kindles one's resolve to overcome, rather it presages more - and worse.

i wholeheartedly agree with this. if reese can do this it would be like couglin stopping 'what's his names' fumbling.

[boohyah]

who?

 

 

ironically, it was the guy who wrestled LT at Wrestlemania, Bam Bam Bigelow. Guy was a Giants fan too I believe.

[boohyah]

He never said we lost due to a lack of class Boo.

He said we lost and won without class, and we certainly did.

What other teams have done (ahem Ravens) is not the issue. He's talking about our Giants. And I as a Giant fan have always taken pride in the class of the organization. The fact that we don't hire the TO's, or don't feel the need to put scantily clad women on our sidelines, or don't act like highschool gangstas on the turf was/is important to me and why I became a Giants fan.

 

We don't need all the extra animation on the field. Look at Bavaro. You could barely get a smile out of the guy, and you think he didn't get the team fired up when he ran over some poor linebacker?

 

 

We don't hire TO types, no. But it's not like we don't hire some questionable types. Christian Peter was no saint, in fact he was a real bastard in college. We gave him a chance. Plus don't forget how so many people didn't want Plax as he was said to be trouble.

 

Animation/no animation, doesn't matter. If this team performed to the level expected, they'd still have little class, but the issue wouldn't be as highlighted as it is. That's a simple fact.

[Nesta]

We don't hire TO types, no. But it's not like we don't hire some questionable types. Christian Peter was no saint, in fact he was a real bastard in college. We gave him a chance. Plus don't forget how so many people didn't want Plax as he was said to be trouble.

 

Animation/no animation, doesn't matter. If this team performed to the level expected, they'd still have little class, but the issue wouldn't be as highlighted as it is. That's a simple fact.

 

Again, the article wasn't about the win/loss record Boo.

Losing is not going to keep me from being a Giants fan, but losing without dignity or even winning without, well that's a different story.

[NeMesiS]

Waa, Waa...I hate it when my TE ask for the ball and gets mad when he doesn't get it. I mean, Antonio Gates does it (Watch the Cincinnati game, he did it twice) and Tony Gonzalez (Pretty much all of last year) do it. But because Jeremy Shockey wears a Giants uniform, its not OK. (Oh, Randoff, last time I checked. Neither Tony Gonzalez or Antonio Gates have won a SB yet) I guess when Reggie Wayne does it to Peyton Manning, its ok because he doesn't wear a Giants Uniform.

 

 

I want to give a big ups to the writer of this articles. Thank you for selling more newspapers in the near future. Thank you for making Giants fan believe its still the 1980's and making them completely fotget times have change.

[Nesta]

Waa, Waa...I hate it when my TE ask for the ball and gets mad when he doesn't get it. I mean, Antonio Gates does it (Watch the Cincinnati game, he did it twice) and Tony Gonzalez (Pretty much all of last year) do it. But because Jeremy Shockey wears a Giants uniform, its not OK. (Oh, Randoff, last time I checked. Neither Tony Gonzalez or Antonio Gates have won a SB yet) I guess when Reggie Wayne does it to Peyton Manning, its ok because he doesn't wear a Giants Uniform.

I want to give a big ups to the writer of this articles. Thank you for selling more newspapers in the near future. Thank you for making Giants fan believe its still the 1980's and making them completely fotget times have change.

Yeah and let's not forget times have changed for the worse. Now we have to make a rule about taunting, about endzone celebrations?

Yeah football's so much better now that some assholes endzone dance can cost the whole team a victory. But it's all about the superstars now right?

[TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt]

ironically, it was the guy who wrestled LT at Wrestlemania, Bam Bam Bigelow. Guy was a Giants fan too I believe.

Another victim of steroids right?

[Nas]

Its a well thought out and written article...though I must admit I enjoyed all of the 'Ballin' done in the faces of the Broke Backs...it made up for all of those humiliations past. But I loved how Barry Sanders played....score a touchdown and unless its your first (where can get a hi five or two) just give the ball to the ref and walk off the field.

 

Yeah but we're supposed to rise above that. In this topic alone I like to bring up Sanders vs Sanders. Deon Big Mouth Sanders and Barry The Class Sanders. Both Good players.. Barry is a great one actually. One was a clown and one carried himself with class and dignity.

[boohyah]

Another victim of steroids right?

 

 

It's hard to know, the guy was close to 400 pounds.

 

I used to watch wrestling back in the late 80's early 90's and he was a pretty athletic guy for a big guy.

[boohyah]

Again, the article wasn't about the win/loss record Boo.

Losing is not going to keep me from being a Giants fan, but losing without dignity or even winning without, well that's a different story.

 

Bud, I know what the article says. But what are the Giants supposed to do here. The personalities of the players coming into the league these days are pretty shitty overall, and if the Giants were to ignore the bad personas in the league, they wouldn't be able to field a team.

 

And as a Giant fan, Bud, all of us pretty much glorify LT, while turning our heads at the fact that if he wasn't a football player, he'd probably be a bum. But LT was a demon on the field, and the Giants were successful so it's alright it seems.