Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: Bob In PA on June 13, 2024, 12:50:54 PMJolly: Yes, that is the other side of the coin.  Every year, while the Giant rookie reported to be "movin' on up" and a pleasant surprise is fizzing out at training camp (falling to Earth), there is ONE team that actually HAS grabbed a true hidden gem, a player well under the radar on draft day who rockets to stardom. My point is... at least one year in my life I expect that to happen to the Giants... and somehow, although I might continue to refuse to believe it, I am beginning to suspect this might be the year, and that might be the guy.  Last time the Giants even came close to a "home run" in this category, it was also a running back who turned out to be very very good, although IMO not a true home run...  Ahmad Bradshaw.  Bob

Bradshaw was a great 7th round pick. A couple of others that could be mentioned are Mark Bavaro (4th rd), and David Diehl (5th rd), but the real gem was Victor Cruz (UDFA). I guess you just never know. Hopefully, this is the year the Giants beat the odds

Quote from: Bob In PA on June 13, 2024, 09:41:53 AMSquib:

2) Man and woman don't like each other but they are forced to work together or travel together. You know they are going to fall in love by the end of the movie so why bother.

Don't bother ever tuning in to the Hallmark Channel.    Bob

There are some excellent Rom-Coms worth watching IMHO (maybe I'm a bit of a sap because I like them). A great one with a different twist is "Return to Me" (free on Prime). 5-stars. Not your old, "man hates woman who hates him back, then falls in love theme". One of the nice things about the movie is it is the last film in which Carroll O'Connor plays a role (and he's not Archie Bunker this time, LOL)

Quote from: Bob In PA on June 13, 2024, 09:40:47 AMI'm very surprised at the amount of attention and speculation that has surrounded this player ever since draft day. It's unusual, even for media-centric New York. Is it possible we have actually hit the jackpot and got a player who will be a major surprise?  Every year there is a story about a possible hidden gem unearthed by the Giants' scouting department, but there is something that sets this story apart from the usual rot to which we're exposed annually during the "dullest six weeks" of the football year.  Anyone else sense it? Bob

Yeah, I sense it. Your observation is like a slap in the face to startle me into reality. Every team in the league thinks they stole a sleeper late and are shocked no other team noticed a star player sitting there in round 5 or 6 or whatever. The reality is, after the first couple of rounds, it gets dicey. Third rounders sometimes become great, but after that it's about getting guys to go through professional development for a couple year process. Sure, sporadically a surprise happens (Puka Nacua - 5th rd; Brock Purdy - 7th rd; Ivan Pace Jr. - UDFA, etc.) came up huge, but that is not the norm, as statistics and history confirm

I have big, big hopes that Theo Johnson pans out and that he fell through the cracks right into our lap, but I have to temper my enthusiasm because it's a big step from college to the pros, and Penn State didn't really use him as a pass catching TE, so his step is even bigger, learning the routes and other intricacies of NFL play

Tracy might surprise...I sure hope so, anyway. His athletic numbers indicate that the coaches have a lot to work with (as his RAS score shows), and his experience as a WR makes him a dual threat



...but again, "are we getting ahead of ourselves?". I hope not

Quote from: Jclayton92 on June 12, 2024, 12:51:36 PMThe problem or big question for me cutrently is finding a way to keep the specials guys on the roster.

Like how many wrs can we keep with gunner and Boykin being special teams aces. Plus how many Mike's etc and how does that hurt the rest of the depth.

Good question. It would seem to me that if you were vying for one of the last spots on the WR squad, being a ST ace sure doesn't hurt one's chances

As for me, I'm just glad (or so it appears anyway) that Schoen is fed up with poor ST play and is addressing it in a major way. Hopefully it bears fruit

From all I've read, we could very well lose Hartenstein because of our cap...and Minnesota (flush with cap) wants him badly...and unfortunately, money talks. Oklahoma is also suddenly in the bidding. I-Hart no longer flying under the radar. He would love to stay a Knick, but is he willing to forfeit millions to stay a Knick? I don't want to lose him and I think we should do anything and everything to keep him

So...if we lose him, we'll be bundling picks and players to get a big man in the draft 

IMO, these are the untouchables: Brunson, Anunoby, Hart, Hartenstein, Deuce, and Divi. Keep them and do what is necessary to build around them

A picture to put the size of the battleship in perspective. This is the USS Wisconsin, one of the four "Iowa-Class" Battleships (Iowa ["Big Stick"], Missouri ["Mighty Mo"], New Jersey ["Big J" or "Black Dragon"], and Wisconsin ["Big Whiskey"]). It is docked in Nauticus, a nautical museum located on the downtown waterfront in Norfolk, Virginia

Dimensions of Iowa-class battleships: 887.7 feet long (basically, 3 football fields), 109 feet wide, and 60,000 tons with a full load of armament and nearly 2000 sailors/officers

Quote from: LennG on June 12, 2024, 01:59:00 PMI know we have a great thread about D-Day on the main board, but I had copied some shows about D-Day on the DVR and now I am watching some of them. Yesterday I watched a terrific show on the History Channel,  "D-Day, the Unheard Tapes".
https://www.history.com/shows/d-day-the-unheard-tapes

It is a 2-part, 4-hour series. The twist to this is, that after D-Day they had several people record their remembrances about the day and the days afterward and put them on tape. They hired actors who sort of looked like the people who were interviewed, dressed them up in 'older' civies, and had them basically mouth the words that were on the tape, with all the emotion that recalling those memories might bring.
I found these 4 hours to be extremely interesting. I have heard many stories about D-Day from many who survived, but this sort of kink in the telling was remarkably well done and held my interest thru-out. If you are into these things and have the chance to see this show, I would recommend it very highly.

Is it streaming on any of the platforms Lenn? I've not seen t advertised anywhere

Quote from: LennG on June 12, 2024, 01:49:17 PMPhil

Pretty hard to find a movie 'these days' without something being blown up, or any special effects.
That's why I still prefer a good movie from the 30's, 40s, or even the 50's. Once they found out that blowing things up attracts all those kiddies and special effects attract most everyone else, it has become the basis of too many movies.

If I can add, I do not watch all these superhero movies either. I have watched and enjoyed some of the older Batman, Superman and Spiderman movies, but all the Marvel heroes that flood the movies these days, sorry, I haven't seen one.

Add to that, "car chases", the ultimate "filler" piece to today's movies. Gotta have a car chase...duhhh

It's like Jurassic Park, possibly the best book I ever read and the most disappointing movie I ever watched, because they changed it to "chase scenes" to fill out the time slot. The book spent very little time about someone running and hiding from raptors...yet the movie was filled with it...and of course, it was little kids for greater effect 

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 26, 2024, 01:09:06 PMhttps://www.ww2online.org/view/john-jack-moran#early-life-to-tiger-tanks

Just saw this. Thanks for sharing

From my notes on my Uncle Bob, also infantry and landed at Normandy, so Jack Moran's story is probably very similar to my uncle's stories.

First, a pep talk to the soldiers from Gen. Patton (in England before embarking to Omaha Beach)

"The more violence you use in an attack, whether it be men, tanks, or ammunition, the smaller will be your proportionate losses".

"Use roads to march on, fields to fight on. The effect of mines is largely mental. Not more than 10 percent of our casualties come from mines. When encountered they must be passed through or around. There are not enough mines in the world to cover the whole country. It is cheaper to detour than to search."

"In battle, small forces - platoons, companies, and even battalions - can do one of three things: Go forward, halt, or run. If they halt or run, they are an even easier target. Therefore, you MUST go forward"

"Always shoot! Ricochets make nastier sounds and wounds. To halt under fire is folly. To halt under fire and retreat is suicide. Move forward out of fire. Officers set the example"



"I don't want to get any messages saying, 'I am holding my position.'  We are not holding a goddamned thing.  Let the Germans do that.  We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls.  We are going to twist his balls and kick the living s--t out of him all of the time.  Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy.  We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like s--t through a tin horn!"

"We're going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket. War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours"

After landing at Omaha Beach, the first town to liberate was St. Lô, France

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Aerial view of St Lô and its miles and miles of hedgerows. Planted centuries before throughout Normandy, they were used for separating farmers' fields as well as for defense. The Germans had seized them and fortified them, digging troughs alongside them for troop and equipment movement.

A few excerpts from my Uncle Bob's write-up "Although considerable attention has been given to the struggle in Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) by many, if not most historians, it would be a travesty to leave out the traumatic battles that took place in France, starting with St. Lô, called by many the "Battle of the Hedgerows" all the way to violent battles liberating the city of Nancy and Lutrebois.

The 134th was put under the command of General Omar Bradley with the First Army, so there would be extra firepower in the taking of St. Lô - a 10-day brutal battle with considerable loss of life. If there is such thing as "baptism by fire", this is the perfect example. Any soldier who survived St. Lô got the full taste of what was before them. There was no "easing into" combat, it was full throttle, do or die from the beginning of their first battle. After St. Lô, the 134th (or what was left of it) was transferred to the Third Army under the command of Gen. Patton for the duration of the campaign


"Hour after hour, day after day – and now week after week – the grim, tired soldiers fight bloody close-in battles for 100 yards of shell-packed meadow. Each hedgerow conquered is a minor campaign won, each pasture and orchard a bitter epic of valor and death.

Someone once said that wars are won by the souls of men. Some day, when the full story of this phase of the French campaign can be written, some day when the Norman names of St. Lo and Pont Herbert and the forest of Mont Castre are inscribed in gold on the battle streamers and the plaques, due tribute can be paid to the men who struggled and died in the hedgerows and orchards and woods of western France".

                                                                    - Hanson W. Baldwin in The New York Times


Picture taken July 1944 [property of the US Army] showing some American soldiers fighting in the hedgerows of St Lô.

The St. Lô hedgerows were not built by the Germans, but by the French, and had been maintained for centuries as a way to defend the town. They were once a part of the grand designs of French rulers Charlemagne and Napoleon. However, the Germans had modified them to be able to handle transporting mortars and other heavy equipment. Some of the trenches had tracks laid for fast and efficient moving of heavy guns.


Germans had used lanes in the hedgerows where they could move easily to different positions in order to attack or retreat. There were mines strategically placed to protect them. This turned out to be a very difficult obstacle for the 134th to overcome. A great number of soldiers lost their lives looking for the enemy entrenched in these hedgerows.

St. Lô was the first strategic city near the beaches of Normandy and the Germans had turned the town into a highly fortified position to stop Allied forces from advancing through France.

From the end of the St. Lô battle until July 27th, the 35th Division was occupied in cleaning out remaining small groups of resistance and solidifying the area around St. Lô into secure territory.
Refugees were beginning to struggle back into the ruined city in August 1944, and, under the supervision of the Civil Affairs Section commanded by Major Edward I. Condren, and the French Forces of the Interior, the former residents were slowly rehabilitated.


[Picture from Life Magazine]
American soldiers guard German prisoners, forcing them to lie in a roadside ditch near the town of St. Lô during the Allied advance through Normandy.
 
Bob's company in the 134th received "Battle Honors" for their participation in St. Lô and for "extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty".




St. Lô after the Germans had been cleared

St. Lô was the first of many battles that took place as the company moved from town to town. The city of Nancy, France, was particularly brutal. They were also one of the first companies to reach Bastogne, Belgium and liberate what was left of Easy Company

My Uncle Bob


Staff Sergeant Robert N. XXXXXXXXX 1924 - 2006


Uncle Bob is in the first row, second from the left wearing his "tough guy" face, the expression we all knew well throughout the years

Uncle Bob lost all his medals years ago in a house fire. However, the local veterans got notice to authorities and shortly before he died, his medals were restored to him and documented in the local paper


He is buried in the Dallas-Fort Worth Veteran Cemetery - one white stone lined up with thousands of other white stones. He was buried with the bullet he was shot with in Germany, still in his leg




 

Quote from: Dumpster Dan on June 12, 2024, 01:35:12 PMCB---slot or outside??


Dumpster Dan

We have a glut of slots, so I suspect he'll be lining up primarily outside. He might not be Neon Deion, but he's a veteran with 6 years of NFL experience who adds competition. Only 28 yrs old, so coming into his prime. Ran a 4.47 6 years ago. Good guy on the bench to spell starters when injuries start piling up

Yesterday's news: https://gmenhq.com/posts/ny-giants-cant-let-veteran-cb-leave-town-without-signing-new-deal-01j03zjax7wn

I have no idea if this is a good exercise or not, but I'm hoping Special Teams will become "special" this season with a new ST coach and several top-notch ST players brought in

Here's a short clip discussing the Giants' special teams this year...and they don't even mention that we picked up Boykin (no.2 in the NFL for ST tackles) or that we drafted Darius Muasau who was a ST's demon in college and played for Ghobrial. Muasau loves special teams and has oft said that he knew from a long time ago that special teams was his ticket to the NFL, so he has spent all his time focusing to be the best ST's player in college. He loves to hit and loves the physicality of football

There was a story out yesterday from an interview with one of the insiders of the control room. He said that everyone in the room knew the exact moment the sub imploded and even knew its location, thanks to several navy ships triangulating from multiple positions the "bang" noise picked up on sophisticated sonar. He had no idea why everyone was told to say nothing and watch the drama drag out for a couple of days. Everyone in the room knew they were dead the second it happened

Quote from: LennG on June 12, 2024, 11:27:13 AMOne movie storyline that I NEVER watch is where one of the main characters is dying, has some t terminal disease, and then be forced to watch 2 hours of weepiness.

Also, any movie with Adam Sandler, Jim Carey, and a couple of others, I will never watch. I have seen a few and that is why I will never again watch their movies. Sorry, but that's just me.

Yeah...when you know one of the characters you really like is going to die...I omit from my "to watch list"

Not crazy about Sandler movies, but some are okay IMO. I dislike Carey as a person, but he's friggin hilarious in some movies. I still like "Pet Detective" and "The Mask"...oh, and "Dumb and Dumber" is a classic. He is over-the-top as an actor and his personal life is a disastor

I will avoid movies that have main characters who have gotten into politics. If they decide to "speak" for the rest of us (I don't care which side we're on), I'm done with them. Speaking from a mansion...or a yacht...or in some exotic location, while spewing political opinion is a huge turn-off. Multi-millionaires living in opulence we can barely even fathom, do not speak for me and know what it's like to work one's ass off for years to live a moderate lifestyle, in a house that cost less than a million dollars (and may or may not have a garage), or drive around in a standard brand car that's a few years old and isn't a Bentley or a Bugatti. I don't appreciate an actor who most likely didn't go to college or if he or she did, couldn't even recite the quadratic formula, but somehow think they are among the intelligentsia of the human race with deep understanding of national and/or international politics they received from a eureka moment while dining at the Mélisse or the Chi Spacca after their fifth martini

I also avoid all horror movies (unless there's a comical side to them, such as "Tucker and Dale vs. Evil", "Totally Killer", or "The Babysitter")...they're great, as Tony the Tiger would say. Movies where the small girl takes a walk in the woods, stumbles upon an old shack, decides to investigate, something behind a door is making a lot of noise...so she checks it out and opens it...duhhhh. I avoid

Not a huge fan of "slapstick", and humor based on exagerated speech and sarcasm

Truth is, I avoid hundreds of movies for no other reason than I don't know any of the cast...unless someone has pointed it out that it's a good movie

Quote from: Ed Vette on June 11, 2024, 03:44:59 PMDid he learn how to block?

Unless he's gone through a total body transformation, he's not there because he's built for blocking. At 6'5" and a whopping 220 lbs, he's built far more like a tall WR. Plaxico was 6'5 and 232 lbs...so think a "skinny Plaxico"

He's actually a talented receiver, but has been playing out of position (TE) since college. He has good hands, so who knows what he's going to be or what the plan is for him

Does this look like the body of a Blocking TE?

Notice: "A Million Ways to Die in the West" is NOT a kids' movie. It is filled with the "F" word, nudity, less than "normal" sex, vulgar, horrifying deaths, etc. It's a Seth MacFarlane film who always stretches the limits of acceptable subjects...probably because he was determined to match "Blazing Saddles" for raw comedy, hitting all the unacceptable subjects that are not considered "tasteful" by some. Anyway, just a heads-up should you have it on your watch list

Here are some of my favorite scenes from "Blast From the Past" (a five-star comedy if there ever was one). If you're not familiar with the movie, a kid born in a bomb shelter comes out to meet other humans for the first time. His mother (Sissy Spacek) was his teacher and taught him to dance, speak French, and have impeccable manners; hence, people think he's crazy once he enters the real world. He believed when he came out from the bomb shelter, most humans would be mutants from a nuclear war. After his father (Christopher Walkin) has a heart attack, he goes into the real word for the first time as a 30-year-old man with zero social skills for the time. All he has is a suitcase with thousands IBM, Polaroid, stocks bought in the 50's as well as a cigar box of his father's baseball card collection with all the old baseball stars. He tries to sell his baseball cards to get some walk around money; hence, how he meets a girl to help him, but she thinks he's a mental patient and has him committed. And all he wants is to find a girlfriend


Here she is trying to help him get a girlfriend who isn't a "mutant"


Finding out what he's worth after having him committed to a mental asylum

Trailer if interested...probably have to rent it for 3.00 or so on Netflix or Prime, or maybe for free on Roku with ads