Giants players get a visit from the original GOAT

[kartanoman]

Perspective.

The Giants of today are in that "Twenty-something" age range.

I was 21 when the Giants won Super Bowl XXV.

What did I think of the players, even the great ones, even the Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees? Let's start with the obvious ones.

- Frank Gifford: so suave and debonair in the ABC commentary booth from the dawning of Monday Night Football. EVERYBODY loves Frank Gifford, so I thought, except maybe Chuck Bednarik, but even he and Frank were friends, so I liked Frank as well. I watched a few highlights from his past, seen him host ABC's "Wide World of Sports" and he'd always perk up whenever the Giants were on MNF. In later years, during my Giants game video conversion project era, I'd get the opportunity to watch a few with Frank in action. But I really had the opportunity to get to know the man by reading his book, released in 1993, The Whole Ten Yards. I haven't read it since 1995 but remembered being surprised about his upbringing and his journey to USC. The Giants struck gold in signing and keeping him for the long term. Though he had an equally impressive media career afterward, he remains an iconic Giant for the ages. He is still missed to this day.

- Sam Huff: by word of mouth, from my father, and his friends, Sam was their man! I still remember, after the NFL returned from the strike in 1982, the Redskins came to Giants Stadium and whipped our boys like it was nobody's business. My father took me to that 4 PM game, which I remembered it all, but it was during the halftime when Sam Huff was honored by the Giants for his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame that year. I thought that was really awesome to see a Giant player make it to the top of the hill while the team was still on the outer fringes of "The Wilderness Years" and would be for another season and a half. I wanted to learn more about Sam so I bought his 1988 book, Tough Stuff. I didn't know he came from West Virginia and that he almost quit and left the team. That it took, of all people, Vince Lombardi, to talk him into staying and, moving forward to that late afternoon in 1982, he proudly addressed the audience and thanked them for their loyal support of him and the Giants defense. As a 13-year-old kid, I could begin to appreciate Giants' history, but not to the extent I do today where I hold Sam as one of the pillars of the legendary "Giants defense" for the ages.

- Peter Gogolak: I knew nothing about him until, one day, at my local library book fair, where they were selling off old books, I came across the autobiography of Giants' kicker, Peter Gogolak, the 1973 release Nothing to Kick About. A book about a former Giants' placekicker? Sign me up! If you take a close look at the photo under my screen name, that's me, wearing the Simms jersey, with a custom-painted helmet which was a throw-away from the high school football team's surplus gear, with my friend with the Dolphins jersey, holding for me. This is circa 1985-86 and around the time I picked up Gogolak's book. I was so enamored with the man and his story that I remained laser focused reading every word carefully. It was as if I was the one trying to escape Communism in Eastern Europe (NOTE: in reality, my ancestors did, though it was from Poland). To make it out of Hungary, and find their way to Ogdensburg, NY, to live life free with liberty was something Pete stressed was the one thing he and his family was most grateful for. When he was called up for Army Duty in 1967, he was grateful for the opportunity to serve his country for all it has given him and his family. Other than highlights, and a few moments of interviews, I really have not seen much of Pete otherwise. He became a successful businessman in Connecticut and is now retired. But after reading his autobiography, I almost feel a sense of a connection with him and greatly admire the man for showing us a superlative example of living the Amercian Dream with class, dignity and respect.

I would not have been able to articulate this 40 years ago. Living, learning, experiencing, contemplating and reflecting have sharpened my ability to communicate what is both on my mind and in my heart.

I am hopeful the Giants of today will take the message from Lawrence, hold it closely against their heart and soul, and dare to dream their most passionate and precious of dreams as they take the reins once held by the great LT who helped lead this organization to the promised land.

Peace!

[MightyGiants]

Rich: The guys who really love playing football knew almost every name he mentioned, IMO, but there IS an element of how much the game has changed since he played.

I can see a lot of them watching his film and saying something like "hey, any real good NFL linebacker does that stuff these days." In other words, they might mistakenly take it out-of-context and miss the point... he did it when NO ONE else was doing it. He was "the original."

It's the same with movies. You might see (for example) high praise in the industry for Charlie Chaplin and think "same old, same old" while forgetting that all the "moves" you see were ORIGINATED (and essentially "invented") by Chaplin, then copied by all the guys who lived during your lifetime. It's a thing you have to be old to appreciate (so many of us here can relate).

Bob

Bob,

I am also mindful that we "lived" LT.  We watched him week after week.  We saw him win games for the team.  We knew how unusual LT was at the time.  We appreciate that offenses had to change they way the blocked, because of him.

Highlight videos simply can't capture all of that.

To your movie analogy.  I witnessed a generation gap in my 30+ years on the squad.  I would bring in movies that were considered classics to my generation and played them for the younger generation.  Those movies simply didn't have the impact that they had on me and my generation.  As you said, some of that is due to the originality factor.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Talk about movie analogies and generation gap. One of my granddaughters wanted to know more about tornadoes (as it was on the news on the radio and we were traveling to her game). I said, "they're just like in Wizard of Oz" to which I got blank stare. I said, "tell me you've never watched the Wizard of Oz". She said, "I've never even heard of it". So I said, "wow, you need to watch the classics", so I said, what about "Back to the Future", to a reply of "nope"..."Ferris Bueller's Day Off"..."nope"..."Crocodile Dundee? Jurassic Park"..."nope, nope". What I discovered was that I am old

[LennG]

Talk about movie analogies and generation gap. One of my granddaughters wanted to know more about tornadoes (as it was on the news on the radio and we were traveling to her game). I said, "they're just like in Wizard of Oz" to which I got blank stare. I said, "tell me you've never watched the Wizard of Oz". She said, "I've never even heard of it". So I said, "wow, you need to watch the classics", so I said, what about "Back to the Future", to a reply of "nope"..."Ferris Bueller's Day Off"..."nope"..."Crocodile Dundee? Jurassic Park"..."nope, nope". What I discovered was that I am old

Boy is this thread getting hijacked.
I can relate to what Ric just said as my grandchildren had heard of but never seen some of these classic films. Wizard of Oz--too scary, but we watched it together and they loved it. The joy of presenting some of these classics like ET to these newer watchers and the joy of seeing how they love them now is just a wonderful feeling.

[4 Aces]

The guy I hope takes the most from it is Carter.

This is the biggest ballyhooed defensive player the Giants have had since LT.

If he's a Hall of Fame type talent, pairing that with Dexter Lawrence makes Brian Burns a scary #3. That's the best defensive line in football.

Even Bowen can't screw that up.

[AZGiantFan]

Talk about movie analogies and generation gap. One of my granddaughters wanted to know more about tornadoes (as it was on the news on the radio and we were traveling to her game). I said, "they're just like in Wizard of Oz" to which I got blank stare. I said, "tell me you've never watched the Wizard of Oz". She said, "I've never even heard of it". So I said, "wow, you need to watch the classics", so I said, what about "Back to the Future", to a reply of "nope"..."Ferris Bueller's Day Off"..."nope"..."Crocodile Dundee? Jurassic Park"..."nope, nope". What I discovered was that I am old

I showed the Wizard of Oz, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Sound of Music, and It Takes Two to my 5 year old granddaughter and she loved them all.

[Painter]

It does seem that Abdul Carter knows who Lawrence Taylor is and quite obviously who No.56 was. And for reasons no less compelling than knowing who had previously worn the now retired No.11.

Cheers!

[jimc]

It does seem that Abdul Carter knows who Lawrence Taylor is and quite obviously who No.56 was. And for reasons no less compelling than knowing who had previous worn the now retired No.11.

Cheers!

I feel certain he knows who 56 is.  I will bet that they have already visited the museum in Met Life.