Will I ever learn to trust the success of the New York Giants?
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| Y.A. Tittle |
Well, my New York Giants are in the Super Bowl this weekend. I have been living and dying with the team for more than five decades and, as much as I think they are a good team right now that can win the big game, I'm sceptical. That's the way it is with me and a lot of Giants fans. We haven't expected a lot over these many years and haven't usually been wrong.
I know that if you started watching the Giants in the mid-1980s you might think I'm crazy. After all, the G-Men have been in the NFL championship game four times and won three of them. If they win on Sunday, that'll make them four for five over a 25 year stretch, which is nothing to sneeze at.
But if you started watching the Giants in the early 60s, as I did, you would have had to live through 20 years of some of the worst football ever played anywhere. From 1964 to 1978 that means they had only two winning seasons and made no playoff appearances. Sure, things got better with the arrival of Parcells and Taylor and Simms. Sure, they've been a mostly respectable franchise for a long time now. But I can't get those 20 years out of my mind.
I'll be thrilled if they win on Sunday, but won't expect it. Years of watching players like Joe Pisarcik, Jerry Golsteyn, and Randy Dean lead the team through the lean times has ruined me. And then when they did have a decent QB over that time like Norm Snead, Craig Morton, Fran Tarkenton, or Earl Morrall, they never seemed to be able to do for the Giants what they did elsewhere.
I'm not bitter. I just have really low expectations.
Remember, when I first started watching Giants' football, they just finished a run as a very good franchise with players like Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Roosevelt Brown, and Alex Webster. But that was mostly over by the time I was old enough to pay attention.
To be fair, I vaguely remember when quarterback Y.A. Tittle came to New York in 1961 from San Francisco. He's was already an accomplished QB by then and proceeded to lead the team to three straight Eastern Division titles. To give you an idea of how good Tittle was, in 1963 he set what was then an NFL record by throwing 36 touchdown passes.
But I barely remember Tittle, what I remember is my father talking about how good Tittle was. And then Tittle was gone and the first 20 years of my life as a football fan were spent rooting for a really bad team. Over that time it never occurred to me that the Giants could win anything, that they might be in playoff games or fight for championships. It was just a given that when the regular season was over, the team went home and I watched teams I really didn't care about continue on.
I know that if you started watching the Giants in the mid-1980s you might think I'm crazy. After all, the G-Men have been in the NFL championship game four times and won three of them. If they win on Sunday, that'll make them four for five over a 25 year stretch, which is nothing to sneeze at.
But if you started watching the Giants in the early 60s, as I did, you would have had to live through 20 years of some of the worst football ever played anywhere. From 1964 to 1978 that means they had only two winning seasons and made no playoff appearances. Sure, things got better with the arrival of Parcells and Taylor and Simms. Sure, they've been a mostly respectable franchise for a long time now. But I can't get those 20 years out of my mind.
I'll be thrilled if they win on Sunday, but won't expect it. Years of watching players like Joe Pisarcik, Jerry Golsteyn, and Randy Dean lead the team through the lean times has ruined me. And then when they did have a decent QB over that time like Norm Snead, Craig Morton, Fran Tarkenton, or Earl Morrall, they never seemed to be able to do for the Giants what they did elsewhere.
I'm not bitter. I just have really low expectations.
Remember, when I first started watching Giants' football, they just finished a run as a very good franchise with players like Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, Roosevelt Brown, and Alex Webster. But that was mostly over by the time I was old enough to pay attention.
To be fair, I vaguely remember when quarterback Y.A. Tittle came to New York in 1961 from San Francisco. He's was already an accomplished QB by then and proceeded to lead the team to three straight Eastern Division titles. To give you an idea of how good Tittle was, in 1963 he set what was then an NFL record by throwing 36 touchdown passes.
But I barely remember Tittle, what I remember is my father talking about how good Tittle was. And then Tittle was gone and the first 20 years of my life as a football fan were spent rooting for a really bad team. Over that time it never occurred to me that the Giants could win anything, that they might be in playoff games or fight for championships. It was just a given that when the regular season was over, the team went home and I watched teams I really didn't care about continue on.
It's taken me a long time to get used to having anything at stake in post-season play.
Don't get me wrong. I love my Giants. It's just that I will always see them as loveable losers no matter how good they get. It's burned in my brain that way. I just don't trust their success. Never have. Never will. That's just the way it is with me.
(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)
Don't get me wrong. I love my Giants. It's just that I will always see them as loveable losers no matter how good they get. It's burned in my brain that way. I just don't trust their success. Never have. Never will. That's just the way it is with me.
(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)
posted by Richard K. Barry at
1:15 PM
2 Comments:
And I quite assure you, New England Patriots fans have the same feeling, for much the same reason.
By
Colin Day, at 11:39 PM
Yep, as much as I love the Patriots, nobody beats them at tearing your heart out with a spoon. They have surrendered a touchdown in the last two minutes of their previous five Super Bowls, with at least four of mattering (the fifth was against the Eagles).
By
Colin Day, at 9:58 PM
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