I don't go back to Benny Friedman but I was a young fan of Charlie Connerly and his great tea mates. At the begining of this season, I would have been lucky to name 6 giants- they come, you blink and they are gone and you have to memeorize 30 new names. The season starts- almost starts that is- and 6 straters are hurt. 5 games into the season, half the projected staters are injured.
I do not recall Frank Gifford getting hurt, nor Emlen Tunnell, nor the Rosies, nor Katcavage,nor Webster, nor hardly anyone.
So you rooted hard for the guys and, for the most part, you got to root for the same guys next year, and the next, and ad infinitum.
I still root for the Giants but like they say, it was better in the old days. BTW, if you don't know how the Giants were able to acquire Benny Friedman, read up- funny story.
Lay it one me
Gifford missed an entire YEAR after getting shellacked by Chuck Bednarek,
How do you not recall that? Seriously?
Welcome to the present.
Webster "hobbled by a left knee injury most of the season."
Could your memory be selective? Mine is.
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Katcavage broke a bone in that same game and missed a bunch of time. And I'm not really sure how anyone could suggest Alex Webster was never hurt either. I guess if you have selective memory, the olden days can seem an awful lot better than they really were.
Now GET OFF MY LAWN!!!!
Just kidding...I think you have some valid points, free agency does make it kind of bizarre to be a fan. You root for someone for years and then they leave to go to a division rival and they are the mortal enemy.
Seinfield said it perfectly....we're basically rooting for laundry at this point.
But I still love it. Go Big Blue!
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In 50 yrs. Anyone will remember jennings or next yrs. Running back
Seinfield said it perfectly....we're basically rooting for laundry at this point.
But I still love it. Go Big Blue!
That's what got me disinterested in MLB 20+ years ago.
I wish the NFL could adopt my 80% cap rule for players you drafted or obtained as UDFAs. I want our good players to stay AND get paid.
In 50 yrs. Anyone will remember jennings or next yrs. Running back
Gee, people recall some of the franchise's greatest players 50 years later? What a shocker.
And let's be honest, probably more than 50% (probably way more than 50%) of people who identify as Giants fans don't know who Alex Webster is. The fact that Frank Gifford is memorable 50 years later, as Eli will be 50 years from now, doesn't seem like terribly compelling evidence that things were better in the olden days.
Quote:
Seinfield said it perfectly....we're basically rooting for laundry at this point.
But I still love it. Go Big Blue!
That's what got me disinterested in MLB 20+ years ago.
I wish the NFL could adopt my 80% cap rule for players you drafted or obtained as UDFAs. I want our good players to stay AND get paid.
Other than Joseph, the Giants haven't lost an actually good player in a very long time due to the cap/FA.
MarylandPete : 4:38 pm : link : reply
Ah I see the names gifford and we ebster are recalled-ya think
In 50 yrs. Anyone will remember jennings or next yrs. Running back
these really are turning into ramblings of a senile fuck.
I doubt that ANY GIANT will ever have as much versatility as the GIFF. He hit the scoreboards by passing, running, receiving and kicking.
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I do not recall Frank Gifford getting hurt
Gifford missed an entire YEAR after getting shellacked by Chuck Bednarek,
How do you not recall that? Seriously?
how often were
LT, Simms, Mckonkey, Carson, Pepper Johnson, Banks, Hammer, Stra, barber hurt and not playing or a good portion of this list\, Toomer, burress
When i was a kid i dont remember them being gone a bit, in know LT got hurt toward the end and Simms, but while they were in prime ? i don't recall anyone recall ?
It wasn't fair to the players but it was GREAT to be a fan before FA. Absent a trade (which was relatively rare), the draft was everything and the players you cheered for, you cheered for, for life.
There really is a lot of selective memories here.
LT, Simms, Mckonkey, Carson, Pepper Johnson, Banks, Hammer, Stra, barber hurt and not playing or a good portion of this list\, Toomer, burress
Taylor missed half the season in '82, 4 games in '88, 2 games in '91, and almost half the season in '92.
Simms only started a full 16 games 4 times in his 15-year career.
Carson missed 8 games in '80, 7 games in '82, 6 games in '83, and 4 games '88.
Strahan threw away his rookie career getting injured on a frikkin' celebration and missed large chunks of the 2004 and 2006 seasons with injury.
The list goes on. Football has always been brutal regarding injuries. The fact that people choose to put on nostalgia goggles doesn't change that.
There are a number of things going on here - selective memory, survivorship bias (players are remembered in part because of their longevity).
If anything, advances in treatment have allowed us to see more great players that would never have had careers decades ago - different sport, but Mariano Rivera likely wouldn't have thrown a pitch in the bigs 40 years ago. Not on the same level, but Frank Gore would have been done as a football player his senior year in college.
And player mobility has essentially allowed the players to share in the wealth of the NFL on a more even basis than was the case in the past.
The better players usually remain with the original team though, unless that team never improves and has management issues, which we don't.
I started watching in 1961, started with the championship game in Green Bay, we got killed 37 - 0. Then in 1964 everyone either got old, got traded, or retired, and we stunk for a long time.
One of the best parts of following the Giants back then was listening to the home games, you could not watch them back then. But listening to Marty Glickman and Al DeRogatis was an absolute joy, and something that I will always treasure.
I liked having 8 good linebackers on one team, some were great, that will never happen again. Andy Headen and Byron Hunt would have been very good starters on another team.
But players were underpaid, if you think about it though, when players got paid more the only thing that happened is that we fans paid more so the owners would not lose a nickel.
If you think that is great, so be it. I think it is the way of life. Neither good nor bad. Plus, let's be honest, the owners still rule the league, and can do whatever they want, and usually do.
This is no different than illnesses in general. For example, Drs. are able to diagnose things like Autism, ADHD, brain injuries, etc. that were not easily found or treated previously. Is there a real significant increase in the conditions or mostly improvements in the medical field?
And there aren't many human beings in history who could have done that! He WAS the entire offense for a good portion of his early career. And he didn't sit out for tiny bullshit stuff. He didn't have nagging type injuries. He only sat out when he was truly injured, not because he hurt. He sat out for stuff like the bone in his thumb broke and broke through the skin to the outside of his hand.
Hmmm...go fuck yourself, you senile bastard? Just saying.