and when did you become a fan?
I remember my Dad watching the Giants games in the '60s on his B& W TV. He'd kick my brother and I out of the room if we were too loud or we fought so he could suffer in silence. He took us to a training camp practice once. He had a fraternity brother whose father was a security guard so we got down on the field to meet some players. I didn't become a fanatic myself until the late '70s.
I’m 8 years old and my mom is screaming at my dad that I wasn’t dressed warm enough I think it snowed
Giants beat the cardinals but I remember McArthur Lane running all over the defense
State of Maine (Giants country in those days)
She was raised with a strict German disciplined upbringing. She was a no-nonsense kind of person. My Grandfather did not watch football, but preferred basketball. My Grandmother knew nothing about sports. She was an account payable representative for a fuel heating company. Well, LT's manager was not very good at managing LT's affairs and apparently his account was past due. LT had to personally plead with my grandmother to send fuel to his house as his tank ran out. She refused until his account was paid in full. He paid up and my Grandmother had to send out a delivery and the technician to re-prime his burner. She never knew who LT was. Whenever she would recall the story, she always thought he played basketball. Her standing up to LT cemented my rooting interest.
The other person that emboldened my rooting interest was Chris Selders. His parents were doctors and he was a likeable but fat kid who was a die-hard Giants fan. His mother would throw football parties that were the equivalent of SuperBowl parties for every regular season game. It was an effort on her part to make her son more likeable. Some people came to the football parties just because they were amazing get-ups, but there were a few of us that shared the same rooting interest and were shown preferential treatment.
One of the teams he played for was the Giants. He gave me a black and white player card in 1956. Funny thing it was in his Bears uniform, which was the main team he played for.
I just thought the uniform was so cool. I remember watching the Giants beat the Bears at my grandmothers that year. I had no idea what uniform he was wearing in the picture, put really liked and connected to the Giants uniform, plus they were winning and I became a fan.
The next two season, I became the firmly entrenched fan that I am to this day.
Today when my dad calls when he knows a loss bothers me - I tell him he is to blame for all of this !! (:
Still have residual guilt about rooting for the Jets as a kid.
The Giants will be with me forever. Through a divorce, ups and downs a plenty they are the one constant love of my life. Now and Forever, go blue.
Remember them discussing Parcells who only drafts 6'4" linebackers(their opinion)and my Uncle saying LT is the best player he's ever seen and telling me to watch.
I was hooked.
No choice give, all of my teams. Giants, ND football, UNC basketball, Yankees, Rangers, Knicks. No choice given, those were my teams or I could live at Gramps.
Wouldn't have it any other way. Our 3 kids at home are all Giants fans, including Rylie who is 1, she just doesn't realize it yet.
He's slip a $10 to a ticket taker he knew - the aisle seat next to his was unsold. Did 2 seasons that way.
Then George got sick. Cancer took him.
But I was hooked, for good.
He gave up watching them years ago because he couldn't handle it. He got too freaking agitated. He would have had a heart attack.
Early death by heart attack runs in his family. I guess he figured watching the Giants wasn't worth risking death. We're talking the late 60s early 70s here, so he was right!
The Giants were also closely connected to CBS and also because they were good, the game usually involved the Giants and so I became a fan and have been ever since. Later on, when cable came to us, we were connected to CBS in Watertown, New York and they always showed Giants games.
He had tickets, so I became a fan pretty early, probably 4 or 5. By 7 I was pretty diehard (and this was when football was quite a bit less popular - being a big fan in elementary school was pretty uncommon).
That and my dumb Eagle fan brother cemented me in Giants fandom.
I'm happy to say that my wife and daugther are Giants fans from me.
When Simms was drafted I was still more or less a football novice, but at least the Giants were finally getting a little buzz. It was the drafting of LT that made me a full bore Giants fan though. I loved him from day one and it was really as I was maturing as a football fan. I've been a Giants fan ever since.
In baseball, it was Reggie in 1977 that made me a Yankees fan. My first ever game at Yankee Stadium was that season and it was amazing when he came to the plate. It certainly beat my 2 or 3 games at Shea to see the absolutely dreadful Mets.
But we also got an extra CBS (NFC) and NBC (AFC). Our extra CBS affiliate was from Binghamton, far enough away that home games from NY were not blocked. (In fact there were motels in the area that advertised that they got the Giants home games.)
Our home was in one of the first neighborhoods to be hooked up for cable. There were some of my father's friends who would also be there to watch the home games that were blacked out on CBS from NY City.
And of course this was all in black and white.
He took my mom on their first formal date to Cleveland game in 1958 , the one where Summerall kicked the long FG in the snow.
Grand fathers started this thing...going to games since the Giants started in the 20's
Took me to my first game in 78' still have the program. wrote all scores on the schedule for that year.(I was 7)
We have now added my 8 yr old son to the fraternity.
Flew my dad into St Louis from Colorado so the 3 of us could road trip from St. Louis to Indy to see a preseason game(2014).
Giants came back down 21 points my son has been sucked in ever since.
Poor kid...
Being fans of football in general, my parents watched both teams each week. When I started to pay attention at age 5 or 6, I just decided I liked the Giants more. This was around 1984-85 which, of course, is right when Parcells started to make them a contender. I was devastated when they lost to the Bears in the 85 playoffs. I think shortly thereafter that I broke the news to my family that I was "officially" a fan of Big Blue.
Right before the 1986 season, my mother bet me a dollar that the Jets would have a better season than the Giants. We even wrote it down to make it official. We all know how that turned out. I still have that piece of paper somewhere.