First Giants memory

I was younger than you and cried over the loss.

.

All of 8, old man snuck me into a bar-foreshadowing-to see the Jets beat us. Then of course the 49ers laid down like dogs to the Rams on MNF to officially eliminate us. Ugh.

etched in my memory the overtime loss to the Baltimore Colts in the championship game in 1958. It was heartbreaking.

And have been in love ever since.

after years of the Yale Bowl, etc.

But I recall my dad railing against Morton and Tarkenton in their respective times.

Must have been why I was mouthing off about Simms later on.

Since 1986 I've pretty much been a church mouse.

is from a Yankees game. Seriously. I think it was the second baseball game I had ever been to. They flashed on the scoreboard that Allie Sherman had been fired as coach of the Giants. The crowd went nuts and started singing "Goodbye Allie, we hate to see you go". It was my first experience of sports fan reveling in their hatred of an athlete/coach. I thought it was great. Now I think it was a bit too much and not a good experience for an 8 year old.

but Brad Daluiso missed a field goal at the final gun to lose to the Seahawks at the kingdome. I only truly remember it because the game got cut short on TV and we tuned in to listen to the end on the radio.

home, freezing cold, from crabbing on the Navesink River with my Dad, and both of us joining my Grandfather to watch the Giants lose on a black & white tv. I remember my them always complaining about the losses. It was late 60's to early 70's. I remember the Giants were the 'black team' on a black & white set.

In comment 14480297 emcca005 said:

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but Brad Daluiso missed a field goal at the final gun to lose to the Seahawks at the kingdome. I only truly remember it because the game got cut short on TV and we tuned in to listen to the end on the radio.

Pretty sure that was the game where Dan Reeves kept going for two because he was religiously following the stupid chart widely used at the time. I think the league office made it up. No analytics involved just genius stuff like if you were down by 5 go for 2 to make it a 3 point game regardless of how much time left.I was going bananas watching Reeves throw away points that day.

But my oldest Giants memory is The Fumble

...but that didn't happen until half the season was already complete.

So my official 1st season was 1980. Down here in South Jersey, the Cardinals/Giants game was on TV and Phil Simms threw 5 TD passes in a opening day win.

I thought here comes a great season with a great young QB....then we lost something like 7 straight and ended up 4-12!!!!!

Sitting in my fathers station wagon with him and listening to Marty Glickman as my father would lose his mind on anything that went against the Giants. Every game was life and death . The program is still running.

LT had a ridiculous game, Giants won, getting them a wildcard spot, first time in I don’t know how long, and my dad was going bonkers.

My dad took me to my first game to see the Giants play the Jets at the Yale bowl. Highlights? My dad dragging me by my hand over a stump and falling on a piece of glass. Took me to the first aid tent, and when the medic asked if I want to go to the hospital for stiches or get a bandage and have a scar...I looked at my dad and could see his "you better pick the later so we can go to the game" face, so I gulped whipped my 8 year old tears away and toughed out the game. Well the first half anyway. At the start of the second half there were so many fights that my dad took my brother and I home. Needless to say, the Giants lost the first game I ever saw. My dad died a couple of summers ago and on his death bed he and I laughed about that story.

My dad took me to my first game to see the Giants play the Jets at the Yale bowl. Highlights? My dad dragging me by my hand over a stump and falling on a piece of glass. Took me to the first aid tent, and when the medic asked if I want to go to the hospital for stiches or get a bandage and have a scar...I looked at my dad and could see his "you better pick the later so we can go to the game" face, so I gulped whipped my 8 year old tears away and toughed out the game. Well the first half anyway. At the start of the second half there were so many fights that my dad took my brother and I home. Needless to say, the Giants lost the first game I ever saw. My dad died a couple of summers ago and on his death bed he and I laughed about that story.

I’m not sure what year.

versus Walter Payton and Bears in December

I got put to bed with the Giants up 7-0 after Flynn recovered a blocked punt in the end zone. Outscored 34-12 the rest of the night.

Week 2 was home against the Cowboys. I was watching at a family gathering at my aunt's. Allegre missed a game-winner at the end.

Week 3 was against the Dolphins, but was canceled by the strike (replacement player games started in Week 4). CBS showed a replay of Super Bowl XXI. I taped it on VHS and rewatched the shit out of that game.

There was so much hype about our first round draft pick, John Hicks, OG! He didn't live up to the hype!

In comment 14480277 PatersonPlank said:

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after years of the Yale Bowl, etc.

I was there too. Still have the program and ticket stub
I believe Jimmy Robinson WR caught a TD pass

In comment 14480367 Jimmy Googs said:

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versus Walter Payton and Bears in December

This was my first Giants game! Really more of an ice storm! I remember it was so freakin' cold. I remember Larry Csonka slipped behind the line of scrimmage, and slid for about 10 yards in the slush.

My mom made me my favorite - chocolate cake. Sat down to watch football; it was the Giants vs. the Baltimore Colts ...

Didn't know much about pro football. When the Giants lost, I had a sick feeling, I didn't understand why.

other than the fact that Norm Snead was QB (we got him from the Eagles I believe).


Does anybody else remember the Gerber baby food commercials with Pat Summeral, Frank Gifford, and it must have been Fran Tarkenton?

It was kind of corny - I believe they were designing plays with the jars of food as players

My Dad took me to Yankee Stadium to see the Dolphins defeat the Giants 23-13. The Dolphins were on their way to an undefeated season.

is my earliest specific memory. NYG were competitive in the regular season. Went to Soldier field to play the Bears. Temp at game time was something like 4 degrees. Landeta whiffs a punt and the Bears score a td. They got their ass beat that day, but I was hooked on NYG football.

Went to Giants game in the Polo Grounds.
With student General Organization card got to sit in a
.55 cent seat for 25 cents. Nickel on the subway and a nickel to get back home, total cost 35 cents.
Brownbagged it.
1937 season.

Fran Tarkenton was acquired shortly thereafter and they got somewhat better.

Spider Lockhart, Bobby Duhon, Tucker Frederickson...

Fran Tarkenton was acquired shortly thereafter and they got somewhat better.

Spider Lockhart, Bobby Duhon, Tucker Frederickson...

And Spider Lockhart intercepting passes.

Fistfight in the rows in front of me. I was 8-9 years old and never saw grown men fighting before

vague memory of watching that with my bro. i was 6

I don’t know how I have this memory. I was 10. The game was blacked out in the New York metro area. But I do remember seeing it. It would have been from the Hartford, CT station. I also hold fond memories of watching Giant games with a favorite uncle which I have tried to pass on to do with my grandsons even if it is to watch Packer games (I live in Wisconsin).

Sitting on my Dad's lap, on the couch in my Grandfather's living room. I still remember hating Bart Starr, Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor.

We needed a win to force a tie for first. First game I ever saw played in snow. Pat Summeral kicked a 49 yard field goal to win. I had turned 8 two months before. Shell would later give away these posters (drawings really) and my favorite was Pat Summerall kicking.

I was a couple of years older. I was at a youth group retreat somewhere in the middle of nowhere in central Jersey.

I was listening surreptitiously (on my transistor radio!!). Actually what I mostly remember is how freeking cold it was (lot of outdoor activities).

During Xmas holidays listened to the game on radio with my Dad and uncles. I was 9 years old. I remember how difficult the loss was for my Dad and uncles.

intercepting Sonny Jurgensen in the game the Giants lost 72-41 in 1966. I was 7 years old and cried because they got beat so bad. What a terrible team, they gave up a lot of points that year and only won 1 game.

Roughly the midpoint of the “lousy football” era. The 1970 season offered a glimmer of hope that lasted about two weeks. I didn’t see the game, but I snuck a little transistor radio into the dressing room of the auditorium where I was playing a shepherd in the Christmas pageant. That was the first and only time I ever missed an entrance.

Never seen my father so disappointed.

game played at Princeton. I remember Harold Carmichael towering over everyone else as the players walked by.

My brother and I were helping my dad with stacking firewood, which was pretty normal that time of year. My Dad would always have the Giants game on the radio if it was Sunday. I was 7 and not a football fan at all then. The Yankees were all I cared about.

Anyways, when the game reached it's infamous conclusion, my Dad smashed his radio and said something along the lines of "These guys will never be good!" There may have been an expletive in there somewhere, I was too traumatized by such a mild mannered man doing that in the first place to remember exactly.

That incident picqued my interest in football enough that I remember Simms getting drafted the next year.

Sam Garnes being a crushing force in the secondary is one. Tiki being smooth out of the backfield was another.

But, if I had to say a first Giants memory (a specific moment), it's Ron Dixon's kickoff return for a TD in the 2000 bowl. I appreciate my Giants fandom probably most of all the teams I follow, since they lost a lot when I was a kid. (Born in 91 so I missed the first two bowls.) So yeah, losing the super bowl is a character building first memory, I think, which fits my ability to appreciate the Giants no matter if they win or lose, but to especially savor the wins.

is my Dad having the proverbial remote-thrower reaction to the Phil Simms pick in 79...he was very happy to be proven wrong about that one.

I have memories of watching games with him in the early years, but the earliest game I have a pretty vivid memory of watching and getting really into was LTs epic Thanksgiving Day game against the Lions in 82

white TV. They were New England's team then and still remain mine. Never liked and still don't like the Patriots.

View of a Homer Jones deep reception blocked by a steel beam.

The Jets vs the Giants at Yale bowl. Was able to go on the field afterwards saw Tarkenton up close and Pete Gogolak who was huge being 6 years old. He was my favorite that year.

LT...the defense and Summerall and Madden on CBS. I was 8 and transfixed.

Against Elway in 86.

Yankee Stadium....

I have no direct memory of the game (which I know the Giants lost to Lombardi’s Packers) but I still remember the day. My dad drove us in our ‘54 Plymouth from Brooklyn to family in western New Jersey to watch the game broadcast from Philadelphia. The day was cold and the roads icy ... the tv broadcast was fuzzy and the ride home was on a skipping and sliding prayer.

My dad jumping off the couch during one play and yelling "He's the fastest man in the world!!"

I was intrigued, and after watching for a few minutes, just didn't see where he was faster than anyone else. ALL these guys are fast.

Come to find out, his speed was "track speed".

As my interest in football evolved, Homer really didn't consistently do anything special IMO.

chronological memory I have is the Niners game in the playoffs where LT picked off Montana and took it to the house. Any memory before that is buried deep in my synapses.

In comment 14480391 Gregorio said:

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is my earliest specific memory. NYG were competitive in the regular season. Went to Soldier field to play the Bears. Temp at game time was something like 4 degrees. Landeta whiffs a punt and the Bears score a td. They got their ass beat that day, but I was hooked on NYG football.

This was my first memory too. 7 years old. Walked into the living room and asked my dad who we're rooting for. "The Giants" he replied. Never looked back since. Pretty sure that was the divisional round though.

do I win a prize?

games with my dad pretty much my whole life, but my earliest memories are somewhere around the 94' or 95' season, the snowball game definitely sticks out. '97 was the first season that I recall being fully invested in the wins and losses of the season instead of just watching when it was on with my father.

It's a book. A book my father got in early 1972 because he filled up his gas tank at a particular station, and they were giving them away with every fill-up. It was very much like a yearbook, with a blank square where each player's picture would be, and sheets of stickers in the back (about the size of large postage stamps) with the players names and faces. You were supposed to put each player's picture in the correct square.

You had a choice between the Giants and the Jets. My father was not a sports fan. He picked the Giants book because he preferred the color blue to the color green. Simple as that.

I was 12, but I wasn't into football. Basketball was the first sport I got into (I was around seven or eight), then baseball.

But I had fun matching the pictures to the players, and I was like wow, some of these guys look really tough. The only ones I still remember vividly were Bob Tucker and Doug Van Horn.

So, I got interested in football and the Giants, and I started watching them on TV when the '72 season began.

I was pretty young and excited. Didn't know a hell of a lot of what was going on, but I was addicted from then on.

but I was happy to see Rodney Hampton, who was my favorite player as a kid.

Also, the snowball game.

whole extended family of 30 - 40 people around the TV.

I grew up in CT, so we had Yankees fans, Red Sox fans, Mets fans, Rangers or Bruins, Celtics and Knicks, battles in every sport.

except football.

All Giants fans.

All crowded around the TV watching a defensive battle, looked like the Giants were doing to lose as DET was at the Giants 5 or so with time winding down in the 4th, but no, LT comes through with the pick 6 for 97 yards and the place went crazy. LT was so dominant in that 2nd half he really won the game.

I was hooked.

Giants vs Pats.

Giants had a 22-0 lead and lost 23-22.

I went to my first NY Giants game. The date was 14 Dec 1975 the Giants vs NO Saints at Shea Stadium. I was so excited and bundled up.
I remember the trip from Jersey City by train, it was cold, I had the hottest hot chocolate ever from the vendor and there was some QB named Archie. And we won.
It was a memorable day with my Dad and a memory I never forgot.

Giants bills super bowl. Stayed awake and was hooked ever since. 1st grade journal was all giants related every page. Unexplainable... just in the blood I guess. 18-1 was a joy that I don’t think can ever be matched.

I was twelve. I remember the Giants playing at RFK, what Stuck out to me was watching Carl Banks play ferociously with a cast on one of his arms.

there was watching, or listening to the Giants with my dad. I honestly can't remember ever not following the Giants.

The very earliest are now just mere shadows of memories of sitting on my dads lap and him pointing out guys like, Tittle, Huff and others that he loved from that era as we watched a game.

Unfortunately by the time my memories become clearer it was just as the losing was overtaking the team and I never was able to appreciate the winning of those great Giants teams. It was a long grind until the mid 80's finally changed that for me. All my early youth, teens, and most of my twenty's were just a long string of heartbreaking losing. It was a large part of my life for a long time. But as someone else mentioned earlier, I do believe it made the winning just that much sweeter when it finally arrived. And in hind sight a lot of great, cherished memories regardless of the losing.

I watched that game with my Dad too. He’s been gone three year. Don’t believe I was any older than 8 and yes I cried my eyes out. I remember when an adult I first walked into Wrigley and I The memories came rushing back. That was a tough one for a kid that age.

In comment 14480768 McNally's_Nuts said:

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Giants vs Pats. Giants had a 22-0 lead and lost 23-22.

I remember watching that too. Was home from college on break. Makes sense it ended up being Dan Reeve's last game as coach

near the endzone at Giants stadium. I think we were playing the Eagles. The RB had his legs spread wide in a jump, and a leg came up from underneath (accidentally I'm sure) hitting him right in the jewels.

Maybe in '87.

I was only 5 years old, so I kind of remember little bits and pieces. I remember my dad being ecstatic when they beat the Eagles in the wild card game, and I remember being crushed when they lost to the Niners.

The first clear memory I have of a specific play is the LT pick 6 against the Lions on Thanksgiving 1982.

In the pouring rain at the Stadium losing 28-0. “Tarkenton to Jones, incomplete" was all I recall from Bob Shepard over the PA. I was 8 years old and my Father and I were clueless about football rules and he had his transitor radio to help follow along. Glum train ride home – from 161st Street to Grand Central to Hudson line.

Big Blue Blogger – yeah, that 1970 end of season loss to the Rams was devastating (listened to it on the radio) - both 1970 and 1972 seasons gave me such great hope as did getting Craig Morton mid-season in 1974. Check out this link of 1970 Cowboys at Giants come from behind win in 1970. At 11:55 it shows live action from the start of the 2nd half to the last few minutes of the 4th Q. For those of you who never saw Ron Johnson run, it’s a great clip.

Cowboys at Giants 1970 - ( New Window )

It had to be between ‘45 and ‘50. I was standing on the sideline at Yankee Stadium watching the Cleveland Browns playing the football Yankees in an in an All American Conference game. I marveled at the running of Spec Sanders and of little Buddy Young making all those big players miss him.
The play that will always stick in my memory happened when a Giant intercepted an Otto Graham pass and raced down the right sideline on his way to a pick-six. I can still remember the sound it made when Brown fullback Marion Motley raced over and knocked him out of bounds with his shoulder. I thought the Giant was dead and was relieved to see him pick himself up and limp back on the

Yup, that is my first Giant's memory. 1st Yankee memory is MUCH better. Chris Chambliss for the pennant!

I was 7.

We went to a restaurant somewhere in Northwest Jersey and arrived there late 4th. Can remember the game being on TV there. I was in love with the blue uniforms. We had a BW at home.
So to see color was amazing. My dad was a big fan and was very happy! I also recall being totally bummed the same year when they were trounced by the Rams, when a win would have gotten them a playoff birth.

...off tackle left/training camp.

...my first memory was through 9-yr old tear stained eyes..
Never saw my old man as mad as he was. NYG were bad, but the Bills were worse. Final: BUF 41 NYG 17.

Roland Hooks (115 yards) ran wild including a 66-yd sprint. We were REALLY bad that day...
Bills vs NYG 1978 - ( New Window )

I bet Gettleman doesn't even remember his last memory

Uhh the game immediately before the 1978 NYG v BUF debacle is most definitely a stronger memory... Pisarcik to Csonka. I think the BUF game is still so vivid to me because that Eagles loss in the Meadowlands was so epic that my dad and I thought it couldn't get any worse...

Evidently, our NYG thought the only way outta that hole was to keep digging.

most vivid memory is sneaking off with my father and brother and leaving my mother to deal with a houseful of relatives to listen to the Giants/Bears championship game on the radio. Game was black out in NY. Also remember crying myself to sleep after the 1958 "Greatest Game Ever Played."

With my dad and his Giants' buddies. On my 3rd year college break after two-year Army stint in Japan. We saw many others subsequently and though Dad died in '74 and I'm now 84 I miss him still.

I got to meet Fran Tarkington. I was hooked. I haven't let go since...

...I was a Bronco fan. Giants sucked and the Broncos were good and had AWESOME helmets with pissed off horses on em! Bronco's had personality and were fun to watch.

But living 2 towns over from Giants stadium, after THE FUMBLE tickets were suddenly easy to find and after hearing legends of the tailgate parties, I went. Was in 8th grade and my first game was against the Rams, they lost, but the tailgate was pretty epic. We played football on the grass berms by 4J, whipped footballs at port a jon's when staggering drunks would go in, just a blast.

Sad sack team grew on me, quickly. During 79, when they were at their worst, I was fully on board, forgot about Lyle Alzado and the Broncos.

Yale Bowl, 1974.

Aquidnet:
Similar memory with the 1963 Giants, crying when the Giants lost, being humiliated by my older brother who hated YA and the Giants.

But I have earlier memories (also difficult). Losing to the Packers in the 1961 NFL Championship game where the Giants got annihilated by Paul Hornung and the Packers, 31-0.
I cried for most of the game (I was only 8 years old).

Good memories: Al Derogatis predicting to Marty Glickman that YA Tittle was going to hit RB Phil King with a circle pass over the middle. And Marty promulgating (after the play); right you are again DeRo!

Those were cherished radio days because Giants’ home games were unavailable on broadcast TV in NYC. You had to travel to Suffolk Cty to watch a grainy broadcast from WTIC-TV - Connecticut (and pay to watch at a Howard Johnson's or other motel with a rooftop antenna).

Watched the games when my mom and grandma weren't even football fans. I didn't ever see my father and all I knew was his name was Phil. My mom said I started telling people my father was Phil Simms. Apparently that was one of the first reasons I was hooked, lol.

Kinard:
I completed my Master’s Degree at Minnesota State University @ Mankato in the mid 70s. That was the Vikings summer training site.
Got to shake hands and talk with Fran Tarkenton for over 15 minutes as he reminisced about his days as Giants’ QB. He smiled when he talked about Homer Jones and how he would tell Jones to do a “ Banana-In” or a “Banana-Out”, and some way, Tarkenton would escape a tsunami of a pass rush and find Homer wide open downfield (nowhere near he was to be expected to finish his pattern - lots of laughs!!!!).
Of course to this day, #10 was and will always be my favorite NFL player. What a nice man!!

Does anyone remember the radio broadcast of the 1970 game between the Giants and Redskins when Ron Johnson scored on an end around 10 yd scamper to beat the Redskins 35-33 in the final seconds?

Marty Glickman’s soliloquy prior to the play could have been one of the greatest moments in sports radio commentary.
Glickman set the scene by announcing that it was 3rd and goal at the 10; the Giants were down by 6 and called a time-out with some 20 or so seconds left to go in the game. The Giants had been down by 3 TDs at one point in the 2nd half.

Glickman advised folks to pull over to the side of the road if they were driving and had a cardiac condition.

PRICELESS!!!
Ron Johnson sparks comeback win over Washington

https://www.giants.com/video/ron-johnson-sparks-comeback-win-over-washington

watched seriously starting in 1984 in the home game against dallas and have not looked back since.

Dallas in 1984. I was six years old and the Giants just beat the crap out of Dallas.

I was there, too. Giants only score was Roy Hinton or Hilton recovering a fumble and rumbling 60+ yards for the TD, iirc. I later learned Hinton/Hilton was a chain smoker, which I found surprising after seeing him out run all those Cowboys.