Folks, *taps mic* is this thing on? Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve blogged anything. Since the draft, both Matt and I have taken a bit of a hiatus blogging and posting as frequently as we normally do during the season and the draft process. Life has just been hectic. While we aren’t necessarily going full speed ahead now as we enter the quietest part of the NFL calendar, I just wanted to check in pretty informally and give some thoughts about the upcoming football season where we will be prepared for our best season covering the NFL yet.
But today I don’t wanna necessarily talk about the full NFL, I just want to talk about my favorite team, the New York Football Giants, because I truly love this team. Over the last four seasons, covering them as a fan with a fan page has been downright exhausting. The team was run by a clown General Manager in Dave Gettleman who hired clown coaches in Joe Judge and Pat Shurmur and who was enabled by a clown owner in John Mara. For the last few seasons, covering this team felt like a chore and not something that I looked forward to doing each and every day.
I became a Giants fan as a seven year old kid growing up in New Jersey. My family have always been Giants fans but the 2002 season was the first season I remember. My idol was Jeremy Shockey. The first quarterback I remember was Kerry Collins.
One of my core memories as a Giants fan is blowing a 24 point lead to the 49ers in the 2002 playoffs. I remember walking into school next day feeling empty because of how bad the collapse was. I was seven. I still remember it. It still bugs me twenty years later.
Luckily we were then blessed with a generation of Eli Manning. We got to see two championships along with one of the greatest upsets in the history of sports in Super Bowl 42. Those will be two days that I remember forever as a Giants fan.
But pretty much since the lights went off in Lucas Oil Stadium after Super Bowl 46, it’s been a decade of sadness and disappointment for Giants fans. The team has won zero playoff games since then and the organization has been by-in-large a comedy of errors aside from a fluke playoff run in 2016.
I’m here to say that I really think that’s going to change from this moment on. There’s a vibe around this team that hasn’t been here since the Coughlin days. I’m not saying that this team is going to go out and contend for a playoff spot next season, but I am saying that there’s finally hope back in the building which is something that we simply haven’t had as fans in forever.
We have a competent General Manager in Joe Schoen who actually has a plan for this team unlike his predecessor. We have a new franchise player in Kayvon Thibodeaux who the entire fanbase needs to embrace. We have a coach in Brian Daboll who seems comfortable in his own skin and seems to want to build strong relationships with his players.
Yeah, we may not have a long term quarterback or any cap space right now (Thanks Dave), but we have a lot more hope now than we did last year. My belief is that it’s finally going to get better as time goes on and we’re going to become a perennial contender again soon.
But more importantly, I think my desire this season is to build stronger connections with Giants fans. It’s time for the fan base to unite and start to have fun watching Giants football again. Matt and I were at the Giants vs Bucs game last year and we had an awesome time with the Giants fans we met there and that was with the team being completely devoid of talent or hope. We’re only going to get better and things are only going to get more fun. We want to help drive that excitement as the tide begins to turn.
So the vibe is absolutely different around the Giants this season. We may not win the Super Bowl this year, but we at least have something to look forward to again. Let’s all get ready for a fun ride.
Truly hope you are right!!