Nội dung

Football’s New York Giants This page intentionally left blank Football’s New York Giants A History LAWRENCE A. PERVIN McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Pervin, Lawrence A. Football’s New York Giants : a history / Lawrence A. Pervin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7864-4268-3 softcover : 50# alkaline paper ¡. New York Giants (Football team)—History. GV956.N4P47 2009 796.332'6409747¡—dc22 I. Title. 20090¡¡9¡7 British Library cataloguing data are available ©2009 Lawrence A. Pervin. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. On the cover: Giants fullback Bull Karcis scores as New York defeats Washington at the Polo Grounds on December 4, 1938 (Associated Press) Manufactured in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 6¡¡, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com Table of Contents Preface 1 1. In the Beginning (1925–1953) 3 2. The Glory Years (1954–1963) 20 3. “Fifteen Years of Lousy Football— We’ve Had Enough” (1964–1978) 48 4. George Young, Bill Parcells, and the March to Two Super Bowls (1979–1990) 73 5. The Times They are A-Changin’ (1991–2003) 118 6. The Coughlin-Accorsi-Manning Era and Super Bowl XLII (2004–2008) 145 Chapter Notes Bibliography Index 193 199 201 v To my partners in rooting for the team, Bobbie, David, and Levi, and to all those who stick with the Giants throughout Preface I was born and grew up in Brooklyn, so of course I was a Dodgers fan (still am) and a Giants football fan (again, still am). My two sons came along and joined me in the excitement of watching Giants football, though to tell the truth, my older son, born in Boston, also has a strong attachment to the Patriots. Super Bowl XLII was something of a challenge for him but not for the rest of the family. When my sons went off on their own, Sunday afternoons and occasional Monday nights were “holy times,” with me watching the games by myself, praying, twisting and turning with each play, exhausted by the end of the game since I had played both offense and defense. My wife was not a football fan. The times I was “playing” she was out shopping— for clothes, not food. My enthusiasm for Giants football turned out to be very expensive! However, over the last few years she too has become a Giants fan. It was Tiki Barber who did it. She found someone “cute” who she could root for and thereby begin to become both enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the game. Together we would go to the Giants training camp in Albany and during the season watch the Giants and yell “Go, Tiki, Go.” So how does this end up as a book on the history of the Giants? I’m a retired professor and have authored many scholarly books on personality psychology. When I retired, I wanted to combine two things that I love, writing and Giants football. I read some of the books on the Giants and realized that there was no book on the history of the Giants, the team and the family, that focused on specific eras, particular games, and specific players, as opposed to a description of each game of the season over the course of many years. Could I capture the ups and downs of a team over the years and the excitement of critical games? I read everything I could get hold of, in particular every book I could find authored by a Giants coach or player, or written about them. I talked with a former consultant and scout, and gained insights from them about the Mara family and the frustrations of trying to draft players who will contribute to winning. I also learned about some of the internal battles that go on inside the organization, part of the dynamics of any organization. And I heard that “NFL football is an entertainment business,” something I should have been aware of but never thought about as I twisted and turned with each play. 1 2 PREFACE My writing the history of the Giants started in about 2004 and was completed in 2008. It was totally luck that the Giants won the Super Bowl in 2008. Nice to be able to end on a championship, but totally chance. I hope that readers, young and old, male and female, will enjoy reading the history of the team as much as I have enjoyed writing it, and that they will relive, as I have, the many ups and downs of the team. Finally, if the readers gain some new insights into the team, its owners, management, coaches, and players, and occasionally twist and turn as they read about a critical point in a critical game, then my goals for the book will have been achieved. 1 In the Beginning (1925 –1953) In a Philadelphia performance, the British comedian Eddie Izzard expressed puzzlement at the American game of football. He asked, “How come it is called football when the ball almost never touches anyone’s leg and in fact never touches any part of the body of most players?” Of course, he was contrasting American football with what the British, and most of the rest of the world, call football, known to us as soccer, where kicking the ball by all players is fundamental to the game. Since in our football at least some of the players use their hands, in contrast with soccer, why isn’t it called handball? The answer to the British comedian’s question has to do with the roots of American football, a combination of English/European soccer (known by the British as a game of gentlemen, played by hooligans) and English rugby (known by the British as a hooligans’ game played by gentlemen). Thus, the game of football that we know today is vastly different from that played between Rutgers University and Princeton University in 1869, the first college football game.1 In that game a round ball could be batted or dribbled but not thrown or carried. Points were scored for kicks over a goal line rather than by carrying the ball over the line or kicking it through uprights. Sounds remarkably like what today we know as soccer. A few years later a Canadian influence entered as players were allowed to run with the ball and be tackled, as in the game of rugby. By 1890 football playing was increasing among college teams with rules that began to take the form of what we know as football today—downs, yards to gain, blocking, tackling below the waist, touchdowns. In 1906 there was an effort to standardize the rules. These rules included allowing the forward pass, establishing the length of the football as the neutral zone between offense and defense, and establishing ten yards as the necessary distance for a first down. Key to many of the changes that came around that time was Alonzo Stagg, former All-American end and then coach at the University of Chicago. He is credited with such fundamental innovations as the forward pass, varied backfield formations including men in motion, and the use of uniform numbers, tackling dummies, and blocking sleds. One story has it that when he was on the same train as President Herbert Hoover, a train that was greeted by hundreds upon its arrival at the train station, he was amazed to 3