Tag Archives: Michael Strahan

Enough With Joe Buck & Troy Aikman Announcing All These Games

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America is suffering from Joe Buck and Troy Aikman announcing fatigue. Do they really have to ruin both Thursday Night and games on Sunday with these two?

Nothing is better than the break fans get when Joe Buck is off to announce the World Series and takes his non football sensibilities with him. He takes his hero worship with him and we get a week break from how great he thinks Tom Brady or Drew Brees are. Yet he talks down to and refers to the rank and file player with a disdain that grates people the wrong way.

It does with The Chancellor of Football and I know it does with a series of former players.

Joe Buck is the worst play by play announcer in NFL history and made it there due to nepotism. His father was legendary St Louis Cardinals announcer Jack Buck. Yet you can hear his elitist privlege ooze out of him as he drones on during a game. You can tell he’s never been in the fray playing sports or being in the heat of a battle to see both sides. He’s ultra conservative and shapes every narrative that way and it leads Aikman’s commentary down that path.

It has become so negative and off putting that Seattle Seahawk fans petitioned to have them removed from broadcasting their games. This was followed by Green Bay fans that became so popular Aikman addressed it in the Dallas Morning News. CBS Sports even ran a story covering it as Packer fans sought 15,000 signatures and wound up with a whopping 29,597. That is actual signatures of fans who believe Buck and Aikman were biased against their team.

I believe their bias doesnt stop there as Buck often shapes the nation’s narrative and can villify a player in the court of purlic opinion before millions.

Case and point this last Thursday Night when the brawl broke out between the Browns and Steelers with :05 left in the game. He reacted with utter disgust at Miles Garrett when he swung Mason Rudolph’s helmet striking him in the head. He completely villified Garrett while completely omitting Rudolph’s involvement starting the fight, trying to yank off Garrett’s helmet off first, and kicking Garrett in the unmentionables.

Not once did Buck even try to describe what happened from Garrett’s point as to why or how he overreacted. He turned Rudolph into some innocent man who was assaulted when clearly he was the aggressor even after his helmet had been taken off.

From that moment on the rest of the NFL Network commentary followed Buck’s suggestion of Garrett being thrown out the rest of the year. Finally from within the studio Willie McGinnest and James Jones restored sense there were two sides to this incident. Scott Hansen was adding to the narrative of Buck’s overreaction when he noticed how upset his studio mate Jones was and offered him the chance to express what he was feeling:

Those biases seemed to come out and crystalize down racial lines when it came from Buck’s point of view. Inside the studio this commentary touched off the firestorm that has become of this incident. Now it’s being talked about on every sports outlet as suspensions have come down now and ironically Garrett is suspended indefinitely while Rudolph is only subjected to an undisclosed fine. You can’t tell me Buck’s reaction and commentary didn’t help shape this from the very outset.

Listen to the round robin commentary from the Fox Sports commentary of Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, Howie Long, Curt Menifee, and Michael Strahan who admits he hit a former teammate Scott Gragg with a helmet himself:

Amazing how once former players and not a preppy announcer talked about what they experienced and saw, all of their commentary was more understanding and empathetic to all parties involved. Or as Michael Strahan concluded his comment “…but if you haven’t been in that situation you don’t understand.” And that is what I’m saying about Joe Buck and his commentary in a nutshell which painted with a broad brush to the viewing audience that made Rudolph seem like an innocent victim and not a culpable antagonist.

Glad Jimmy Johnson addressed this…

To remove myself from Buck’s prejudices and biases during playoff games I’ll switch to Spanish audio. It would be great if Fox offered some of the Thursday Night games to other sets of announcers. How about a 2nd set of announcers for us to switch to that is more pro player in their commentary??

This isn’t new as Buck’s commentary was referenced against the great play by play commentary by the late Charlie Jones in a playoff retrospective on a 1989 playoff between Buffalo and Cleveland. This was one penned nearly 8 years ago.  It’s time to quit the love affair with the preppy commentator following in his father’s footsteps. It’s like a cruel practical joke as we have to hear commentary from someone most of us would last choose to talk football with. He ruins games for several teams and has shaped opinion negatively on many players over the years.

Thank goodness for NFL redzone and CBS football coverage….

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SUPER BOWL XXXV RUNNER UP 2000 NEW YORK GIANTS

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Remember as Super Bowl XLVIII was approaching and the apprehension for a cold weather Super Bowl in New York?? What happened the last time there was a game played in late January in the Meadowlands?

xxxv1New York could hang their hat on the 2000 NFC Championship game…a 41-0 whoopin ‘ of the Minnesota Vikings in Dennis Green’s last game.  The first thing you’ll say is “Oh the Vikings only had 114 yards of offense!”  Gee that’s funny, but in the same (35 degrees) weather Kerry Collins (who?) yeah Kerry Collins threw for an NFC Championship game record 5TDs & 381 yards in the game and was on fire from the word go.  He wasn’t throwing to Jerry Rice, Andre Reed, Sterling Sharpe or Michael Irvin either…

Joe Jurevicius, Ike Hilliard, Amani Toomer, and FB Greg Comella (who?) Greg Comella!! Tiki Barber was used as a decoy.  So don’t make it seem like you can’t pass when the temperature goes down because these guys were the greatest show on grass for one game.

35.4They had been called the worst #1 seed ever going into the playoffs. After a 20-10 emotional win against the Eagles, they wandered into the NFC Championship game as a home underdog to the high flying Minnesota Vikings. When Offensive Co-Ordinator Sean Payton struck with this masterpiece:

 

 

A very stout Giant defense where MLB Michael “Bam Bam” Barrow joined with college teammate Jessie Armstead (The U ) to form an inspired bunch after coming over from Carolina.  Jason Sehorn and Dave Thomas (won with Cowboys in 93) were big physical corners…Strahan and Keith Hamilton were anchoring the line…and if you remember that Super Bowl against the Ravens, the Giants got jobbed when they called Hamilton for defensive holding negating Jessie Armstead’s interception for a touchdown that would have tied it at 7.

35.3This defense was stronger than the team that won in 2007, they just ran into the Ravens…but they crowned the up & coming Eagles and Vikings to get there.  As for playing a Super Bowl in the elements?  Buck up and go do it…it’s been done before so don’t make any excuses!!

This is a forgotten champion in New York’s history and many will forget that both the Offensive and Defensive Coordinators in Sean Payton and John Fox would go on to coach their own teams to Super Bowl appearances over the next decade. Fox in XXXVIII and XLVIII with the Panthers and Broncos respectively. Then Payton when he won it all with New Orleans in XLIV.

One of the reasons this team and this game is obscured was of course the loss in the Super Bowl and the World Trade Center tragedy that struck nearly 9 months to the day after this game. The other reason was the 39-38 meltdown in the 2002 NFC Wildcard where the Giants blew a 24-0 lead. These bookended the era with Jim Fassel as coach and the team would rebuild.

Yet between these moments was the most lopsided championship in NFL history. Yes the Chicago Bears won the ’40 NFL Title 73-0 but the G-Men were up 34-0 at the half and began resting starters at the beginning of the 3rd quarter up 41-0. They set the NFL playoff record for fewest yards allowed with 114 and Collins tied the championship game record of 5TDs that had stood for 57 years. By the way…that 114 yards is still the NFL record for fewest yards. The Giants could have scored 80 had they kept attacking…

A more visceral look back at this great game in the 1st half:

 

the 2nd half:

 

In one of the greatest championship performances in NFL history the Giants won the NFC Crown 41-0. Although they were beaten by the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV this was a season to savor as most pundits had the Giants forecast as a .500 ball club. Yet New York would have none of it.

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New York Giants Super Bowl XLVI Ring: A Design For All Seasons

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The exquisite ring designed for the New York Giant’s Super Bowl XLVI win over New England.

One of the greatest championship rings ever commissioned. When you look at the ring the first thing you look at are the sapphire stones that adorn the “World Championsip” moniker as though its’ the lighted ring around the new Meadowlands.  Yet it’s the old fashioned “NY” adorned in blue that really sets this ring off. Although the Giants have amassed 8 NFL titles, they have garnered 4 in the Super Bowl era. Hence the four Super Bowl trophies atop the design.

One of the more intriguing aspects of this ring is the fact that they used the block “GIANTS” logo from the previous era (1980’s-1999). This being put on the same side as the Super Bowl trophy and score, a 21-17 triumph over Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. In our CEO’s estimation, this is the best looking Super Bowl ring ever.

Eli Manning showing off his second earned Super Bowl ring.

An irony that can’t go dismissed is the fact that in a stadium that Peyton Manning’s success help construct, his little brother dispatched this generation’s greatest quarterback in Brady, for a second time in the Super Bowl in a 4 year period.

Now Eli Manning has brought another title to Gotham and is just now entering his prime. Think about that for a second. A fleet of receivers and with the rule changes favoring the passing game, he became the quarterback with the most passing yards in a single season to win a Super Bowl with 4,933.

In other words he and the Giants will be back for another one within 3 years. Mark it down in 3 inch bold letters… As for now congratulations to the New York Giants who will be receiving these rings at a gala ceremony sometime in June when they are all finished.

So as we did last year to commemorate the unveiling of the championship ring for the new year, but to offer those rings of  years gone by….

This is the ring for the 1956 New York Giants to commemorate the 1956 NFL Title Game. The Giants won 47-7  in the famous house that “Ruth built”, Yankee Stadium. The 50.000 plus braved the elements to watch Vince Lombardi’s offense put up 47 points and Tom Landry’s defense allowed only 1 touchdown.  The Giants appeared in 6 world championship games between 1956-1963 with the lone year they won in 1956.

The famous chant of “defense…defense” rose from the rafters of Yankee Stadium during this era as well as the original mastery of Tom Landry’s 4-3 defense bore fruit. It became the rage of the league and a staple of how modern NFL teams would platoon their 11 defenders. One note to offer is that the 4-3 as a defense gained it’s notoriety here although it’s original teachings came from head coach Joe Kuharick out of Philadelphia. Landry and New York got the credit because they won with it. Something to think about.

The Giants only won one championship during this era while dropping 2 titles in 1958 and 1959 to the Baltimore Colts. Then dropping two to Green Bay in 1961 and 1962…then a famous defensive struggle to the Chicago Bears in 1963. They were a juggernaut that dominated an era that ushered in pro football as the premier sport of America and fruit that sprang forth from this team were two of the greatest coaches in NFL history.

Tom Landry who went on to win 2 championships while piloting the Dallas Cowboys from 1960-1989. Then Vince Lombardi, the universally accepted greatest coach of all time, who was the winningest coach of the 1960’s with 5 title wins in a decade with the Green Bay Packers. He became the measure of all NFL coaches once his tenure was over and had the Giants not accepted racial and religious popular prejudice during that long forgotten time, could have had an Italian Catholic rule the football world the same year an Irish Catholic in John F Kennedy became President of the United States.

After a 30 year drought, the New York Giants became the world champion after bludgeoning the Denver Broncos 39-20 out in Pasadena for Super Bowl XXI. NFL MVP Lawrence Taylor and the Giants defense was in the  midst of allowing only 2 yards during the 3rd period. While consequently the Giants, led by Super Bowl XXI MVP Phil Simms, was in the midst of scoring 17 unanswered points to pull ahead 26-10. Erasing a 10-9 halftime lead that the Broncos had everything go right for them yet were undone after a brilliant goal line stand.

Once that stand had taken place and the Broncos Rich Karlis missed two chip shot field goals, the Broncos fate was sealed as the Giants roared back. Bill Parcells had restored the dignity of a once proud franchise with this win and an up and coming Bill Belichick was the architect of this swarming 3-4 defense.

In the NFC playoff games that preceded Super Bowl XXI, the Giants had bested the San Francisco 49ers (team of the 1980s) by a score of 49-3 and the Washington Redskins in the NFC Championship 17-0. The win over the Niners was one of the most lopsided in modern NFL history and was one where the Giants defense knocked Joe Montana from the game. Many speculated that this would be the end for Montana’s playing career. He did come back yet thoughts of this game lingered whenever the Giants played the 49ers for the rest of the decade.

The NFC championship represented the third straight year the game ended in a shutout. It also marked the 2nd time in 3 years that the loser of the NFC Championship would go on to win the Super Bowl the following year. So 1986 was the Giant’s year….Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms, NFL MVP Lawrence Taylor. and 1,516 yard rusher and 21TDs from RB Joe Morris powered this championship. Bill Parcells became a household name as coach and a little known defensive co-ordinator in Bill Belichick started receiving recognition.

Coming on the heels of that ’86 champion some 4 years later was a monumental champion that somehow seems forgotten about in remembrance. The 1990 unit that won it all in Super Bowl XXV was the first team ever to average less than a turnover a game (13 in 16 games) and had to overcome the two time defending champion San Francisco 49ers 15-13  in the NFC Championship just to make it to the big dance.

Once there they had to best the greatest AFC team in a decade to win it all. So powerful was that 1990 Buffalo Bills squad that they had won the AFC Championship 51-3 while forcing the Raiders to just 3 turnovers. They were that much better than their AFC counterpart on that day. Yet the Giants roped them into a defensive slugfest while employing just two defensive linemen and funneling the Bills potent receivers into the middle of a defense that had linebackers waiting for them.

Although Phil Simms sat on the sideline, the ’90 Giants became the second team to win it all with a quarterback who began the season as second string. Jeff Hostetler ironically repaced the incumbent Simms during a week 13 game against the Buffalo Bills where Phil was lost for the season with a foot injury. He added a scrambling element that supplemented the power running game of Ottis OJ Anderson (the [[_]]) to keep defenses guessing and furthermore blitzing. This was the missing ingredient to a rather pedestrian offense that gave the Giants an edge once the post season came around. Teams already had to account for the dangerous Dave Meggett, and now were totally afraid to blitz the conservative Giants QB for fear of what could now be gained with his scrambling ability.

Not only was this the last championship won by Bill Parcells, Lawrence Taylor, Bill Belichick and George Young. The Giants won with a young WR coach in Tom Coughlin who had a protege in WR Mark Ingram, who’s son would go on to win the Heisman Trophy in 2009. The Giants also featured DE Leonard Marshall, who should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Marshall is the only Giant to record sacks in both Super Bowl XXI and XXV triumphs along with new ILB starter Thomas “Pepper” Johnson who would go on to the New England Patriots with Romeo Crennel and go on to win 3 Super Bowls as a member of that staff under Bill Belichick.

Speaking of Bill Belichick, after a failed stint in Cleveland he resurfaced with the New England Patriots to start the 2000 season.  He along with the aforementioned former Giants went on to create a dynasty 2 decades later in New England. Their crowning jewel was to become the first 19-0 NFL champion ever.

After winning 3 Super Bowls in 4 years, it seemed the Patritots had run their course as the NFL’s vanguard. With some slight retooling, they acquired WR Randy Moss and WR Wes Welker and went on to become the winningest team in NFL history at 16-0 and became it’s highest scoring ever with 589 points during the 2007 NFL season. To become the greatest ever all they had to do was win Super Bowl XLII. Easy money…right?? After all they beat the Giants in the final week 38-35.

Well after Randy Moss scored to make it 17-14, the Patriots had finally overcome the New York pass rush, which had hounded Brady all night long. Eli Manning started his ascent to greatness with several plays in the final drive. He did have a little bit of luck though… Asante Samuel had the win sealed for the Patriots….but he dropped the interception.

Never give your enemy a second chance.

With that came one of the most famous plays in Super Bowl history. Eli broke free from two Patriots who had their hands on him… he broke free to scramble right and heaved a prayer of a pass that David Tyree caught using the top of his helmet. Once that happened the will of the Patriots totally broke as Eli and the Giants marched into history with a monumental upset. So resigned to their fate where the Patriots they left CB Ellis Hobbs (5″10) alone on Plaxico Burress (6’5) and blitzed while Eli feathered a pass into the left flank of the endzone. Michael Strahan finished his distinguished career as a Super Bowl champion. Champagne popped for Head Coach Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, Michael Strahan, the New York Giants…AND the ’72 Dolphins!! Perfect!!

Now the Giants proved it was no fluke beating the Patriots again and had this latest crown jewel to add to their collection. Enjoy it for one more year and the Giants aren’t finished yet either. They will be back for their 5th Super Bowl win within the next few years…quite possibly when their Meadowlands hosts the first outdoor cold weather Super Bowl. Stay tuned… Eli is a silent killer.

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