We long have thought of Giants fans as the gold standard for New York sports, and with good reason: They are loyal, they are fiercely devoted, and in the days before PSLs altered the landscape forever, they guarded their season tickets so religiously that your great-great-grandchildren would’ve been lucky to inch to the top of the list.
Because of what the Giants have been on the field, more or less regularly, since 1982 or so, more than 30 years, we tend to think of this relationship being a product of relentless success. It’s a theory bolstered when you consider that some of these fans go back to the Polo Grounds, or at least to Yankee Stadium, when the team was the toast of town, quite literally, often at Toots Shor’s joint on West 51st.
And no team ever has been as celebrated as those Giants teams of the ’50s and early ’60s, the teams that helped put the “national” appeal in the National Football League.
But that isn’t entirely true. Because in many ways, the Giants forged their forever hold on the soul of New York sports because of how faithful those fans remained despite one of the worst droughts the city has ever known. It’s not a bad time, at 0-6 heading into their “Monday Night Football” date with the Vikings, to remember that.
Think of it: The Giants qualified for — and lost — three straight NFL title games in 1961, ’62 and ’63. In 1964, the bottom fell out: They went 2-10-2. And that was the first of 18 straight years — eighteen straight years — when the Giants didn’t make the playoffs.
The Giants went 0-for-the-’70s. They allowed the Jets to briefly become the Team of the Moment. There was that 2-10-2 team, and a 1-12-1 team, and a 2-11-1 team, and a 2-12, and a 4-10, and a bunch of 7-7s and 6-10s. As the sign that flew over the Meadowlands famously said: “Fifteen years of lousy football … we’ve had enough.”
Only enough wouldn’t come until 15 became 18. Eighteen. Think of our more hapless franchises. The Mets’ longest postseason drought was 11 years. The Nets? Five years. Knicks and Islanders? Seven. Jets? Twelve (they also went 0-for-the-’70s, an amazing run of two-sport, one-town futility).
Amazingly, it was that other pillar of sporting New York, the Yankees, who challenged that skid, especially if you count their first 18 years in the city, 1903-20, but even if you simply want to recall 1982-94, 13 straight years that ended outside the playoffs (at a time, admittedly, when it was far more difficult to qualify for them). Amazingly, the Giants still sold every ticket in those dark, dismal years, even as they jumped from Yankee Stadium to Yale Bowl to Shea to the Meadowlands. And they sell every ticket still.
And they remain the stubborn piece of evidence against those who say the New York attention span is too fickle to tolerate losing seasons. Maybe fans won’t tolerate them forever. But 18 years is awfully damn close. And the Giants survived anyway. They’ll survive this. Even if 0-6 becomes 0-7 by midnight Tuesday.
Vac’s Whacks
Seven years from now, Prince Fielder’s contract may make Alex Rodriguez’s present deal look like it was clipped from a SuperSaver coupon book.
Nirvana was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame this week. If they get in on the first ballot, after only seven years and three studio albums together, are they the Sandy Koufax of rock and roll?
Maybe it’s just because I’d watch James Spader read the phone book, but I find “The Blacklist” irresistible TV.
Jim O’Connell and Hoops Weiss have been terrific representatives of this business for a long time, and generous role models to a generation of young reporters. Fairfield University is recognizing both with the inaugural Stags Lifetime Achievement Award for long and meritorious service to college basketball this Thursday, and the school couldn’t have picked a better starting backcourt.
Whack Back at Vac
Richard Siegelman: If Peyton Hillis works out well for the Giants, the Yankees should try finding and signing Babe Hertzberg, Mickey O’Connor and Whitey Johnson.
Vac: Does Thurman Thomas still have any life in his legs?
Timothy Foster: Justin Tuck claims his “body feels better now than it did in Pro Bowl years.” No wonder. He isn’t hitting anybody with it.
Vac: Tuck was at the Jason Kidd banner hanging the other night, lengthening his streak of showing up at every New York area sporting event. Except Giants games. (Hey now!) Come on. We kid because we love.
@TheRealSchloss: Re: N.Y. sports envy, in the state of Georgia the Braves, Falcons and Bulldogs all saw title hopes end in a week span. Top that.
@MikeVacc: There are some weeks as a sports fan when it really is hard to get out of bed, yes.
Bob Buscavage: Carmelo Anthony has indicated he intends to opt out of his contract after this season and become a free agent, but wants to stay with the Knicks. Who has he been talking with, A-Rod?
Vac: If we start seeing protesters outside the Garden with placards screaming “Melo 4EVA!” then I’ll start getting suspicious.
Yack Back at Vac
Last week Mike Vaccaro declared the Islanders’ John Tavares the current Face of New York sports. He invited readers to chime in. They did:
“If you have to think about it and write about it, then we really don’t have a new big man in town. Hockey players are eliminated unless they win a Cup.” — John Guttilla
“My timing might be bad, but Henrik Lundqvist is my choice. He has skill, Joe Willie charm, and his nickname suggests he’s right for the coronation.” — Brian Bisaccio
“Tavares might be the best in his sport in [the city], but more people in Montréal know his name than in NYC. Woeful as the Giants are, it’s still Eli — unless a basketball team wins the title, then it’s Melo or KG.” — Bill Melchionni
“CC Sabathia, not only because of his years of consistency and leadership for the Yankees, but his commitment to the tri-state community is second to no one.” — Kathy Jacobson
“Did Jeter pass away? As long as he is active, puh-lease!” — Steve Giegerich
“Melo has been the charismatic face of a high-profile franchises, knows he’s held to a higher standard as its leader, and embraces the responsibility.” — John Boulton