The more you hit the late Joe Frazier, the more he seemed to like it. And it is no different with the Giants, heavyweight champions of the NFL.
Some teams would cower and crumble in the face of the mean, green ambush that awaits them Sunday night at the Linc, a prime-time death struggle with the Eagles that begins at 20 past hate.
The Giants rub their hands together with glee and relish the prospect of a Thrilla in Philla, where they try again to batter Michael Vick from pillar to post and make him quit on his stool, if not knock him out.
“You know that when you step on that field down there it’s … it’s kinda like gladiators — only one man’s going to come out,” Michael Boley said.
The Giants know they didn’t get to be Super Bowl champions without a large supply of mental and physical toughness. So their message to the city of Philadelphia and the team that plays there is this: Bring it on.
They will be standing defiantly inside a belligerent arena, inside the eye of a raging storm of invective and venom, ready to defend the franchise’s honor with every last ounce of courage and willpower against an enemy that will be trying to take their heads off, come hell or Goodell.
“I love loud stadiums, I love fans; they act like they want to come on the field and rip your head off,” Justin Tuck said. “That’s what I grew up watching on TV when I thought about NFL football. I love the fact that that rivalry is as heated as it is. It makes games fun.”
The Giants have won four Super Bowls over the past 25 years. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. That includes Philadelphia, whose Eagles never have won a Super Bowl. Not with Randall Cunningham, not with Donovan McNabb, not with Michael Vick. Not with Buddy Ryan, not with Andy Reid.
“It honestly feels good, it really does, to know that everybody — I’m talking about every single person in that stadium — is against you,” Osi Umenyiora said, “and the only people you got are your teammates, man. It’s an awesome feeling.”
The hostility becomes evident as the Giants bus rolls toward the Linc.
“On the way in, you get the middle finger, that’s common for a lot of stadiums, but there’s just a wide spectrum of ages,” Chris Snee said. “It could be a 6-year-old boy to a 65-year-old …”
Here, Snee chuckled and added, “That was a couple of years ago, but I’m looking at this little kid flipping the bus off, and the parents [laugh] are right next to him. And I’m thinking to myself, ‘My kids will never do that,’ I wouldn’t allow that. Even at a sporting event.”
It is commonplace for the Big Blue bus to be pelted with eggs as it departs.
“We understand that if we got caught somewhere [chuckle] in Philadelphia wearing our uniform out on the street somewhere, we might not make it home, stuff like that,” Tuck said.
At which point, Jason Pierre-Paul walked by and mischievously whispered: “We don’t like them!”
The Giants bench isn’t necessarily a safe place.
“Some fans have thrown batteries before,” Boley said.
Umenyiora: “It’s intense.”
Is it the most intense atmosphere on the road?
“Me personally, yes,” Umenyiora said.
How so?
“In the way the game is played, and the way that the stadium is, and the way the fans are,” he said.
Describe the way the game is played.
“Physical … a lot of anger and chips and all that stuff that they’re doing, man. It’s not just a regular push, man, it’s always a little extra to it,” Umenyiora said.
Is it dirty?
“I won’t go so far as to say dirty. But it’s approaching it. It’s borderline,” Umenyiora said.
And it will hurt.
“I will have a rough time getting out of bed on Monday morning,” Tuck said.
It’s the proximity of the teams in geography and in the standings.
“It’s one of the more hostile places around the league to play without question, because the fans are so enthusiastic and so loyal to their team, and they’re not afraid to let the visiting team, and in some cases their own home team, know how they feel,” John Mara said.
The Giants want them feeling devastated.
“I want to win every week,” Snee said, “but nothing is more satisfying than when you’re walking off the field victorious.”
Thrilla in Philla.