A Giant Letdown

On this cold, snowy Chicago afternoon, I feel a need to comment on the New York Giants. Staring at a pile of books I have to read for graduate class this quarter at DePaul University, my mind shifts to the paper I’m supposed to write for tomorrow night’s Narrative Strategies class. Do I write it now? I probably should — in fact I know I should — but I just can’t do it. I have to write this first. I have to get this off my chest because as a former player, I was embarrassed to hear the talking heads on the radio this morning discussing whether Plaxico Burress would have made a difference in the outcome of the Giants’ season.

Of course he would have. Plax is a 6-foot-5 receiver who can separate from defensive backs and make plays with the football in his hands. Eli Manning would have looked better, those field-goal drives would have ended in touchdown drives, etc., etc., etc.

So what. There is something to be said for the way Tom Coughlin runs his football team. Actually, it has to be said, and I have no problem doing that today. You see, Coughlin came in and turned the franchise around, but he did it his way. Dress codes, meeting times, the way they practiced, the way they traveled and the way they were held responsible on and off the field. It brought them a Super Bowl title last year and a No. 1 seed this season in the NFC.

But we digress as sports fans. We want to chastise these players for their actions in society, but we find ourselves begging for them on Sundays. I hate to say it, but you can’t have it both ways. Now, before you fire angry emails my way, understand that the same can be said for the locker rooms in the NFL. I’ll be honest, guys like Plax make me sick when it comes to wearing that shield on their jersey, and I don’t really care if he is on my team. Don’t care if he can help us win. Don’t care if he is going to bring us another championship because we all should be held accountable. As a teammate, I am not going to turn a blind eye to this kind of nonsense to get a championship.

Why? Because there is something to be said about being on a team. What I mean by that is a group of guys — professional guys — playing together and playing for each other. Putting the team first is preached at every level of this game, all the way from high school to the pros, but you rarely see it at this level. I thought that this Giants team had “it” last year when it came to the team aspect, but isn’t it obvious that this distraction, this one guy doing his own thing (multiple times this season) slowly brought a team to its demise? Maybe, just maybe, I am talking about a pipe dream. A “team” at the NFL level? With free agency and monster contracts? Probably not, but the point here is that in the playoffs, one team comes together and plays like it.

Obviously, this didn’t happen down the stretch in NYC. Look, I don’t know Plaxico Burress personally and most likely never will, so don’t think that I’m judging him as a person. But I do know how things work in this league. Some teams would accept the fact that he’s a star, and with that comes some baggage, but sitting here today — looking back on my own career — I wouldn’t have it. Yes, it cost the Giants (who were the best in the NFC) their season. They dropped four of their last five games. They spiraled out of control. They lost their unity.

So as you listen to talk radio or read the columns by the big names, don’t question whether the Giants should have allowed Plaxico to play. Question whether he was the reason this season ended at home to a division rival that is playing like a team. 

We all get to make choices, and pro athletes are no different. Now I have to get to work on that paper …

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