10 Year Anniversary

November 30, 2016 marks the 10 Year Anniversary of UltimateNYG NY Giants Blog. I want to take a few moments to celebrate what we have accomplished together.

I had a minor in communications in college, and learned a simple but profound concept. Marshall McLuhan explained that “the medium is the message.” He could not have imagined the internet, yet the medium of a blog (short for web log) illustrates that point as well as any medium before it. It is a gift to be able to connect with other Giants all over the country and all over the world. It is nothing short of profound to have the immense luxury of a medium that has so little cost to its publisher and readers. My message about this medium is simple- do not take it for granted that we can have uncensored conversations with fellow fans who share the passion of the Gmen.

This forum was built on a single premise- intelligent objective discussion about the NY Giants. That is the agenda. To be fair, it is not completely uncensored- I have had to delete about a half dozen comments over the years that were uncivil and disrespectful. People are welcome to disagree, as long as the dialogue is respectful and offers supportive arguments to positively educate/persuade. Objectivity is critical. We all want to see the Giants go 19-0. That bias has to end when the posts/comments are made, because we’ll never learn why the team is where it is with subjectivity. That is when the site becomes noise. I hate noise. The downside of the proliferation of the internet is that it allows a cacophony of voices to stream the airwaves of cyberspace. Separating fact from fiction has never been more important than now. We must reduce the noise as much as we can or else we dilute the advantage that this medium creates for us.

I love being analytical. Quantifying arguments supports our points and makes us better journalists. I have had some ideas about posts, yet I could not write them because I could not substantiate the premise. When I believe Tom Coughlin is not the answer at head coach and want him replaced, I have to build a case with facts to support my position. When I believe that injuries (in past years) are a problem unique to the Giants, I have to demonstrate with data and facts why this is correct. We advocated for change for many years but went into hyperdrive over a period of two seasons to make the case. We are not completely sold on Aaron Wellman (who we believe is getting it right on strength but only partially correct on zealousness with respect to stretching) but the tangible change we have seen this year goes a long way to explaining why the change was necessary. This team sits at 8-3 with man-games-lost in the middle of the pack (18th out of 32 teams), a far cry from the year after year bottoms and near bottoms. We believe this site made an enormous difference in the discussion, as the other mainstream media voices were woefully complacent and/or negligent in their coverage.

The forum with fans makes us all better. One commenter bordered on disrespect when he arrogantly dismissed the physical therapists/professional athletic trainers we cited in the diagnosis of the Giants’ injury problems. We chose to answer the challenge by speaking with M.D.s from a teaching hospital who were specialists in sports medicine. They supported the conclusions of the trainers so well that they were willing to diagnose the torn pectorals without even looking at the athletes.

This site practices verification, a rarity in journalism. Where possible, we tie in what we said with happened to see how we did, good or bad. Generally speaking, our track record is solid in forecasting outcomes. We are not always right, but we make informed opinions that end up verifying more often than not.

I want to say thanks to the contributors and writers of posts over the past 10 years. I have a special thanks for Wonder, who has taught me so much about football.

Lastly we want to say thanks to all of our readers.  Go Giants. Pulling for a 5th Lombardi Trophy!