The Fifth Down sited an article that I just loved, so here it is again. This Giants team has no ego. I am getting particular joy out of watching the NFL and the media in their lame attempts to somehow anoint a “star” amidst this bunch. They just cannot help themselves. Ever since David Stern catapulted the NBA to riches with Bird, Magic and Jordan, every sport has a marketing game plan where they need to find the star to sell the game.
So everyone in football is digging around, trying to find the star. 11-1, where is the star? But if they spoke to anyone playing fantasy football, they would tell you firsthand that the Giants are a fantasy footballer’s nightmare. They distribute the ball to EVERYBODY! Sure, one player can have a monster game, but as soon as he is given any attention, they get the ball to someone else. And then comes Eli. LOL, Eli has that gift of gab, the lightning rod of statistics and media magnetism. Right up there with yogurt and dry toast.
And the defense? Your best player is a defensive linemen who doesn’t have a sack dance. All he does is stuff the run, stunt, disrupt the pass, go back to the sideline and bury his head in a towel.
If there were four guys who liked the limelight, who enjoyed most opportunities to show off their alpha male super status, it was Strahan, Umenyiora, Shockey and Burress. None of them are here for this team’s run at Super Bowl XLIII. An amazing testament to the rest of these players, to Reese and to the coaches for developing the younger players. That is the story.
As for the rest of us, I hope we get to see the media confounded by this for as long as humanly possible. These are the people covering the game, they are supposed to be more informed, and yet they are in denial about the All-Joes. Oh, and did we mention the most delicious irony- that the best players on this 11-1 team are the pariah of the media horde? Yes, it is the anonymous quintet a.k.a. the offensive line. LOL. Each time they try to introduce us to the group, they start telling us their names and almost in midsentence they realize their article is doomed! The ‘block.’ The ‘pulling guard.’ For our sake, let them leave these guys alone- it seems to work better that way. They go back to Plan A, fumbling between the vanilla of Toomer and the never-ending platitudes of Manning. My new form of entertainment is going to be watching the media trying to get a sound bite out of PlatiDude. Sadistically amusing.
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