Deep Dive Into Giants History and 2026 Season Outlook

"Buy Us a Coffee" by dropping something in our tip jar:
https://ko-fi.com/giantconversations/tip

Summary

Join us as we explore the rich history of the New York Giants and NFL football, sharing personal stories, legendary players, and memorable moments from the golden era to the present day. In this episode, Harinam Khalsa and Edward Taub analyze the latest developments in NFL team management, roster cuts, and team strategies, with a focus on the New York Giants. They discuss coaching decisions, player performances, draft picks, and expectations for the upcoming season.

Key Topics

History of the Giants from 1959 to 2026
Memorable players like YA Tittle, Frank Gifford, Charlie Connelly
Evolution of NFL and Giants' team dynamics
Personal stories and experiences of fans and players
Notable games and moments, including the 1963 championship and 1964 season NFL roster cut strategies and trends
Giants' coaching approach and management style
Draft picks and player development
Season expectations and game predictions
Team building philosophies and player roles

#nygiants #yatittle #nflhistory #frankgifford

• (00:00) - Introduction and overview of Giants football history
• (00:27) - Introduction and episode overview
• (01:46) - Early memories and first games at the Polo Grounds
• (02:51) - Giants' draft strategy and recent player pickups
• (03:57) - The Giants' move to Yankee Stadium and legendary players
• (05:48) - Memorable games and iconic moments, including YA Tittle's injury
• (07:00) - Coaching changes and their influence on team performance
• (08:00) - The golden era of Giants football in the 1950s and 1960s
• (09:53) - The decline and challenges of the Giants in later years
• (12:00) - Personal stories of fans and the evolution of the sport
• (12:06) - Preseason insights and team development
• (13:58) - Modern Giants team and recent training camp insights
• (16:03) - Reflections on football's changes and personal memories
• (16:11) - Analysis of NFL draft decisions and player evaluations
• (17:57) - The significance of iconic plays and players in Giants history
• (19:57) - Looking ahead to the 2026 Giants and future prospects
• (20:09) - Team management philosophies and organizational structure
• (22:00) - Closing thoughts on football, memories, and the sport's evolution
• (25:06) - Expectations for the Giants' season and game predictions
• (29:59) - Closing thoughts and future outlooks

Creators and Guests

Host

Hari Nam Singh Khalsa

Hari Nam is a renown spiritual teacher, whose passions include opera, philosophy, photography and travel (to name a few). But on Sundays in the fall you can find him living and dying with his beloved New York Football Giants, following since 1959 and a season ticket holder since 1964!

Guest

Edward Taub

Lifelong Giant fan, attending his first game in 1954 at the Polo Grounds, still basking in the glow of the team's glory days and shaking his head during the long draughts in between. In spite of being far away from the bright lights of New York for many years now, Edward still keeps up daily with his beloved Giants, Yankees and Knicks, and of course now with his adopted love for the hometown Oregon Ducks.

What is Giant Conversations?

Hosts Hari Nam Singh Khalsa and Kevin Weldon provide their insights on the latest happenings in the world of the New York Football Giants. Drawing from twelve decades of Giants football fandom, their perspectives offer a unique and comprehensive view. They will also integrate their shared passion for world travel and curiosity for unique new experiences into each episode. Join them in their lighthearted and wide-ranging conversations, always infused with their unwavering love for everything Big Blue.

All right, we're back at Giant
Conversations,

and I'm Harinam Singh Khalsa.

And ~ I think you were expecting to see
Kevin Weldon,

but instead of Kevin Weldon,

you are going to be entertained for the
next hour,

perhaps, by my good buddy and lifelong
giant fan,

Edward Taueb. He reminds me

before that I'm the only one I think who
calls him Ed Taub,

but then I told him I don't believe I've
ever called anybody Edward before.

So at this late age I'm I you know,

I'm flexible persons. So I'm gonna call
I'm you know,

after all these years, I'm gonna call this
guy what he wants to be called.

I think that's only fair.

I ~

d but don't that does is that gonna change
the nature of our friendship at all?

'Cause if it does, I'm not interested,

Completely, completely.

you know.

Completely. But I'm I'm I'm flexible.

It it it's the kind of

All right.

things that keep us young. So ~ this is
your first time on here and

~ you're you're like a perfect per like
substitute coming off the bench for Kevin

Yeah, I

replacement here. Not not to not that
anybody's

Better or worse in these things,

but I'm I'm kind of excited to have you ~
as my partner here today because

you know Kevin ~ has followed the Giants,

I believe, since something like nine he'll
have to tell me,

but I think since maybe nineteen seventy
six or nineteen seventy eight.

And ~ in in our world,

~ he's like a newcomer.

He's a youth he is a youth.

Right? He's like,

yeah, he is. And and ~ now until I met
you,

~ especially meeting each other in Oregon,

that I believe that you know, no,

I took pride that I had followed the
Giants longer than anyone else because

the first giant game I saw was in nineteen
fifty nine,

which makes nineteen seventy six seem a
very long way off.

Right. And I

But I think that you

for my ~

If memory serves me, you completely shame
me in this category.

Nineteen fifty four I was taken to a game
by the father of a friend

and a friend and he was really into
football.

He was a big Detroit Lion fan.

And ~ we went to a game where Emlyn
Tunnell made

two interceptions, but the Giants lost
twenty seven to sixteen

~ against the Lions.

And

I I mean I didn't really know what was
going on a lot of the time,

but I kind of enjoyed it. And the next

Well the Giants were the giants were in
the polo grounds then,

year it was in the

right?

polo grounds, right. Which one of my
favorite venues.

I I don't know if you remember this,

It was, it was great. I saw the well I I'm
a Yankee fan,

but in the early days y yeah.

but I actually saw the Mets there.

I never saw a Giants game 'cause the
Giants moved to Yankee Stadium,

I believe, in fifty six when

Right.

they won the championship.

Exactly. ~ but they I ~ went to a football
game

at the polo grounds and then later in the
sixties when Harry Wismer owned

the the then New York Titans, if

Times, the times, yeah.

you had a high school ID you could go to a
Titans home game at the Polo Grounds

for one dollar. So I went to a lot of them
and

Yeah, well

a lot of the younger viewers they don't
understand that at all that that time

in sports. And I went, you know,

Right.

I when my dad started taking me to the
Giant Games

in Yankee Stadium in 1961,

~ the tickets were two dollars and f
actually I'm sorry.

When they the first I wish I had the
ticket,

but I think the first and in fact

You know, this thing I this graphic I have
behind me of YA Tittle.

Yeah. Right.

That was my first live football game.

Yes, I found this. I found this.

Really? God, that's that's really cool.

This is nine 1961,

1961. And that's the bleachers behind me
in Yankee Stadium.

I don't have any of these f yeah.

The stadium, right.

In the old

Yankee Stadium, in the old Yankee Stadium.

And and yeah,

I ~ yeah.

and one of the sidelines, you know,

was right along the field, and then the
bleachers were set back.

But th this is this was basically the I
think second year of the Dallas Cowboys.

That's the uniforms they used to have.

And YA Tittle, of course, was the big
star.

And now I'm and tickets to the a bleachers
seat,

which you were able to go, basically you
didn't even need reserve tickets.

You just walked up, right, ~ for a ticket
in the bleachers and it

was two dollars and fifty cents.

Yeah, I that I don't remember because I ~
I don't think I went I went to

a couple of games in the sixties,

but again a a really good friend of mine
from high school's family

had season tickets, so he would take me on
his ticket.

So I never

~

sat I never sat in the bleachers for
football games,

but the first game I went to at Yankee
Stadium,

~

were playing the Chicago Bears.

I just remembered this so distinctly
because it was so out of character

for this guy. But the Giants had a ~ a
seventeen to three late lead.

I don't know remember how late in the
game,

that part I don't remember. But Jimmy
Patton got beaten twice by Harlan Hill,

who was a big you know, he was probably
the premier wide receiver in those days,

for the Bears. And we t we tied and I just
remember that game distinctly.

wow. That w

Peace.

now that was that was in the early years
of Yankee Stadium.

Yes, the first year they played in Yankee
Stadium.

Fifty six. And then the Giants

Yeah.

landed up that's right, they tied,

but then the Giants killed them in the
championship set.

beat him, they murdered him in the

a game that we didn't I I was on a cruise
with my family,

but you wouldn't have gotten to see at
home because those were the days when they

blacked out local barcasts.

And I would have been four years old.

~ right, okay. I just I forgot.

You're

And

you're a you're a good deal younger than I
am.

yeah, like a whole lot. We're both
officially old people though.

And ~ and we and it

Well, I am ver you are old.

doesn't matter who we talk to,

we're the ones who follow the giants for
the longest.

That's

Right.

~ always true, me and you.

You were old. I'm older. I'm an older
person

That's true, you are.

now. I'm not just old. I'm very old
actually.

And ~ there was one other person who
probably,

you know, started watching right around
when I did,

which is he I we say this ~ rest in peace
to our good friend George.

yes, of course. I don't think he goes back

Who we used

as far as us.

He is my age. He would have been eighty.

Really? Wow. Well,

Yeah, he would have been eighty.

Yeah.

you know what? He

he left early, but he left in pretty good
shape.

He looked very young for his age.

Yeah, he also was a well I mean there were
four of us,

right? That we used to go to giant games
at at ~ Champions is that

the name we Yeah, at the Marriott.

In Portland. Yeah, champions in

And you know, it would be you and George
and me and our other friend Mitch.

I mean Kevin Kevin I think had already
left for Boston for the most part.

Yeah, I

don't know. You you s you know,

I d I don't I think I saw Kevin once.

There was a a a sports bar called the
Scoreboard on the east side of Portland.

and I think I I was at a game then and I
think I saw who he was or something.

I don't remember. But anyway.

But it was into

it. We know we had this this this like gi
little giants friendship circle

in Portland, Oregon.

Right.

And you don't find too many giant fans in
Portland,

you know, so ~

Right.

some but it it was interesting.

So we're all blessed by that.

And and you can see behind me f so ~ YA
Tittle,

I think we were talking about this
earlier,

that n that by the way, I so I don't
forget we were talking about ticket
prices.

So ~

My dad started with the season tickets for
the Giants in 1964.

I was 12 years old. I still

Right.

have I case so I've had giant season
tickets now,

right? For ~ 62 years.

It's really amazing. 62.

Yeah. It's oppressive and I'm sh I'm sure
it's it's sure it's quite

It's very impressive. Put that in context:

season tickets for 62 years.

a bit more expensive now, right?

And yeah, and so back then they played 14
games.

1964 they played 14 games, seven home
games.

Do you do you know what a season ticket
costs back then?

It's mind blowing.

Absolutely not. So tell me. What for a
season ticket?

It mind blowing. $28.

Reasonable seats or in the bleachers?

Every seat there

was great. It was in the bleachers,

but it was great. I I had

Yeah.

great, I was really on top of the action.

I had I was in the end zone. Okay,

because by that time there weren't

a lot of season tickets left. And I
believe in nineteen sixty four,

which was a horrible year for the Giants,

it followed right,

That was the year Tittle got hurt.

we'll talk about that one in a second.

But but but I this was after like a run of
the Giants really from

nineteen fifty six to nineteen sixty
three.

They only won one championship in that
time,

but they were many times in the
championship game.

And they were really royalty, ro royalty
in the NFL.

Five. Yeah. I mean

Right, they were fifty-six,

fifty, no, ~ no, six times. Fifty-six,

fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty-one,

Right. Nine, sixty one, two and three.

sixty-two, three, six times. Right,

Yeah. Which is pretty amazing.

can you imagine that? They were they

And if

were royalty, and a lot of those guys on
that team are in the Hall of Fame.

A lot of them. They were like football
royalty when football,

the golden age of

I

football.

And it was a magical time and it cost and
I was one of the people

who got season tickets right before it was
impossible to get season tickets.

And oddly enough, when the Giants were
like the kings of New York in football,

you could actually walk up on game day and
just walk,

you know, get a ticket at the box office.

The year that the tickets became literally
unavailable.

was in nineteen sixty four, which actually
began a run of I think seventeen years

of them not being

The bad football, yeah.

really bad. Now we're there again,

right? More on that later. We've had this
~

Ha ha ha ha.

more on that later. ~ but

Yeah.

you were talk we were talking before the
podcast about,

you know, YA Tittle, a very famous photo.

You know, if you're a giant fan,

even if you weren't born back then,

there's a very famous photo of YA Tittle
on his knees with blood

Plied, yep.

dripping down

his face, right? Because his helmet
actually got busted.

And they had like plastic helmets and his
helmet was busted.

He was bleeding. And I actually saw that
game.

That I actually remember that game.

I was twelve years old and it was
shocking.

Because really that picture signifies
really kind of the decline

of the Giants. When everybody talks of the
climate

Right, exactly.

giants, they show you this like famous
photo,

right? I saw that. I saw that game.

That was actually on the road.

They were playing

Pittsburgh early in the season,

okay? And you were actually saying that it
was Francis Pei.

Now I'm gonna I'm gonna battle you here.

You said it was Francis Pay who gave up
the sack.

But

Right.

but if you you know it's funny because as
we're getting older our memory is starting

Yeah, I think so, huh?

to go, unfortunately. I well I used

to be able to remember every giant going
way back to the 60s.

even their number. Now I don't even
remember the guy who played last week,

you know, in the backfield. But but back
then I remembered

Ha ha.

everything. And I for whatever reason,

I remember that they drafted Francis Pay
in nineteen sixty five.

And and YA Tittle

I don't think so.

played last in nineteen sixty four.

So it couldn't

Okay.

have been Francis Pay.

But here's what I remember is Francis Pey
was kind of driven off

the team after that. And maybe it wasn't
Francis Pey.

Maybe well, I don't know why I remember
Francis Pay.

No, no, I don't know why Francis Pay,

But

Francis

Pay was the one of their top draft
choices.

I think they trade I think they traded
their top draft.

No, no, Francis Pay, I think was their,

I'm sorry, I think Francis Pay was their
top draft pick in 1966,

maybe even. Because in 65 their top draft
pick was Tucker Frederick.

Tucker Frederickson. And I

Yeah, I remember that. 'Cause I l I I

saw Tucker Frederickson a lot in college
and I really loved.

And I think in nineteen sixty six their
top draft pick was Francis Pay,

if I'm correct. So but I don't think he
was with them in sixty four,

but maybe I'm wrong. But he if he was,

he was a rookie because he he was no,

I I but who's the g wasn't the guy who but
who's the guy who put Y Tittle down?

Wasn't it Baker who some s something?

~ I that I don't know.

Yeah, we're really getting into

Somebody somet I think his last name was
Baker.

I'm gonna check on my iPad here.

I'm gonna check on my iPad because I now
I'm curious,

maybe other people are in our our as of
now tiny viewer audience.

You're

right, it wasn't Francis Pei. I can't
believe it.

All these years I've been blaming Francis
Pay for

Who was it? Who was it?

I who was I don't know. I guess we could
look who clocked YA Tittle.

Okay.

who okay, I'm gonna say who put

why a tittle out of commission

Who missed the block that put YA Tittle
out of the out of football?

Okay.

and nineteen sixty four. I'll bet
artificial intelligence will know this.

I'm right, John Baker. I was right.

Was the was the giant or was he the
defender?

And they even talk

about the iconic photo taken by Maurice
Berman.

A newspaper photographer captured the
unforgettable image of

a bloodied helmetless tittle kneeling on
the ground right after the play.

And John Baker is so I'm gonna

ask now who was the person who

was the ~ player

Sacked him. ~

who did not block

John Baker?

Tiddle. Okay, let's see if I got an answer
here.

Let's see how good are and it doesn't

It doesn't say it says historical records
do not single out

one specific offensive player responsible
for missing the block.

Huh. See I could I have this memory and I
i it's maybe it's c whatever,

you know. But ~

Yeah,

they have actually I'm looking here,

they actually have the whole progression
of the play here.

But I don't know just the I don't have the
film of

Do you see a number?

it. No, no.

Okay. Well, all right. Anyway

No, they I'm

s I'm sorry, anyhow. We don't have the
answer,

I'm sorry for

but I had John Baker, I was correct.

He was the the guy that sacked Tittle or
what or Baker

Yeah.

was what? Yeah, okay. So Baker sacked
Tiddle.

We still don't know for sure who gave up
the sack.

Okay. Well, that's something of worth look
it's w

I mean I could okay,

you I sure that somewhere in YouTube they
have like the highlights of that game

Yeah. Yeah. So

and it's probably easy to find.

But anyhow,

we both saw that play. We b we did,

we both saw that play, right, on
television.

Right. I saw it on television.

In black in black and white.

I was in college. We watched, you know,

all these we all got together we'd get
together on Sunday all at

Who

was your favorite player?

Then

Yeah, like in that time of your life.

You were a young man, that was your team.

~ well okay.

Who who were you who was did you have like
a favorite player?

I had several. But and and they were all
equal.

I loved ~ I loved Charlie Connolly going
back a little earlier.

I did too. I really liked Charlie
Connolly.

So yeah.

He had a I he had a swag. He and he was
the Marlborough Marlborough ~ cigarette
guy.

~ yep. So

but and I love Tittle a lot. ~ Andy
Robostelli.

and

Also Hall of

Famer, also Hall of Famer. Charlie
Connolly Hall of Fa Hall of Famer,

I love Tene Yeah. I I loved I

Charlie Connolly, Hall of Famer.

loved Emmeline Tanell. Remember Erich Bar
Irish Barnes?

Also in the Hall of Fame? Very good.

I really liked Erich Barnes a lot.

Yeah, I know that

you talk about him. He was really great.

And Jimmy Patton. ~ I the there were so
many guys to really like.

I Del Shoffner, except for one thing that
he did.

I don't know if you remembered this.

He dropped it, he dropped a touchdown in
the sixty three championship game.

Bingo! Yep. Yep.

Wasn't a great pass though.

Yep.

Well still, it's Del Shaffner.

Should have had it. If he catches it,

Exactly.

they win the sixty three championship.

That's true.

Even if Tittle gets hurt that game,

they win

Yeah.

it.

'Cause it was fourteen

Doesn't get hurt, yeah.

they lost fourteen to ten, they would have
won seventeen to fourteen.

Yep, yep. But it was a it the pass was
behind him and and ~

It was windy, it was the really bad
footing.

They never should have lost that game.

Exactly. Exactly.

And that was

the end of ~ the giant dynasty right
there.

Right.

One that

was really not the game in Pittsburgh,

that was the end of their their dynasty.

So anyhow we we diverge.

You know, the great thing in talking with
you is that ~

We can kind of talk about those golden
days of giant football and you know now
you

Yeah.

have everybody podcasting and to them ~ to
a lot of them ancient giant football

is like the eighty six giants.

That's their child that's their

Right.

childhoods, right? But we s we were
already following the giants for thirty
years.

So in context that's really crazy.

Most of

and most of those years were pretty
frustrating and and dismal.

that

yeah, but you know what? ~ you know,

now if you're talking about the years
between nineteen sixty-four

and nineteen eighty one, right?

Right.

So so those were barren years.

But I have there were some years in there
that were really entertaining,

~ specifically nineteen seventy,

nineteen

~ right.

seventy two.

~ and I actually feel like nineteen
sixty-five when they got all those young
players

like Tucker Frederickson and they looked
like they were coming back.

And actually even the Tarkinton years,

especially especially nineteen

We said.

seventy, but but he ~ Tarkinton had four
spectacular years with the Giants

and they had Homer Jones. I and those
teams were I remember them

to being entertaining even though not
championship caliber teams.

Allie Sherman was their

Head coach and even though their defense
really sucked.

Their defense was terrible. But their
offense was actually very exciting.

And and they were very creative,

even though they didn't have good teams,

they were actually quite creative
offensively.

Defensively they were terrible.

I miss most of those games because I was
living in California.

~ I'd moved to California in ~ in seventy,

I think. Yeah, in seventy. And so I missed
a lot of these games.

The only ones I ever got to see were the
ones on national television.

and ~ that was one or two games or
something.

I just so I missed most of that.

So you're the

yeah, but you sound like you were in
California during a pretty interesting
time,

but that's a whole nother conversation.

~ yeah, it was. I mean that it

yeah, that's another podcast for un other
people.

But yes, I know. I and I was in the midst
of that too.

~ and so I never had to like

Yeah, that was that was

duck out on

when the that was that's when the country
was really crazy before

it got really crazy. Like now.

Right, exactly. It was just merely crazy
then.

Okay. So yeah, not not insane.

Now it's God knows what. I mean ~ you
know,

It was crazy instead of insane.

Okay, there we go. Another advantage of
being older,

I just my mother was yeah,

you kinda you know, there's the you know,

there's not a lot of benefits being in the
already now in the seventies.

You know,

Ha.

our age our ages, but we do get discounts
on the movies.

Yeah.

~

sometimes and on Amtrak and and and people

Yeah.

sometimes feel sorry enough for us to give
their seat on the bus to us,

okay? But ~

National Parks, yeah.

yeah, stuff like that. But but ~ on the o
on the other hand and and

~ the other advantage is you know while we
still have

our faculties ~ you've seen so many th
yeah well

Well, speak for yourself there,

brother. Speak for yourself

about still having faculty. I I'm missing
a lot of mine these days.

Yeah, well I don't think I've got all my
faculties here.

But but I think I think,

But

you know, we have a a little perspective
about seeing things,

actually for purposes of this podcast,

even about football, because we've seen
like the evolution of football.

I mean, when we started watching football,

right? I remember, you know, back then
when Giants played in Yankee Stadium after

the game.

You could actually walk on the field.

And I used to, my dad used to take me onto
the field,

and we used to walk on the field after the
game.

And I can remember like Sam Huff walking
right past me,

and he just

Ha.

looked like this gargantuan human

Yeah.

being, but he only weighed like 240 pounds
at the most.

I gotta tell

ya I I gotta tell ya, I you know,

remember Andy Robostelli, who was a great,

you know, a great giant defensive end.

I mean, yeah. Tw two twenty five.

Maybe two hundred and fifty pounds,

maybe. Unbelievable.

I mean small he's

People don't realize that.

s smaller than a lot of running backs.

See he was s smaller than Josh Allen,

I know, it's in it's incredible.

And now the Giant the Giants just

you know?

signed a guy who's like three hundred and
seventy-five pounds.

I mean it's that's like almost w that's
one and a half Andy Robostelli's.

I know. Back in those Yeah.

There was one 300

pounder when I was, you know, when I was
really young,

before the the s

Daddy Daddy Lipscomb.

before Daddy Lipscomb. So a

Really? Before Daddy Lipscomb?

guy named Les Les Bingaman. He was the
center for the Detroit

I heard of him. okay.

Lions, and he weighed 300. And I guess Big
Daddy ushered in

the ~ the ~ the era of ~

Big, not only tall, but really big,

heavy guys. He was incredible.

Gene Lipscomb.

well, you know what? We

we're gonna have we're gonna have to get
you on this show more because talking

to you,

Ha.

I realize how I no seriously even with
Kevin,

Kevin just goes back to the 70s,

just you know. And yeah and this reminds
me

I Kevin's a youth a young man.

talking to you, how much enjoyment I got

out of pro football when I was a kid in
the sixties.

Uh-huh.

And seeing

the Giants play at like Yankee Stadium.

And and and you know, the people I'm you
know,

the people who are this younger
generation,

I'm sure, you know, from there,

you know, they have their own experience
with all of this.

But this was before free agency,

before all this stuff. It really was a
different kind of game.

There's twenty-eight dollars for a season
ticket,

but

Yeah.

but you could actually go to training camp
and actually talk

Right.

to the players.

I went once, I forgot one year they were I
used to go to summer camp in

~ in upstate Vermont. And one year they
trained in a town called Winoski,

Vermont, which is near near Burlington.

And we went to summer camp, you know,

we took a a day trip in the bus and got to
watch and I remember I recognized

all the numbers, you know, of all the guys
that had been on the team.

That would never happen now.

No. Yeah. D do you do you know the G do

I I just I can't

you know the Giants used to train Salem
Oregon?

Yes, I do. I I read about that.

Yeah, back like

way, back like in I think the late
fifties,

early sixties, not many years.

It w it was all right.

Maybe it was just one

year, but they did train in s in sales.

Hopefully not near the penitentiary there.

Yeah.

It tr it you know, it that just dredged up
a memory.

I think that year they were trying to
convert Frank Gifford to a s to a
quarterback.

Mm. Which you know what? That reminds me
by the way,

In it in in training camp, but

he

was my idol. He was my favorite.

Well you know, I have a my ~ my
stepdaughter Carmen and Tomy,

they're their ~ cousin who is like the unc
a a a veritable uncle

to my grandkids, ~

He got me a Frank Gifford jersey for
Christmas a couple of years ago.

I should I next time

wow. Couple of years ago.

yeah, w when we yeah, as a obviously it
was not an original jersey from the day,

but ~ when you c when you're in Oregon and
you come watch a game we come watch

a game together, I'll wear it or or I'll
let you wear it.

You wear your Frank Gifford. my god,

Yeah.

what a I I I always wore like when I was a
kid,

I always wore sixteen. He was like the
only play he was like

my original sports idol. I'd get mad when
they threw at Del Schaffner because

I wanted Frank Gifford to catch every
pass.

Ha. Gifford made Yeah.

I did. And and Del Shoffner was taking
balls away

from Frank Gifford.

In sixty three they had to beat the
Steelers,

you know, to get into right.

Yeah, the last game of the season.

And Frank Gifford made the famous one
handed catch.

A one handed catch, yeah, right.

Yeah, but but we know

I think

not not up to the standards of Odell
Beckham Jr.

But but in that day, in that day

Well, who is? Well

nobody did but that was the first
one-handed catch I actually saw.

Back when nobody

Well.

actually even tried to do it. But he
coated off his shoelaces,

it was the most important play in the
game.

I know were you there?

No, no, I really could have too.

My father could have

We've seen

taken me. But but ~ you know, I landed up
watching it ~ I think in a sports bar.

I think my f they didn't have sports bars.

I think my father

No, no.

snuck snuck me into a bar or back then,

~ I really loved listening to Marty
Glickman.

That was almost better than watching it on
on television.

Marty

Marty Glickman was just such I mean he was
so just perfect

and he used to do ~ high school basketball
on Saturdays and he

was perfect at that. He was perfect with a
terrible,

terrible Knicks team. a series of
terrible,

terrible Knicks teams. He was just maybe
the ever.

My favorite announcer, period.

And my second favorite was a guy named

Ever. Ever.

Bill King who did

Warriors basketball in the Bay Area.

He was great too. Yeah, I know.

Ever. He he was ~ yeah, I if

He was cl he was

anybody has a chance to go back,

I mean I'm sure these things exist out
there,

some kind of audio recording of him and
Aldi Ragatis announcing the great giant

Yep. Call it.

teams of the early sixties. my god,

that was classic.

And tell and T and T regot

and T regdess actually calling the plays
ahead of time.

Yes. Being the first one to actually do
that.

Yeah, that was amazing. So anyhow,

Yeah. No, it was incredible. No,

those were Yeah. Okay.

let's let's let's jump here seventy years
forward.

I see, because I

Haha

I'm I'm sure that the younger if anybody
younger is listening to this,

they're already bored and and on to
something else.

As I say, they're probably ha

probably having a nap. W I ~

Although

although you know somebody our age,

no, they're the ones having the nap.

~ the people in okay. But I see,

Yeah. Yeah, there you go.

you

know, it's interesting. So let let's let's
go to the two thousand twenty six Giants.

We've been through

All right.

I mean b again putting things in context
for the last time.

Me and you go back following the Giants

for the last sixty-five or seventy years.

It's mind blowing. Actually.

Uh-huh.

mind

blowing. So we we have a lot of context
here.

So let's talk about the not the team of
our youth,

the team the

huh.

the team of our declining years.

~ the 2026 Giants and a good place to
start I see right behind

you there is a is a post that says where
every cut makes the cut.

So I think that's a good place

Ha.

to start what do you think about the the

As as we go towards the the ~ opening
game,

what do you think about ~ some of the you
know what w you know,

what do you what do you think of this this
this last tr training camp,

the first training camp and exhibition
games of of ~ Harbor

and ~ the decisions in particular that
they've made recently.

Do you have any any thoughts about those
going forward?

Yeah, I have some that may be important
and I know at least of of

two that are completely irrelevant,

but I'm gonna I'll start with those 'cause
I like going from irrelevant to

I when I was ~ a few years back when I was
I would you know,

late games on the West Coast they'd have
Fresno State on a lot.

And I saw Jake Hayner play quite a bit and

Yeah, in particular one game. They played
UCLA in twenty twenty one.

UCLA was ranked thirteen and Fresno State
was unranked.

And it was really it was like a high
scoring game and really close

and UCLA scored the go ahead touchdown
with like less than

a minute left. And Hainer had been beaten
up really badly.

I mean he they yeah, the

UCLA had a pretty good defense and they
were turning ~ turning Fresno State's

offensive line into Swiss cheese.

Anyway, Hayner is limping around.

His hip is a mess. And he can barely
stand.

And he somehow drove them the length of
the field and with fourteen seconds left

through the winning touchdown.

I was just totally impressed. The
toughness of this kid.

So I'm glad he made the practice squad.

How long has he

I don't know if it

been how many years has he played in the
NFL?

I don't know. He was originally I I d you
know,

I didn't really pay much attention to that
part.

But I do know this. He was a five star
recruit at UW,

University of Washington. Yeah,

really? Really?

and

he he left because I guess he thought he
was gonna get his chance

and they brought in the guy Browning,

~ from forget

so that's so

so that's been like six, seven years ago.

About that, yeah.

Browning was like that's when,

you know, we're both our you know,

it's an odd combination. We're both giant
fans and we're also big Oregon Oregon Duck

Really big Oregon Duck fans.

fans. Big

Oregon duck. It's an odd combination.

~ us and George Martin, right?

So but

Right.

not many Giants not many ducks have played
for the Giants.

You know, ~ Drones also played for the
Giants in two thousand seven.

Chiv Yeah, I remember Ruben Drones,

Ruben Drones,

Javon Holland.

we saw Ruben Drones. I think George Martin
was a little

~ before my time. And those are the only
and and then a couple of years

ago they had Lemieux,

Well it

who didn't work out as an offensive
lineman.

Right. But wait a second. Wasn't ~ George
Martin on the first championship

the first Super Bowl team? The one first
Super Bowl team we won?

N ~ yes, eighty six. Eighty six.

Yeah. That's before your time?

No. No, no, he played no no no,

you mean at Oregon?

but I right at Oregon.

Yeah, okay, I got it.

He he he came

to the Giants actually, I believe,

maybe nineteen eighty, around there or the
late seventies.

Some yeah, somewhere around that.

But I

I had never seen him play at Oregon.

~ and now

Right.

of course they got Holland who also played
for the Ducks.

Right.

And was really by the way, I know people
are don't get into college football

background. We saw Holland played for the
Ducks.

He was a very good player.

Ooh,

just incredible. I mean

Very, very good

play. And a very good pun returner,

I remember too. He's a very, very good
player.

and ~ well now of course now the Ducks
have become like a national powerhouse.

But we could with that's a whole nother ~
episode.

Yeah. Well yeah, really, that's that's
another podcast,

Right, right, right, right. So but ~ I
never saw

right? Anyway, so Hayner, ~

Hainer play no.

so I and also was glad that ~ Darren
Cambrai got picked

up on the practice squad. I've just really
enjoyed watching him on special teams

and when he well

Yeah, but you know what? The Giants,

I forgot the guy's name. ~ I forgot his
first name,

but his last name, Jones, not Daniel
Jones,

but there was some Jones, and they picked
him up after they they they

had like four spots open, and they picked
up this guy who actually

was a top-notch returner for Cincinnati.

He's the

~ right. Charlie Jones.

Charlie Jones. And you have to figure if
they pick that guy up.

is Berrios actually gonna s stick on stick
on?

I that's hard

Yeah.

to say.

Well, I guess I don't care. I'm just as I
said,

in terms of the practice squad,

the only two guys I really cared about and
was really happy they they picked

up were Hainer and ~ and Cambray.

But meanwhile, terms of the

Well the only the o

the only guy you know, one big difference
this year I'm sure you've noticed

is that in the last five to six years,

it seems that when they get to the
cutdown,

you know, they they kind of first of all,

during the whole training camp and during
the exhibition season they're pumping

up these guys. they look great in practice
and they're fantastic.

But then at the end a lot of those guys
don't make it.

Yeah, I know. They suck. Right.

And then then

Until this year, they have like made mass
cuts.

Like after, you know, they they're
supposed to get down to a certain amount,

right? And

Mm-hmm.

then they have a tentative practice squad.

And then they land up picking up like 15
players to fill the practice squad

and to actually go not right onto their
roster.

Not just the practice squad. They picking
up all these guys because it

I guess it means.

They're not happy with the team they have.

So they're picking up the scrap heap to
actually be on their final 53.

And

Right.

this year, it was very noticeable that
this is the first time in memory

for me that they really didn't pick up
anybody until

Yeah.

until like very late in the process,

maybe three or four guys onto the practice
squad,

but they didn't.

They didn't pick up one guy to put on
their 53,

except for the guy they actually traded
for it.

They didn't pick him up on waivers.

They traded for him. This is like very new
for them.

And I actually like

Right, I know.

the guy they picked up. I was watching ~
film of him on ~ on YouTube.

One of the guys who does the giant
podcast,

you know that the guy named Bobby Skinner,

he was first

Yeah.

on

Talking

giants and now with ~ he's got his own
show,

~ Giants Nation, I think. And ~ he does
these cut

ups ~ and analyzes these films,

right? So

Right.

he he ~ he was shown this film of this
guy,

I think his name's a Koye. He's from
Nigeria.

Yeah. Acheria and was discovered by ~
Oceum in Europe.

He's like seven hundred, he's like seven
hundred pounds or something,

you know.

But I was watching and I think what kind
of caught my eye,

'cause I I hadn't heard of him.

But I was watching the film of him and
he's actually not a big fat guy.

He's actually he looks like a well
proportioned athlete who actually

Chass.

could run at three hundred and seventy
pounds.

I I was like startled.

a v

yeah, a very, very large human being.

And you know, I absolutely agree with your
point and I I hadn't thought about it,

but we when we talked earlier in the week
you you mentioned this and it

it it really is telling in terms of in
terms of ~ how

Harbaugh is managing this team.

I did want to say one other thing though
about the old day,

you know, last year, the year before,

etc. You know, there might have been
talent on that team that didn't get

to show its talent because of the
coaching.

And in particular, Shane Bowen,

you know, the defensive coordinator.

~ I mean, the Giants really they have two
key

new new new additions to the defense.

Tremaine Edwards er is it Edmonds or
Edwards?

~

Edward.

Edwards. Tremaine Edwards and of course ~
Avril Reese.

and other than that,

though, I mean, you know, there's a lot of
guys who are who are holding over

who we'll see. I think, you know,

like Javon Holland's gonna have a much
better year this year.

I think a Dable may ~ resurrect himself.

I mean, De Deontay ~

Thanks.

Deontay Banks

apparently is i is, you know, in the
running for a starting position and

we know how pathetic he was the last
couple of years.

You know,

I find myself you know what, I was even
kinda rooting for Hyatt

and Neil just because I'd like to see
their draft picks work

out because historically

Right.

again we're going way back. Yeah,

you know.

Yeah.

I I I kind of always like to see the
Giants develop their own players.

There's kind of a

Right.

emotional attachment to them. So when they
trade for players,

of course I wanna see them do well,

but I don't have that same

relationship with them as people who've
been drafted.

So I I'd like it to work out. But it's a
it's ~ something we've talked

me and Kevin have talked about.

~ so you know it's it'll be talked about
until it's not talked about,

and that is that, you know, the team,

the product on the field for the last what
eight years

has been th this maybe the worst eight
year stretch

In my lifetime of giant football.

I mean, people always talk

~ yeah.

about the 70s, but I actually think this
is even worse.

This has been horrific. Now, the big thing
is now,

the big difference is that now the league
is doing everything possible

to ~ equalize the talent between where you
draft,

where the waiver wide, all these things.

So they have like no ex they now there's a
a salary cap,

they didn't have that back then.

So they're they're they're doing
everything they can to equalize this.

And in spite of having all these
competitive advantages,

actually, for eight years, they get to
draft every year at the

Yeah.

top, they get to pick up the the waiver
wire,

they get the easiest schedule.

They're basically doing everything they
can,

and they still are terrible. And so

You're

wondering about this, and of course,

you know, with Gettelman and now Shane and
and some of these coaches they've

had. ~ y you're like, is it the coaching?

Is it the talent? Is it both?

Yeah.

I I think it's probably both. And if if
it's both

Right.

the general manager and the coach,

then of course.

Who are the people who hire these people?

They don't, they're not delegating.

The people who own the team are hiring
both coaches and general managers

who are learning on the job when you're
like one of the most famous franchises

and you're hiring like first-time coaches.

Okay, you're hiring first-time general
managers.

~

Hopefully they get turned it around this
time.

But ~ the thing is,

it seems like they finally have

a coach and with a track record,

and I don't think he's unlearned how to
coach.

So now it'll be a question of whether they
have the talent.

But the thing now is that

He's actually, this is since we it goes
back to our experience with

the team, at least since when they brought
George Young in in the late 70s,

this has been a general manager driven
franchise.

The general manager has the last say.

And I think they wanted to keep it that
way because of the history of the team,

but they got to the point that they
actually couldn't do it because they
didn't

trust the general manager.

But they didn't fire him either.

So really the coach is running the team?

This team doesn't this team looks
dramatically different than it did a year

ago to me.

Well yeah. ~ I think it's interesting.

I I don't know how much it was a trust
issue with Shane or whether it it's been,

you know, the demands I mean Harbaugh came
in and said,

Look, I'm you know, I think part of the
reason he had

a disconnect in Baltimore and eventually
got fired is because

he and the general manager

might have been at odds. I don't know this
for a fact,

not stating this as a fact, okay?

But ~ apparently, you know, there were
some disconnects between he

and the front office. So, ~

You know, maybe he just didn't want that
to happen.

I mean, he's sixty three years old.

He doesn't want to BS around anymore.

And ~ so he drove the bargain that he
drove,

you know. ~ running the show or and he got
he got a a new salary cap person,

this woman that used to work in the in the
front office of the NFL.

~ d was it Dawn Dawn Aponte?

That's her name. ~ you know, so he he

He pretty much came in and said,

I'm running the show. Joe, you work for
me.

And, you know, I think they've they've
worked out pretty well so far.

They made the acquire trade. ~ although
Harbaugh said I made that trade,

but who knows, you know. Yeah.

Yeah, I think that was a slip.

I don't think he meant to I don't think he
was

But anyway, yeah.

trying to prove a point. I think but you
know what?

He he's he's saying out loud what
everybody kinda knows

But

is that is that he he's building this team
the way he wants to.

And and he took I mean, you go back to
training camp.

I mean he took the guys to ~ to West
Virginia,

you know, whereas they'd always the last
several years they trained

at their complex right in Jersey.

~ I mean, it's really clear,

and he ran more practices and longer
practices than ~ than Dayball did

the last few years. I I think,

you know, I think you're right about the
eight year slump and I think that twenty

twenty two was fool told.

Yeah, well the there was. They weren't
that great a team in twenty twenty

two either. They were a very flawed team.

In fact I think this is a much better team
than they had in at least in talent,

~ of course. Yeah, exactly,

a much better team than in two thousand.

and it'll be better coach. I mean,

if you remember the twenty twenty two
team,

~ they they got off to a great start and
then they just s

Yeah, well like seven and one or eight
crazy.

six yeah, whatever it was, they then,

you know, their true colors began to show
and they ended up what,

nine and eight or ten and seven.

Well they lost I I

think they they they lost like I think
what,

five of their last seven games or
something like that.

Yeah,

something like that. And then they win
they win.

Daniel Jones has a career day and they win
~ in the first playoff round.

~ and then they play the Eagles.

our friend Mitch came down to to my house,

our house for the game and you know I s
seven minutes.

It was over in five minutes. It was like
Oregon losing in the Indianapolis.

Yeah, it was like playing in the yeah,

It was Indiana the g Indiana, the game is
over in five minutes,

yeah. I mean it was both it was both

yeah.

it was both

Oregon playoff well, this year in Indy and
last year

Yeah, two years Ohio State too.

in the in the Rose Bowl, you know,

they just got mozzed fast. And that's what
it was like.

Yeah, but you know what? The the

team the g you know, one interesting thing
is that Dable coached here

for four years. But to me, there was only
one game.

That's that one game really marks his
entire fate here.

And that was the opening game in two
thousand twenty-three.

~ jeez.

He

lost they were thinking they were thinking
that they were they actually thought that

they were gonna be making a championship
run here.

Right.

And the first game they get they lose at
home against the team they

had to beat forty to nothing.

Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four.

I know, I rem and and not only that,

but ~ Andrew Thomas got hurt and missed a
bunch of games.

no, no, and right the the season was over
actually after that game.

Yeah, after that.

That season was

basically over.

That and then in twenty four, which was
what was the year of the h

the ho the hundredth anniversary?

Yeah, twenty four.

Yeah, they got blown out then.

In their first game against Minnesota,

Right, we're the opening game again.

Well,

right?

this is gonna be to me this game next week
is huge

for them because win or lose,

they have to kind of look competitive.

Like a decent team, yeah.

And I think I

actually think they're going to.

I think that the one thing Yeah,

again, you know, I don't put a lot in
exhibition games a whole lot,

but

Right.

~

And you know, last year actually,

people forget they w they were ~

I defeated.

undefeated. And not only that,

but I was reading the other day in the
athletic,

which thank you for turning me on to the
athletic.

I na they are very good sports writing,

I would acknowledge. I that's like one of
the few things I'm really interested

in reading about sports. Very very well
written in general,

about many sports. And ~ so I I've so
there's a little ~ promo for the athletic.

But ~ I read a few weeks ago where they
were talking about this and they said that

last year there was some kind of they did
some kind

of computer analysis based on what were
based

purely on the the ~

the performance in post in in the
preseason and if that would

carry over to the regular season,

Right.

the

Giants were like the number one ranked
team in the NFL.

So not only did they win, not

Yeah.

only they win, but but but on statistics,

they that whatever they put on the field
for the preseason was the best

of any team in the NFL. And then of course
they proceeded to

get getting action absolutely killed in
the first home game of

the regular season against Minnesota and
looked unbelievably unprepared.

So

Wait,

wait, wait, I think you sound at you
right,

That was twenty, I'm sorry, that's
twenty-four.

But they lost against Washington.

okay. Yeah.

So they they start

every year Ben. Every year they start bad.

So it

Yeah, I know.

was Washington. And they didn't play well
that game at all.

They were lucky. I mean, they could have
won that game,

but but they really didn't play well.

~ Washington was a little inept.

~ they could have scored a lot more than
they did.

That was the but that's when the kicker
got got injured like in

the warm-ups or something and never
played.

Right.

Right.

All

right, so the thing is this year,

okay, they just look like a professional
operation.

They look you know what I'm saying?

It's like it's hard to quantify.

Again, we've been watching football for
many years and you know,

you tr you get to trust your gut,

get to trust your eye, you don't care what
people

Right.

are saying. You've you've been watching
games for sixty-five years,

you know, nobody's hiring you as their GM,

but you trust your gut.

And you trust your eyes. And it to see it
seems to me that that

it just seems like they're a well coached
team,

even though they're winning with their
second to third string players against
second

and third string players, they look
actually well coached,

even at the even in the preseason.

Right. We didn't get to see this,

but the scrimmage they had against Miami
two days before

the preseason game, ~ they looked
apparently the first the first string
looked

really good. And I'm pr I'm pretty yeah,

Well they're playing against a really bad
team,

but that's

but still, I mean, you can look bad
against the bad team.

The Giants have managed to do that many
times over the years.

But I I you know, I just you know

the younger players like like ~ CC
Mawagawa,

~ Averill Reese, some of the guys that
have been been there only a year or two.

I I just think this team and the way it's
coached is gonna make a difference.

I'm not predicting anything other than
they're gonna be quite a

bit better and probably w you know win a
lot more games,

but it's

The other thing I

still not going to be

easy.

the other thing I really like,

and this is going back we've talked about
this.

This is going back really to when Jerry
Reese 'cause I th I think a lot of

I I mean I'm not

I'm not saying Jerry Reese sucked or I'm
not trying to,

you know, rewrite history here but

First couple years he was the general
manager of the Giants.

They won two Super Bowls. Okay.

Right.

And he deserves he does obviously deserve
some credit for that.

Deserve credit, right. He definitely.

But

but on the other hand, the core of that
team was built by Ernie Arcorsi,

not by him. Okay.

Right.

He'd even admit that. He I think he was
good.

He put some final pieces, but the core of
that team was put together

by his predecessor. And then he got really
kind of distance himself.

after

2011 season. And by the that's five years
later,

now it's really his team. And most of
those guys are either gone or in decline.

And

Right.

then then if the team started to look much
more like his completely than

a combination of him and Ernie Ocorsi.

And and we've talked about this that that
those he started getting cute

in my opinion, a lot of people's opinion
by trying to kind of

pick these kind of sexy, fast,

you know, athletic. But the team started
getting increasingly soft,

in my opinion, where they were a very
physical team.

He kind of changed and he started giving
these players to Coughlin.

But I think even though, yeah,

players stop listening and, you know,

coaches move on like Harbaugh did,

but I think that the players he was

drafting for Coughlin were not as tough as
the other players before.

And the team started getting increasingly
soft and and more geared towards

skill players instead of players in the
trenches as the Giants

had traditionally been. And by the time he
left,

the Giants were a soft team. And then ~
Gettelman came on and

I think that he was kind of more inclined
to old style

giant football and and got some big guys
like you know Dexter Gordon.

Dex Dexter Gordon. Dexter Gordon,

the jazz jazz Yeah, I'm like

Ha ha ha.

really losing it. Now now I'm I'm showing
my jazz I'm showing my jazz credentials.

Yeah. Yeah Dexter Gordon

Ha ha.

he drafted Dex big, big tall Dexter
Gordon.

Right. Okay. From big big big big miss big
right from

Big mistake, big mistake to draft a jazz
to to draft a jazz musician

the Yeah right from the van the village
Vanguard to Giant Stadium.

in the first round. Big mistake.

~

Okay.

~

That's

another podcast we'll talk about my
experiences seeing Dexter Gordon

at the Village Vanguard. But we're talking
about Dex Dexter Lawrence,

of course. He

Yes.

now to his credit, he did draft guys like
Dexter Lawrence

and Andrew Thomas when he could have made
mistakes that others made,

but but ~ he just didn't he made other
errors.

Okay. ~ and then they they get this

Yeah. It's his

free agent signings w yeah.

Joe Shane, who was supposed to,

this

Joe, yeah, that did him in. And and and he
got very few players in later rounds,

you know. ~ and it just in short it didn't
work out.

Then they get Joe Shane, who they're
bringing in supposedly because he knows

so much about drafting. That he was a
draft

Right.

expert and he was a talent scout,

you know. I could you

Yeah. Well and look what he did.

have had two words.

Probably

the two worst drafts, two or three worst
drafts in all the years

I followed the Giants. Wow, was that bad?

And

Well I

and they're still paying for that.

Well I wait a second. Now I remember you
calling me during the draft when they

~ they traded down instead of taking Micah
Parsons and they let Devonta Smith,

you know, jump ahead. And instead they
traded down and got Kadarius Tony,

right? That was pretty that's a pretty
major yeah.

And I and I was saying that's a major
gaffe.

Pr yeah. And then ~ the

Especially especially

when the guy is trying to say that you
know he's trying to build a as they

all say a culture and he

Right.

he drafts guys like this and and DeAndre
Baker.

Yeah, so DeAndre Baker, he traded up to
get him.

Right? Is he in jail now?

No. He actually had a little bit of a
comeback with ~ Kansas City.

And he broke his leg, yeah, he broke his
leg,

Yeah. Anyway.

but And you

know you know who just signed with the
Forty Niners?

Let me guess. Lineman? 'cause Azut Azutku
got traded to Kansas City,

right? ~ okay, who just signed with the
Forty Niners?

Give me a hint. What what position?

~ no no that I not

That's too easy.

a No, okay, I'll say this. Defensive back.

Okay. All right, I g I guess you know
names.

How about E Eli

Apple?

Real he's still around, huh?

Yeah, it's incredible.

He's been around for a long time.

Wasn't he on with the Saints for a while?

I know, but he was drafted I think he was
twenty or twenty-one when he was drafted.

Right. Yep.

But he landed up to be

And he was

a good enough pro player that he's around
for.

He was drafted in 2016. So that means,

Ten years. Yeah.

you know, he's in his

eleventh eleventh year actually.

Wow. Yeah, that is it is.

Yeah, it's incredible. That's incre and
he's

Well, what what about Bobby Hart?

Whoa,

what what about Bobby Hart? Talk about

You know what

about Bobby Hart? Both him and Bobby Hart
played for Cincinnati when they went

to the Super Bowl.

Wait, he's been around that long?

When did Cincinnati

Yeah.

last go to the Super Bowl? with Joe
Burrow,

~ that's right. Maybe what, four or five
years ago maybe?

that's right. Yeah. Right. Okay.

Yeah,

so Bobby Hart, who was terrible for the
Giants,

right? He claimed he was the best tackle
in the NFL.

I remember saying that. Ha ha.

I everybody remembers that, but you know
what?

It's getting contagious

He ended up

because I think I think this week Greg
Newsom was

Yeah.

was must not have been reading that
because he was in an interview this week

he said that the Giants had the the best
the best secondary room in the NFL.

~ okay well maybe room, but maybe not on
the field.

Maybe in the room they were really great.

That's it. That's yeah, but yeah.

We had some they had some great

discussions, some really good card games
and whatever else.

You know what?

Sometimes it's better to say nothing.

That's a good example. That's just don't
don't say not don't don't set

Yeah I yeah I

yourself up for ridicule. Just go out and
play

Yeah, I I

and

I will never argue that point.

I I 'cause there I just think in my own
life how many times I would have been

so much better off saying nothing.

Yeah,

in my case, virtually every day.

But that's another conversation.

~ I all right.

Okay. You know, ~

we only have a few minutes left,

but I thought that we should end w I mean
we could talk for hours.

we should end on on a couple of things.

One is ~ what's your short thoughts on the
Giants bringing back Odell Beckham

Junior?

~ as long as he can still play,

I'm thrilled with it. I love the idea of
his coming back,

his pretty much changing himself and being
a humble guy for a change,

you know, and I yeah. So

Yeah, he got me crazy when he played.

I just I was not a fan.

I was actually not a fan. I really was sad
because he was such a talent.

I was mm-hmm.

One of probably

the five best play. I mean, again,

we go back 65 years. I think it's arguable
one of the five best players

on pure talent than than I've seen

Certainly.

play for the Giants in sixty five years.

That's fair. Okay. But he's also

Yep. I buy it.

probably in the top five far as

Lunatics,

Kind of a a ~ turning kind of like turning

yeah. Yeah.

you off with the with the antics.

And we're older, so we I mean the younger
audiences I think go for this,

but we're from another generation.

We actually don't go for this.

We prefer people putting the ~ focus on
the team and not themselves.

And so I know that's what the younger
players do,

but we you know what fine. You know,

we get a break, we're from an another
generation,

but I think we're

I think it sounds like we're both happy
he's back and we're happy seems like

a wiser person. And I actually think that
unless he gets injured,

he's actually going to contribute,

that he still has more talent than the
guys there cutting.

And

Right.

and and and I think he could even be a
first strength for them if he stays
healthy.

I think that

If

he's going to be good.

if he can play the slot, I think he'll
play a lot.

And I on the outside I the guy that really
interests me,

I really want to see how he how he turns
out as a rookie is ~ is Malachi Fields.

Yeah,

that's a he's compelling, but again,

you know, that's one thing doing in
practice or in against against ~

Right, and or in the the pre season.

an unproven secondary and and

Right.

playing against second and third
stringers.

But you could see watching him why they
drafted him.

And

Right.

and it gets back to like we'll see how it
turns out,

but for the first time in a long time,

it looks like the people running the team
have have a

an idea of

Yeah.

what they're trying to build here and not
throw darts against the wall

and hopefully it'll turn out. Because that
it's like or a better one,

throwing spaghetti against the wall,

you know, and seeing what sticks.

It sticks, yeah. Yeah, 'cause you don't
ruin the wall that way.

I like that one better. Yeah, it's
throwing spaghetti.

This does not seem that.

Yeah.

Yeah, because because you could see that
in the last ten,

fifteen years, it seems to me they're
trying to pick

the best athletes and then figure out what
to do with them when they get them.

Uh-huh.

And

I think now they're not doing that.

They have this vision of what they want
the team to look like,

and they're gonna pick players that they
fit that mold.

Okay, so teams win with both philosophies,

okay, but to win with the first
philosophy,

you really have to coach guys up and make
them play together.

With this philosophy, it's more like you
have a vision and you're looking

for a certain type of player and

And I'm I really am confident with the
people running the show.

And if it doesn't even work out this year,

I'm willing to give them a little time
because I really am not feeling with
what's

happened before. So you know, they're not
they haven't spent a fortune

in free agency. They're they it just looks
like they're doing this

in a very business like manner and I'm I'm
hopeful.

They made two big time free agent
acquisitions this year.

And I think they're gonna both work out
great.

Tremaine Edwards

and and

and the other guy that they ~ that they
got ~

Jeepers.

likely.

Yeah, I say it likely. I knew it was an
offensive guy.

Yeah. Yeah, but they all fit, but but
these

Yeah, I think those two are gonna work out
beautifully.

guys also weren't just okay great
available players.

Yeah. No. You're neat,

They were filling a particular vision of
what they want the

right.

team to be. And and and likely,

really, to me, regardless of you call him
a wide receiver or a tight end,

is actually gonna fill the role that
Wandale Robinson did.

And to me, there's no way that Harbaugh
was gonna pay big bucks for a guy like

Wandel Robinson, 'cause the guy's a good
player,

but he doesn't want that kind of player.

I don't I understand it. He does

Yeah.

he wants a guy who can block actually.

Yeah. I I don't know, it which raises the
question,

which I guess is really not a question
because the guy's out for the year,

but what about Calvin Austin? Could he
block?

I I don't know anything about him other
than they signed him

fr from after Pittsburgh dropped him.

I don't think no. He he would be

he would be ~ an exception, but I think
they got him also for as a punt returner.

And

Right.

and and Berrios may not have made the
team.

He may have done that and also kind of a
gadget player,

but not as like a an everyday player.

Not as an everyday player, as as as a
gadget player.

~ take you know, like like

Yeah, well you know Yeah.

run the ball or take a take a a pitch out.

I he could do a lot of different things
but I don't think he would have been like

starting every play. He would have been
more of a an addition like a side edition.

Like a Dave Meggett.

Yeah, yeah, he could you know,

there's things he could do. He he was a
quick eye,

but I I don't but the Giants are gonna be
a running team.

They're gonna be a power running team.

And so a slot receiver is playing near the
line of scrimmage.

I don't see him getting guys who can't at
least get in the way of somebody.

Right.

There's no way. There's no way.

That's not that's not what they wanna do.

They want bigger human beings.

That I I so I get it, you know,

and

And they and they drafted really big guys.

I mean they they're going for a type of
team.

Well okay to end, what's you know,

we got a game coming up here. ~ I'm a
little nervous about it,

mostly 'cause I really don't know what to
expect.

~ what do you think's gonna happen in the
first game and w what do

you think the Giants record is gonna be
this year?

I don't know what's gonna happen in the
first game.

I think they're g I'm hoping they win.

I think they've got a better chance to win
this year than they have

the last few years in the first game.

So, you know, I can be hopeful but not,

you know, the just the difference between
hope and and expectation,

right? I don't expect them to win,

but I hope they win and I think they've
got a solid chance to do it.

I'm picking them to win eight or nine.

could still surprise a couple of teams.

But you know, I mean they're gonna have to
play the game two,

they've gotta play the Rams with

Right, and they gotta

pay Philadelphia twice, they gotta play
the Rams

Right.

and and s yeah, so they got in a lot of
tough games.

But you know,

So we'll say

but last year, even with a lesser team,

they were competitive against a lot of
very good teams and found a way

to bundle it at the end.

exactly. They should have beaten well
definitely Dall ~ Denver rather,

right? They should have they should have
beaten Detroit.

And those are better teams, you know?

And they had the Bears too, three,

Two ~ two heartbreak, two heartbreak.

and the Bears. Yeah. Not only not only
heartbreakers,

Three really good teams. Three really good
teams,

three hard heartbreakers.

not

I I will say this, okay, and then we'll
call it a day.

~ first of all

I you know, there's a lot of to me,

there's a lot of sinus pessimism about the
first game.

Okay. There's a lot of pessimism.

And there's an assumption the Giants are
going to lose the first two games

and their underdogs in their own stadium
in the opening game,

right? But they actually and and the
Cowboys are definitely better.

than they were last year. They their
offense was already good.

It's a little better. They've shored up
their defense.

Right.

But the Giants actually should have beat
them the first game last year.

That was

Yeah.

like they made a hand of the game to them.

And lost on what a an 85 yard field goal,

something like that. And ~ okay.

Yeah, almost that. I didn't get to

see that game. We were

~

no, that was the worst of the worst.

I actually do you know that I had to go to
the hospital after that game?

I had a kidney stone

No.

attack after that game. And I think the
game had a lot to do with

my kidney stone attack. So I I landed up
going almost

I

directly after they lost that game to call
the hospital.

All right. ~ another great memory.

and

Well

~ and then ~ they actually beat them at
the end of the year,

which doesn't mean very much.

Yeah, well that was

against Sir Junior Varsity.

But I don't think I don't

think the Cowboys were really any better
than the Giants last year.

And both teams

Well they

are better, but I I'm not there's always
that cowboy hype,

okay, but I'm not convinced the Cowboys
are better than the Giants

and I'm not conceding that game.

I and I don't know what to expect
actually,

to tell you the truth. So I don't

Well, that's why I say

hope hope versus expectation, you know.

But you know what?

Far as their their final record,

I think most people have them in the seven

to nine range. Okay.

Right.

Seven, eight, or nine, more more seven and
eight,

okay. But I heard something that made more
sense to me ~ yesterday.

I I'm quoting from other podcasts.

There's a podcast we both like.

we watch other podcasts and one of the
podcasts we watch is this giant insider,

right? And it it it used to be with what
what's his name there

was ~ Chris Besignado, right, who's very
good.

Chris Basiglio or something? Besignado,

yeah, yeah.

And then he got off of that, which I was
sad to see.

But then they brought on this guy,

Dave Silverström, I think his name is.

He's a draft analyst.

Right.

And he's not bad and he said something
yesterday that I I thought was insightful.

He cause the the what's it? Jerry ~ what's
his name?

I forgot his last name, but this guy j
he's the he's the host.

All right.

Yeah.

All right. And ~ he asked him,

Dave what he thought his prediction was
for the season.

And he kind of rephrased it, he says,

I'm not gonna say an exact game,

but the question is, and he was asking
this guy,

Jerry, this this question, right?

He said, What do you think has a better
chance of happening,

all right, this year, right? The Giants
winning thirteen games

or them winning five.

And

and I'm my first re and this guy Jerry
answered him the same way.

I thought that was a really interesting
question.

And I said, I actually think the Giants
have a better chance

of winning thirteen games than they do
five games.

So there's a definitely a different
expectation.

I'm not saying I think they're gonna win
thirteen.

And I'm more in line with your what you're
saying,

but I think that they

are significantly in better hands so much
for that I'd be more surprised

if they won five games this year than
thirteen.

Okay, this is saying no more no major and
no major injuries to any

of our key players. So yeah, right.

Of course. Well that you any team could
say that.

Any team could say.

And

and also though, I I think the key,

all right, is gonna be the run defense.

without a doubt. I totally agree.

That's the whole that's the whole thing.

That if they can't stop the run,

all bets are off the table. And if they
could

Right.

stop the run, anything could happen.

Right, exactly. Thank you. I buy that.

That's a that is that's a whole and it
really comes down

to really not even the run to me.

The linebackers are actually gonna be
fine,

okay, if they're not injured. It all comes
back and I think

S right.

the starters, ~ Reeder and Shelby will be
good enough.

The whole, to me, it all comes down to
actually their their

~ depth inside the line, because they
can't,

those guys are only gonna be on the field
half the time.

Right.

And so it all comes down to it and right
now they don't have it.

They they're the best guy they have.

I think the guy they just traded for with
like

Okay.

a seventh round, I think it was a seventh
round pick or a sixth round pick,

~ he basically is right now looks to be
their best backup,

even though he wasn't playing football
three years ago,

and it was in Nigeria.

Right.

Cause they don't have anything else that
you

That's right.

can trust and this guy Darius Alexander,

you know, I hope he turns out,

but he looks like you know,

Yeah.

maybe another bust.

She's playing the run as if he's on roller
skates,

you know. Yeah, and I think that or s Ice
skates with yeah.

that's what they say. That's the new ~
that's the new expression.

I was watching

him. He was there was a running play.

He literally got blocked ten yards
downfield.

Uhhuh. Yeah. So this'll be a real test for
the you know,

for their ability to develop someone that
obviously has some talent.

We'll see, right?

All right, well it was great ~ having you
on the podcast and

Yeah. Thank you for inviting me on.

and we'll definitely have you

before and for those of our who are still
somehow by miracle still with

us on this podcast here and we

Yes, right.

haven't alienated you. ~ you know,

please ~ you know we're we'll try to be on
every week after the games.

subscribe, ~ tell your friends about it.

And and we hope to see all of you as
regulars and even hopefully one day meet
you.

Thanks a lot for Edward, not Ed,

Edward ~ Taub here.

Thank you.

And and and I and and he will be hopefully
sharing his ~ his deep wisdom

of of giant history now

Yeah.

and then as we go along this season.

Okay? All right, thanks Edward,

All right. Thank you, Horinam.

and ~ we'll of course we'll be talking
Sunday.

Thank you for yeah.

Thank you for watching whomever you Yeah,

we'll also talk Saturday after the Ducks
game.

That's right, we double double dip this
weekend.

Double diffing, double diffing.

All right, ciao.

Okay. Adios. Bye.