This is a dedicated area for New York Giants fans to tell us their great stories about meeting players, witnessing a great game or anything else personally related to a New York Giants experience. If you would like to add one of your own, please feel free to do so in the comment area below. We accept all posts/questions and look forward to member participation. If you have any questions or suggestions, send us an email at nygreporter@yahoo.com and we will be happy to discuss it with you.
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The screen shot below was taken from NBC CH.4 New York on August 29, 2011 during the Giants vs. Jets preseason game.
nygreporter.com 
MEETING MICHAEL STRAHAN
I must have told this story to Giants fans a hundred times but I will leave it here for those of you who haven’t heard it yet. I met Michael Strahan during the NFL Experience in Miami back in the late 90’s. He was competing in the Defensive Lineman Challenge that was being televised for football fans to watch on TV. The NFL Experience is the pre-Super Bowl event held on the grounds of the hosting stadium.
During commercial breaks, the players come to the sidelines and sign autographs for the fans. I was the only person there wearing New York Giants gear. I was standing in the middle of about 100 people waiting for an autograph from Michael Strahan. I quietly held up a NY Giants mini helmet that I bought at one of the gift shops at the event. I thought to myself “there are too many people here and I would never get his signature today”.
Strahan saw me standing there in the middle of the pack and he told the crowd to part, move out of the way and let me up to the front. He was waving people left and right until I made my way up to him. He used the remainder of the commercial break from that point on to talk to me (about 5 minutes), he signed the helmet and shook my hand. I will never forget meeting him or how cool he was to a true Giants fan. Thanks Mike!
ATTENDING A GAME
My first story is far away from Giants Stadium. Back in 2005, the Giants played San Francisco in the Candlestick Park. Back then I went to college in Forest Grove, which is just outside Portland – Oregon, and my roommate actually held 49ers season tickets. Knowing I was a huge Giants fan (wasn’t hard to do so, as I had a Phil Simms poster over my bed and wore a blue Giant cap all the time – I still have the cap).
So, when the regular season schedule was released and the Giants were to play in San Francisco he took me with him to watch the game. What I didn’t know was that his seats were in the front row on the sideline level, i.e. pretty good seats. We got there pretty early – like early morning – with a keg, so you get the picture…Anyway, when the Giants players went out of the locker to warm up I was already half-drunk in my seat.
Now, I don’t know if it was because I was the only one in blue, or if it was because I was screaming my lungs out like a drunk maniac at the warm up, or maybe a combination of both, but the Giants players started to notice me. I remember Amani Toomer and Brandon Jacobs first waved at me as they jogged by. Jay Feely stopped by for a talk, and signed an autograph for me. Several other players waved, or made some type of signal to me, as I continued to cheer loudly and proudly.
That’s when the magic happened. I was beginning to settle down, thinking about my next beer, when I finally saw Eli Manning within shouting range, so I called his name at the top of my voice (which is saying something – I’ve been nicknamed Thor because of that, lol). I was like “ELI, YOU’RE THE MAN! WIN US THE GAME! YOUR’RE BETTER THAN PEYTON!” and stuff like that, when he turned to me, located me in the sidelines, and jogged about 35 yards just to greet me. The guy was all class, shook my hand, took a picture with me, and signed my jersey (I got that jersey framed afterwards, LOL).
From that moment on I was hooked. The guy who was already my favorite player treated me so nice I couldn’t believe it. Oh, and just to complete what was already one of the best days of my life, the Giants won 24-6.
Great Story Saulo. I’m glad to see that all is well with you after the damage in Brazil.
GIANTS STADIUM
I don’t have any awesome stories about meeting players because, well, I haven’t met any yet. My story is much more simple, but I still cherish it. Growing up my uncle had season tickets to Giants Stadium, mind you they weren’t great seats but they would do just fine for me. My favorite part was just tailgating in the parking lot, where as long as you wore blue you could go to any car you wanted and grab a burger or have a drink (soda lol).
Anyways, the last time I went to a game was the 2000 season and I went to the Detroit game and Big Blue lost 31-21, I was convinced, being 8, that if I watched the games they would lose. As a matter of fact for the rest of the season every game I watched start to finish they lost. Then they got to the NFC championship game and I was not going to miss that. My family always knew to let me watch alone during big games (I can get pretty loud haha) so all alone I watched start to finish, and the G-Men pulled it out big 41-0. I thought the “curse” was broken…then the Super Bowl came…oops. Funny how our minds worked when we’re kids. Haha
Great story Josh, you just summed up everything great about football. I love doing the tailgating too and my family knows that I like to watch the Giants games alone lol. It’s funny that your family knows that about you too buddy. Great Story!
What do you mean by “I don’t have any awesome stories”?? This story is terrific. These childhood memories summarize the spirit of sports like nothing I can think of.
I think it is amazing how we as little kids get to love a team so much without even understanding the game completely.
Awesome story Josh!!
NEW YORK GIANTS HISTORY
Check out this great video of the history of the New York Giants on hulu.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/124087/team-highlights-giants-forever-history-of-ny-giants?team=new-york-giants#s-p1-sr-i1
MEETING FRED ROBBINS
Fred Robbins was a cool guy to meet. I met him back in the summer of 2006 at a gym in North Jersey down by the river. He will know which one I’m talking about. I was off from work the day I went to the gym and it was empty by mid-morning. I went upstairs to the 2nd floor to workout when I literally bunked into Robbins coming around a corner.
I said hello and it is nice to meet you and all of that but I found him to be a real cool guy. This is a player I wish the Giants could have kept and I hope he can return to the team in some capacity down the road. He is a tough guy who was really starting to come around when he left the team. New York has nothing but love for ya Fred!
THE AUTOGRAPHED FOOTBALL PART I – DAVID TYREE
Meeting David Tyree was an unexpected plus that capped off a great day. I went to the New York Giants Draft Day party back in 2007. David was doing a live radio interview from inside the bubble. He was very happy to be there and smiling as the crowd of about a thousand people stood and watched him give the interview. To the right, there were autograph tables set up with three long lines leading up to the different Giants players waiting with a smile.
I walked over to the stage as he was leaving the interview, there were about twenty people there looking for autographs. When David stopped and starting signing, I realized I had my football with me and asked him to sign it. He looked like he had a cold and kept sneezing so I said “God Bless You”, he looked at me, took my football and said “God Bless You too” as he signed it. I told him New York and Jersey had his back, he said thanks and that was it. I’m told he had a pretty good catch in Super Bowl XLII. I’m glad he retired a New York Giant. God Bless David.
That’s a mold-barkeer. Great thinking!
THE AUTOGRAPHED FOOTBALL PART II – RICH SEUBERT
I’m actually telling this story backwards in a very Tarantino, Pulp Fiction type of way. Before meeting Mr. David Tyree inside the bubble, I met Rich Seubert inside the stadium. It was a perfect day at the stadium at the 2007 Draft Day party. We got to walk on the field and take a locker room tour. Some good stuff if you’re a Giants fan and especially for the kids. I’m glad I took the stadium tour before they knocked down the old Giants stadium. I did the same thing at Yankee stadium before they replaced it with The House the Boss Built.
So we wait in line to go in and meet Rich Seubert who was a replacement for a late arriving Reggie Torbor. The line moved pretty good and when I got up to meet him, he signed my football and we talked a bit. He said he wanted a beer because of how hot is was inside the tunnel area. I said No problem, I’ll bring you back a beer. It was a good idea, so I bought my friend and myself one as well, 3 beers total. When I tried to go back in and give the beverage to Seubert, a cop stops me and says “where do you think you’re going?” I said “I’m bringing Rich Seubert a beer” He said “OK wiseguy, let’s go, move it along and get out of here”. I could see this wasn’t going to go anywhere, I said “no problem officer” and drank two beers instead of one. Sorry Rich.
MEETING DE OSI UMENYIORA AT A MUSIC STORE
I met Giants all-pro DE Osi Umenyiora at a music store about two weeks ago. I’m not sure how I could have overlooked the fact that I had met him once before too and forgot to write a comment about it here in the NYG Fans section. The first time I met Osi, was at a traffic light in New Jersey on River Road a few years ago when he was on his way to Tiffany’s in New York to get his Super Bowl ring. I saw on him on TV a couple of hours later wearing the same suit he had on in his car. We talked about winning the Super Bowl for the length of the light and then went our separate ways. He was very cool.
The second time I met Umenyiora was in the music store a couple of weeks ago. We talked while we were on line about his contract situation and I assured him that some Giants fans, like myself, think he deserves to be paid in a big way. He had missed some games to injury, so we talked about how he was felling and he said great and ended up playing the next day. Hey Osi, if you read this, what was that CD you picked up? lol Even GM Jerry Reese cannot deny that Osi is playing on an all-pro level again. They need to offer him at least a 4-year deal that locks him down on the Giants roster because we need him and he knows the system. He is without a doubt one of the coolest athletes I’ve ever met off the field.
If you have a story to share with us leave a comment below.
[…] NYG Fans […]
I do not have an awesome story about meeting a Giants player, the closest I have come is Kevin Boss. At Giants camp two years ago, I invited my brother to join us since he was visiting from Oregon. My brother knew Kevin’s HS coach and introduced himself to Kevin after practice. What I found was that he was one of the nicest and most engaging people I had ever met. It was a sad day when Kevin left NY for Oakland, but the back story of that decision was something I found out from my brother after the fact. Kevin wanted to stay with Big Blue, but he could not pass up the opportunity to being so much closer to his family, with his brother playing soccer in Seattle and growing up in Oregon. The west coast was two big of a lure (plus the additional money Oakland offered. He did not make his decision until his agent contacted him once he landed back in NY, where he was going to sign with the Big Blue.
I think it worked out all around for both parties.
That’s a cool story AJ and just another example of a cool player off the field. They are not all egotistical athletes like some people out there like to think. I really did not want to see Boss go but I understand why he did. The Giants sure did do well with the way Jake ballard has been playing.