Post by Roosevelt on Jan 30, 2019 21:49:08 GMT -5
Members of Giants’ 1986 Super Bowl share glory and pain of football 30 years later
Thirty years is forever in football years.
It's evident in Lawrence Taylor's memory loss and his pain walking, Phil Simms' body shutting down following back surgery, Brad Benson's severe limp and artificial hips, Maurice Carthon's stroke, Bart Oates' numb fingers and sore knees, Mark Bavaro's bad knee, foot, shoulder and back, Leonard Marshall's Parkinson's, William Roberts' malignant neck tumor and Stacy Robinson's death.
Thirty years can also feel like yesterday in football years with the lifelong bond created between football brothers.
It's evident in Harry Carson driving seven hours from South Carolina to spend two hours with Jeff Rutledge in Brentwood, Tenn., following a horrific car accident, Jim Burt insisting on picking Bill Parcells up at a Manhattan hospital after he had his shoulder replaced and driving him home to Saratoga, Carson driving Burt for his first physical exam 15 years after his career ended and Burt agreeing but only after Carson promises to take him, and it's evident with 10 teammates traveling to Robinson's funeral in Maryland, after his body succumbed to cancer at the age of 50 in 2012.
The 1986 New York Football Giants are one of the most beloved and dominant teams in New York sports history. They had great players and great characters and great love for each other.
They celebrated the 30-year anniversary of Super Bowl XXI not by asking each other about the kids and grandkids but, as Oates said, asking each other for recommendations on doctors for their debilitating aches and pains.
"Amazing how it's changed," Oates said.
They have formed a forever bond that only comes with winning a championship and hoisting a trophy together. Parcells, still the coach, regularly checks up on his guys who need to hear his voice, no longer intimidating but now reassuring. Carson, the caring and doting captain, has embraced the role of life coach, on call 24/7/365.
"You can't buy into that fraternity," Burt said.
Jan. 25, 1987.
It's been 30 years since Simms threw a near perfect game by completing a Super Bowl record 88% of his passes – 22-of-25 with the other three catchable — in the Giants' 39-20 victory over the Broncos, the first of Big Blue's four Super Bowl titles. The first one is always the most special, the most romanticized.
Life after football for many of the '86 Giants has been painful, even as many are too proud to admit the damage football has done to their bodies, particularly their brains. Two players even confessed to Carson that they once contemplated suicide.
"There's guys behind the scenes suffering in silence," Carl Banks said.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease known as CTE that is caused by repeated head trauma, has become the fear for men who banged heads for a living. As much as the players love Bill Parcells now, they hated the "Pace Party" he threw for them every summer for the first two weeks of training camp when the Giants prepared for the season at Pace University in Pleasantville. The only party favors given out were bruised bodies. It brought out the killer instinct in these well-conditioned warriors.
It was guards against inside linebackers. Tackles on defensive ends. Tight ends on outside linebackers.
"Man-on-man, head-on-head," Marshall said. "You knocked the living s--- out of each other for 20 minutes. It wasn't fun. Trust me."
That was just the warmup. Once the party was over, practice began.
"I walked around with a bottle of Tylenol the first two weeks of training camp," Marshall said.
There was no choice. Either you took part in the slugfest or your packed bags were left in front of the Pace dorms with a van waiting to head to the airport after one more trip to Foley's, the neighborhood saloon. Any player not into the physical nature of Parcells' camps was given only one choice.
"Aisle or window?" Marshall said. "Which seat would you like for your plane ride home?"
Marshall said doctors have told him Parkinson's disease is setting in. He lists the doctors he's visited – including Dr. Bennet Omalu, the first to discover CTE who was portrayed by Will Smith in the movie "Concussion" – in his typical rapid fire fashion. He said post-football health issues helped lead to his divorce.
"There's guys behind the scenes suffering in silence," Carl Banks said.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease known as CTE that is caused by repeated head trauma, has become the fear for men who banged heads for a living. As much as the players love Bill Parcells now, they hated the "Pace Party" he threw for them every summer for the first two weeks of training camp when the Giants prepared for the season at Pace University in Pleasantville. The only party favors given out were bruised bodies. It brought out the killer instinct in these well-conditioned warriors.
It was guards against inside linebackers. Tackles on defensive ends. Tight ends on outside linebackers.
"Man-on-man, head-on-head," Marshall said. "You knocked the living s--- out of each other for 20 minutes. It wasn't fun. Trust me."
That was just the warmup. Once the party was over, practice began.
"I walked around with a bottle of Tylenol the first two weeks of training camp," Marshall said.
There was no choice. Either you took part in the slugfest or your packed bags were left in front of the Pace dorms with a van waiting to head to the airport after one more trip to Foley's, the neighborhood saloon. Any player not into the physical nature of Parcells' camps was given only one choice.
"Aisle or window?" Marshall said. "Which seat would you like for your plane ride home?"
Marshall said doctors have told him Parkinson's disease is setting in. He lists the doctors he's visited – including Dr. Bennet Omalu, the first to discover CTE who was portrayed by Will Smith in the movie "Concussion" – in his typical rapid fire fashion. He said post-football health issues helped lead to his divorce.
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