Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs (right) sacks New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning at Soldier Field Oct. 10. The Bears won, 27-21.
Credit: Courtesy of MCT
Twelve dollars. That’s all I spent on a New York Giants football sweatshirt that I’m truthfully too scared to wear at the risk of being ridiculed. It’s hard enough being a fan of a football team in a different state, but it’s even harder when that team has yet to win one of its six games this season.
I was born and raised in New Jersey, so being a New York Giants fan is all I’ve ever known. I was taught that the Giants are the best and that I’m supposed to hate the Philadelphia Eagles … which I do. Being a fan of the G-men has never been a problem until this season.
Coach Tom Coughlin is 67 and is in his 10th year coaching the team. He’s one of the oldest NFL coaches ever, but after earning a pair of Super Bowl rings for the Giants, it doesn’t appear he’ll be going away anytime soon.
The Giants have won two Super Bowls in the last six years (2008 and 2012). With a history like that, you would think that they would be a team to fear. This year, not so much. They’ve had their worst start to a season since 1976 and quarterback Eli Manning has had arguably the worst season of his career, currently leading the league in interceptions with 15. Ouch. That’s gotta be rough while his big brother Peyton and the Broncos are having an awesome season, winning their first six games and leading the league in total offense, passing yards and points scored.
Since I’m a fan of Ohio State football as well, I can’t imagine how current Giant players, former Buckeyes Jonathan Hankins and Jim Cordle feel right now. Playing on the OSU football team has spoiled them into not really knowing what a losing consistently feels like. In Cordle’s five years at OSU (he redshirted in 2005), the team was a combined 54-10, and in Hankins’ three years, the Buckeyes were 30-8, including the 12 vacated wins in 2010.
My goal is not to bash the team I’ve grown up watching, it’s to share a little bit of my disappointment OSU fans might not understand. This is the first time my friends who are Cleveland Browns (3-3) fans are laughing at me.
In my mind, this season is over for the Giants. Will I still watch the games? Yes. Will I still have hope that they can win a game? Of course. Will I wear that $12 sweatshirt anytime soon? To be determined. But I’m pretty sure it’s impossible to come anywhere close to the playoffs at this point, so my heart is a little broken for them.
