John Delach

The 2008 Improbable Playoff Season

John Delach

November 2025

Mike arrived first having set sail from his home in Fairfield, CT at 2:30 am.

Mary Ann drove the two of us first to Joe’s house. Joe was sitting on his front steps when we arrived at 5:00 a.m. Our second stop, was Dave’s house. Dave and his son, Tim were ready when we reached them too. Dave’s wife, Jamie, gave us hugs and wished us well. It was around 5:15 when Mary Ann drove us out of town. “You do realize the last time most of us were together in this truck was when we drove home from the loss to the Patriots.” Dave informed us.

This led to an animated discussion about the playoffs, the team and the Super Bowl that Mary Ann enjoyed. Traffic was light on this Saturday morning and we arrived at the American’s departure area at LaGuardia Airport before 6:00. I explained to the Red Cap at curbside check-in: “Before we check our bags, three of us need boarding passes for our flight from DFW to Tucson. If you can get them for us, there is a substantial tip waiting for you.”

He replied, “Give me your driver’s licenses and I’ll be right back.”

He collected Joe’s, Mike’s and my licenses and disappeared into the terminal returning ten-minutes later with three boarding passes. “Hot dog!” I exclaimed as I handed him a $20 tip and another $20 for checking our bags. I called Mary Ann to let her know that we were in business. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that our flight to DFW had been postponed from 8:15 to 9:20. Joe discovered this as Dave, Tim and I ate breakfast. “We have a problem. If that delay slips, we could miss the flight to Tucson. One of the agents I went to see about a seat in an exit row thinks she can get us on an earlier flight.”

We followed Joe back to the agent. She told us, “One hundred eleven of the 132 passengers booked on Flight 707 have checked in. I’ll put you on stand-by. You better go to the gate as it departs at 7:15.”

Nice gal, she put us at the top of the list. Michael then schmoozed the gate agent who told him he thought we may have a shot. We waited as the flight was loaded. I was about ready to give up when the agent shouted out to us, “Okay, get on now as quickly as you can. Don’t worry about your seat assignments; just grab any empty seat you see.”

We scattered about the 737 that departed on time. Of course, our bags remained with the luggage for the later flight so if that plane missed the connection, so would our bags. Later at DFW, we learned that we had escaped this crisis when we found a group of passengers who were on our original flight. They made it despite the delay and, presumably, so did our bags.

I told my mates that I had just called Mary Ann to update her on our progress and that, so far, all was well. “Well boys, here was her reply, ‘That’s good news. Now calm down and have fun. But, John, this is the last time that you can go on one of these trips. Then again, by the time the Giants get back to the Super Bowl, you’ll probably be dead.”

The connecting flight to Tucson on an MD-80 was uneventful, but the Red Cap who procured our seats back at LGA really did us a favor seating the three of us in the exit rows.

On arrival, Mike told us that he had a text message from Steve who had arrived first. Steve was happy to report that the hotel was clean, well-kept and close to a BBQ restaurant and a WAL-MART that sold liquor, wine and beer. Once we boarded the mini-van that Dave rented from Enterprise. I told Joe, “Joe, Steve doesn’t know that Doctor Mike plans to spend Sunday night at our hotel.”

“So what?” Joe asked.

“Well, I figure that Doctor Mike didn’t reserve a room. That means he’ll stay with Steve or you. When Steve finds this out, he’s going flip out. You’d better be prepared to let Doctor Mike be your room-mate.”

A short ride through beautiful downtown Tucson northwest on I-10 brought us to the Best Western in Marano, Arizona. Following a quick check-in, we hooked-up with Steve and headed to WAL-MART for provisions for the room and tomorrow’s tailgate. Steve told us that The Texas Roadhouse BBQ joint across from our hotel had agreed to supply us with ribs, chicken and pulled pork for tomorrow’s tailgate.

Once his brother, Jamie and son Justin arrived, we walked over to The Texas Roadhouse to place our order and have a drink. Even though it was early, this family restaurant was mobbed with patrons filling the restaurant, the bar, a holding area, the waiters’ stations and outside the front door. The manager advised Steve to return later so we drove to Li’l Abner’s Steakhouse.

I had seen a favorable review of this casual place in the AAA Guide and a fellow Tucson passenger that morning had confirmed it to be a good place to eat.

It was located in a single-story adobe style building that looked to have seen better days. They cooked the meat outside on a huge grill mounted on a circular stone wood burning stove. When we arrived, we saw chicken, ribs, and steak on the grill. Our cute and nice waitress, Alex was helpful. She told us the menu was oral which, of course set the guys off. When we asked her what appetizers they offered, Alex replied, “We don’t do appetizers.”

We decided to order full racks of beef and pork ribs for the table as our starters. When Alex delivered our order, she couldn’t resist commenting, “Well, I guess we do have appetizers after all.”

We ordered steaks as our main course. It was a good feed and they served Fat Tire Beer on tap, a sweet beer that I first enjoyed in 2005 on a trip to Fruita, Colorado.

Over dinner, we let it leak to Steve that Doctor Mike planned to spend Sunday night in our hotel. As anticipated, Steve reacted badly, “What, what. Well, he better have his own room because he’s not staying with me.”

To rev him up further I said, “Maybe you should check at the front desk to see if he reserved his own room,” knowing full well he did not.

We nudged Joe who replied, “I have a single bed. I hope he doesn’t mind a pull-out couch.”

Before returning to the hotel, Steve stopped to see the manager at The Texas Roadhouse and gave him our order. Steve related, “He is coming in early so that we can pick up the food at 8 a.m. and he didn’t ask for nor would he take a deposit.”

The Giants 2008 Improbable Playoff Season

John Delach

November 2025

TicketRESERVE e-mailed us almost as soon as the NFC Championship game ended confirming that we were entitled to buy tickets for Super Bowl XLII and how the process would take place.

“Do you really believe this worked and we’re going to the Super Bowl?” Dave asked, my son, Michael and me while we were celebrating.

“Unbelievable,” I replied. “Simply unbelievable. I bought the options as a lark. It was like walking into a big casino with a single silver dollar, picking a slot machine at random and hitting their monthly jackpot.”

“Who knew,” Mike said, “Who knew!”

Our improbable journey continues.

Giants NFC shirts and hats went on sale as soon as the sporting goods stores opened on Monday morning, the national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Mike, his two boys, Drew and Matt and I drove to Roosevelt Field and purchased every article we desired between Modell’s and Dicks. His boys send the tickets rode a merry-go-round before we left the mall. Mike and I wore our new NFC Champion hats while we watched and waited for them. An anxious young man in a regular NY Giant cap asked us where we bought them. “Right in Dicks. There’s a table full of them when you go inside. If you want a shirt, they’ve got a ton of those, too at the other end of the store.”

We stopped at Dave’s house on the way home to drop off two hats and two tee shirts.

During the week leading up to the Packer game, my old pal, Steve Beslity sent me an e mail asking if any of our tailgate buddies were going to that game. I replied, “Not that I know of, but Dave and I had options for the Super Bowl and, if the Giants were going, so were we.”

This message put into motion a dynamic that I didn’t anticipate, our tailgate friends were coming to the game. I never thought to tell them about the options. Damn, it was a lark, something crazy to do. But the world flipped; the Giants were going to the Super Bowl and they wanted in.

The hunt began. Steve, (who resides in London and was traveling to the States on business) made plans to fly into Tucson. His brother, Jamie worked on securing tickets and our fellow Port Washington fan, Joe Minadeo also signed on. They all booked rooms in the same Best Western and Joe booked the same flights we were taking. Jamie bought four tickets through a scalper and by the end of the first week we had put the trip together. There would be eight in our band, Dave and Tim, Mike and me, Steve, Jamie and Jamie’s son, Justin and Joe.

There being eight of us, we agreed not to drive to the game and rented a Korean Church style van and driver to pick us up at the hotel at 9 a.m. on Sunday. I went on line to the University of Phoenix Stadium and purchased two parking passes. We would use one and sell one. Jamie discovered when he booked the van that Arizona had recently passed a stiffer DWI law mandating a 45-day jail term for a first offense.

On Thursday, January 24, we received an e mail from TicketRESERVE stating that they weren’t going to send the tickets by FedEx until the following Thursday for overnight arrival on Friday, February 1^st  Talk about cutting it close. At least now I knew what I was going to be doing next Friday; anxiously waiting for the tickets to arrive.

The parking passes arrived on Monday, but my anxiety level continued to climb waiting for Friday and FedEx to arrive with our game tickets. Joe Sharkey wrote in his weekly “On the Road” column in The New York Times that Arizona was crazy with Super Bowl fever and airline tickets were out of control. US Airways was charging $3,309 for a round-trip coach ticket from New York to Phoenix for Super Bowl weekend. United’s fare was $2,450.99 and American’s, $1,857.

By Wednesday, another issue raised my level of anxiety. When Dave’s travel agent booked our flights on American, she didn’t have seats for Mike, Joe and me on the leg from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to Tucson. Dave and his son were the only exceptions. I feared       overbooking was in progress, especially after I called American and discovered that seats on three of the four later flights from DFW to Tucson were also closed out except for airport seat assignment.

The alternatives to reach Tucson from DFW bordered on the ridiculous. We could possibly take a Taxi to Love Field in Dallas and switch to a flight on Southwest Airlines to Tucson or transfer to an alternate American flight to El Paso, Texas and drive four hours to Tucson.

There was a force at work here that was truly testing us. Dave called me on Thursday morning. “You’d better open your e mail. We have a big problem with the tickets. The weather in Chicago and Memphis has screwed up delivery.”

Part VIII Preparing for Arizona continued:

I realized right away that, if TicketRESERVE  sent our tickets at the last moment, it could result in an enormous problem.

I opened my emails and found a message from TicketRESERVE marked URGENT advising that FedEx had declared “National Service Disruption” due to freezing rain and sleet at their Memphis hub. FedEx expected 5-7” of snow as did TicketRESERVE at their Chicago HQ.

TicketRESERVE decided to establish an onsite will-call in Phoenix, where we winners could pick up our Super Bowl tickets. This will-call would be open on Saturday (2/2) from 2:00 PM – 6:30 PM local time at the Comfort Suites at Metro Center, 10210 N. 26th Dr. Phoenix, AZ, 85021

They informed us that, if you cannot make it to the will-call on Saturday due to travel plans, please let us know immediately and we will work out an amicable solution.  Everyone picking up tickets will need to present a photo ID.

“Oh swell.” I replied to Dave. This phone call led to a number of e mails and phone calls that confirmed that their representative would also be available on Sunday up until noon at the same will-call located in the Comfort Suites Hotel We authorized them to take our tickets to Phoenix where we planned to pick them up between 11 a.m. and noon. Fortunately, Comfort Suites is located about ten miles from the stadium parking lot.

Attending this Super Bowl has become insane. When Steve, Jamie, Doc Michael Attubato and I ventured to Tampa for Super Bowl XXV in 1991, the face value of the tickets was $150. Ten years later, when we returned to Tampa for SB XXXV, the price on the ticket was $ 350. The face value of tickets for Super Bowl XLII is $700. Now that’s inflation.

Late on Thursday evening, TicketRESERVE advised that my two tickets were in the upper deck, Section 423, Row 23, Seats 13 and 14. I called Dave as we had asked them to coordinate our seats, and they did. Dave’s two seats were in the same section, Row 22, Seats 15 and 16. Good enough for government work.

NOBODY, BUT NOBODY, EXCEPT US DUMB-ASSES WHO SUPPORT THE NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS GIVE OUR TEAM ANY CHANCE.

The Patriots were going into the game 18-0; the best team in professional football. The 1972 Miami Dolphins went undefeated and won the Super Bowl, achieving a record of 17-0. All the Patriots had to do to achieve immortally was quite simple, just beat the Giants. The odds makers listed the Pats as 14-point favorites. This betting line modestly retreated to 12 by Friday, still a fabulous endorsement of the new, yet still growing manifestation of an NFL dynasty. Who indeed, in their right mind would pick the Giants over the Patriots?

Even I had to admit that everything being equal, the Patriots should collect their fourth ring.

Bill Briggs, my son-in-law’s father telephoned me on Thursday, January 31^st. Bill and I enjoy sports. He’s a New England guy from a little town outside of Springfield, Mass and a good friend. Here’s what he told me, “I’ve done great this post season. I haven’t lost a game yet. I’m betting on the Giants on Sunday.”

I didn’t ask Bill if he was only relying on the point spread, figuring I’d let sleeping dogs lie.

Friday brought a ton of rain and another development. Mike Attubatto (Doctor Mike) called to let me know that he and another tailgate regular, Ahab Ali had bought tickets on E-Bay and were flying to Phoenix tomorrow. “Do you want me to pick up the tickets for you?”

I thanked Doctor Mike, but said we’d get them on Sunday. We decided that he and Ahab would meet us at the Comfort Suites and we would continue to the stadium together. “I also need a ride back to Tucson. I have a 7:45 a.m. flight on Continental to Newark.”

Fortunately, we rented a ten-passenger van that would accommodate all of us. I wondered if it still had the name of a Korean Church painted on the sides.

At 5:31p.m. WFAN’s premier sportscasters, Mike (Fatso) Francesa and Christopher (Fruit Loops) Russo made their Super Bowl predictions. Fatso picked the Patriots to win 35-17 and Fruit Loops, in an effort to be clever, picket them to beat the Giants 49-7 so that the point differential would be 42 as in Super Bowl XLII.

Perfect! Let the game begin.  

The Giants 2008 Improbable Playoff Season

John Delach

October 2012

 Coach Coughlin appeared on his WNBC show on Sunday morning. Sports announcer, Bruce Beck asked him what he told his team about playing in the NFC Championship Game? Coughlin replied with a smile on his face, “I told them that if you win this game, you’ll be something special. If you lose, you’re another team just like the rest.”

I liked the look on his face and how loose he seemed to be. I had my hopes and my doubts. Michael drove down from Connecticut with his wife Jodie, their two sons, Drew, Matty and little Samantha. The boys had on their Giant Jerseys and Sammy was dressed in her Giant cheerleader outfit. We watched the Patriots easily beat the San Diego Chargers despite Tom Brady throwing three interceptions.

The Pats were now 18-0 and only the NFC Champion team stood between them and perfection. They didn’t beat the 14 point-spread winning the game by nine points. They didn’t beat the spread the week earlier, but only bettors should take comfort in this. All you have to do is review the outcome of Bill Belichick coached big games to realize how cruel the Patriots can be. The other teams never had a chance, but Coach Belichick’s teams engineered final scores that were close enough so that the teams’ fans actually believed that with just a couple of coulda, woulda and shouldas their team would have beaten the Pats. “We came so close. If Joe had done this, or Bill hadn’t done that…” fuheddaboudit

And now with the added incentive to have a perfect season, nobody, I say nobody will give the NFC Champion team a chance. This then is what the Giants will face if they beat the Packers. And so, we gathered to watch the game about to be played on the famous frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.

The night was clear, but frigid. Coach Coughlin’s face was a measure of the temperature. By game time, it was really red and, as the game progressed, his forehead and cheeks increased in color until they were so red, that shades of purple infiltrated his face. He looked as if he was about to explode.   

Eli began the game well and the team played like wild men on offense and defense dominating the Packers on both sides of the ball. Even so, Green Bay held Big Blue at bay forcing them to settle for two field goals and a 6 to 0 lead.

Their quarterback, Bret Favre, and his receiver, Donald Driver, turned a short pass into a 90-yard touchdown putting the Packers in the lead. The action went back and forth as the lead changed hands two more times until the teams found themselves tied at 20 points each. The Giants remained the aggressor but Giants kicker, Laurence Tynes, missed two field goals in the fourth quarter, the first from 43 yards, the second from 36 yards with seconds left on the clock.

The Packers won the toss in overtime and selected to receive the kickoff. Fortunately, for our side, quarterback, Favre, promptly threw an interception to Giants defensive back, Corey Webster. After the Giants were stopped on third down at the Packer 29 with five yards to go, normally, it would be Coach Coughlin’s decision what to do on fourth down; kick a field goal, punt the ball back to the Packers or go for a first down. Instead, Tynes made the decision for him by sprinting onto the field, before Coughlin decided what he wanted to do.

Michael Eisen, writing for Giants.com reported that Tynes said, “I went out on the field and I didn’t wait for him to say, ‘Go kick.’ This way he would have had to pull me off the field if he didn’t want me to kick it.”

Luckily, our coach accepted Tynes’ cheeky move and let him kick.

Eisen added, “Jeff Feagles, the Giants’ punter and holder, figured he’d have to perform one of those duties on fourth down – he just didn’t know which one. ‘The next thing you know I saw Lawrence running on the field and I thought, ‘Well I guess he (Coughlin) must have said go for it.”

 The coach said later that since Tynes had so much confidence, he decided go for the field goal. We watched without much confidence, but Tynes kicked the 47-yarder straight, true and long enough to sail above the cross bar. Later, having the luxury of watching many replays, I saw the Giant linemen raise their arms as the kick sailed down field. Lawrence Tynes took one good look at the ball and then sprinted to the locker room in the opposite direction before the officials signaled that the kick was good. THE KICK WAS GOOD!

All hell broke loose at 27 Roger Drive. We hugged each other and shouted. Jodie and Mary Ann came running in, the phones started ringing, our daughter Beth called, the whole world called, Dave opened champagne, I broke open my Middleton Irish Whiskey, oh lordy, lordy! Celebration city!! …Only little Sammie slept through it all.

The Giants were the Champions of the National Football Conference. They had won three games all of them on the road against the Number 4, Number 1 and Number 2 Seeded Teams and they were going to Glendale, Arizona for Super Bowl XLII and SO WERE WE!

Part V: The Option

The Giants 2008 Improbable Playoff Season

As soon as the Cowboys game ended, I turned to Dave and said: “If the Giants beat the Packers, I’m going to take my son to the Super Bowl. I have no faith that I’ll get tickets through the Giant season ticket lottery and I’m not looking to sell the options that I bought. What are you going to do with your options?”

“I’m not going to try to sell mine either. I’m going to take my son, Tim.”

“Great.” I replied. I was not happy with the alternative airline options that I had secretly checked out on line and Dave had a good travel agent. So, I said, “Call your travel agent tomorrow and ask her to check out flights into Tucson, Las Vegas and even San Diego. Tucson should be our first choice. Don’t try US Air / America West as all their flights go through Phoenix and are sold out. Don’t forget Southwest, they have several flights out of Islip via connecting point like Chicago and Baltimore. We’ll need a hotel and a rental car. Make it a minivan as they’re the roomiest and tell her to use someone like Enterprise where they don’t kill you for extra drivers.” (They don’t call me Control for nothing)

I know this is all confusing, what options, what are you talking about? Okay, time out, here’s the story:

Late last January, a few days before Super Bowl XLI  was played, I saw an article in the Sports Section of The New York Times about some chap who had enough imagination to create a facility for fans to buy options for tickets to major sporting events. The site was called TicketRESERVE.com. They guaranteed that if your team got into the Super Bowl you, the option holder, would be able to purchase tickets to the game at face value. What a great idea. They must make a ton of money since only two teams go to the Super Bowl. Any fan who buys options for any of the other thirty teams is out of luck.

I Googled TicketRESERVE and found that the asking price for the Giants was $148.00. The opening asking price is based on the odds Vegas sets for each team to get to the Super Bowl. “What the hell,” I said to myself and bought two options. Total cost $316.72 including a transaction fee of $20.72. I told Dave Brackett about the site and he also purchased two options.

Dave’s agent, Debbie did well. She found the single daily Jet Blue flight, but when she realized that the outbound flight didn’t leave until 7:10 p.m. arriving in Tucson at 11:04 and the return was a red eye, she suggested American via Dallas. We could fly out on Saturday at 8:15 a.m., arrive in Tucson at 2:30 p.m., return on Monday leaving at 3:00 p.m. and return to LaGuardia at around midnight. She pre-booked the flight and also booked us into a Best Western in Marana, Arizona, 30 miles north of Tucson and about 100 miles south of Phoenix. A good distance to travel back from a Super Bowl, but it shouldn’t be a problem with four of us.

Our improbable journey continued. Adios to Tampa Bay, the NFC’s 4^th Seed, adios to Dallas, the 1^st Seed. Next up, the 2^nd Seed, the Packers in Green Bay.

The cold, the cold, the cold; that is what filled the endless space of the scribes and talking heads. Can Eli play in the cold? Can the Giants play in the cold? Should they wear gloves? The longer the week went on the colder the forecast became for the game on Sunday. The Patriots game was the so-called early game. Since it didn’t begin until 3:00 p.m. the Giants – Packers game wasn’t scheduled to start until 6:42 p.m. The prediction was for 2 or 3 degrees at the start with a wind chill factor of -20 to -25 degrees.

My feeling about the Giants lottery was confirmed on Saturday when I received the following message:

Dear Season Ticket Holder:

Thank you for purchasing 2007 season tickets and for your continued support of our team.

The allotment of Super Bowl tickets to participating teams is very limited. In order to distribute the tickets as fairly as possible, we have held a computer-generated lottery, weighed by seniority. We are sorry to inform you that your name WAS NOT SELECTED in this random drawing.

We wish we could have all of our fans with us in Arizona but unfortunately that is not possible.

Sincerely,

New York Football Giants

The irony not being selected didn’t happen until four years later on the Thursday morning before Super Bowl XLVI was to be played. My phone rang with a call from the Football Giants. The agent confirmed my identity then said, “I am happy to tell you that you won the lottery and you have two tickets waiting for you at the team’s office in East Rutherford, NJ. You will need to bring cash or a bank check for $700 for each ticket and you have to pick them up by 5 pm tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” I replied,  “but tomorrow I am scheduled to receive a new hip at Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.”

“I see, well good luck.” And he hung up.

I was certain he was already speaking to another lucky fan who would be gleefully going to the game.

On the Outside Looking In will not publish on October 21,but should return for October 28.

The Giants 2008 Improbable Playoff Season

John Delach

October 2025

The prize for beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Number Four Seed, was the dubious privilege to play the Number One Seed in the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys in their home stadium.

Nobody, I say, nobody thought Big Blue would beat America’s Team and win this game. In fact, not a single Number One Seeded team had ever lost its first playoff game in eighteen years! Added to that, the Cowboys had beaten the Giants in both of their two regular season games played that year. The Cowboys were favored to win by 6 points.

Despite the odds, the Giants were playing with the house’s money. Going into the 2007 regular season, the Giants were suffering turmoil and controversy on the field and in the press. Coach Coughlin held his job by a thread and the teams early 0-2 start set the stage for the tom toms to starting beating his demise.

But once again, and I do love this because, when a team that is down and out upsets all of the pundits, experts and talking heads by snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat. It is a reminder of one of the basic tenants of sports: And That’s Why They Play the Game!

Game Three was an away game against the Redskins that began as a continuation of Big Blue’s poor showing in the first two games. By halftime, the Giants had sunk to a 14-point deficit as the Redskins led 17-3. Incredibly, New York rallied from this deficit and engineered a victory that included a game-ending goal line stand.

Wow, out of nowhere, with zero expectations, this victory launched the team on a six-game winning streak. Then, after they beat the winless Dolphins in a game the NFL showcased in London, they ran out of lousy teams. After a week off to re-adjust to Eastern Time, they lost to the Cowboys for the second time this season. The rollercoaster ride continued as they edged the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears, but lost to both the Minnesota Vikings and the Redskins.

The team was still adrift until the second half of the Buffalo Bills game that they won despite Eli Manning’s lackluster performance, when running back, Ahmad Bradshaw, scored on a long run and the defense returned a pass interception for a touchdown. The last game of the season was a total effort against the Patriots that, despite the loss, launched Big Blue into the playoffs.

The Cowboys were rightly confident that this was their game to win. To reinforce their confidence, their owner, Jerry Jones, declared that the game would be a white-out and instructed all fans planning to attend the game dress in white. He also left an envelope in each players’ locker containing two tickets to the NFC Championship Game to be played next weekend in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Despite the hype, the Giants scored the first touchdown when Armoni Toomer turned a short pass into a long touchdown when the Dallas defenders failed to follow his moves after he caught the ball. Giants 7-0.

I watched the game at Dave Brackett’s house. Of course, we were pleased, but the Cowboys tied the score: 7-7. In the second quarter, Big Blue pinned the Cowboys deep in their territory as a result of the Giants punter, Jeff Feagles, giving Dallas terrible field position thanks to his coffin corner kick. But their quarterback, Tony Romo engineered a second long and damaging drive culminating in Dallas’ second touchdown: Cowboys 14-7 with 43 seconds left in the second quarter.

Dave and I groaned, especially when, Troy Aikman, doing the color on Fox, said: “The Giants have to move the ball down the field to score.”

Dave reacted to this: “Fat chance. Maybe, one or two shots, but that’s it.”

Instead, Manning moved them down the field hitting rookie, Steve Smith who was wrestled out of bounds by his face mask making the refs tack on 15 more yards. Then Manning advanced the ball by hitting Mike Boss and Toomer for a Giants touchdown. Halftime score: Giants 14-Cowboys 14.

We were stunned. We were still concerned by the message the Cowboys sent in the first half that they could move the ball on Big Blue, but still, the game was tied. The Giants defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnola decided to abandon the heavier pass coverage he used in the first half and throw everybody and their dogs directly against Romo to rattle him and disrupt the flow of the game.

It was at this point that the Cowboys decided to lose the game. First, they abandoned their effective running game. Second, they dropped a couple of passes that should have gone for big chunks of yardage and, third, Romo did become rattled. The Cowboys managed a field goal, but the Giants countered with a sustained drive and a rushing touchdown scored by running back, Brandon Jacobs. Jacobs almost blew the score by throwing the ball at the 24 second clock, but fortunately, the game officials chose not to throw a flag.

The game ended when the Giants intercepted a Romo pass that he threw in desperation. Final score Giants 21, Cowboys 17.

The look on their owner, Jerry Jones face, as he stood on the sideline when the game ended was priceless.

Next week the Giants would play the Green Bay Packers for the right to go to Super Bowl XLII.   

The Giants 2008 Improbable Playoff Season

John Delach

Our flight didn’t leave until 8:15 and it wasn’t even 6:30 by the time we finished dinner so we found our buddies in a bar attached to the restaurant. As we sat down one of them said, “Do you know who those people are sitting over there?”

I followed the direction he indicated but, before I could focus on the two men and two women dining at that table, my son exclaimed, “Wow, that’s Archie Manning.”

I studied the slim man who was just about six feet tall and silently admitted to myself that I wouldn’t have guessed that this was the legendary former quarterback of the New Orleans Saints and the father of Peyton Manning, the quarterback of the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, and Eli Manning our beleaguered quarterback who had played a smart and effective game against the Bucs earlier today.

As I realized that this was indeed Archie Manning our friend advised, “The other fellow is the oldest brother, Cooper, the older woman is their mother and the blond is Eli’s fiancée.”

Obviously, they came to see Eli play and were returning to their New Orleans home. “I’m surprised they fly by commercial airline.”

After a while, Archie left the family so he could have a beer and watch the football game from the bar. When Cooper joined him, they were so close to our table that I could touch them. Michael said, “Dad the resemblance between Cooper and Eli is amazing.”

I replied, “I’ll give you a dollar if you tell them to please move because they are blocking my view of the game.”

Without missing a beat, my six-foot five son stood and said, “Excuse me gentlemen, but you’re blocking my father’s view and he’d like you to move.”

Then he turned back to me before they could react and loudly continued, “Okay pop, give me the buck.”

I handed him a dollar and he turned back to Archie and Cooper, “Would you both mind autographing this bill?”

They laughed out loud, and we chatted as they obliged his request. Archie was also kind enough to autograph one of the Bucs pennants that I had confiscated. I explained that I stood on it during the game. “I decided to take it with me if the Giants won. It’s like seizing the enemy’s battle flag. I’m taking it back to New York where it will grace my garage with your signature.”

And so it does.

We had aisle seats on the flight home. The good news of flying on a Sunday night is that there aren’t many other airplanes in the air, we left the gate on time, took off without delay and arrived early. One interesting note about the flight back to LaGuardia, Mike was sitting next to a young woman in her Twenties and a man about my age. I had seen them at the pool on Saturday. “Dad,” Mike said, “They won their tickets from the WFAN Radio contest.”

“That’s great.” I answered. Then I added, “I saw you two at the pool, yesterday. I guessed that you are father and daughter, or is this some Ozark situation going on?”

Mike blurted, “Geez, Dad.”

We both arrived home fine. Mike drove his car. I had a local car service meet me. I didn’t remember the driver, but he remembered me. He was happy about the outcome in Tampa and provided me with a running commentary as to why the Giants won and the Bucs lost. I was impressed. He had all his ducks in a row. Still, I could only think; what an awful ride this would have been if the Bucs had won.

The Giants 2008 Improbable Playoff Season

Joe, our host from Big Blue had told us to be outside the hotel, checked out and ready to go by 9:45 a.m. When we woke up on Sunday morning, a low ground fog covered the hotel parking lot,  but the TV weather man promised it would burn off producing a bright and sunny day with temperatures in the high 70s. We first saw blue in the sky once we were on the bus which pulled out a few minutes after ten. The driver took us to a grass parking lot where Joe had arranged a tailgate catered by Sonny’s a Georgia/Florida BBQ chain. Mary Ann and I had eaten at their restaurants several times on car trips to Florida and I’ve always been pleased with their fare. I walked over to Joe and congratulated him on his choice, then added, “Joe, just one thing, the owners are Baptist and they don’t serve beer.”

“I know, I know.” Joe replied. “That’s why I used other sources to supply the beer.”

We discovered how close we were to the airport when two small private airplanes buzzed us on their landings. Joe announced that he had four additional field passes available and set up a contest for a second chance. One of the winners was a nine-year-old kid traveling with his dad. When Mike realized that the boy’s father didn’t win, he told me, “Pop, I’m going to give my pass to his dad. I know how I’d feel if one of my boys had to go on the field without me.”

Damn, I was proud of my son, but all I could say was “good for you.”

The word buzzed around the tailgate about what Mike had done. Everyone took joy in it. Then Joe said, “Oh, what the heck, I can get another pass. Mike, you’re coming on the field, too.”

The field pass group left early. I joined a group of guys heading for Raymond James Stadium. I had been there once before for Super Bowl XXXV. Once again, we were in the upper deck. Last time we were in Row BB. This time we were in Row Y, three rows in front of BB. These seats are a long way from the playing field, high and far back, I later joked with friends that we were so high that when the Florida Air National Guard did their flyover in their A-10 Warthogs, Mike got the pilot closest to us to autograph his program.

Mike arrived just before kickoff; he had much to tell me. “Dad, it was great. I got to see and say hello to several players. I saw Tiki Barber and his family. I hugged Tiki and told him that he’s my hero and I don’t boo him when his photo is shown at Giants Stadium. I asked Tiki’s son, ‘Who are you going to root for, today, your father’s old team or Uncle Rondi, (Tiki’s brother playing for the Bucs)?’ He replied, ‘The Giants,’ but I wasn’t too sure that he meant it.”

“I also met Jonathon Tisch, (Co-owner of the Giants) and told him his father would be proud of this team.”

It was hot by kickoff. To pump up their fans, the Buccaneers had put battle flags in holders in front of every seat. Our section was about 75% Giants fans so many went unclaimed. I took a red flag and a white flag put them under my feet and vowed that I would take them home if the Giants won.

The first quarter was all Bucs and hot. The sun took its toll on me and after the game, Mike asked, “Dad, did you doze off during the first quarter?”

“I sure did, Mike, a couple of times. It wasn’t until the Giants got going that I came alive.”

And so they did. After spotting their nemesis, Jeff Garcia, (the Bucs quarterback) a touchdown at the end of a long drive, the Giants came back with two touchdowns scored by the guest of honor at last night’s cocktail party, Brandon Jacobs. One by land and one by air; he gave Big Blue a 14-7 half time lead becoming the first Giant to do this in a playoff game.

 A fumble recovery on the Bucs opening kickoff led to a Giants field goal and a 17-7 lead. The Giants then ran a lengthy drive that continued into the fourth quarter culminating in a touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Amani Toomer: Giants 24-7.

After the score the Bucs public address announcer shouted to the crowd that the Bucs drive of the day was their first touchdown. Fully revived, I shouted back, “:Yeah, and their second-best drive of the day will be the drive home.”

Garcia did lead them to a second touchdown, but took too much time off the clock in the process. Still, he did get one more chance, but the Giants intercepted a sideline pass and the game was over: Giants 24, Bucs 14.

The walk back to the bus and the mini-tailgate at the bus were superb.  A good number of Bucs fans treated us with warmth and humor, congratulating us and wishing us well. Needless to say, the driver received a substantial tip. The trip to the airport was short and sweet. Mike and I used curb-side check-in.          

Exhausted but feeling very good, my son and I toasted each other, the Giants and all the players who contributed to today’s victory. We chose a seafood restaurant in the airport’s food court across the corridor from a Friday’s that was chock-a-block full of boisterous fans decorated in game jerseys, tee shirts and golf shirts bearing the Giant colors and logos.

Quiet was a nice change from the atmosphere where we’d spent the afternoon, high in the noise and sun of the upper deck of Raymond James Stadium. We ordered our drinks and food from menus and enjoyed a quiet dinner sharing our joy that the Giants were still in the playoffs.

A fellow from our travel group stopped to invite us to join a few fans watching the late game on TV at the far end of the restaurant.

 “Sure, we’ll see you when we finish.”

The Giants 2008 Improbable Playoff Season

Who knew? Turn back the clock to that late December game in Buffalo against the Bills. The Giants were trailing, Eli was struggling and the wind, rain and snow, all conspired to break Big Blue compelling the Giants to look forward to the following weekend and force a victory from the omnipotent Patriots on Saturday night in Giants Stadium. Doubt, yes there was doubt. Once again, it seemed that the situation was in doubt and our season was over.

But amazingly, Big Blue rallied in spite of the weather to defeat Buffalo, guaranteeing a spot in the playoffs. I called my son and said, “Michael, if the opening round is against Tampa, let’s go. But if we’re playing Seattle, that’s too far to go for me.”

He agreed. When the Redskins stumbled making them the last seed, our trip to Tampa was secured regardless of the outcome of our game against the Pats.

The debate in New York on the sports talk shows preceding the Giants-Patriots game centered on the issue of whether or not Coach Tom Coughlin should play his starters in an effort to prevent the Patriots from achieving a perfect regular season record of 16-0. The smart money seemed to say that the Giants should rest as many starters as possible on the theory that the game meant nothing to the Giants and that preparing for the playoff game against Tampa the following week was more important. Coach Coughlin would only say, “I will do what I consider to be in the best interest for the team.”

Coughlin’s plan was to bring all of his weapons to bear and take it to the Patriots. The result was a hell of a game that the Patriots won despite a strong effort by Eli Manning who threw four touchdown passes and the New York defense put up a good fight. But the Patriots controlled the game and won. Curiously, the losing team and their coaching staff walked away with a swagger, a swagger that they could compete with the elite teams in the NFL

Only the two older veterans from Super Bowl XXXV, Amani Toomer and Michael Strahan, had rotten things to say about the game. Other than them, it seemed that the rest of the organization, team, coaches, office staff, and the media itself were energized by this defeat.

The overwhelming attitude in New York was that indeed, we can compete with any team in this league.

Still, the press lingered on Coach Coughlin’s decision to play the game as he believed it should be played. Three starters were hurt against the Patriots, center Shawn O’Hara, cornerback Sam Madison and linebacker Kawika Mitchell. Another controversy for scribes and talking heads with too much time on their hands, but the simple truth was that all three of these players would have played in that game regardless of whom Coughlin sat.

Michael and I signed up with Big Blue Travel and flew to Tampa from LaGuardia on a crowded American Airlines MD-80 after an hour plus delay caused by the need to replace two faulty pressurization switches. The travel group’s representative, Joe met us in Tampa where we boarded a bus that took us to our hotel, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

Located several miles east of Tampa alongside Interstate 4, the hotel was built in an area zoned for light industry, outdoor supply depots for utilities, trucking firms, a large Budweiser distribution facility and several other rag-tag light industry operations. A few strip malls offered day care services, laundries, soul food eateries and bail bondsmen. Sub-standard housing shared the remaining space, mostly small single story dilapidated bungalows surrounded by chain link fences guarded by Pit Bulls and other watch dogs. Mike and I walked this domain on Saturday morning. “Mike, it seems kind of obvious why they built the casino here. It’s close to the interstate and away from anyone with clout who’d object to it.”

We did find a Shell station close to the hotel where we could buy beer and wine for our room. But when Michael brought back a twelve pack, one of the guards who checked his room card before allowing guests onto the elevators told him, “You can only take two beers at a time.”

 “Okay Mike what did she tell you to do with the other ten?”

“Check them with the bell hop. So that’s what I did, but the bellhop was the same guy you tipped for bringing up our bags. He said to me, ‘This is bullshit. They change the rule every day. Go up to your room, get a small carryon bag and put the beer inside it. She can’t check the contents of your bag.”

“That’s what I did. I grabbed a bag, went out into the parking lot, filled it and brought the ten bottles back to our room.”

We had a large room with two queen size beds and a nice big bathroom. Our room was non-smoking, but the lobby was full of smoke most of it coming from the adjoining slot machine casino. A casino of wheel chairs, ‘Mister Mobility’, walkers, canes and other devices. Florida 2008; if you build it, they will come.

I worried that the hotel restaurants would suffer the same fate as we were captive in the hotel since Tampa was a $40 cab ride away. Fortunately, these restaurants were non-smoking.

On Saturday afternoon, we joined the other fans in our group around the pool and the pool bar. The weather was only fair, but brilliant when compared with January in New York. We met Tony from Hoboken and his entourage. Honestly, they looked like they had stepped off of the set of the Sopranos. We were informed that sanitation trucks, produce trucks and construction equipment didn’t move in Hoboken unless Tony said that it was okay.

The Big Blue cocktail party on Saturday night was fair and Mike and I weren’t sorry we ate at the buffet first. Roy White, the former Yankee star, was on hand as was Brandon Jacobs, the Giants primary running back.

Our host, Joe, announced that he had two pre-game field passes to give out. “My son is putting posted-notes up on the wall with the numbers 1 to 60. That’s how many there are of us so each one of you should take one. I’ll announce the two winning numbers.”

Mike and I went over. He took 11 for Phil Simms and I took 14 for Y.A. Tittle. Then we heard Joe say, “No, put the numbers back, my son isn’t finished.”

Dutifully, we put the numbers back, but Mike used his height to paste them high up the wall. When Joe said it was alright to retrieve the numbers, I watched a chap jump as high as he could and grab one of the numbers Mike had parked. Mike grabbed the remaining one, Number 11. “Don’t worry Dad, take this one.”

I looked down and saw a 6. Mike said, “It’s Roy White’s number.”

When Joe called the group to order he said, “The numbers I’ve selected are our two guests’ Number, 6 for Roy White and 27 for Brandon Jacobs.”

“Damn!” I said. “But Mike, you take it, you selected it.” Before he could object, I continued, “It’s far more important that you get on that field tomorrow than me.”

Before we returned to our room, we stopped at the gift shop to buy a disposable camera for Mike to take with him on Sunday morning

I have changed the names of the doctors in my piece.

On Friday, August 22, Mary Ann and I met with Doctor Neal King. to discuss a possible revision of my right hip. I had been put into contact with this orthopedic surgeon by my regular orthopedist, Dr. Frank Pella had explained: “He’s a bit quirky, but he’s one of the best at performing a hip revision surgery.

For those readers who are not familiar with the expression “Hip revision,” it refers to an operation that removes a defective artificial hip replacement and replace it with a new one. In 2012, I had my original right hip replaced. All went well until ten years later when I began to develop pain in that area. Long story short, turns out that my replacement hip had been recalled because it was shedding cobalt and chromium.

The more investigating that I did, the more I became aware that a revision is considerably more complicated than the original hip surgery and the recovery is longer and harder. Still, I remarked to Mary Ann on the very day we drove to Doctor King’s office, “Mary Ann, I am starting to accept that this operation is inevitable.” 

We arrived for our appointment on Marcus Avenue in Lake Success a bit early and were taken to the X-Ray room before we did anything else. I was fourth in line and, when the technician was finished,  I was told to return to the main waiting room  where we waited and waited. Finally, sometime after noon, we were taken to a waiting room where we waited for Doctor King.

Now, after Doc Pella had said Doc King was a bit quirky, I looked him up. Dr. King’s bio included a photo of a large man in a dark suit with a neatly trimmed beard sporting a large, bright, nicely tied bow tie.

Finally, when the door to the examination room opened, it took me a few moments to adjust to the sight of this slovenly man with whispering hair moving in many different directions. Instead of a suit, he wore old, worn, ripped and ill-fitting hospital scrubs. His beard, like his hair, was grey and straggly. At first, I couldn’t believe that this was the same chap I saw in the photo. It was only when I could see his name stitched onto his shirt that I accepted that this was Dr. King.

He was almost all business. He insisted on finding the degree of cobalt and copper that my hip was shedding. Mary Ann said the cobalt was a seven out of a possible 300 and copper was merely a one. After reading this, Doctor King took the chair on the opposite side of the room across from the two of us and addressed me in no uncertain terms.

“I wouldn’t recommend this surgery even if your score for shedding was as high as 40 or maybe even 80. That would be true even if you were a much younger man, but since you are over eighty, I wouldn’t agree to it unless the score was in triple digits! This operation is f**king difficult and it could leave you crippled and unable to walk. Don’t proceed with this surgery.”

This was a startling statement. No other doctor had ever mentioned that an operation may not  be a workable alternative for me and for a surgeon to proclaim this was something I never thought I would hear.

What a relief, what whole new chance to continue living without subjecting my body to life as a cripple. Thanks be to God and thanks be to Doctor King and honest surgeon. I thanked him for being this honest and candid with me. “Doctor King, I have been terribly concerned about submitting myself to this operation and what it could do to my body. Now I have absolutely no reason to challenge you and as far as I’m concerned, the possibility of going forward is gone now and forever.”

We talked about a follow-up in 2026, but I have no intention of going back to him ever again.

One of the first thing I did was to contact a travel agent and reinstate our reservation for a cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines to New England and Canada beginning on August 31^st.

The cruise went well and Mary Ann and I had a blast and returned home last Sunday.

I’ll deal with future pain should that become an issue and continue to live my life with absolute thanks for this change of fortune.              

For generations upon generations, the Hudson River stood as an absolute barrier between New York City and the rest of the continental United States with the exception of areas to the north and from the north, the route west from Albany to Chicago. Over time railroads that headed north and those that headed east to cities like Boston had tracks that extended into Manhattan. But it wasn’t until 1871 that the first rendition of Grand Central was constructed at the corner of Forty-Second Street and newly built, Vanderbilt Avenue. Originally named Grand Central Depot, it accommodated all of those railroads in one station.

Still, all the other trains from the south and the west stopped at the Hudson River including the multitude of commuter trains that carried daily passengers bound for Manhattan. The steam ferries that crossed over to Manhattan didn’t just carry passengers, they also carried wagons and, later, trucks carrying food, goods and merchandise destined for Manhattan destinations.

The southern most terminal was close to Ellis Island in Communipaw operated by the Central Railroad of New Jersey. It opened in 1864 and also serviced trains operated by the Baltimore and Ohio, Lehigh Valley Railroad and the Reading Railroad with its ferries crossing the Hudson to the Liberty Street Ferry Terminal until 1967.

The ferry terminal was demolished, but the railroad terminal has been renovated into a museum as part of Liberty State Park.

The Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City was operated by the Erie Railroad. It also serviced six other railroads including the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad. The Erie ferries ran to Manhattan terminals at Chambers Street and 23^rd Street. Service began in 1861 and ended in 1958 when the Erie merged with the Lackawanna and shifted to the Hoboken Terminal.

The Jersey City terminal lay dormant and abandoned until the 1980s when developers re-discovered the waterfront. In the process, the name Pavonia disappeared and is now called, Exchange Place.

Just to the north of the Pavonia Terminal, the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) built an imposing terminal in Jersey City that they also called Exchange Place. The ferry terminal supported five slips and the train stations were covered by a large dome that towered over the tracks. The original terminal opened in 1834 and the PRR acquired the terminal in 1871. The terminal was rebuilt twice, first in 1876 and, again, in 1888 to 1892.

The PRR ferries crossed the Hudson from the terminal to the railroad’s ferry terminal at Courtland Street.

Even though New York’s Pennsylvania’s station opened in 1910, the railroad continued to operate trains into and out of the Exchange Place, Jersey City terminal until 1961. The terminal and the surrounding tracks were demolished in 1963.

Heading north, the next complex was the Weehawken Terminal that opened in 1884. The complex included five ferry slips, sixteen train tracks, car float facilities and extensive yards. The principal users were the New York Central’s (NYC) West Shore Railroad and the New York, Ontario and Western Railway.

Ferry service that operated from the terminal to Cortland Street ended on March 25, 1959 when the Weehawken ended 259 years of continuous ferry service. Train service ceased the same day.

The Hoboken Terminal is the most northern of the ferry terminals, it is also the newest, built in 1911, the only survivor of the five facilities and… “is considered a milestone in American transportation combining rail, ferry subway, streetcar and pedestrian services.”

Granted the light rail and the ferry service are light years away from the original trolleys and steam ferries that served the terminal in olden days. Those trolleys stopped running in 1949 and the ferry service that operated between Hoboken and Cortland Street stopped running in 1959 and between Hoboken and Barclay Street in 1967.

New Jersey Transit operates today’s light rail service and New York Waterways, the passenger ferries. The Erie-Lackawanna Railroad went bankrupt in June of 1972 and a court ordered their commuter operations to be assumed by newly formed ConRail. ConRail disputed the court’s ruling and did nothing to improve service. Finally, the state of New Jersey had enough and on January 1, 1983, NJ Transit took over all commuter lines within the state.

Today, Hoboken terminal serves eight NJ Transit commuter lines and one Metro North railroad line. The terminal has been completely renovated and retains its classic features including the large Lackawanna R.R. sign facing the entrance on the land side, the seven ferry slips (although unused) and the railroad waiting room.

This little used waiting room leads to a large space nearly 500 feet long and 30 feet wide that originally connected the ferry slips to the terminal. The room offers views of New York City extending from the harbor to the George Washington Bridge. Planning is still developing to decide what to do with this unique space. What ever is decided should only enhance this treasure of by-gone American railroading when trains were the life-blood of our nation.

“On the Outside Looking In” will not publish next week but will return on September 9.