A Running Commentary

I guess I’m just not a typical NY fan.  Though a New Yorker and lifelong Yankees and Giants devotee, I have never really understood the weird fickleness that seems to typify the New York fan.

Normally this just applies to sports but The New York Times article yesterday made me wonder if it’s more extensive.  How many weeks ago was it The Times endorsed John McCain?  And now they’re making insinuations that are, shall we say, thinly substantiated at best.  Sure they’re a newspaper but were the facts on this one truly ‘fit to print’ for a paper of record?  So I started to wonder maybe this is just how typical New Yorkers do things across the board; the pendulum swings between hatred and adoration and in a hurry.

Take the New York Giants as an example.  To say that fans have been disgruntled with the team’s lack of success over the last few years is an understatement.  When the G-men started this past season in abysmal fashion, it seemed like everyone was calling for coach Tom Coughlin’s head.  But he stuck with new coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s defensive scheme and the team came around.  Despite a fairly shaky and inconsistent offense, the Giants’ defense led the team all the way to the Super Bowl triumph over that team from Boston. 

If you’re one of the 100 Million some odd people who watched the game then you should remember the shakiness of which I speak.  Not to take anything away from Eli Manning & Co. for getting it done, like I said I’m a huge fan and it was glorious, but there were numerous near-disasters. Consider the final drive alone: the short tipped wobbler that could have been picked-off, having to go for it on 4th and 1, Manning’s scramble where the ball came lose but he somehow recovered it with his thighs, the near pick-off overthrow to Tyree, and of course the miracle play that could have been in-the-grass or holding at the front end, but ended with Tyree’s acrobatic miracle catch.  The win was wonderful but the fact of the matter is that the Giants defense won that game.

So the other day, largely to prove my point about NY fans, I posted a comment in a discussion about the Giant’s plans to give Coughlin a fat new long–term contract.  The team already pulled a coup in resigning Spagnuolo in spite of other head coaching offers.  So I posed the question that, since Coughlin had overall been a disappointment, shouldn’t the Giants be grooming Spags for the job rather than giving Coughlin a big long-term deal? 

Predictably, this didn’t go over very well.  Coughlin’s a hero (for) now and any suggestion that he not be lauded as the best thing to ever happen to the Giants was tantamount to shaming the team and blah blah blah…  Truth be told, I kind of like Coughlin and, unlike most of those commenters, I have never called for his head.  But you wait.  If the Giants come out flat next season, they will again.

So I guess The New York Times’ treatment of John McCain just fits the mold.  Hang in there John, win the big one and maybe they’ll love you again (for awhile).