New York Giant football is a Yorkville family tradition going back to the late 1930s. As a boy my father’s favorite football player was the Green Bay Packers receiver, Don Hutson, because the best football team on the eastside was the Yorkville Packers and Dad was a receiver who aimed to play for them. When the Giants begin to form their core championship team in the mid 1950s and moved to Yankee Stadium from the Polo Grounds, Dad went from being a fan to a card carrying nyg football nut.
My grandmother spent her last 8 years in Jewish Home on the Westside. During that period I watched countless New York Giant games in her room, Frank 510. I was targeted by the nursing home staff as a fall Sunday afternoon problem. I once got so worked up during a Cowboy game I jumped over my grandmother’s bed with her in it. As I passed over, her arm went up and nearly took me down by my trailing leg.
Yesterday's Giant game brought back this New York Giant regular season memory.
November 1986, 12th game of the year, Broncos versus the Giants. Dad and I were watching the game in his Mom's railroad flat on York Avenue. It was a tight game and late in the contest with the Giants down and the Broncos driving George Martin intercepted a John Elway swing pass and ran it back 80 yards to the end zone where he was tackled by Lawrence Taylor. The play unfolded slowly giving Dad & I a couple of opportunities to step up our excitement.
When the ball was tipped by Martin we leapt to our feet, when we knew Martin had it and was running the right way we started jumping up and down, when we saw he scored we continued jumping up and down on the linoleum hugging each other. Unfortunately, my grandmother’s floor was not entirely flat and declined towards one wall. As we celebrated Nan's two prized Lladro porcelain figurines started hopping from left to right across the top of the TV set.
Dad & I were making like Ruth & Gehrig, screaming, hugging each other, jumping and these things are near the edge of the TV ready to go off. I think the cat & dog’s mouths were open watching this.
Just before one of the expensive knick-knacks went airborne, I heard “Holy Shit!” And saw my grandmother’s big hands come through the doorway. She swooped both figurines up into the skirt of her housedress. She looked at us and said, “Son of bitches,” and returned to the kitchen until the game was over.
Giants won 19-16.
