Last night, there were a lot of Giants fans around the country, some closer to New York and some farther away.  Many rooted for the underdogs.  Some rooted against New England.  Some just had to pick a team, and the Giants won the toss.

My wife and I inherited Giants season tickets from my father-in-law more than 20 years ago.  She was born and bred a Giants fan.  I came later to the fold, about 1982.  There was one year when the Giants were a powerhouse, with LT the predominant linebacker in the game.  Since then, there have been some painful years, the ugliest being the Ray Hadley years.  This wasn’t supposed to be a big year for the Giants.  

No true Giants fan felt safe when the game was on the line and Eli started the final march.  It’s not that Eli can’t produce a clutch drive, but that it’s a shot in the dark whether he will be the hero or the goat.  He knows how to be the goat.  Then the Favre-like chuck to Tyree, and David Tyree’s unbelievable grab, and hold.  No one would have faulted Tyree if he let go of the ball when he fell on his back.  He barely had his fingers on it.  But he held it. And the Giants remained alive.

The fade to Burress, who was seen as prima donna when he first came on board, who would rather drop the pass then take a hit, who never made the extra effort, but somehow changed after his first season with the team and became a Giant, was a play that the Giants had tried over and over, never successfully.  Eli just couldn’t throw a timing pass.  Whenever he tried to loft the ball, it sailed away.  It never worked.  Last night, it worked.  Perfectly.

If you’re a real Giants fan, you were sweating bullets when Brady got the ball back with 35 second to play.  That’s how it is with the Giants.  They grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.   This was classic Giants, when they are ahead by a field goal and you feel like they are losing.  There’s never a safe margin with the Giants, but a mere 3 points is an invitation to lose.

And the ball was in the hands of a quarterback who had proven that he could win.  Is Brady the best ever?  I still have to think it was Montana, but one thing is sure: The Giants were never a quarterback team while I was watching.  I couldn’t stand Phil Simms, who was a yeoman at best.  And he sucks as a commentator too, though at least he isn’t as biased as Aikman or that sleaze, Moose, who has never had a decent word for the Giants.

Before the game, everyone was certain that the Giants would lose.  Simms was on the radio and predicted a low-scoring game, as opposed to the high-scoring blow-out that everyone else predicted.  He was right, but he’s still boring and impossible to listen to.

The 35 second ran down to 1, and Brady’s passes hit the ground.  The entire defense should have gotten the MVP, or maybe Spagnuola.  The defense was incredible, the same defense that stunk in the first two and a half games.  Tuck played like a maniac.  Strahan was incredible, as was Oci.  Sure, Eli led the team downfield for the touchdown, but the defense held Brady the entire game, playing over their heads and with their hearts.

One thing that made me extremely proud.  No sack dances.  No touchdown dances. No showboating.  They played with grace.  I’m sure that 9 year olds around the country would have enjoyed some foolish dance in the end zone.  They behaved like gentlemen.  Like winners.

I never thought the Giants would get anywhere near the Super Bowl.  They couldn’t beat Dallas, and they certainly couldn’t beat Green Bay.  Tampa Bay they could beat, but big deal.  Somehow they did beat them, even though no one thought they looked like a Super Bowl team.

Last night, the Giants won the Super Bowl.  Last night, they ended the perfect season of the Pats, perhaps the best football team of all time.  The ugly Giants did that.  On any given Sunday. . . if this doesn’t give you hope, nothing will.  GO BLUE!