26
Apr
2013
Watch Giants’ first round draft pick Justin Pugh’s awesome draft day moment (VIDEO)
This is pretty fun to watch.
Instead of making the trip to Radio City Music Hall, Syracuse OL Justin Pugh hosted a party with friends and family last night at his home in Pennsylvania to take in the proceedings at the 2013 NFL Draft. And as you can see from the video below, being surrounded by the ones you love can make the greatest moment of your life all that much more special.
Watch as Pugh – a lifelong Eagles fan – takes the call from the New York front office informing him that he’s the newest member of the Giants. As family members scramble to find the remote control, Pugh makes pleasantries with new head coach and fellow Orangeman Tom Coughlin, all while barely being able to contain his excitement over the phone. It’s certainly a stark contrast to the intensity and formality of the green room, where your every move is under a microscope for all the world to see. Heck, just ask Geno Smith.
But be sure to stick around to the end of the clip, because the moment he hangs up the phone (1:50) is pure magic, as his friends explode on Pugh in celebration … despite their conflicted feelings as Eagles fans. In fact, check out his buddy to the left at around :20 when Pugh says “That’s done with, I’m excited to become a Giant”. Poor guy goes from elation to confusion in .3 seconds once he realizes the implications of having to root for the Giants now. Classic.
This type of emotion is what the draft is all about, and if you don’t get goosebumps watching this, I don’t know what to tell you.
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
20
Apr
2013
Watch this 30 for 30 short on “The Irrelevant Giant”, John Tuggle (VIDEO)
The folks over at ESPN’s always-awesome 30 for 30 documentary series have delivered yet again, this time with their newest short, “The Irrelevant Giant”, documenting the short but memorable career of Giants Fullback/Special Teams maven John Tuggle.
(via snygiants.com)
As the final pick of the 1983 draft out of California, Tuggle was dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant”, and naturally wasn’t expected to make much of an impact in the NFL. But rookie head coach Bill Parcells saw something special in Tuggle, who not only earned a spot on the team, but was names Special Teams player of the year for the Giants in his first year.
“For all the players that I’ve ever coached in my lifetime, there have been a few – John being among them – that had some attributes that you couldn’t see,” recalled Parcells in the documentary. “You had to gain an understanding of this guy’s determination, his will, those kinds of things. Just walking around you don’t gain an appreciation for anything like that. It has to be gained under duress, during times of pain, during times where we all have to go to those dark places and respond.”
Sadly, Tuggle was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 1984, ultimately leading to his death in 1986. But even though his time was cut short, the impact Tuggle had on his teammates, fans – and particularly on hall-of-famer Parcells – can still be felt today.
WATCH VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
1
Dec
2012
Martellus Bennett – aka “Black Unicorn” – saves a fan, gets the animated super hero treatment (VIDEO)
(via juanelway.com)
Giants tight end Martellus Bennett has a reputation as a colorful guy, always reliable for a good quote or tweet, and even going so far as to give himself the nickname “Black Unicorn”.
After the Giants’ 38-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, Bennett made headlines for saving a middle-aged man who fell from the stands when Bennett threw his gloves into the crowd. Afterward, Bennet said he “tapped into my inner super hero, which I do have”, quickly springing into action to catch the man before he could hit the ground.
“I’m usually a ninja, but my Spidey-senses told me he was going to take a fall, so I saved his life. He owes me his firstborn or something. Actually, I don’t want that. Maybe a sandwich or something.”
Well fortunately for us, Black Unicorn told the story to the guys at TheNOC, who give Bennett the animated super hero treatement, bringing his words to life through vivid, poorly drawn animation. It’s pretty great:
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
6
Oct
2012
Watch MetLife stadium change over from Giants to Jets (VIDEO)
Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal comes this inside look at what it takes to change over MetLife stadium from the Giants to the Jets for each team’s home games.
Since MetLife is the only stadium that’s shared by two teams, this is the only place in the country where crews have to deal with such extensive changes from week-to-week. To give you an idea, it takes 2 full 8-hour work days just to switch out the endzones, and that doesn’t include all the banners, merch stands, and everything else they need to change from blue to green.
Interesting stuff.
22
Sep
2012
Carl from ATHF chimes in on the kneel down controversy and replacement refs (VIDEO)
Our old friend Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force is back with his “Stone Cold Lock of the Century – Of The Week”, and this time he’s picking tomorrow’s Saints-Chiefs game. As a reminder, while we’re not gamblers ourselves, we generally recommend betting against whoever Carl picks.
But before he gets to his lock, Carl opines on the Giants-Bucs kneel down controversy (which we can hopefully stop talking about now), as well as the replacement referees and their impact on the game. As usual, great stuff from Carl and his Zubaz pants:
16
Sep
2012
Tom Coughlin confronts Greg Schiano during post-game handshake (VIDEO & GIF)
Following the Giants 41-34 comeback win over the Buccanneers, we got ourselves a flashback to the Harbaugh-Schwartz kerfuffle from last season when Tom Coughlin confronted Bucs rookie head coach Greg Schiano during the post-game handshake.
(via sportsgrid.com)
Coughlin was upset that the Bucs defensive line shoved Eli Manning backward during the Giants kneel down attempt at the end of the game. At the snap, Tampa Bay defenders dove at the knees of the New York linemen in an attempt to disrupt the snap, some punches were thrown under the pile, and apparently, some of the Giants players indicated that the direction to dive at their knees had come from Schiano.
As Coughlin approached Schiano at midfield, he could clearly be seen saying “What the hell was that all about?”. Coughlin then spun to leave before turning around to shake Schiano’s hand and shouted “that’s f#@&ing bulls#!t”, to finish off Schiano’s “welcome to the NFL” moment. Afterward, Coughlin said ”You can’t do that in this league … at this level”.
Here’s a GIF of the Giants victory formation play that sparked the confrontation:
VIDEO & GIF OF THE POST-GAME HANDSHAKE AFTER THE JUMP
10
Sep
2012
NFL GIFs of the week: 2012 Week One
We love our GIFs here at ReadAndReact, so we’ve started a new weekly feature where we collect the best GIFs from each NFL week, and post them all in one convenient spot for your viewing enjoyment.
Most of these come courtesy of the always-awesome GIFulmination, @SBNation GIF or@CJZero Twitter… so special thanks to those guys. Submit your favorites GIFs to info@readandreact.net, and PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE THIS PAGE LOADS.
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The NFL is BACK … and ‘merica!!!
(via sbnation.com)
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On opening night, Rob Ryan also fired up that football is back:
(via cjzero.com)
4
Sep
2012
NFL GIFs of the Week – Pre-season Week 4
We love our GIFs here at ReadAndReact, so we’re starting a new weekly feature where we collect the best GIFs from each NFL week, and post them all in one convenient spot for your viewing enjoyment.
Most of these come courtesy of the always-awesome @SBNation GIF or @CJZero Twitter… so special thanks to those guys. Submit your favorites GIFs to info@readandreact.net, and PLEASE BE PATIENT WHILE THIS PAGE LOADS.
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Holy crap, the NFL regular season starts tomorrow!!! Like kids on Christmas Eve, we can barely contain ourselves, so we’ll apologize up front for the relatively small number of GIFs in this week’s post … after all, it was the final week of pre-season, and with the holiday weekend, the interweb was a little bit light on content.
Replacement Officials to start the NFL Season … and we’re in trouble:
(via cjzero.com)
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Marcus Thomas – who made headlines last week for being incorrectly represented on Madden 13 – scores the ever-elusive big man fumble return … which he nearly fumbles himself:
(via cjzero.com)
Thomas was released by the Giants on Friday
30
Aug
2012
NFL replacement refs to start season; continue to make a mockery of the game (VIDEO)
(Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images via nydailynews.com)
On Wednesday, the NFL sent out a memo to all 32 teams to let everyone know that the replacement referees will start the season on September 5th. In it, the league’s Vice President of Football Operations Ray Anderson attempted to claim with a straight face that the current replacement refs are doing an adequate job, and that they feel confident entering the season with a second-rate collection of former Canadian and Lingerie Football League officials:
In light of the current state of negotiations, we will have replacement crews on the field when the regular season begins. The replacements have undergone extensive training and evaluation, and have shown steady improvement during the preseason. We will continue the training with each crew and they will work as much of the regular season as necessary. The replacement officials are dedicated and enthusiastic, have worked very hard to improve, and have persevered despite the attacks on their qualifications and performance. We are all grateful for their service to the NFL.
Obviously, Ray hasn’t been watching the same pre-season games that we all have, because these replacements are clearly not ready for primetime. And despite being directed by the NFL to remain silent on the subject, players and coaches throughout the league have been vocal in their support of the full-time refs. There is a genuine concern from many parties about the integrity of the game – and particularly player safety – if these clowns are allowed to officiate a regular season contest, when everyone is going full-speed, and there is actually something at stake. The league says it will attempt to mitigate this by placing veteran former referees in the booth as “officiating supervisors”, who will attempt to guide the replacements, as well as with expanded use of instant replay on all turnovers and scoring plays.
With the labor negotiations between the league and the NFLRA at a standstill, this is hopefully just a tactic to put pressure on the regular refs to accept their offer and get back to work. But in the mean time, these replacement referees continue to make a mockery of the game, and only prove to strengthen the NFLRA’s stance that the full-time professionals are desperately needed back on the field.
In response to the memo, the NFLRA issued their own statement:
“We are not surprised that the NFL was not going to reach out to us,” the NFLRA said in a statement. “However, this is consistent with the NFL’s negotiating strategy, which has been ‘take it or leave it’ and lock them out. It now appears the NFL is willing to forego any attempt to reach a deal in the last seven (7) days before opening night. It is unfortunate because the Referees want to get back on the field. Our members have been engaged in extensive preparations and are ready to go.
“If the NFL is serious about negotiating, we are ready, but we can’t negotiate with ourselves.”
During last night’s Giants-Patriots snoozefest, the replacements put forth yet another example of their “dedicated and enthusiastic” work … one that starkly contradicts what the league would have you believe about their state of preparedness for the rigors of an NFL season.
VIDEO & BONUS GIF AFTER THE JUMP
28
Aug
2012
Watch Terry Crews get flagged for roughing the passer as a Charger in 1994 (VIDEO)
Terry Crews has built quite an acting career for himself, bursting onto the national stage with the bizarre/hilarious series of Old Spice commercials, which he then parlayed into a role in The Expendables and The Newsroom, among others.
And in case you weren’t aware, Crews also enjoyed a stint in the NFL before his inner thespian took over. As a defensive end out of Western Michigan, Crews was drafted in the 11th round of the 1991 draft by the Los Angeles Rams, and spent time with the Chargers, Redskins and Eagles before retiring in 1997. It was an utterly forgettable career, however, as he never recorded a regular season tackle … which helps to explain why there aren’t many highlights of Crews in action.
Well, we finally found one. This clip comes from the 1994 pre-season, during the American Bowl game in Berlin, Germany, while Crews was with San Diego. In it, Crews gets penalized for roughing the passer on Giants QB Dave Brown, and … well, that’s about it. It’s a fairly boring “highlight” (if you can call it that), but it at least gives us video evidence of Crews in an NFL uniform.
Pa pa pa pa POWER!
VIDEO AFTER THE JUMP
