Banemorth
Footballguy
I apologize if this doesn't belong here but I really wanted to share what has to be a highlight of my life. That either shows I have a sad life or love football wayyyy too much 
Anyway I hope you enjoy my little story.
So the day starts out like normal; I'm sitting at work doing various quotes and sales orders for a myriad of different customers. I had just walked out of a meeting regarding HP servers when Joe yells over asking if I had seen Dennis's email. Apparently Dennis was taking a client to a NY Giants Luncheon and he (the client) had dropped out at the last possible second. Reading his email I quickly saw that the event was in Paterson at 12 o'clock and I was reading the email at my desk at 11:05 in Sparta N.J. (40 miles away) After swift encouragement from my colleagues and shaking with excitement I threw my NY Giants jacket on and rushed to my car to speed off towards Paterson.
Now there was a two minute span between reading that email and my leaving which was filled with excited girlish laughter, looting every permanent marker I could find from my colleague desks and desperately trying to get in contact with Dennis to get all of the fine details. Joe actually had to throw the MapQuest printed directions at me to bring me to my senses and I headed out the door. Anyway...
I finally made my way down 15, down 80, through Paterson and pulled up to the Brownstone in Paterson. I quickly felt out of place. Although I wasn't dressed like a slob (nice sneakers, blue jeans, polo shirt) it was quickly apparently that I was VERY under-dressed for this event. Everyone that I could see was in a suit jacket and tie. Shaking it off I patiently waited outside for Dennis to show up as he was the man with the tickets. It was standing outside under the awning that I first saw Victor drive by in his little car. He disappeared from view as he turned the corner to look for a parking spot.
A few moments later I saw him walk up the steps in the rain. In one hand he carried a massive stack of autographed photos and in the other a brand new white dress shirt still in the plastic wrap. He opened the front door and looked behind him and saw quite a ways away was another group of people making their way to the building. He patiently and politely stood and held the door open for the approaching group whom thanked him and moved on having no idea who he was. I was immediately impressed with his demeanor and attitude.
A short while later Dennis arrived and we made our way upstairs to the luncheon. Again I was embarrassed by the fact that I was so terribly under-dressed. Had I known what kind of event this was I would have ran home and changed quick but nobody wants to hear about my self conscious dilemmas...
Our table was all the way in the corner, Table 1, which had a very nice merchandise booth next to it. All kinds of singed footballs and jerseys from players past and present. Manningham, Nicks, Boss, Tiki (BOO HISS), Cruz, and so on. There was also a local artist's artwork on display as he does a lot of sports work. Some really nice stuff... Finally it came time to get our food on and man there were some great options. It was a buffet style and included was: Penne Ala Vodka, Alaskan Cod, Beef Bourguignon, Chicken Scamp, Roast Duck Carving Station, and a few other items including this incredible Filet Mignon served on little bread slices.
It was during this dining portion that the four athletes in attendance took the stage. Victor Cruz, Ramses Barden, Joe Morris and Harry Carson. Now Harry was the personality on the mic and did most of the talking. He proceeded to introduce all the players and then went about eating. After the food was gone he then prompted a Q&A session. There were some great questions:
For Harry: Who was the hardest QB to play against and bring down?
Answer: Joe Montanna
For Cruz: Is there any particular Salsa song you have in your mind when you do your touchdown dance?
Answer: Not really although there is one my mom listed to all the time by a local artist (I forget his name!) and that would probably be the one.
For Cruz: (BY ME!) How have you seen defenses change in their way they handle you as you've continued to emerge as a top receiver?
Answer: Well at the start of the year it was great because I only really ever had single coverage so I had a lot of opportunity to really shine. In the past 3-4 games though they've been keeping a safety underneath on me so I've defiantly begun to force them to respect me. It's all fun and part of the game. Getting better and still beating them.
Harry speaking candidly after being asked about rule changes making the game "soft": You know what I have a message from Bill Belichick on my phone and he says "You know what Harry? With the rules they have now you could STILL play in this league!" Then there was various back and forth between Cruz/Barden and the vets about the game changing which was very amusing and enjoyable. Joe Morris also mentioned his pleasure in fining Woodson for uniform violations after Sunday's game.
For Everyone: What do you think about the NY Post front page picture of Ballard's knee in bounds?
Cruz: He was definitely in bounds and it should have been a touchdown.
Morris: Now I work for the NFL and I will tell you there were 3 or 4 calls in that game that were completely bogus. Usually if you see referee screw ups THAT bad they kind of make it up later in the game but that just NEVER happened in this game. Those referees really messed that game up.
After the Q&A they had a quick little trivia session where you could win prizes. I guess I'm too young because I only knew like 2 out of the 15 questions he asked. I guess I need to study my Giants history! We also got to watch some fantastic highlights from this season which was pretty cool. Cruz, Barden and Harry actually came down off the area they were dining on so they could watch the highlights themselves. It was great to watch Cruz's face as the crowd reacted to his touchdown dance.
At the end of it all everyone got to have their pictures taken with the four Giants and got autographed 8X10's of Cruz, Barden and Morris. Cruz and Barden complimented my jacket (Giants sideline coach jacket. I guess not being dressed fancy did have a small bonus!) All in all it was a really fantastic time and I hope I get to go again next year. Apparently tickets run at about $250 so I'm glad I didn't have to pay to get in. I was just really impressed with how well spoken and polite this rock star wide receiver of the Giants' is. In one day I went from liking Cruz to having him be my favorite player on the team.
Today was awesome.
Anyway I hope you enjoy my little story.So the day starts out like normal; I'm sitting at work doing various quotes and sales orders for a myriad of different customers. I had just walked out of a meeting regarding HP servers when Joe yells over asking if I had seen Dennis's email. Apparently Dennis was taking a client to a NY Giants Luncheon and he (the client) had dropped out at the last possible second. Reading his email I quickly saw that the event was in Paterson at 12 o'clock and I was reading the email at my desk at 11:05 in Sparta N.J. (40 miles away) After swift encouragement from my colleagues and shaking with excitement I threw my NY Giants jacket on and rushed to my car to speed off towards Paterson.
Now there was a two minute span between reading that email and my leaving which was filled with excited girlish laughter, looting every permanent marker I could find from my colleague desks and desperately trying to get in contact with Dennis to get all of the fine details. Joe actually had to throw the MapQuest printed directions at me to bring me to my senses and I headed out the door. Anyway...
I finally made my way down 15, down 80, through Paterson and pulled up to the Brownstone in Paterson. I quickly felt out of place. Although I wasn't dressed like a slob (nice sneakers, blue jeans, polo shirt) it was quickly apparently that I was VERY under-dressed for this event. Everyone that I could see was in a suit jacket and tie. Shaking it off I patiently waited outside for Dennis to show up as he was the man with the tickets. It was standing outside under the awning that I first saw Victor drive by in his little car. He disappeared from view as he turned the corner to look for a parking spot.
A few moments later I saw him walk up the steps in the rain. In one hand he carried a massive stack of autographed photos and in the other a brand new white dress shirt still in the plastic wrap. He opened the front door and looked behind him and saw quite a ways away was another group of people making their way to the building. He patiently and politely stood and held the door open for the approaching group whom thanked him and moved on having no idea who he was. I was immediately impressed with his demeanor and attitude.
A short while later Dennis arrived and we made our way upstairs to the luncheon. Again I was embarrassed by the fact that I was so terribly under-dressed. Had I known what kind of event this was I would have ran home and changed quick but nobody wants to hear about my self conscious dilemmas...
Our table was all the way in the corner, Table 1, which had a very nice merchandise booth next to it. All kinds of singed footballs and jerseys from players past and present. Manningham, Nicks, Boss, Tiki (BOO HISS), Cruz, and so on. There was also a local artist's artwork on display as he does a lot of sports work. Some really nice stuff... Finally it came time to get our food on and man there were some great options. It was a buffet style and included was: Penne Ala Vodka, Alaskan Cod, Beef Bourguignon, Chicken Scamp, Roast Duck Carving Station, and a few other items including this incredible Filet Mignon served on little bread slices.
It was during this dining portion that the four athletes in attendance took the stage. Victor Cruz, Ramses Barden, Joe Morris and Harry Carson. Now Harry was the personality on the mic and did most of the talking. He proceeded to introduce all the players and then went about eating. After the food was gone he then prompted a Q&A session. There were some great questions:
For Harry: Who was the hardest QB to play against and bring down?
Answer: Joe Montanna
For Cruz: Is there any particular Salsa song you have in your mind when you do your touchdown dance?
Answer: Not really although there is one my mom listed to all the time by a local artist (I forget his name!) and that would probably be the one.
For Cruz: (BY ME!) How have you seen defenses change in their way they handle you as you've continued to emerge as a top receiver?
Answer: Well at the start of the year it was great because I only really ever had single coverage so I had a lot of opportunity to really shine. In the past 3-4 games though they've been keeping a safety underneath on me so I've defiantly begun to force them to respect me. It's all fun and part of the game. Getting better and still beating them.
Harry speaking candidly after being asked about rule changes making the game "soft": You know what I have a message from Bill Belichick on my phone and he says "You know what Harry? With the rules they have now you could STILL play in this league!" Then there was various back and forth between Cruz/Barden and the vets about the game changing which was very amusing and enjoyable. Joe Morris also mentioned his pleasure in fining Woodson for uniform violations after Sunday's game.
For Everyone: What do you think about the NY Post front page picture of Ballard's knee in bounds?
Cruz: He was definitely in bounds and it should have been a touchdown.
Morris: Now I work for the NFL and I will tell you there were 3 or 4 calls in that game that were completely bogus. Usually if you see referee screw ups THAT bad they kind of make it up later in the game but that just NEVER happened in this game. Those referees really messed that game up.
After the Q&A they had a quick little trivia session where you could win prizes. I guess I'm too young because I only knew like 2 out of the 15 questions he asked. I guess I need to study my Giants history! We also got to watch some fantastic highlights from this season which was pretty cool. Cruz, Barden and Harry actually came down off the area they were dining on so they could watch the highlights themselves. It was great to watch Cruz's face as the crowd reacted to his touchdown dance.
At the end of it all everyone got to have their pictures taken with the four Giants and got autographed 8X10's of Cruz, Barden and Morris. Cruz and Barden complimented my jacket (Giants sideline coach jacket. I guess not being dressed fancy did have a small bonus!) All in all it was a really fantastic time and I hope I get to go again next year. Apparently tickets run at about $250 so I'm glad I didn't have to pay to get in. I was just really impressed with how well spoken and polite this rock star wide receiver of the Giants' is. In one day I went from liking Cruz to having him be my favorite player on the team.
Today was awesome.
Last edited by a moderator:
Glad you enjoyed your experience.
