didn't this get Chmura kicked out of the league? I really didn't believe this when I read it the first time. Anything drug related and I'd figure it was true but this? this one shocked me. I'm bored so here's some of my LT stories: He didn't live far from me. There's a book out there where the author writes how LT was partying with some high school kids. There were also much younger kids looking down the hill into the yard wondering who the scary guy was. That was most definitely me and some of my friends. We all think it was and don't recall anyone else there. (No pun) he was a giant and that stupid LT earing could be seen for miles. He scared everyone. He'd laugh and as his body lunged mid giggle people would back up. We took turns running down to see him and he eventually yelled get out of here. Scared the cr out of us. We ran like 20 blocks and LT didn't even chase us. Our HS had a game against the Giants. I was the PG and LT covered me for a few. I went one way, him the other and my knee went right into his groin. He was lying on the ground and all. Years later while going to school I pumped gas at night (Jersey is full service only). He had just retired. LT pulls in in his lexus, rolls down the window and says "hey I remember you." Soooo not what I'd like to be remembered for. he came in very often and we'd chat a little bit. I'd go to a convenience store across the street to buy him cigs so he didn't have to get looks and a lecture every time he did. He was retired then. Former Giant Tackle Karl Nelson also went to that convenience store. He had Hodgkins disease and you could literally see him get smaller everyday. He went from a giant 300lb man to very ordinary looking so fast. It was so sad to see. Nelson was a great guy. He couldn't have been nicer. He never talked to LT. They could be in line and...you wouldn't even know they were on the same team years before. I always thought this was Nelson staying away from trouble. LT left his wallet at home one day. He was just wearing shorts, looked around and after a long awkward silence and two millionaires staring at each other, I paid. Taylor's wife was tough, real tough. She stood up to him and those two argued loud! I'm sure he was up to no good. She'd camp out at the gas station, wait for him to come and then just start screaming at him, "Where have you been" etc. They always always always came back the next day in the same car and were oddly happy like it was a public show to make up for the day before. Taylor had been in trouble quite often. One time this big older black woman was there. She had this disposition and voice that just commanded respect. She got out of her car and totally laid into Taylor. It was fantastic. I wish phones had videos then. At one point he was in her face telling her to mind her own business (in other words) and it was so heated. By the end he was sitting on the ground by his back tire as she waved her finger lecturing him. Bill Parcells never got through to him that well. It was something. He didn't get in trouble for years after that. IIRC he went to rehab and...well I always just figured that woman straightened him out. It was so sudden that he was behaving. One of the things she barked about was him not spending any time with his sons. I'd drive by and often times see him tossing a ball in the front yard with one of his sons. That didn't happen before. I have no clue who that woman was. After this, I noticed LTs eyes. They were always so yellow and almost blood shot I got used to it. The whites in his eyes are quite bright. If you google some images of him, you can see it too. This gas station was one of the the busiest in the country and had unusually high traffic for a gas station. When she was laying into him, there were tons of people outside their cars watching. People from the convenience store walked over to see. There was a small audience. A few years later, I was with my then fiance in a bar and Howard Cross was being a total... She kept trying to politely tell him she was uninterested and he was grabbing her, she'd push him away and "aww cmon." I wanted to say something umm he's like three times my size so it wasn't that I was gonna kick his ... Some guy walked in, punched Cross in the face and told him (not so nicely) to leave. He turned and said "You're LT's boy aren't you?" "Umm no. I buy him cigarettes. Well I did for a long time. Umm no." "Well don't worry about it. He (Cross) deserved it. Gave my fiance a 100 dollar bill, apologized and left." I have no idea who that was. Cross knew the second he walked in and the bartender told us he called him. When I asked the bartender who he was, he wouldn't say. LT was very nice usually. He's pretty funny and very easy to talk to. He brought envelopes with money in it for the guys at the gas station at christmas. We'd help him dump off toys for less fortunate kids. He didn't want people to know it was him. We dumped them in the parking lot. On several occasions he noticed someone only getting a few dollars of gas and told one of us to fill it up for that person. He had a real nice side to him, a generous side, that I don't think the public is aware of. It didn't fit with the arrests nor with the meanest SOB LB image he wanted everyone to think. He was an addict that, for most of the time, couldn't get clean though. We knew when to avoid conversation with him too. You could just sorta tell. I wouldn't have guessed he'd do this. Be fooled with a fake ID when he's wasted? OK maybe that but this one surprised me.
