I root for the New York Giants. They are my favorite National Football League team. I suppose they will continue to be my favorite team as long as Eli Manning is playing quarterback for them.
When it comes to my interest in pro football, I have maintained the same philosophy for over forty years. The player comes first and the team comes second.
When I was a kid growing up I was a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals. Ken Anderson was their quarterback and he played with the team for sixteen years. I was a Ken Anderson fan therefore I was a fan of the Bengals. When Anderson retired, I retired. In fact, my NFL allegiance was in nowheresville until 1998 when the Indianapolis Colts drafted Peyton Manning. I liked Peyton. That made me a Colts fan.
I still watch the Colts and I hope they win…most of the time. Just depends on who they are playing. If Peyton Manning, now a Denver Bronco, was playing against Indy…GO BRONCOS.
I hung with Peyton and the Colts as my favorites until 2004 came along. That is when the New York Giants got Eli Manning in a draft day trade with the San Diego Chargers. Eli played at Ole Miss. Both of my parents were born in Mississippi. I have relatives that “finished” at Ole Miss. “Finished” is Southernese for graduated. I like that term…finished.
Thanks in large part to the great relationship I have with my Aunt Barbara, I am an Ole Miss college football fan. While I know I declared my fandom of the Marshall Thundering Herd in another post, Ole Miss is mighty close behind them.
During football season, Aunt Barbara and I are on the phone. She lives outside Jackson, Mississippi and we love to talk football. Over the years I have made a few trips with her to Oxford to watch the Rebels in person and she has made it up here a couple of times to take in Indiana games at Bloomington. We also watched a couple games together in Jackson when the Rebs were playing a game or two in the big city in off-campus home games.
With college football, it is all about the team. The players come and go very quickly in the college game. You can’t have a favorite player too long. By the time you like him and think it’s going to work out, he is off campus. His four years are up.
Once upon a time I was enamored with the team in Bloomington. I so enjoyed watching the Indiana Hoosiers when Bill Mallory was their head coach. He was fired on Halloween day in 1996 after 13 years as coach. IU Football has been haunted by this move ever since. Though I have been back to watch several games, it has not been the same. They can lose a game and all I will do is shrug my shoulders. I didn’t do so well when Anthony Thompson got caught from behind on a kick off return as time was winding down against Purdue in 1989. The poor IU kicker had a chance to win it for the Hoosiers. He missed a 26 yard field goal wide to the left as time was about to expire. He was a freshman. Purdue 15 IU 13. That was a tough loss.
Right now my Giants are losing a pre-season game by a 20-0 score. It is the pre-season. Who cares.
My ten all-time favorite Pro Football Players:
Ken Anderson-Bengals
Eli Manning-Giants
Peyton Manning-Colts and Broncos
Isaac Curtis- Bengals
Brett Favre- Packers and Vikings (the Jet year doesn’t count)
Walter Payton-Bears
Fran Tarkenton- Vikings (Giant years I don’t remember)
Jack Lambert- Steelers
Dan Ross- Bengals
Mark Moseley- Redskins
Football season…a good time to speak the rights.
Danny Johnson
Malcolm Lincoln and I were watching the Marshall Herd play at Louisville in 2011.