Long before there was Tom Brady, there was Hugh Millen. Long before Eli Manning, there was Scott Brunner. Two of NFL’s most storied franchises have a lot of suck in common. While the Patriots’ less than stellar history prior to Kraft and Bill Belichick is commonly known, it may be surprising to many under the age of 40 that the Giants sprouted from blundering and embarrassing roots.
Jerry Barka’s latest book (and comically long titled), “Big Blue Wrecking Crew, Smashmouth Football, a Little Bit of Crazy, and the ’86 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants” , does a masterful job of highlighting the franchise’s beginnings, middle and all that lead to the birth of the 1986 Giant Super Bowl Team. Once you hit the meat of the story – the 1986 season – you can’t help but be invested in this team of colorful and out of control personalities. There are great individual stories about Parcel’s disdain for kickers, cocaine, offensive linemen that had side jobs as stock brokers, more cocaine and the birth of the Gatorade bath.
It is also a must read for fans of the New England Patriots, as it has more than a few stories about a young Bill Belichick, Ernie “Pink Stripes” Adams and Romeo Crennel. Without giving anything away – my personal favorite story involves “The Bill” quizzing bartenders and waitresses at a local restaurant about how they came into possession of New York Giant Team apparel.
1989: Lawrence Taylor of the New York Giants plays defense against the San Diego Chargers at Giants Stadium in Eas Rutherford, NJ. (Photo by Sporting News Archives/Sporting News via Getty Images)
Barca succeeds in making the mundane details incredibly interesting. As a kid, my favorite Giant was mustachioed Phil McConkey – but I had no idea that he spent four years in the Navy prior to trying out for the Giants, and impressing STEVE Belichick by running a 4.4 40. For the many nuggets like that, this is a book you don’t want to end and feels like it may have only scratched the surface of this group. Barca also was able to gain access to the team’s bigger names like Bill Parcells, Phil Simms, Carl Banks, Joe Morris, Harry Carson and Mark Bavaro. He even got access to the notoriously tight-lipped Bill Belichick, who answered questions via email.
Most impressive about this book is that I actually read and FINISHED it. That hasn’t happened since George H. W. Bush was in office. If you see Jerry Barca at a book signing – be sure to dump a bottle of Gatorade over his head for me.
Purchase the Big Blue Wrecking Crew book here here.