“We have to earn their cheers,” head Ccoach Joe Judge said when talking about the fans after the team’s first loss against the Denver Broncos on Sunday. “We got to play better for them.”

They did play better, but it did not change the result. After their second loss in less than a week, this is now the fourth consecutive year they have begun the season with an 0-2 record. 

Having struggled for years now, the Giants organization decided to put all their chips into QB Daniel Jones this season. They added multiple receivers, revamped the defense, and improved the offensive line. These moves showed that if Jones is indeed their guy, he was going to prove it by leading a winning football team this year. But the fans are not content, they do not feel like the Giants have met expectations up to this point.

“That was a bad game between two bad teams, and we found a way to lose,” said Timothy Guerrero, a diehard fan from Essex County, New Jersey . “I think Chris Canty (ex Giants player) tweeted we “snatched defeat from the jaws of victory” and bad teams find a way to lose those games.”

Just a week ago, there were tremendous expectations for Giants fans coming into the season. Just like the organization, there were many believers in the potential of Daniel Jones, and where he could lead this team. This also came with the excitement of the return of star RB Saquon Barkley, who missed almost all of last year with a torn ACL. 

“I thought we had a good chance of making the playoffs going into this game,” said Anthony Aliberti, a fan who was at Bar Texas Arizona in Hoboken, New Jersey . “This was a divisional game, so I thought this was a big one to win, and it was a tough loss.”

Coming into the game, Daniel Jones was 4-0 in his career against the Washington Football Team, while being 4-19 against every other team. He had clearly shown that his best performances came against their division rival, but even a great performance from him last night was not enough to push them over the top. 

Fan Thomas Defrancesco, from Passaic County, was adamant that Jones is not the answer for this franchise.

“He only plays well against The (Washington) Football Team, so I would say another quarterback for the future,” DeFrancesco said.

But From the Giants’ point of view, they still have 15 games left this season and they still have a chance to turn the season around. 

In last night’s postgame press conference,  Jones said they have to move forward as a team.

“We’ve got to get past that and get to work,” Jones said. “Put our heads back down and focus on what we need to do to improve as a team and make sure that we’re in a better position to win games.”

The post Another Rocky Start to the Season for a Struggling Giants Franchise  appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Over the past three years, participation numbers in high school football have been on a steady decline. Besides the pressure of classes and extracurriculars, students have to deal with the harsh reality of concussions.

“This sport is not meant for human bodies. It’s barbaric, but people like it so not much we can do,” said Dapo Balogun of Newark, New Jersey.

According to a National Federation of High School Associations’ athletic participation survey concussions are the number one reason why participation numbers have dropped. Parents are concerned about the growing research on Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and head trauma injuries that can leave damaging effects on the body.

A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that is caused by a violent force to the head or neck area. Concussions usually affect motor and memory skills, but the effects of the brain injury are temporary. Not diagnosing a concussion can lead to other serious brain effects in the long term and can lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE.

According to the  National Federation of State High School Associations, 1,057,407 participated in 11 man football in 2016. In 2017, the number dropped to 1,036,842, a two percent decline from the previous. In 2016, 14,099 high schools sponsored 11 man football in 2017 the number dropped to 14,059, a 20 school decrease from the previous year. The numbers have declined steadily over the years.

“The number one reason for these numbers declining is the rising talks of brain injuries and concussions,” said Bob Carrich, Senior Athletic Director at Bergen Catholic High School. “These findings on brain injuries are making parents more concerned about the realities of playing contact football.”

Bergen Catholic is one of the elite high school football programs in New Jersey. Although they don’t cut players, participation numbers at the high school declined slightly. Carrich also offered low enrollment at the high school as another reason for participation numbers decreasing in the sport.

The NJSIAA (New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association), set out new rules in February to limit the amount of time there is for full padded contact practices. In 2018, high schools were allowed 90 minutes of player-on-player contact sessions a week. Moving forward into 2019, high schools will only be allowed 15 minutes of player-on-player contact for the week. These rules were set in place to limit the number of concussions and head injuries sustained during practice, that can affect athletes during the games.

Kenneth Isadare is a junior league football coach from Orange, New Jersey  has noticed the concern with parents regarding concussions and head injuries. His coaching staff has made it imperative to put regulations on player-to-player contact situations at practice. They’ve no longer allowed live tackling sessions and only let their kids practice in full equipment, one day out of the week.

“Trying to keep these kids safe starts with us, ” said Isadare. “We notice the participation numbers going down, but we can fix that by putting these kids in the safest of scenarios as possible.”

Although several preventive measures have been put in place to limit the number of concussions, some parents feel that the violent nature of the sport will still have parents hesitant in allowing their kids to play high school football.

“It’s an overall dangerous game,” said Ernestina Cancam of Bloomfield, New Jersey. “Even if they put restrictions on the game, the players will still experience the after-effects of brain injuries when they are done playing.”

When the New Jersey high school football season resumes in August, players will be under the strictest contact rules in the country. The emphasis on limiting head and neck injuries and player safety has been a major topic of discussion for high school athletic committees. Kevin Carty Jr, who was the president of the New Jersey Football Coaches Association’s executive board believes the regulations should boost up participation rates statewide.

“We want to keep our kids safe and we want people to know this is happening. By making it a mandate statewide, it can ease the fears of a lot of parents,” he said.

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As thousands of high school seniors signed their letter of intent on National Signing Day, Irvington High School stands out. While the public school is on the rise as a football powerhouse and is in one of the most competitive conferences in the state of New Jersey, their community has suffered from violence, crime and poverty.  The success of the program has been a much needed bright spot.

“We’re trying to change the narrative of what this city has been and the troubles that we’ve had in the past,” said Ashley Pierre, head football coach of the Irvington Blue Knights.

According to City-Data, Irvington’s crime rate was more than four times the national average, with 1,000 crimes occurring per 100,000 people for seven years straight. Though the crime rate did begin to decline in 2010, the rates are still high.

“Outsiders always talk bad about Irvington. They don’t realize people come from negative situations and that’s part of life,” said Savion Herring, Irvington’s offensive tackle and University of Cincinnati signee.

Coach Ashley Pierre, an Irvington native, played football at the University of Rhode Island and was an all-conference linebacker in 2007. When he was hired in 2015, he took over a team that was 3-7 overall and at the bottom of the Super Essex County conference. In his first season as head coach, he went 8-2 and had a top 50 finish in the state.

Irvington head coach Ashley “Rowdy” Pierre has been at the school since 2016. Since then he’s has a 24-9 record and has sent more than 12 athletes to division one schools. Photo by Chinedu Onyemaobi

“When I first took over this program, I tried to surround myself with men who cared and loved these kids,” said Pierre. “So we brought back some coaches from this city who have accomplished what we’re aiming at and that’s a championship.”

In a town where 25 percent of households live below the poverty line, the struggles at home can affect student-athletes both in the classroom and on the field. To combat these issues, Pierre has implemented a mandatory one hour study hall, weight lifting sessions, and  nutrition courses for his players. He also has a “Real World Wednesday”, where he brings guest speakers to mentor his players about the realities of life after football.

“What Rowdy [Coach Pierre] has done for our football program is truly special. There’s a different level of focus in our football players and it transcends beyond the classroom,” said Dr. John Taylor, Irvington’s Athletic Director.

Darren Fields, Irvington’s 6′2″ defensive back, will be playing at University at Albany State University of New next year and has played in Irvington township since his Pop Warner years. The start of the 2018 football season did not start off on the right foot, as Fields was sidelined with a fibula injury and missed the first eight games. Getting to this point in his life was not easy as he was faced with adversity early on his life.

“From the way I was raised, to be honest, I’m not supposed to be in the situation I am right now,” said Fields. “All I can do is be a great example to my brother and sister and show them the right path so they can be successful.”

Irvington High School had 12 student-athletes sign to division one schools in 2017. Most notable was  Lancine Turay, who is at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and is the brother of Indianapolis Colts linebacker Kemoko Turay. This year, Irvington has six student-athletes signing to division one schools. Coach Pierre believes this is just the beginning of Irvington’s success.

“Next year we should have around 10 guys sign. This is just the start of something special” said Pierre. “We’re going to be around for a long time. Just stay tuned.”

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Dave Cutolo used a plastic red horn to inspire fans at the Giants Super Bowl parade to cheer. Photo by Chris Palmer.

Thousands of Giants’ fans traveled from all over the New York metro region to attend today’s Super Bowl victory parade in Lower Manhattan, but one boisterous group of supporters on Cortlandt Street only had to walk a few blocks to catch the action.

“We do whatever we want, we’re stock brokers!” said Dave Cutolo, 44, oozing with bravado.

Cutolo, of Murray Hill, was standing with a group of work associates who all worked “down the street,” he said, without identifying the company they worked for. Wearing a black coat over his brown suit and patterned yellow tie, he held a plastic red horn that he bought from a street vendor in one hand, a coffee cup half-filled with beer in the other.

Cutolo and pals all wore suits and overcoats, standing out in a sea of people clad in Giants’ blue. But their attire didn’t prevent them from mixing in with the crowd: they hooted, hollered, laughed and screamed at passerby, passing the horn around and joining in the various “Let’s Go Giants!” chants that arose out of the massive crowd bordering Broadway.

Elvin Lopez, left, and Ron McClintock are stock brokers who were enjoying themselves at the Giants' Super Bowl parade. Photo by Chris Palmer

Ron McClintock, 32, a member of this stock-broking entourage, brushed off the idea that they were sacrificing time at work for a day of partying, saying that they could easily enjoy themselves while being productive.

“We’ll go back and forth,” he said, confidence dripping out of his pores. “We’ll go back (to the office), make some calls, make some money, and then come back.”

And the celebration would last all night, he said.

“See all these women?” he said, motioning to the enormous crowd. “I’m going to be like a fish net, scooping up everything.”

McClintock and Elvin Lopez, 31, were eager to express their love of this season’s Giants’ team, and Lopez said the way the team fought through the playoffs was representative of the city’s attitude.

“It’s such a New York story,” he said. “Everyone’s walking a little taller today, a little prouder.”

“It’s the greatest thing,” McClintock said. “No one stops (the Patriots) but New York.”

But Cutolo, despite being a Giants fan, wasn’t totally thrilled with the game’s outcome.

“I had money on the game,” he said, explaining that he needed the final score to end with the numbers five and three in order to take home the cash.

He wasn’t letting his lost wager depress him too much, though: while he and his friends attempted to whip the surrounding crowd into a frenzy, he cast an optimistic lens on the rest of his afternoon.

“I’ve got to go inside and make $2,000,” he said with a smile. “Then we can go back (here) and have fun.”

The post Giants Parade: Stock brokers celebrate appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

From mouthwatering sausage and pepperoni pies to blazing garlic parmesan chicken wings, New York City bars and restaurants are prepping to satisfy the thirst and appetites of hungry football fans this Sunday when the New York Giants take on the New England Patriots for the Super Bowl XLVI.

“I like the Super Bowl, it’s crazy,” said pizza maker Danny Asitimbay of Fat Sal’s Pizza on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. “I have no time to watch the play because it’s busy here, but I’m working hard.”

This year, specials at Fat Sal’s include a large pie and 10 wings for $21 or, for wings only fans, a bucket of 40 wings for under $26. Asitimbay, who has been working in the pizza business for the past seven years, said Fat Sal’s usually sells up to 2,000 wings on Super Bowl weekend alone. He added that the wings served at the pizzeria are “always fresh, never frozen,” and that extra ingredients had to be bought in order to prepare for the second biggest eating day of the year, following Thanksgiving.

Chicken wings take the spotlight as the most popular game-day food. According to a report from the National Chicken Council (NCC), Americans are expected to eat 1.25 billion chicken wings – 100 million pounds – this weekend.

By noon on Saturday, Atomic Wings already had 50 pre-orders for Sunday’s game.

“We regularly sell six to eight cases of wings a day,” said owner Christopher Lyn. “But for the Super Bowl, we’ll sell around 100 cases of wings – a substantial amount.”

With around 250 wings in each case, Lyn projects around 25,000 wings will be sold and devoured by consumers during the biggest wing-eating day of the year, despite a price increase on poultry. The NCC said wing prices always surge during the year’s fourth quarter, when eateries start to prepare for the Super Bowl.

Lyn added that the Giants, being from the Empire State, would impact Sunday’s sales because “we’re in a New York market.”

But while pizza and wings may be on the minds of most Americans this year, bars are also expecting a business boost. On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg temporarily renamed Brady’s Bar in uptown Manhattan to Manning’s for the weekend, declaring it “the luckiest bar in New York City,” just as he did when the two teams battled on the gridiron in 2008.

“If I wasn’t going to be in Indianapolis, I would be spending my Sunday afternoon where I think a lot of you should spend it, and that is here at Manning’s,” Bloomberg said.

Owner Dan Brady, an avid Giants fan, said yesterday that altering the name of the bar is a fun change.

“We did it four years ago, and everybody loved it,” he said. “Everybody finds it to be a great thing. Hopefully it’ll bring the Giants good luck.”

The post Super Bowl XLVI: City eateries benefiting from big game appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Former Penn State assitant coach Jerry Sandusky faces with muliple counts of child sexual abuse.(Photo courtesy Creative Commons)

A week ago, Penn State football fans were looking forward to this afternoon’s showdown with Nebraska as a crucially important contest between two of the nation’s top teams.

But after seven days riddled with tumult, scandal and shame rocked State College, Pa., the fans, friends and Penn State alumni that gathered at an alumni event at Manhattan’s Tonic East bar in Kips Bay, watched their Nittany Lions with heavy hearts and mixed emotions, still reeling from the week’s inconceivable happenings.

“It’s been really emotional,” said David Fleming, 32, a 2001 Penn State alum who currently lives in Chelsea.

“There’s been a lot coming out,” said Erin Walsh, 24, a Kips Bay resident whose sister went to Penn State.

The commotion all started last Saturday, when the Pennsylvania Attorney General released a gruesome 23-page grand jury report accusing former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky of sexually abusing eight boys over the course of 15 years.

Recently fired Penn State legendary football coach, Joe Paterno. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

That bombshell led to the firing of several university administrators, including university president Graham Spanier and beloved football coach Joe Paterno.

Until the report’s release, Paterno, Penn State’s head coach for 46 years, was viewed almost as a deity in Pennsylvania. He holds nearly every record for a college football coach, including wins (409), bowl game appearances (37) and bowl game wins (24).

And beyond the numbers, Penn State was viewed as a model football program, regularly a top team in graduation rate and avoiding the scandals that had plagued many of the sport’s most powerful programs.

“People used to call us the gold standard of college football,” Fleming said. “Iconic coach, legendary program. That’s all kind of fallen away.”

It’s fallen away thanks to details that emerged in the Sandusky allegations.

A graduate assistant coach apparently told Paterno vague details about a 2002 rape involving Sandusky and a child in the Penn State football building. Paterno reported it to his boss, athletic director Tim Curley, but no one called the police.

Sandusky, who retired from Penn State in 1999 but was a regular visitor on campus and iconic figure in his own right, allegedly continued to molest boys for seven more years. It wasn’t until 2009, when he was caught with a child in a central Pennsylvania high school, that an investigation into Sandusky’s predatory behavior began.

Reaction to the details of the case and the subsequent firing of many Penn State officials has been a complicated mix. Students in State College rioted after Paterno’s firing, but also held a serene candlelight vigil a few nights later for Sandusky’s victims.

Here in Manhattan, the New York City chapter of the Penn State alumni association made a pledge to donate $1 for each of its dues paying members to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. But according to a Tonic East employee, who did not give his name while escorting media out of the bar upon alumni request, the phone booths outside the Kips Bay watering hole were covered with vulgar, anti-Penn State posters in advance of today’s alumni gathering.

Walsh said her sister felt “awkward” throwing on her Penn State sweatshirt this morning.

But Fleming said this game was a chance to start anew.

“(The game) is something to rally around,” he said. “It can be the start of the healing process.”

Amidst this complicated array of reactions, what is clear is that for the first time in recent memory, the university will have to handle the pressures of managing a super-sized scandal. And they’ll have to do it without their biggest icon, Joe Paterno. That’s a strange thought for many Penn Staters.

“Who knows?” Fleming said, when asked what the future holds for Penn State. “It’s going to take a long time (to figure out).”

The post Penn State fans and alumni in NYC watch the game with heavy hearts appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Die-hard Detroit sports fan Jeffrey "Stu" Stewart cheers from his seat at Comerica Park during Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.

Something eerie is happening in Detroit. Like an old Twilight Zone episode in which cosmic forces abruptly bring about an alternate reality, the Motor City has had the vibe, in recent weeks, of a “parallel universe,” as one local journalist described the curiosity. The sports writer, Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press, characterized this “bizarre” phenomenon in the following fashion:

“It’s actually safe to call yourself a Lions fan,” he wrote, “without looking over your shoulder for the men in white coats carrying a straitjacket.”

Sharp was referring, in satirical terms, to the city’s pro football franchise, long an NFL doormat and national laughingstock, whose sudden burst of winning has shot ripples of excitement throughout greater Detroit. With five straight victories to start the 2011 season, this ordinarily woeful squad – that last made the playoffs in 1999 and has compiled an anemic 39-121 record in the past decade – is now a sizzling topic of conversation among sports fans nationally. And with the city’s baseball team, the Tigers, having penetrated deep into this year’s playoffs before being eliminated by the Texas Rangers Saturday, the collective mood here – in a city where optimism can be at a premium – is high.

“There’s a real buzz going on in the city,” said Jeffrey “Stu” Stewart, 31, sitting in box seats along the right field line of packed Comerica Park, the Tigers’ home stadium, during Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. Wearing a Tigers baseball cap and a Lions jersey, Stewart, from the suburb of Redford Township, Michigan, said he planned to “paint my face like a clown” for Sunday’s Lions-49ers game at adjacent Ford Field.

Outside the ballpark, Shawn Crawford, 28, wearing a dark blue Tigers’ cap identical to Stewart’s, said that the Lions’ and Tigers’ success is “bringing people together.”

“Even though it’s a down time in the city, the city’s very resilient and it’s gonna fight back,” said Crawford, a delivery truck driver who lives in Detroit. “Winning helps cure everything.”

Sports’ power to unite a racially fractured society around a common cause, and to bring joy to the masses during times of distress, is no mysterious notion. But perhaps nowhere has that emotional healing power been more vital than in Detroit, whose ills – unemployment, crime, illiteracy, racial segregation – are well-known.

Charles Pugh, Detroit’s City Council President, said that sports have historically been one of the lone “shining spots” for a city that’s been “in the doldrums.”

“[In a city] where sometimes things get pretty bad,” said Pugh, “Sports may be your only solace, may be the only source of joy.”

Over the past half-century, both the Lions and the city in which they’re beloved have chugged down similar tracks – although over time, both sets of rails have become increasingly rusty, broken, cliff-bound.

In the early to mid-1950’s, when Detroit’s car industry boomed and its population of nearly two million ranked it fifth biggest among America’s metropolises, the Lions were in the midst of a golden era, capturing three NFL Championships in six years. The Lions’ last NFL Championship, in 1957, came a year before a recession rocked Detroit, hitting its auto industry especially hard. The 1960s saw race riots and a white exodus from city to suburbs, just as the Lions were experiencing one of professional sports’ most prolific droughts, making just one playoff experience in a 24-year span.

By the 2000’s, Detroit’s woes, and the Lions’ misfortunes, had made the Motor City a go-to punch line for late night comics; a Conan O’Brien or Jay Leno could reliably follow any dud of a joke with a crack about the Lions or about crime in Detroit, and quickly re-claim the audience’s affection. (like when O’Brien named Detroit the globe’s fourth worst vacation destination). But the realities weren’t as humorous: illiteracy rates hovering around 50%, record levels of crime and school dropouts, entire neighborhoods becoming the scenes of chilling post-apocalyptic-looking abandon.

In 2008, the year that the Lions became the NFL’s first ever team to go 0-16, the city’s mayor, Kwame Kirkpatrick, left office in disgrace amidst a string of scandals and felony charges, including for perjury and obstruction of justice. He ended up in jail.

But the Lions’ sudden winning ways, said Pugh, have contributed immensely to the city’s collective psyche, not to mention the “residual capital,” such as an economic jolt, and positive media coverage that has aided Detroit’s image nationally.

Still, Andy Markovits, a Professor of Sociology and Political Science at the University of Michigan, who has written a book on sports’ effects on politics and culture, cautioned against over-valuing these teams’ impact on the community.

“If you wonder what the effects are in terms of long term structural [impact], they’re probably zero or minimal,” said Markovits, adding that positive news surrounding Detroit’s car industry is a much more significant development. Any long-term economic impact, added the professor, is similarly “very hard to assess and very dubious.”

But that isn’t to say sports aren’t influential, Markovits stressed. Sports, he said, can provide a temporary yet “unbelievable sense of collective euphoria.”

“This is a wonderful high [for Detroit],” said Markovits, “and that’s important in life.”

About 600 miles away, in a bar on Manhattan’s East Side, such euphoria was being shared among self-proclaimed Detroit “ex-pats,” who scrunched themselves into long, narrow “Tammany Hall” tavern for the Lions’ first Monday Night Football appearance in a decade.

“Detroit Lions fans love their team and have endured years of torment,” read a website promoting the event, entitled ‘From Motown to Midtown.’

Forming a sea of Honolulu blue, the Lions’ official color, the faithful wore shirts like “Made in Detroit” and “Motor City Pride.” They sang a Detroit Lions fight song after touchdowns, and expressed – whether they’d been raised in Detroit’s suburbs or within its city limits – an intense pride in their hometown.

Standing near the bar was Justin Stewart, 29, who works for a real estate company and lives in Manhattan’s West Village.

“I have to be up at 6 am tomorrow, but I don’t care,” said Stewart, wearing a Tigers’ cap and a t-shirt with multiple blurry ‘Detroits’ on it, as if his attire had been designed by an eye doctor. Stewart is from Bloomfield Hills outside Detroit, one of America’s most affluent suburbs, a place where giant mansions soar above bright green lawns. He said he’s been recruiting friends to move back to Detroit with him within the next several years. Increased excitement surrounding the Lions and Tigers, he maintained, has strengthened his sales pitch.

“What better place to be [than this]?” said Neil Steinkamp, 34, wearing a dark suit with a backwards Detroit Tigers cap. Steinkamp, a financial consultant who grew up in the Detroit suburb of Birmingham and lives on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, had driven to the bar directly from LaGuardia Airport, where he’d just flown in from a business trip.

“I think this brings people together,” said Steinkamp, as the Lions closed in on an impressive 24-13 win over the Chicago Bears. “It gives the city something to rally around.”

Back in Detroit, on the city’s West Side, in a neighborhood where rotting, boarded up homes outnumber healthy ones at least two to one, Juan Scott, 54, hobbled out of a house and onto his front porch, a cane supporting his weight. He said that he’s been out of work “because of an accident”, was once a chef, and, that he’s always been a Lions and Tigers fan.

Juan Scott, 54, stands outside of his home in West Detroit, on a block dominated by abandoned houses. Scott, who is out of work, is a long-time Lions and Tigers fan. Photo by Louie Lazar.

“When sports around here aren’t looking good, there’s a lot of trouble,” said Scott, a Detroit native. “But as far as the [Lions] looking up, everybody seems to have a different attitude about things.”

It was late afternoon, and filtered rays of sunlight illuminated peeling paint on nearby houses. Gusts of wind rustled through weed fields growing on front lawns; overgrown tree branches scratched against broken house windows. The block was empty of people, except for two young boys down the street, who tossed around a mini-football.

Asked whether he thinks the Lions’ success is making a difference in people’s lives here, Scott formed a slight smile.

“Yeah, you can tell the difference,” he said, shifting his cane from one hand to another. “There’s a buzz in the air.”

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