The 1997 Season

Note: 1997 was the first season that I wrote down thoughts the entire year. Therefore, the 1997 season summary will come in multiple additions to my blog. Today's 1997 entry will be Playoffs, at N.Y. Giants thoughts.

Playoffs: at New York Giants

“Luck is what happens
when preparation meets opportunity.”
Unknown

The New York team known as the Big Blue turned three shades of blue Saturday while slowly asphyxiating during the second half of the wild card game between the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants.

There was one huge difference in the game. Recently-named NFL Coach of The Year Jim Fassel coached his upstart Giants for fifty-seven minutes. Viking head coach Dennis Green coached his team for a full sixty minutes. And got some luck along the way.

During the second half of this game it was Lady Luck who reminded me of a long-ago incident which took place on December 27, 1969. Our Vikings were in a playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams. Coming out of the locker room at half time, our boys in purple trailed 17-7 and the Rams had been unstoppable.

Sitting by the television, my usually quiet grandfather simply said, “A man always has the right to try to change his luck.”

He said that right after I told him that I thought the Vikings never seemed to get any breaks. Grandfather had never been a sports fan but seemed to respect a similarly stoic and quiet man on the field coaching the Vikings: Bud Grant.

“The right to try to change his luck,” he said again, in a kind of distant, satisfied way, as if he liked the sound of what he had said. That’s one thing about grandfathers; they can be awfully repetitious. I guess they’ve got a lot of time on their hands in their retirement years, with nothing much to do but store up these wise sounding little one-liners.

But Grandfather was correct as the Vikings got some luck and won the game 23-20, sealing the victory when Viking great Carl Eller bulled his way into the end zone and tackled Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel for a safety. The offense had moved the ball when it needed to, led by quarterback Joe Kapp who had replaced the starting Viking quarterback at the beginning of the season, Gary Cuozzo. And Grant had his first NFL playoff victory after two previous playoff loses.

So it was no stretch of my imagination to hear my now-deceased grandfather whispering in my ear, “A man always has the right to try to change his luck” as I watched a coach get his first win in the playoffs due to a defense playing exceptionally well and an offense led by back-up quarterback Randall Cunningham.

What goes around, comes around.