00:00:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of Papa's Perspective, brought to you by Bob's Discount Furniture, the official furniture store and an official mattress partner of the New York Giants. We're celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Giants' first ever Super Bowl, Super Bowl XXI, and the 1986 season. And we are joined by a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was voted to the All-80s Decade Team, nine-time Pro Bowler, but more importantly, the Captain of Harry Carson. And Harry, can you believe it's been 40 years in your mind?
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Yeah. I believe it, yeah. Yeah.
00:00:41
Speaker 3: I never really stop and think about it, but there's so many people who bring it to my attention. You know, just talking about Super Bowl XXI and I don't really harp on it or anything like that, but There are people in my life who sort of bring it to my attention so I can never really get away from it. You know, especially when I go to the market, when I'm walking my dog Charlie. And, you know, there are just so many people who bring it to my attention.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: So, Harry, maybe for the younger fans that are watching this, you played at South Carolina State. You weren't even a linebacker. When you first came into the NFL, you were drafted by the Giants in 1976. So you were with some bad football teams. But you're the middle linebacker. You're the captain. Everybody at that point in time knew, gosh, the Giants haven't won a championship since 1956. You know, it was 20 years. Now almost going on 30 years. What did it mean to you, especially getting to know Sam Huff, who played your position in the last championship team, to be the captain of that team that finally delivered a Super Bowl to a fan base that thought Super Bowls were for other fans, not for Giants fans?
00:02:08
Speaker 3: Well, I know we're limited as to the amount of time that we can talk about certain things, but for me, I went to South Carolina State and one of the things that people really don't think about is I had to make a transition from being at a small black college in Orangeburg, South Carolina to, uh, the New York football giants and Marty Schottenheimer drafted me. And one of my best, well, one of the things that, um, I'm so proud of is I was able to make that transition from being a down defensive lineman to a Mike inside linebacker. And Marty sat me down and Marty is, I just love Marty Schottenheimer. He drafted me, but we spent a lot of time together And he told me flat out, there are going to be people who are going to doubt you being able to play this position because it's normally reserved for white guys. It's a thinking man's position. And so when I took the field, there's so many things that I remember and just the things that Marty instilled in me. And, um, It was one of those things that I see things much differently than so many other people because all of the guys who were drafted, they were drafted at their positions. I had to learn a new position once I got to the highest level, and that is the New York football giants in the media capital of the world, really.
00:04:06
Speaker 2: And so.
00:04:08
Speaker 3: Me being able to play the position and then go on to be a captain, you know, three years later, you know, once I got into the league, it was really, you know, the highlight of my life to be able to do something that people were going to doubt that I would have the opportunity to do. And so it was just very interesting. I had people who believed in me. And I'll never forget that. And then there are people who inherited me once that coaching staff was fired after the fumble and everything. Bill Parcells inherited me as a player. And going even further, Bill Belichick inherited me from Bill Parcells. And they all made me a better player, a better person. The whole leadership thing and being a captain, that was after my third season. And I was being voted on. I mean, this was a time when they didn't just appoint you, but your teammates had to vote for you. And so my teammates saw something in me at that time from a leadership standpoint, and they voted me to be their captain. Now, just to sum that up, I was captain 10 of my 13 seasons with the Giants. And the guys who I played with in 86, 87, 88, my last year, Phil McConkie, Jim Burt, you know, they said, hey, you know, you're our captain, Harry.
00:06:21
Speaker 2: You're our captain.
00:06:24
Speaker 3: And I didn't realize that at the time they were insinuating that I was going to be their captain for life. And so I became their leader. I became their captain. And whether it was playing football or life after the games, They're my guys.
00:06:47
Speaker 2: I'm their captain.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: It's really the impact that you've had has been amazing. Looking at the season, Harry, listen, the offense wasn't an aerial show. It was the Suburbanites and Joe Morris pounding the rock. And then eventually after that fourth and 17 in Minnesota, the passing game came along and you guys go 14 and two. Talk about the mentality. that that defense had under your leadership as the captain of that defense and what it was like and why did it work so well?
00:07:28
Speaker 3: Because we got spanked the year before in Chicago and we stood in that locker room and everybody felt pain. And we all knew that we had to come together and be a cohesive group of individuals. And that really is one of the proudest things that I've been able to see as a team. We all came together. We didn't care who got the credit. We didn't care anything about how many passes were caught by players and so forth. And we were just going to do whatever we had to do to get back to the Super Bowl. We knew we were going to get to the Super Bowl. And, you know, quite frankly, we had to stay focused. We had to check our egos at the door. And we just had to become guys who took care of one another. It was the finest group of individuals that I've ever been around. I've I played like 21 years of football, high school, college, NFL. This was the most cohesive group of guys who played for one another. And we just had it in our minds when we were in that locker room in Chicago. We weren't going to take time off. We're going to get ready for the next season. And so come out the gate, We lose, you know, first game, so forth.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Really didn't matter.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: We got stronger. We got better. And we believed in ourselves. And we stayed together. And, you know, as I said before, we didn't care who got the credit. Just had to get the job done. And quite frankly, I felt bad for teams that we were playing down the pike Because we got better and better and better and we became more physical and we just started beating the beating the ass of teams that we were playing. And, you know, I tell guys, you know, it's going to be ass whipping time. You know, we're not going to spare the rod.
00:10:02
Speaker 2: And it.
00:10:05
Speaker 3: Was tough for me because I'm a very nonviolent person. But to know that this offense that we're going to play, you know, we're going to kick their ass. Yeah.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: And that was it.
00:10:20
Speaker 3: It was we knew we were going to get to. We just had to make sure that it came through Giant Stadium.
00:10:29
Speaker 1: So I want to ask you this, because as a kid growing up in the 70s. I hated Washington because I felt like George Allen would call a timeout. with 45 seconds to go to kick a field goal to make it 49-3 as opposed to 46-3. That rivalry was intense. You beat them three times that season. The Monday night game when the Mets were winning the World Series, and then you clinched the NFC East in Washington, and then you shut them out in the NFC Championship game. Short of winning the Super Bowl, what was that rivalry? like for you after having your nose rubbed in it by them so many years ago?
00:11:19
Speaker 3: Well, keep in mind that I was not around when Georgia was, you know, kicking those field goals.
00:11:28
Speaker 2: We were, it was just another game.
00:11:30
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know what, I don't know what other guys are going to say, but for me, it was just another game. We knew what they could do and what, you know, we could do to stop them. And I enjoyed playing against them because any team that was in the NFC East at that time, it was our time.
00:11:55
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:11:56
Speaker 3: Because when I first came to the Giants, everybody wanted to play the Giants, you know, because it was like that team you play for homecoming and, you know, people just kicked our rear ends. But it was then our turn. Everything kind of, what goes around comes around. And so whether it was Washington or Dallas or St. Louis Cardinals or whoever else, we didn't really focus on the past. We focused on what was in front of us. And that was We wanted to get to the Super Bowl and we wanted to win. We were gonna win the Super Bowl. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind and in my head that we could not get to Super Bowl. Chicago did it before us. We applaud them and we move forward, but it was our turn. And when we won, against Washington and also San Francisco. I could not sleep like the night before the game because my focus was on the plays and everything that needed to be done. And we'd check into the hotel and everything, and we stayed there the night before the game.
00:13:42
Speaker 2: I couldn't sleep.
00:13:42
Speaker 3: I was so, I was so hyped up that, um, it was just one of those things where you're just focused on the game. And there are just so many things that so many little idiosyncrasy things that everybody sort of went through at that time. And they went through it by themselves, uh, when they were alone and everybody was just focused. You know, I remember Phil, um, we were playing, I think we were playing.
00:14:14
Speaker 2: Washington.
00:14:16
Speaker 3: And he said, he walked into the training room, everybody was getting taped up and everything.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: He said, man, I couldn't sleep last night. And I said, I couldn't sleep either.
00:14:29
Speaker 3: I got up, left the Hilton and went home, started watching film at two o'clock in the morning And because I just couldn't sleep. I was just so fired up, you know. And so everybody had their own little way of getting through that period of time because we were like on a much different level at that time. I mean, when you step on the field, you got practice.
00:15:05
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:15:06
Speaker 3: And there's a table that you assume when you're, you know, when you're practicing. Then you go into the preseason and there's a tempo that's for the preseason. And then there's a big difference between the last preseason game or the preseason games and the beginning of the season. And so we all sort of went through that. Then you go to the end of the season And you get jacked up from regular season to playoffs. And there's a different level that you get to. But when you go somewhere that you've never been before and you're in the playoffs, we've been in the playoffs before, but you're in the playoffs and you're going to be representing the NFC in the Super Bowl. And I could not sleep. People ask me, how did you go through getting ready to play? And I would say, it's just another game. It's just another game. And I had to say that to myself because I couldn't go to sleep. I was on vapors, man. And so when we went out to California and we were all just fired up and you're keeping it all inside. And when we got on the bus to go to the stadium, everybody was just wired, but it was a quietness.
00:17:01
Speaker 2: And so I knew everybody was ready.
00:17:05
Speaker 3: When you have guys who are there and they're silent, they're thinking, It becomes a mental game. Physically, I mean, we're strong. Johnny Parker had everybody ready to go. And I don't know how much credit Johnny Parker has gotten. But from a physical standpoint, we beat people into submission. That's one of the things that.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: I thought about.
00:17:40
Speaker 3: You can dominate somebody. And when you're all on the same page, that strength, there are things that you can do like Superman and do it, you know, like legally. It's not like taking pills or anything like that.
00:17:56
Speaker 2: All right.
00:17:58
Speaker 1: I got to ask you this because you can't watch a sporting event. And then it's not just football. It's basketball. It's baseball. It's women's softball. Heck, it's my... sons seven on seven football or flag football. When you win a championship, the kids love to dump water on you or whatever. They're always dousing the coach. You're the brains behind it all. Where did it come from?
00:18:28
Speaker 2: It was Jim Burt's idea.
00:18:29
Speaker 3: Okay. I always give Jim credit because it started like the year before, maybe two years before. And, you know, Bill has a way of getting under the skin of certain players and get them to give their best. Bill had been riding Bert for all week prior to a Redskins game. And as we were going down toward the end of the game, you know, Jim came to me and he said, Harry, Harry, oh, you know, Parcells, what a prick he is. And, you know, he said this and did that. And I kept everybody off of you. And, you know, you were, and I was like, well, Jim, what do you want to do? He said, let's get him with the Gatorade.
00:19:31
Speaker 2: And I said, why?
00:19:34
Speaker 3: He said, because, you know, I said, why me? Why do you want me to do it with you? He said, because you're his boy, you're his guy. If I do something, he'll have my ass. If you do something, he's going to let it go. And so that's how it happened against Washington.
00:19:56
Speaker 2: And, you know, we didn't really put much in it. It happened.
00:20:04
Speaker 3: It was a one-shot deal. After we lost to the Cowboys... I think we were playing San Diego.
00:20:13
Speaker 2: Yep. First two games. Yeah, right.
00:20:18
Speaker 3: And so nobody thought that we could win. I was even getting racist letters from fans. And so when it came down and we were beating the Chargers, when it happened, And I know I'm long-winded here. You know, let me just finish this story. So we were so elated about winning the game that I grabbed a Gatorade bucket and I threw the Gatorade on him.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: Knowing Bill as I know Bill, if, I mean, he's very superstitious.
00:21:04
Speaker 1: Very superstitious. The elephants in the office with the trunks and everything.
00:21:09
Speaker 3: If you do something one week and if it works, you have to keep doing it. So as we were winning week in and week out, I had to douse him with Gatorade. And so it wasn't something that I took great joy in. The best thing was we were winning the game. And so when we got into the playoffs, I had to douse him.
00:21:35
Speaker 2: So at Super Bowl, I had to douse him Multiple times.
00:21:41
Speaker 1: Right.
00:21:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker 3: And so everybody got doused. Belichick got doused. It was all about fun. It was fun. And it was the love and the respect that we had for our coaches. And it's something that we would always remember. No matter how long you live, you're going to remember those moments. I wasn't about picking him up and carrying him off the field. I was about just dousing him. The one regret that I had was I was not able to get Wellington Mara. I wanted to get Wellington Mara. The reason why is Wellington Mara, he communicated in certain ways. Like you wouldn't see him talking or anything, but he would come over and he'd say this or that. And playing for the Giants in Wellington, Maryland was probably one of the best things that had ever happened to me because he was an owner who wanted to win. Like whenever we would lose a game, he would come around in the locker room and And he'd have the scowl on his face. And he said, that's all right. We'll get him next week. And we'll get him next year, whatever. But for him to go through what he went through, because I was there when the planes were flying overhead with the banners being trailed.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: Behind him and everything.
00:23:28
Speaker 3: And, you know, there were people who wanted him to sell the team at that time. But I wanted him to get doused. But from a love interest.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: Right, of course. In a loving way.
00:23:46
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: But typical Mr. Mara fashion, unlike a lot of owners today, he's not on the field.
00:23:57
Speaker 3: He's not on the field, Bob. But we didn't have champagne in the locker room at the end of the game. We couldn't shake everything up like they do in baseball. Guys were popping Coca-Cola and Sprite.
00:24:15
Speaker 2: And all of that stuff up.
00:24:17
Speaker 3: I did grab him and I did pull him into the shower and got him a little wet.
00:24:27
Speaker 2: But I really wanted to get willing to marry him.
00:24:31
Speaker 1: What a perfect way to end it, Harry. What incredible stories. This season is just a special year for Giants fans, and I know for you guys. And thank you for joining us here on the show.
00:24:44
Speaker 2: My pleasure.
00:24:45
Speaker 1: That's the great Harry Carson on this edition of Papa's Perspective, brought to you by Bob's Discount Furniture, the official furniture store and an official mattress partner of the New York Giants.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of Papa's Perspective, brought to you by Bob's Discount Furniture, the official furniture store and an official mattress partner of the New York Giants. We're celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Giants' first ever Super Bowl, Super Bowl XXI, and the 1986 season. And we are joined by a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was voted to the All-80s Decade Team, nine-time Pro Bowler, but more importantly, the Captain of Harry Carson. And Harry, can you believe it's been 40 years in your mind?
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Yeah. I believe it, yeah. Yeah.
00:00:41
Speaker 3: I never really stop and think about it, but there's so many people who bring it to my attention. You know, just talking about Super Bowl XXI and I don't really harp on it or anything like that, but There are people in my life who sort of bring it to my attention so I can never really get away from it. You know, especially when I go to the market, when I'm walking my dog Charlie. And, you know, there are just so many people who bring it to my attention.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: So, Harry, maybe for the younger fans that are watching this, you played at South Carolina State. You weren't even a linebacker. When you first came into the NFL, you were drafted by the Giants in 1976. So you were with some bad football teams. But you're the middle linebacker. You're the captain. Everybody at that point in time knew, gosh, the Giants haven't won a championship since 1956. You know, it was 20 years. Now almost going on 30 years. What did it mean to you, especially getting to know Sam Huff, who played your position in the last championship team, to be the captain of that team that finally delivered a Super Bowl to a fan base that thought Super Bowls were for other fans, not for Giants fans?
00:02:08
Speaker 3: Well, I know we're limited as to the amount of time that we can talk about certain things, but for me, I went to South Carolina State and one of the things that people really don't think about is I had to make a transition from being at a small black college in Orangeburg, South Carolina to, uh, the New York football giants and Marty Schottenheimer drafted me. And one of my best, well, one of the things that, um, I'm so proud of is I was able to make that transition from being a down defensive lineman to a Mike inside linebacker. And Marty sat me down and Marty is, I just love Marty Schottenheimer. He drafted me, but we spent a lot of time together And he told me flat out, there are going to be people who are going to doubt you being able to play this position because it's normally reserved for white guys. It's a thinking man's position. And so when I took the field, there's so many things that I remember and just the things that Marty instilled in me. And, um, It was one of those things that I see things much differently than so many other people because all of the guys who were drafted, they were drafted at their positions. I had to learn a new position once I got to the highest level, and that is the New York football giants in the media capital of the world, really.
00:04:06
Speaker 2: And so.
00:04:08
Speaker 3: Me being able to play the position and then go on to be a captain, you know, three years later, you know, once I got into the league, it was really, you know, the highlight of my life to be able to do something that people were going to doubt that I would have the opportunity to do. And so it was just very interesting. I had people who believed in me. And I'll never forget that. And then there are people who inherited me once that coaching staff was fired after the fumble and everything. Bill Parcells inherited me as a player. And going even further, Bill Belichick inherited me from Bill Parcells. And they all made me a better player, a better person. The whole leadership thing and being a captain, that was after my third season. And I was being voted on. I mean, this was a time when they didn't just appoint you, but your teammates had to vote for you. And so my teammates saw something in me at that time from a leadership standpoint, and they voted me to be their captain. Now, just to sum that up, I was captain 10 of my 13 seasons with the Giants. And the guys who I played with in 86, 87, 88, my last year, Phil McConkie, Jim Burt, you know, they said, hey, you know, you're our captain, Harry.
00:06:21
Speaker 2: You're our captain.
00:06:24
Speaker 3: And I didn't realize that at the time they were insinuating that I was going to be their captain for life. And so I became their leader. I became their captain. And whether it was playing football or life after the games, They're my guys.
00:06:47
Speaker 2: I'm their captain.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: It's really the impact that you've had has been amazing. Looking at the season, Harry, listen, the offense wasn't an aerial show. It was the Suburbanites and Joe Morris pounding the rock. And then eventually after that fourth and 17 in Minnesota, the passing game came along and you guys go 14 and two. Talk about the mentality. that that defense had under your leadership as the captain of that defense and what it was like and why did it work so well?
00:07:28
Speaker 3: Because we got spanked the year before in Chicago and we stood in that locker room and everybody felt pain. And we all knew that we had to come together and be a cohesive group of individuals. And that really is one of the proudest things that I've been able to see as a team. We all came together. We didn't care who got the credit. We didn't care anything about how many passes were caught by players and so forth. And we were just going to do whatever we had to do to get back to the Super Bowl. We knew we were going to get to the Super Bowl. And, you know, quite frankly, we had to stay focused. We had to check our egos at the door. And we just had to become guys who took care of one another. It was the finest group of individuals that I've ever been around. I've I played like 21 years of football, high school, college, NFL. This was the most cohesive group of guys who played for one another. And we just had it in our minds when we were in that locker room in Chicago. We weren't going to take time off. We're going to get ready for the next season. And so come out the gate, We lose, you know, first game, so forth.
00:09:18
Speaker 2: Really didn't matter.
00:09:19
Speaker 3: We got stronger. We got better. And we believed in ourselves. And we stayed together. And, you know, as I said before, we didn't care who got the credit. Just had to get the job done. And quite frankly, I felt bad for teams that we were playing down the pike Because we got better and better and better and we became more physical and we just started beating the beating the ass of teams that we were playing. And, you know, I tell guys, you know, it's going to be ass whipping time. You know, we're not going to spare the rod.
00:10:02
Speaker 2: And it.
00:10:05
Speaker 3: Was tough for me because I'm a very nonviolent person. But to know that this offense that we're going to play, you know, we're going to kick their ass. Yeah.
00:10:19
Speaker 2: And that was it.
00:10:20
Speaker 3: It was we knew we were going to get to. We just had to make sure that it came through Giant Stadium.
00:10:29
Speaker 1: So I want to ask you this, because as a kid growing up in the 70s. I hated Washington because I felt like George Allen would call a timeout. with 45 seconds to go to kick a field goal to make it 49-3 as opposed to 46-3. That rivalry was intense. You beat them three times that season. The Monday night game when the Mets were winning the World Series, and then you clinched the NFC East in Washington, and then you shut them out in the NFC Championship game. Short of winning the Super Bowl, what was that rivalry? like for you after having your nose rubbed in it by them so many years ago?
00:11:19
Speaker 3: Well, keep in mind that I was not around when Georgia was, you know, kicking those field goals.
00:11:28
Speaker 2: We were, it was just another game.
00:11:30
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know what, I don't know what other guys are going to say, but for me, it was just another game. We knew what they could do and what, you know, we could do to stop them. And I enjoyed playing against them because any team that was in the NFC East at that time, it was our time.
00:11:55
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:11:56
Speaker 3: Because when I first came to the Giants, everybody wanted to play the Giants, you know, because it was like that team you play for homecoming and, you know, people just kicked our rear ends. But it was then our turn. Everything kind of, what goes around comes around. And so whether it was Washington or Dallas or St. Louis Cardinals or whoever else, we didn't really focus on the past. We focused on what was in front of us. And that was We wanted to get to the Super Bowl and we wanted to win. We were gonna win the Super Bowl. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind and in my head that we could not get to Super Bowl. Chicago did it before us. We applaud them and we move forward, but it was our turn. And when we won, against Washington and also San Francisco. I could not sleep like the night before the game because my focus was on the plays and everything that needed to be done. And we'd check into the hotel and everything, and we stayed there the night before the game.
00:13:42
Speaker 2: I couldn't sleep.
00:13:42
Speaker 3: I was so, I was so hyped up that, um, it was just one of those things where you're just focused on the game. And there are just so many things that so many little idiosyncrasy things that everybody sort of went through at that time. And they went through it by themselves, uh, when they were alone and everybody was just focused. You know, I remember Phil, um, we were playing, I think we were playing.
00:14:14
Speaker 2: Washington.
00:14:16
Speaker 3: And he said, he walked into the training room, everybody was getting taped up and everything.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: He said, man, I couldn't sleep last night. And I said, I couldn't sleep either.
00:14:29
Speaker 3: I got up, left the Hilton and went home, started watching film at two o'clock in the morning And because I just couldn't sleep. I was just so fired up, you know. And so everybody had their own little way of getting through that period of time because we were like on a much different level at that time. I mean, when you step on the field, you got practice.
00:15:05
Speaker 2: Okay.
00:15:06
Speaker 3: And there's a table that you assume when you're, you know, when you're practicing. Then you go into the preseason and there's a tempo that's for the preseason. And then there's a big difference between the last preseason game or the preseason games and the beginning of the season. And so we all sort of went through that. Then you go to the end of the season And you get jacked up from regular season to playoffs. And there's a different level that you get to. But when you go somewhere that you've never been before and you're in the playoffs, we've been in the playoffs before, but you're in the playoffs and you're going to be representing the NFC in the Super Bowl. And I could not sleep. People ask me, how did you go through getting ready to play? And I would say, it's just another game. It's just another game. And I had to say that to myself because I couldn't go to sleep. I was on vapors, man. And so when we went out to California and we were all just fired up and you're keeping it all inside. And when we got on the bus to go to the stadium, everybody was just wired, but it was a quietness.
00:17:01
Speaker 2: And so I knew everybody was ready.
00:17:05
Speaker 3: When you have guys who are there and they're silent, they're thinking, It becomes a mental game. Physically, I mean, we're strong. Johnny Parker had everybody ready to go. And I don't know how much credit Johnny Parker has gotten. But from a physical standpoint, we beat people into submission. That's one of the things that.
00:17:38
Speaker 2: I thought about.
00:17:40
Speaker 3: You can dominate somebody. And when you're all on the same page, that strength, there are things that you can do like Superman and do it, you know, like legally. It's not like taking pills or anything like that.
00:17:56
Speaker 2: All right.
00:17:58
Speaker 1: I got to ask you this because you can't watch a sporting event. And then it's not just football. It's basketball. It's baseball. It's women's softball. Heck, it's my... sons seven on seven football or flag football. When you win a championship, the kids love to dump water on you or whatever. They're always dousing the coach. You're the brains behind it all. Where did it come from?
00:18:28
Speaker 2: It was Jim Burt's idea.
00:18:29
Speaker 3: Okay. I always give Jim credit because it started like the year before, maybe two years before. And, you know, Bill has a way of getting under the skin of certain players and get them to give their best. Bill had been riding Bert for all week prior to a Redskins game. And as we were going down toward the end of the game, you know, Jim came to me and he said, Harry, Harry, oh, you know, Parcells, what a prick he is. And, you know, he said this and did that. And I kept everybody off of you. And, you know, you were, and I was like, well, Jim, what do you want to do? He said, let's get him with the Gatorade.
00:19:31
Speaker 2: And I said, why?
00:19:34
Speaker 3: He said, because, you know, I said, why me? Why do you want me to do it with you? He said, because you're his boy, you're his guy. If I do something, he'll have my ass. If you do something, he's going to let it go. And so that's how it happened against Washington.
00:19:56
Speaker 2: And, you know, we didn't really put much in it. It happened.
00:20:04
Speaker 3: It was a one-shot deal. After we lost to the Cowboys... I think we were playing San Diego.
00:20:13
Speaker 2: Yep. First two games. Yeah, right.
00:20:18
Speaker 3: And so nobody thought that we could win. I was even getting racist letters from fans. And so when it came down and we were beating the Chargers, when it happened, And I know I'm long-winded here. You know, let me just finish this story. So we were so elated about winning the game that I grabbed a Gatorade bucket and I threw the Gatorade on him.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: Knowing Bill as I know Bill, if, I mean, he's very superstitious.
00:21:04
Speaker 1: Very superstitious. The elephants in the office with the trunks and everything.
00:21:09
Speaker 3: If you do something one week and if it works, you have to keep doing it. So as we were winning week in and week out, I had to douse him with Gatorade. And so it wasn't something that I took great joy in. The best thing was we were winning the game. And so when we got into the playoffs, I had to douse him.
00:21:35
Speaker 2: So at Super Bowl, I had to douse him Multiple times.
00:21:41
Speaker 1: Right.
00:21:42
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:21:42
Speaker 3: And so everybody got doused. Belichick got doused. It was all about fun. It was fun. And it was the love and the respect that we had for our coaches. And it's something that we would always remember. No matter how long you live, you're going to remember those moments. I wasn't about picking him up and carrying him off the field. I was about just dousing him. The one regret that I had was I was not able to get Wellington Mara. I wanted to get Wellington Mara. The reason why is Wellington Mara, he communicated in certain ways. Like you wouldn't see him talking or anything, but he would come over and he'd say this or that. And playing for the Giants in Wellington, Maryland was probably one of the best things that had ever happened to me because he was an owner who wanted to win. Like whenever we would lose a game, he would come around in the locker room and And he'd have the scowl on his face. And he said, that's all right. We'll get him next week. And we'll get him next year, whatever. But for him to go through what he went through, because I was there when the planes were flying overhead with the banners being trailed.
00:23:27
Speaker 2: Behind him and everything.
00:23:28
Speaker 3: And, you know, there were people who wanted him to sell the team at that time. But I wanted him to get doused. But from a love interest.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: Right, of course. In a loving way.
00:23:46
Speaker 2: Yeah.
00:23:48
Speaker 1: But typical Mr. Mara fashion, unlike a lot of owners today, he's not on the field.
00:23:57
Speaker 3: He's not on the field, Bob. But we didn't have champagne in the locker room at the end of the game. We couldn't shake everything up like they do in baseball. Guys were popping Coca-Cola and Sprite.
00:24:15
Speaker 2: And all of that stuff up.
00:24:17
Speaker 3: I did grab him and I did pull him into the shower and got him a little wet.
00:24:27
Speaker 2: But I really wanted to get willing to marry him.
00:24:31
Speaker 1: What a perfect way to end it, Harry. What incredible stories. This season is just a special year for Giants fans, and I know for you guys. And thank you for joining us here on the show.
00:24:44
Speaker 2: My pleasure.
00:24:45
Speaker 1: That's the great Harry Carson on this edition of Papa's Perspective, brought to you by Bob's Discount Furniture, the official furniture store and an official mattress partner of the New York Giants.
