GIANT NOTES
The party, Michael Strahan figures, can wait, as whatever fun in the sun the Giants can find down south will pale in comparison to what awaits them if they bring a Super Bowl title back to New York.
In six days, the Giants head to Tampa for a week-long immersion in hype in hysteria leading up to Super Bowl XXXV against the Ravens. All first-timers in this game must confront the dramatic change in normalcy once they get to the Super Bowl site. Every team believes it has a plan in place to deal with the distractions and tend to business. Naturally, the Giants do as well.
“I don’t think anybody thinks were going to go just to be there and let’s go have a party,” Strahan said. “They may be able to party in Tampa, but if we win the Super Bowl, there’s no party like New York City, and we all know that. The ultimate prize is to bring the championship back to New York, then we’ll enjoy it.”
Jim Fassel said yesterday he is in the process of formulating a plan for the week in Tampa and at this juncture does not believe he’ll institute a curfew for every day. “I don’t want to suffocate them down there,” he said. “They need some time.”
Fassel, however, was adamant about the message he will impart to the Giants. “We’re going down there for one purpose, and that’s to play a football game,” he said. “We’re not going there for a vacation.”
The coaching staff has already started the process of formulating a gameplan.
“It’s exciting, but at the same time it’s not done,” Strahan said. “I think everybody’s excited to be here, we had a great time, we won the NFC but we realize we got a great challenge ahead of us. The only way to make this season a success is to win. Anything short of that makes it seem like a great story without a good ending, and that’s no good for us.”
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The Giants received 10,000 tickets for the game and will make 8,000 available to their season-ticket holders. A weighted lottery has already been held, with ticket-holders who have owned seats for the longest time given more of an opportunity to win. The remaining 2,000 tickets will be distributed to Giants staff, coaches, players and media.
The request for tickets has already hit hard. Fassel’s voice mail was so full yesterday morning that the system stopped working. “People called and said ‘Congratulations, we’re proud of you, by the way, do you have any tickets?'” Fassel said.
Fassel wasn’t the only one who became instantly popular. “Some of the calls were from people I haven’t heard from in years, people from Baltimore calling for tickets,” GM Ernie Accorsi said. “What you want me to do is fill the stadium with Ravens fans? No. Giants fans are the only ones getting any help from me.”
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Fassel said he celebrated after the game with family and friends, went to the Giants party inside the bubble for a short time and went home and to bed fairly early. . . . The Giants came out of the game injury-free, other than LT Lomas Brown’s bruised ribs. . . . Kerry Collins met Mayor Guliani on the stage during the trophy ceremony following the 41-0 pounding of the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game. “I said if we win we’re having a parade in the city, right?” Collins recounted. “He said ‘Yeah, you guys can do whatever you want.'”