Not A Real Shock(ey)

It didn’t take long into the 2008 NFL season for Jeremy Shockey to open his mouth to the media and say some colorful things or answer some controversial questions.

This week’s ESPN The Magazine will have the full interview with Shockey and his insight on some topics about his play and life without the Giants. Ralph Vacchiano of the Daily News gives us a look at the interview.

• On what it felt like to watch his team win the Super Bowl: “It’s like how every year you get older and fewer and fewer people realize it’s your birthday. It’s supposed to be your special day, and you’re not being noticed.”

• On people’s perception of him: “People look at me like I act with that edge off the field, too. Come on, if I did that, I’d be in jail or out robbing a bank right now. I’m human like anyone else.”

• On the theory that the Giants were better off without him last year: “Look, I’m glad my teammates won everything. But the media were trying to make fans either feel sorry for me or feel like the team didn’t need me, and it ended up like a bad soap opera. The media never took the time to consider how I was feeling. But why would they do that? That would take too long, be too hard. Fans don’t form their own opinions now. They just believe what they’re told, what they read. It’s why we live in a society where you can be famous for doing nothing more than showing your panties a few times.”

• On his decision of whether or not to attend Super Bowl XLII: “When it came time for the actual game, I was f—ed either way: if I went to the Super Bowl or if I didn’t. I didn’t want to be a distraction. What good am I with a broken leg? The Giants already have cheerleaders-why would they need me?

• On his Super Bowl experience: “I flew myself out on a five- to six-hour flight in a middle seat. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t do anything. Then the Giants wouldn’t let me sit on the sideline, so I sat upstairs during the game. I didn’t get invited to the parade or the party or the celebration, and that’s fine. … It was over for me in New York after that.”

• On his new home town of New Orleans: “Right away it was good to be able to say, ‘Yeah, I’m home. This is home.’ Every time you go out, you meet all different kinds of people. Everyone’s got their collar loosened up, everyone’s nice, and hey, they’ve got alcohol as the social lubricant of their society. This is what I wanted when I decided to get traded. I mean, no one even messes with you at all when you sit down to have some lunch and a few beers.”

• On his new quarterback, Drew Brees: “Drew is such a high-energy guy. That’s different from what I’m used to. Eli Manning is a great guy. He was just built differently. Drew’s very talkative, very active, very vocal. You can bulls—- a lot of people. But at the end of the day, you can’t bulls—- yourself. So you want someone to be brutally honest with you all the time. That’s Drew. And he never messes up. I mean, the guy is like a machine. He’s a hard-working, professional guy-everyone here is. It’s like working for IBM.”