Sep 8, 2014; Detroit, MI, USA; Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson (81) catches a touchdown in front of New York Giants strong safety Antrel Rolle (26) during the first quarter at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
No, not the Stafford’s clan of the Detroit Lions. HA. We’re not here to wish the team that beat the Giants a happy anything, yet alone the quarterback’s’ family a Happy Birthday and Anniversary.
No, no, no… I just had to make this post at least a little relatable to the New York Football Giants, and what better way than by bringing up that first painful loss to Detroit Lions. It was a game where the Giants lost 35-14 and the Stafford’s were probably happy that night as Matt went home with 346 yards passing and 2 TD’s, while Calvin Johnson made the Giants defense look inadequate. Even team leader, Antrel Rolle, suffered burn from the likes of “Megatron”. It was a brutal start.
Much like my relationship with my older sister, whom was just about to turn 7 when I was born, ions ago. She was always older than me, and she used that to her advantage. It was a brutal start… she used her bigger size and ability to “Megatron” my very best “Rolle’s” all throughout our childhood. There were four of us kids, and it was a tag team of loyalties, two-on-two for well over a decade with me and my sister rarely on the same side, as she favored my older brother, and I, my other — oldest sister.
The details matter little, but before my sister became the Anniversary Stafford she is today, we got some one-on-one time as a little pre-teen brother and much older young adult sister in the ’90s. You remember the ’90s, Giants Nation? That’s the decade the Giants kicked-off with a Super Bowl win and ended with a Super Bowl loss ten years later in 2000, bookend championship defeat to championship sorrow.
“Happy Birthday Sister and Happy Anniversary too, I love you. Enjoy the present, as you know the present is the only one you’ll ever get from me.” – “Your Brother”
Anyway, it was during the pages of that decade where my sister and I took off the boxing gloves and actually got to know each other through circumstance and the mutual feeling of “missing people” that only Earthly location being manipulated can provide. In other words, we bonded due to similar misery.
In football, chemistry matters so much to building a team, but circumstances can bring people together. When the Giants got punched in the mouth by Stafford and company, they responded by beating the Cardinals for three quarters, but then found a way to fail in the fourth quarter causing an 0-2 start. It was one of those moments for Giants Nation where the season seemed over and a lot of the hope for the team was lost. Now of course, the Giants are somehow 2-2 and hope is at least momentarily restored, but isn’t it funny how little changes in life can change your outlook on an entire scenario, no matter how bleak it seems in any particular moment.
As I mentioned earlier, growing-up, we were a family of four kids, in the ’90s on my brother’s birthday, he passed away. Yes it’s sad, but for my older sister, this was devastating, this was her tag team partner, he had already moved away and she was left with me… and sure, we bonded, but now — he was dead. It was just different.
Things changed.
A few moments later, perhaps years, maybe weeks, my sister became a Stafford, she got married to a military man she met over seas in the Air Force. She’s been married ever since, in fact, this was the day she got married and is also her Birthday… I’m sure the significance of the duel date is not lost on my sister and her husband. Regardless, I say Happy Birthday and Anniversary to my sister and her husband, the Stafford’s.
Sure, they’re not the Lions’ Stafford’s and they’re not really easily relatable when it comes to football. But today is their day… right now, they’re overseas in England, a whole world a way from their friends and family — and even — where they originally met, Korea. And while they have their three kids, who are my niece and nephews, to keep them company, I wanted them to know they were in my thoughts.
Personally, I’m lousy with gifts, saying thank you or even respecting anything or anyone, in general. My sister once called my disgusting and every word under the sun meant to deflate a disturbed ego and defile an ugly subconscious. It was necessary, I’m the baby of the family and I generally coincide with all the negative stereotypes that go along with that place in the family tree.
Speaking of that tree, our tree was shaken with loss and somehow like the Giants did this year with their own loss. Life adjusted, for my sister, she found a new tag team partner, one that has taken care of her and showed her how to live despite immense loss and tragedy.
For that, I tell my brother-in-law thank you and Happy Anniversary, Sir.
For Giants Nation, I say thanks for following along and although I apologize for bringing up painful Detroit memories, I also applaud your team for finding the resiliency to turn it around and continue to believe they can do it, no matter what… even if fanatics in their own family momentarily gave up on them. They can always come back.
For me, I simply say Happy Birthday Sister, and Happy Anniversary too, I love you. Enjoy the present, as you know the present is the only one you’ll ever get from me.