New York Giants fans have spent nearly 20 years without a clear-cut answer as to why former star tight end Jeremy Shockey didn’t attend the Super Bowl XLII parade.
Shockey is finally speaking out, and he pinned that decision on the Giants. During an interview on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast, Shockey accused the Giants of prohibiting him from attending any of the post-Super Bowl events. At the time, Shockey was working through a staph infection that cost him the postseason.
“If I couldn’t get the staph infection cleared up, they’re not going to let me be around these players,” he said. “Someone else might get it or something.”
The Giants traded Shockey to the New Orleans Saints that summer, and he had the opportunity to attend a championship parade two years later. The Giants have not responded to Shockey's comments.
What to know about Jeremy Shockey and the Giants
Shockey previously said that he’d paid his own way to Super Bowl XLII in February 2008. He watched the game from a suite rather than on the sidelines.
In fairness to the Giants, staph infections are contagious and can be passed via physical contact. So having Shockey touch the Lombardi Trophy or pose for photos with fans would have been incredibly dangerous.
But Shockey also did not attend the Giants’ White House visit that April, and this was in a time when athletes seldom voluntarily skipped such an occasion. The relationship between Shockey and the Giants had been broken for months, and it wasn’t long before he joined the Saints.
Shockey also dismissed the idea that he was “jealous” of his teammates. Backup tight end Kevin Boss quickly became a fan favorite upon replacing Shockey, and that season also saw the defense make a name for itself. We also saw the emergence of the “Earth, Wind, and Fire” rushing attack. It’s hard to envision the Giants winning the Super Bowl without Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, and Ahmad Bradshaw.
“I’ve worked my whole life to be at this level, to play at this game,” Shockey said. “To not be able to play in it, of course, it hurt. But I wasn’t jealous.”
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of the Giants’ thrilling Super Bowl run, and we’ll see whether Shockey attends the inevitable ceremony. That’s assuming, of course, that the Giants invite him, because it sure sounds like that’s been an issue in the past.
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