“GIANT DISTRACTION” and “BLINDED BY THE RIGHT”
#874/#873
874. NEW YORK GIANTS VS WASHINGTON REDSKINS
OCTOBER 27, 1986
GIANTS STADIUM
QUALITY OF PLAY—7.11
DRAMA—7.23
STAR POWER—6.55
CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—7.15
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.02
LOCAL IMPACT—8.95
TOTAL: 43.01
“GIANT DISTRACTION”
The 1986 Super Bowl champion Giants are generally considered the finest edition in the long, proud history of the Big Blue franchise. But en route to that rendezvous with greatness, they had to get past the team that was the class of the NFC East, the NFC writ large, and the NFL for much of the 1980s to date, the Washington Redskins. The offensive genius of coach Joe Gibbs meshed with a great group of skill position players and a monstrous group of linemen dubbed the “Hogs,” all under the direction of mouthy quarterback Joe Thiesmann, to form a high-scoring, fun to watch assemblage.
The Giants were coached by Gibbs’ polar opposite, Bill Parcells. Where Gibbs loved offense, Parcells stressed defense. Where Gibbs was religious and soft-spoken, Parcells was sarcastic and bombastic. Where Gibbs was a health nut, Parcells lived in his office, chugging down coffee and smokes on his way to a myriad of health issues that would affect his life and career.
The differences made for great theater and high interest in the days when the NFC East (along with Tom Landry’s Cowboys and Randall Cunningham and the Eagles) was by far the league’s most competitive division. Between 1981 and 1985, it was a one-sided rivalry, with Washington winning six straight and seven of nine in that span. In 1986 the Jints were determined to end that skein and take over rulership of the division and—by extension—the league.
After dropping their opener, the G-Men ripped off five straight wins before a loss in Seattle. That left them a game behind Washington, who appeared to be the class of the early NFL season at 6-1. The two behemoths collided for the first time on an overcast Monday night, October 27, 1986, at Giants Stadium.
The game was so enormous that it actually diverted attention from another somewhat important affair happening over in Queens that same night—Game Seven of the World Series. The Mets and Red Sox had been rained out one night after their immortal sixth game, so the decider was happening on Monday, concurrently with the football. It was a sporting horn a’ plenty for NYC fans, and discerning types (i.e., Yankees fans who loathed both baseball combatants) concentrated on the activities in New Jersey. The simultaneous action led to some oddities, as when the great Lawrence Taylor went down with an injured shoulder and the crowd exploded in response to the Mets scoring over at Shea. Taylor looked up on his way to the locker room in total disbelief.
The crowd was certainly happy with the early stages of the football game, as Joe Morris, New York’s diminutive running back (and proud Syracuse man), ran wild. He scored from 11 yards out to give NY a 10-0 lead, pounding away behind a two-tight end set. He topped 100 yards on the ground by halftime, when the Giants led 13-3. An early third quarter interception of Skins QB Jay Schroeder set up a Phil Simms to Bobby Johnson 30-yard touchdown pass, and it appeared the Giants would win going away, much as the Mets were doing in Game Seven.
But Washington was not giving up their Red over Blue dominance so easily. A bomb to wideout Ricky Sanders set up an easy touchdown, and on the next possession, Doug Williams found Gary Clark with another long pass for a touchdown that made it 20-17, with several minutes left to go in the third quarter (the Mets officially won with 3:45 to go in the third, setting off a raucous celebration that was quickly tempered by the Redskins Revival). Clark was running free in the secondary all night, and would finish with 11 grabs for 241 yards, a franchise record (provided you don’t include scabs—Anthony Allen had 255 yards in 1987 while playing during the NFL strike).
In the fast-moving fourth period, the Giants missed a field goal, and the Skins made one. With the game now tied at 20, The G-men took over with four minutes and change left, as a surprise rain began to drip down, and quickly faced a third and 10. Simms hit Bobby Johnson to move the sticks. Then Morris added to his huge game with a 34-yard scamper. A couple of penalties got them close to the end zone, which Syracuse Joe reached on a sweep from 13 yards out to put New York back in front, 27-20. That gave him 181 yards on 31 carries in the game, plus 59 through the air.
There was still over a minute left, and Clark was dominating the Giants secondary. But in winning time, he fell down on a fourth down pass thrown his way, giving the home team the win. It was a thrilling victory for the Giants, not to be diminished by the baseball game to the east.
AFTERMATH:
The Giants didn’t lose again in 1986, beating the Skins once more in the NFC Championship game en route to their first Super Bowl title. The Mets haven’t won it all since that October night.
WHAT THEY SAID:
“This weekend in New York is faaaaaaaantastic!”
—Ronnie Grove, spectator in Giants Stadium
FURTHER READING:
Once A Giant by Gary Myers
VIDEO:
(Note—this post dedicated to my dear old friend Ted Swimmer, who grew up in New York as a Redskins fan and despised everything about 1986. 1987, however…)
873. HENRY ARMSTRONG VS FRITZIE ZIVIC
LIGHTWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT
OCTOBER 4, 1940
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN
QUALITY OF PLAY—8.58
DRAMA—7.67
STAR POWER—6.91
CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—7.05
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.57
LOCAL IMPACT—6.74
TOTAL: 43.02
“BLINDED BY THE RIGHT”
Fritzie Zivic was a highly accomplished fighter, with 158 career wins in the ring, and victories over the likes of Jake LaMotta. But his reputation—painstakingly and classically earned—was as the dirtiest fighter in the the business, perhaps ever. “I’d hit guys low,” admitted Zivic. “Choke ‘em or give ’em the head. My best punch was a left hook to you-know-where.” Zivic never really got the credit he deserved for his ability as a result of his disdain for the Marquis of Queensbury, as well as his “anemic-looking frame,” much less imposing than many of the polished fighters he took on in the ring (see #873 on the list, “Bummy Gets Bumrushed”).
But no one denied the “Croat Comet” every opportunity to fight the best midcentury pugilists on offer. That included the legendary “Homicide Hank,” Henry Armstrong. Armstrong became the first boxer to hold three titles in three different weight classes simultaneously (at a time when there were just eight classes and that actually meant something). Armstrong put his welterweight crown on the line at the old Garden on a crisp fall Friday night at the fights, October 4, 1940, when he took on Zivic, who was a heavy underdog.
Many in Armstrong’s camp didn’t want to see the champ fight Zivic, given his adherence to the less-than-finer points of the sweet science. But Armstrong would fight anyone, anywhere, and he had seen it all by that point, with 18 consecutive title defenses. Zivic decided he needed some extra motivation beyond the shot at the belt if he was to best Hank, so he stopped at a Cadillac dealership on the way to the Garden and ordered himself a fancy new ride that his winnings—but not his loser’s share—would cover.
Among the “wildly enthusiastic” 12,081 in attendance was a fighter who fought on the undercard. That Friday night Sugar Ray Robinson made his pro Garden debut after a sensational Golden Gloves career. Sugar was already becoming a noted, dandyish figure up in Harlem, and he gave his many fans a thrill by whipping Joe Echevarria in two rounds. But Sugar was himself a fan—of Henry Armstrong, his fistic idol. Robinson rushed through a crowd of well-wishers in the locker room to go watch his man in action.
Armstrong decided the best attack would be to beat Zivic at his own game and deploy dirty shots with his elbows, and he landed several as he mostly controlled the fight for the first few rounds of the fifteen-rounder. Zivic was pacing himself, having never gone the championship distance before. In the seventh, he landed a couple of good uppercuts that got Armstrong’s attention.
More importantly, after six rounds of curiously lawful behavior, he returned to his natural style. Zivic turned the fight into a bar brawl, using the laces on his gloves to dastardly effect, raking them across Armstrong’s eyes. Huge cuts formed around both of the champ’s peepers, giving the challenger an easy target for his crisp right lead and uppercut. “Armstrong’s eyes were hermetically sealed by the last two rounds,” wrote Jack Mahon in the Daily News. The referee let Zivic do as he pleased, and the fight turned.
Down the stretch it became apparent that it was Zivic, not Armstrong, who was the fresher fighter. Fritzie belted the blinded champ all over the ring in the final round, and with a few seconds to go shockingly put Armstrong on the canvas. The crowd went berserk, aware they were witnessing an enormous upset. Zivic was denied a knockout when the bell rang before the count got to ten, but the decision was an easy one. “[The bell] was the curfew,” wrote Mahon, “tolling the note of fading glory.”
The Croat Comet was the new welterweight champion of the world. He went and picked up his new Caddy that very night.
AFTERMATH:
Zivic proved the victory was no fluke by besting Armstrong again a few months later. Armstrong subsequently came out of retirement in 1942 and defeated Zivic at last in their third encounter, when both boxers were mostly past it.
Sugar Ray cried the night Armstrong first lost the title, and vowed he would get vengeance on Armstrong’s behalf. He would indeed some 18 months later, pummeling Zivic, who had lost his title long before that. Armstrong, one of the all-time greats whose name is almost totally forgotten today, travelled the old fighter’s typical sad path of pennilessness and alcoholism before passing away in 1988.
For his part, Zivic drove that Cadillac for many years.
WHAT THEY SAID:
“In the seventh round I gave him the head a couple times and choked him a couple times and used the elbows some, and the referee says: ‘If you guys want to fight that way, it’s okay with me.’ Hot damn! I told Luke Carney in my corner: ‘Watch me go now!’ And from there out I saw that Cadillac turn around and come rollin’ back.”
—Fritzie Zivic
FURTHER READING:
Gloves, Glory and God by Henry Armstrong
VIDEO:
(this is the 1941 rematch, also won by Zivic—no video of the first fight is available online)