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Speaker 1: It's time to get inside the Giants Huddle on giants

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Speaker 1: dot Com, part of the Giants Podcast. Welcome to the

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Speaker 1: newest episode of the Giants Huttle Podcast. John Smoke with

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Speaker 1: you today's guest New York Post columnist Ian O'Connor. Before

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Speaker 1: we get to Ian, just a reminder you could find

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Speaker 1: the gihnts Subtle Podcast on the Giants Podcast Network presented

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Speaker 1: by Investors Bank at giants dot Com, Slash Podcast on

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Speaker 1: the Giants mob Blap, and your favorite podcast platforms. Now,

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Speaker 1: let's get to our guests. O'Connor, he is back with

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Speaker 1: the New York Papers. He's with the New York Post

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Speaker 1: and his big story over the weekend, a one on

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Speaker 1: one interview with Giants co owner, CEO and team president

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Speaker 1: John Mara. Ian, welcome back to the New York tabloids,

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Speaker 1: my friend, after your short time at ESPN. Oh thanks

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Speaker 1: so much, John, much appreciated. All right, let's let's talk

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Speaker 1: about your interview with with Mr mara And I think

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Speaker 1: the place I want to start because I think it

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Speaker 1: informs the rest of the interview. Well, and you make

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Speaker 1: this point early on in your piece is that he

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Speaker 1: does isn't talk like an owner, and he approaches the

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Speaker 1: team much more like a fan would. Can you kind

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Speaker 1: of explain to our audience why you felt it was

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Speaker 1: important to articulate that in your story. Well, it's just John.

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Speaker 1: It's always struck me. And I've been doing this for

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Speaker 1: about thirty five thirty six years, and and John always

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Speaker 1: stood out as as the owner that I've covered who

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Speaker 1: did talk, think and act like your average fan. And

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Speaker 1: I told him, I I told him that on the

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Speaker 1: phone the other day. I said, that's a compliment. And

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Speaker 1: I think you're very relatable and approachable. And I think

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Speaker 1: the fan base for the most part, sees him that way.

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Speaker 1: And he more than any owner. Now. Listen, I got

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Speaker 1: an email from a a die hard Yankees fan and said,

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Speaker 1: what about George Steinbrenner, And you know, George was almost

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Speaker 1: cartoonish in his fandom, and and I just think John

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Speaker 1: and me really more represents what the common fan or

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Speaker 1: how the common fan would react to wins and losses.

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Speaker 1: And you've seen John and in press boxes get mad

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Speaker 1: and and at a turnover a drop past whatever it is,

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Speaker 1: and and so uh, even though he is a very

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Speaker 1: wealthy man who owns an NFL franchise, a flagship NFL franchise,

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Speaker 1: I've just always looked at him that way. So I

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Speaker 1: wanted to point that out. And and frankly, even his

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Speaker 1: understanding that I was starting a new job at a

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Speaker 1: significant outlet that covers his team, when asked to do

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Speaker 1: a one on one, he said yes, Yeah, I'll do

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Speaker 1: that because uh, he thought that this makes sense and

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Speaker 1: and I don't know if he felt like he was

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Speaker 1: doing me a favor, but I think just recognizing that

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Speaker 1: someone who's been around the New York marketplace for a

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Speaker 1: long time starting a column at the New York Post, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think I should do that. I'm not sure a

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Speaker 1: lot of owners would have said yes that request. So

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Speaker 1: I felt compelled in that regard, in that context to

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Speaker 1: point that out. But we've all we all know you

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Speaker 1: know John. When you're around John Matty, he is so

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Speaker 1: passionate about the week to week results of this team,

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Speaker 1: and and and so I wanted to get that point

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Speaker 1: across in writing that column. So big picture first, ian

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Speaker 1: from your discussions with them, and based on what's in

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Speaker 1: your story, where does John Marath think the Giants are

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Speaker 1: right now in terms of this rebuilding process that has

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Speaker 1: gone on for a few years now and eventually trying

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Speaker 1: to compete for something much bigger than that. I think

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Speaker 1: I think John believes right now this roster can win

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Speaker 1: that division, you know, in part because the division isn't

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Speaker 1: very good, or get that final wild card spot. That

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Speaker 1: the roster and some pieces need to be added, of course,

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Speaker 1: but and they will be along the way through the

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Speaker 1: draft and so forth. But that when you look at

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Speaker 1: it right now and you look at the NFC East,

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Speaker 1: there really isn't a great reason to not win that division,

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Speaker 1: or at least contend for that, or get a one

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Speaker 1: of the final two wild card spot in the postseason tournament. Now,

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Speaker 1: he did not make it a mandate. He made that

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Speaker 1: very clear. That's just not the way he operates, and

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Speaker 1: I think most people understand that. But I think he'll

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Speaker 1: be disappointed that this team is not in the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: Is it possible that the Giants in in this upcoming

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Speaker 1: season could miss the playoffs and still show progress. I

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Speaker 1: think he would say yes to that. But it's been

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Speaker 1: so long since this franchise has won a playoff game.

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Speaker 1: And the one thing that struck me is I was

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Speaker 1: a little surprised John that he admitted to was that

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Speaker 1: he is concerned that this could mirror the dark ages

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Speaker 1: that his father really lived through from nineteen sixty four

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Speaker 1: through night and so he's very concerned about repeating that,

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Speaker 1: and he has said off in over the years that

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Speaker 1: he wants so part of living through that again, uh,

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Speaker 1: the first time around as the son of Wellington, now

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Speaker 1: as as someone running the franchise, and I was I

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Speaker 1: was a little surprised that he conceded that, and that

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Speaker 1: that might have been part of the reason why he

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Speaker 1: was willing to invest the kind of free agent money

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Speaker 1: the Giants invested this uh in the past few weeks.

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Speaker 1: So uh that that struck me as here's a man

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Speaker 1: who really really wants to get back in the playoffs

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Speaker 1: and have the Giants be the Giants again, and by

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Speaker 1: that I mean the two thousand five through two thousand

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Speaker 1: eleven Giants. I think he believes that this franchise right

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Speaker 1: now has the right coach for sure and the right

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Speaker 1: quarterback to get to a point where in the next

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Speaker 1: five to seven years they can have a similar kind

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Speaker 1: of run. And we will get to the coach in

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Speaker 1: the quarterback ian first on the free agent spree, I

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Speaker 1: guess is the word I'll use this offseason to to

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Speaker 1: really try to, you know, improve the team. And I

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Speaker 1: thought the last quote in your story was a fantastic one.

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Speaker 1: They can't cause cheap anymore. They can cause dumb, but

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Speaker 1: not cheap. And I thought it was interesting that. I

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Speaker 1: think either you asked him about it directly or he

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Speaker 1: just kind of brought it up that the Giants went

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Speaker 1: down a route that I guess you could call somewhat

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Speaker 1: similar to this back in ten they brought Olivia Vernon,

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Speaker 1: Genos Jenkins, and of course Snacks Harrison. It worked for

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Speaker 1: a year and then it didn't. But he had reasons

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Speaker 1: why he thought this year would be different. Can you

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Speaker 1: go into that a little bit for me? I think

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Speaker 1: he believes and I'm not going to say he said

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Speaker 1: this as directly as maybe I'm going to relay it,

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Speaker 1: but I think he believes that he the character of

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Speaker 1: the guys he's bringing in this time around, maybe he's

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Speaker 1: a little bit more confident in than in the past.

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Speaker 1: And so now listen, there were some relatively mild concerns

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Speaker 1: or questions about holiday, but when they had him in

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Speaker 1: the building for a couple of days, I think he

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Speaker 1: blew everyone away. I think holiday went out to dinner

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Speaker 1: with Jesse Armstead and Judge and I believe Jason Garrett,

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Speaker 1: and beyond that dinner, just all the meetings he had,

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Speaker 1: they ran him through the gamut the giants did of uh,

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Speaker 1: of all sorts of physical tests and and otherwise, and

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Speaker 1: everyone unanimously sort of came away with the opinion, Yes,

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Speaker 1: this is someone we should sign this this is a

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Speaker 1: New York Giant. And I'm not sure they were that

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Speaker 1: confident in that assessment being the end result when he

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Speaker 1: walked in the building on that first day of the visit.

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Speaker 1: So I think that when you look at the fact

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Speaker 1: that Joe Judge is in place now as the head coach,

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Speaker 1: I think that gives him more confidence that he does

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Speaker 1: have a head coach with a culture and a program

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Speaker 1: that leads to conformity. And he might not have said

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Speaker 1: that about the previous two head coaches particularly, So I

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Speaker 1: think that Judge's presence has has really given John Marra

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Speaker 1: a lot of confidence that the people they're bringing into

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Speaker 1: the program will will comply with what Judge wants, and

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Speaker 1: then of course that leads to the program becoming bigger

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Speaker 1: and more successful and ultimately being a consistent team that

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Speaker 1: that's making the playoffs on a regular basis. And he

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Speaker 1: did talk about and you mentioned Joe Judge a couple

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Speaker 1: of times now how his presence reminds him of some

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Speaker 1: of the old, other hard charging coaches that have come

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Speaker 1: in the Giants past, which I think, to your point,

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Speaker 1: gives him confidence that with the right players, they can

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Speaker 1: build that type of program again. And just look at

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Speaker 1: what Judge had to endure his first year with the

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Speaker 1: pandemic to be able to as a rookie head coach. Now,

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Speaker 1: you don't want to go six contend, but I think

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Speaker 1: most people would look at the way the Giants competed

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Speaker 1: in and played and finished the season. Hey, this was

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Speaker 1: a pretty good job for a rookie head coach. But

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Speaker 1: the way he carries himself, I think the way that

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Speaker 1: he wants to have a team that reflects the marketplace

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Speaker 1: is important, particularly in New York. The toughness that he

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Speaker 1: brings in. I had a and I did a book

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Speaker 1: on Bill Belichick where I talked to three d sixty people,

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Speaker 1: so I know a lot of people who know Belichick well.

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Speaker 1: When he asked Belichick's opinion on Joe Judge. When Judge

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Speaker 1: was a candidate as a new England assistant. Belichick old

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Speaker 1: John Marra, he's better than the last two guys you hired.

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Speaker 1: I can tell you that. So that's not something that

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Speaker 1: John Mara wanted to confirm or comment on, but I

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Speaker 1: know that for a fact that wasn't deep said. And

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Speaker 1: I think Belichick was right. And I think most people

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Speaker 1: around the league, looking at Judge and the way he

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Speaker 1: performed in year one, would would say that's probably a

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Speaker 1: pretty good assessment. So I think the greatest confidence that

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Speaker 1: John Mara has now in the notion that this team

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Speaker 1: is trending upward is found in the person of Joe Judge.

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Speaker 1: I think second of all, probably it would be the

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Speaker 1: quarterback Daniel Jones. I think people have more questions about

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Speaker 1: Jones maybe than Judge, just given the fact that he

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Speaker 1: took a bit of a step back in year two.

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Speaker 1: But he has the athleticism, the arm the work ethic,

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Speaker 1: and now with more pieces around him, this is a very,

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Speaker 1: very big year for Jones, obviously, And I asked John Narra,

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Speaker 1: do you see this as a huge year for your quarterback?

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Speaker 1: He said, I don't want to put any pressure on him,

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Speaker 1: and I don't want to say it's make or break,

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Speaker 1: But I think he understands like giants stands do that

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Speaker 1: it's time for Jones to take a pretty significant step

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Speaker 1: forward in year three. Yeah, and I'll read the quote

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Speaker 1: from your story. Every single one of our coaches loves

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Speaker 1: the kid and believes he is the talent to win

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Speaker 1: a championship. He really wants to be great. You can

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Speaker 1: see that. I believe the Skies the limit with him,

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Speaker 1: and again, like you said, they're putting some talent around

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Speaker 1: them and they'll see if they can try to make

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Speaker 1: that run now as they get a better team around him.

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Speaker 1: I thought the other or one of the many things

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Speaker 1: that John said to you that we're very interesting. You

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Speaker 1: asked him about the general manager Dave Gettleman, and the

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Speaker 1: quote that he gave you in the story, talked about

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Speaker 1: some missteps back in ten uh and then he thinks

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Speaker 1: it's gotten better in the years since. So just in

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Speaker 1: terms of what he said to you about Dave Gettleman

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Speaker 1: and just where he thinks this roster's heading now as

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Speaker 1: they've continued to build, Yeah, I think it's clear it's

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Speaker 1: an improve roster. And the big thing with John and

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Speaker 1: answering that question was the relationship, the working relationship, the

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Speaker 1: professional relationship shared by Judge and Gentleman. If that we're

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Speaker 1: not in place, I'm not sure that he would have

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Speaker 1: frankly stayed with Dave Gentleman as GM after this past season.

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Speaker 1: But I think he really liked the dynamic between those two.

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Speaker 1: And hey, as you know, John, any any long time

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Speaker 1: Giant san knows you don't always need harmony between the

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Speaker 1: head coach and the general manager to have success, right, Hey, Listen,

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Speaker 1: We've seen a lot of cases in sports. Phil Jackson

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Speaker 1: they were winning championships every year. So I don't think

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Speaker 1: you absolutely need that. But when there are questions about

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Speaker 1: Dave Gentleman and a significant part of the fan base

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Speaker 1: maybe thinking there should be a change there, and you

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Speaker 1: see him working I won't say in lockstep, but having

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Speaker 1: a good working relationship with the head coach, I think

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Speaker 1: that's important. And I think John saw that and just Okay,

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Speaker 1: six and ten wasn't what I wanted in year three

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Speaker 1: of Gettleman, but I think there's enough progress here to

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Speaker 1: give him another crack at it with his head coach

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Speaker 1: and we'll see how it plays out. Limited Giant season

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Speaker 1: or place of deposit for individual games called eight eight

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Speaker 1: eight N y g N, or visit Giants dot com

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Speaker 1: slash suites for more information. One quote that I think

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Speaker 1: he give you that was interesting, how he's tired of

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Speaker 1: telling the fan base that, oh, I see progress, it's

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Speaker 1: gonna come. And he actually said something Etho was interesting

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Speaker 1: that he doesn't want to keep saying that and then

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Speaker 1: seeing not happened, because he feels like then he loses

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Speaker 1: credibility with the fan base. That's maddening, right to how

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Speaker 1: many years now have we've seen John uh the day after,

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Speaker 1: two days after the season deliver similar quotes, and that's

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Speaker 1: what he's talking about. I can't keep saying that because

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Speaker 1: it becomes like Groundhog Day and I lose credibility and

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Speaker 1: we're not getting better. But in the NFL, you need

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Speaker 1: a coach, you need a quarterback. He believes now that

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Speaker 1: they have both. Now I think frankly, more people are

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Speaker 1: confident in the head coach, even though he's only been

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Speaker 1: here for one season, then maybe they are in in

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Speaker 1: the quarterback. It's clear that Daniel Jones has a lot

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Speaker 1: of talent. It's clear he he has the work ethic

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Speaker 1: by all accounts, that he wants to be great. It's

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Speaker 1: interesting because the most important talent quarterback can have is

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Speaker 1: the talent for winning football games. He didn't win a

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Speaker 1: lot of games at Duke all right, well, most of

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Speaker 1: the time his competition was better than the players around

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Speaker 1: him at Duke, but and he he hasn't won a

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Speaker 1: lot of games now as the Giants quarterback, and again

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Speaker 1: you could say the same thing in the NFL. He

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Speaker 1: he has often competed against teams that have better players

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Speaker 1: than his teammates. But at some point Daniel Jones has

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Speaker 1: to elevate, elevate his teammates, elevate his own play and

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Speaker 1: win football games. He has the arm, he has the

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Speaker 1: i Q, he's got the work ethic, and we all

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Speaker 1: know he's got the athleticism and running ability to really

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Speaker 1: be a good quarterback. It looks like he's just got

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Speaker 1: to put that it's a puzzle right now that needs

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Speaker 1: some final peace. And that piece leads to you would

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Speaker 1: think winning and winning double figure games per season on

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Speaker 1: on a regular basis, and and and the additions here

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Speaker 1: in Cree agency, the return of sa Kwon Barkley, hopefully

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Speaker 1: if you're a John and fan, adds up to that. Now,

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Speaker 1: looking ahead, you did ask him, with all the moves

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Speaker 1: they made in free agency, he really doesn't think that

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Speaker 1: there's a big need in the draft coming up here

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Speaker 1: where they can pretty much pick whoever they think is

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Speaker 1: the best player. Right, that's right, and he said, generally

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Speaker 1: speaking leading into the draft, or even on on draft

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Speaker 1: day or night that he likes to say, Hey, who

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Speaker 1: is going to be the best NFL player among the

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Speaker 1: three or four people were seriously considering for our pick,

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Speaker 1: that that's the player I want? And he said, I

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Speaker 1: steal that way now, particularly getting a receiver in a corner.

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Speaker 1: I don't think we need that in this draft. You

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Speaker 1: could argue, you look at the offensive line at guard

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Speaker 1: or edge rusher, uh, that they have some needs clearly

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Speaker 1: and some holes on the roster to fill. But I

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Speaker 1: think that John right now, looking at what they've done

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Speaker 1: in free agency, feels like his philosophy of let's just

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Speaker 1: take the best NFL player. I think that at least

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Speaker 1: entering the draft, considering or assuming they don't make moves

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Speaker 1: moving up or down, that's the philosophy he's going to

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Speaker 1: stick to. Did you talk to him all about any

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Speaker 1: of the bigger lead wide issues that will come up

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Speaker 1: to your seventeenth game, anything like that. I didn't want

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Speaker 1: to push on that. I had him for I had

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Speaker 1: him going for a while and I thought of it.

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Speaker 1: And obviously those are the TV deal of course, and

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Speaker 1: another major issues, even the ownership change in Washington in

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Speaker 1: his division but I just felt my first column in

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Speaker 1: New York at the New York Post, let's just make

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Speaker 1: it about the Giants and and I think I think

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Speaker 1: that you probably would agree with this. You've been around

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Speaker 1: this marketplace for a while. John, that a lot of

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Speaker 1: different teams in the major sports in New York have

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Speaker 1: made an impact over the decades. But at the end

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Speaker 1: of the day, the New York is big two, uh

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Speaker 1: I represented really by the Yankees and the Giants. When

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Speaker 1: you look at when you measure historical significance and accomplishment

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Speaker 1: and just what those franchises mean to the marketplace, those

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Speaker 1: are the big two Yankees and Giants, and then everybody

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Speaker 1: else kind of falls into place. And when the Giants

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Speaker 1: are down for a number of years, that leaves the

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Speaker 1: whole in the market to sell as a central park.

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Speaker 1: It really does. So I think that if you're a

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Speaker 1: sports fan, you care about New York sports, it's just

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Speaker 1: better when the Giants are good the way they were

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Speaker 1: in Eli's prime. And I think that's what they want

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Speaker 1: to get back to. Anything hit the cutting room floor

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Speaker 1: in the editing process of this that didn't make it

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Speaker 1: into the story that that you'd like to share with

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Speaker 1: the fans out there, listen. The Post doesn't generally like

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Speaker 1: columns that run that long, so I but I was

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Speaker 1: able to convince them to let me on my first

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Speaker 1: crack addic go a little long in the newspaper and online.

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Speaker 1: I tried to include everything that was significant, so I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't say anything uh significant was left out. But I do.

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Speaker 1: I do concede that some of the league wide issues

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Speaker 1: we could have gotten into. I decided, you know what,

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Speaker 1: the next time I get John, if I do, we'll

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Speaker 1: we'll talk about that then all right. Then finally, you

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Speaker 1: just let's close with this. If there was one message

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Speaker 1: that you think John Mara wanted to get through to

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Speaker 1: the Giants fan base and talking to you, what would

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Speaker 1: you pinpoint that message to be. I'm just as impatient

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Speaker 1: as you are, if not more so. And he doesn't

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Speaker 1: just say it. I think he means it when he

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Speaker 1: says as much as you're hurting, I heard a lot

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Speaker 1: more because I go home and I see that look

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Speaker 1: on my family's faces and I know how much they're hurting,

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Speaker 1: and they're hurting for me because they know it tears

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Speaker 1: me up inside. So I do. And that goes back

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Speaker 1: to what I lead within the piece about John being

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Speaker 1: a fan more than any owner I've covered over thirty

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Speaker 1: five years. That sentiment and just being around him for

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Speaker 1: a long time, I know that is very genuine, that

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Speaker 1: this really really hurts him, that the way the team

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Speaker 1: has played over or the better part of a decade,

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Speaker 1: and and he just wants to get back to that.

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Speaker 1: Like I said that oh five through O eleven period

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Speaker 1: two titles, really a chance to win a third before

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Speaker 1: the Plaquxico saying so that he is dying to get

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Speaker 1: back to that kind of play on the field. And

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Speaker 1: and so that's where he is right now, being great stuff.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate you, know, Square and some time for us here.

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Speaker 1: I know you've got Nick's heat tonight. I'll be watching too.

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Speaker 1: I appreciate it, my friend, and let's talk soon. Okay,

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Speaker 1: thanks so much. That's Ian O'Connor. He's back in the tabloids,

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Speaker 1: back with the New York Post. You thank him for

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Speaker 1: joining us talking about his first story as one on

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Speaker 1: one with Giants owner John Marray. We thank you for

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Speaker 1: being with us on this episode of the Giants Huttle Podcast.

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Speaker 1: For Ian O'Connor, I am John Schmilk. You can find

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Speaker 1: the Giants Huttle podcast and all of our podcast including

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Speaker 1: Big Book kick Off Live, which is also live on

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Speaker 1: the Giants app and on Giants dot Com every weekday

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Speaker 1: at noon onto the Giants Podcast Network, which is presented

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Speaker 1: by Investors Bank. You can find that on all your

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Speaker 1: favorite podcast platforms. If you're an Apple podcast, please leave

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Speaker 1: a five star positive review. You can find it on

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Speaker 1: the Giants Mobble app and the Giants dot com slash podcast.

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Speaker 1: For Ian O'Connor, i am John Schmilk. And by the way,

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Speaker 1: if you know friends that enjoy the Giants, tell them

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Speaker 1: about the podcast and word of math is the best

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Speaker 1: way to help grow these things. For Ian, I'm schmll.

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Speaker 1: We'll see you next time on the John Tuttle. Stay

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Speaker 1: safe everyone,