When New Jersey's very own Grammy Award-winning, rock superstar Bruce Springsteen bid adieu to Giants Stadium on the conclusion of his "Wrecking Ball" tour, he chose to play "Jersey Girl" as his final song in the aging venue which was about to meet its doom and pave the way for the new, modern day wonder of the world, MetLife Stadium. When it was time for NFL Films and its sports Emmy Award-winning production team to chronicle the hey-day of the (New York) football Giants franchise on their enticing "Timeline" series, they by-passed Springsteen in favor of New Jersey-born rocker Jon Bon Jovi as their documentary narrator and entitled the show, "Jersey Boys." Regardless of the choice, the NFL captured the working-class efforts of the typical Giants fan and the team itself with their historical look-back at a franchise which moved from New York's Yankee Stadium, the USA's most treasured sports museum, to the swamps of New Jersey's Meadowlands and the, (shall we say) bucolic town of Moonachie, a place dear to both The Boss' and Bon Jovi's heart.
"Jersey Boys" premieres on the NFL Network on Tuesday, December 8th and is "must see" programming for any Giants fan, regardless of which side of the Hudson they might reside. It is the second of a six-part Timeline series the NFL is rolling out each week of the American Football season, as the holidays and NFL Playoffs approach. The first, "Favre Returns," was a terrific look-back at the career of legendary Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre which aired the first week of December. After "Jersey Boys," the NFL tees-up "A Tale of Two Cities," a two-parter that's not exactly Charles Dickens, on the complicated but fierce rivalry of the Dallas Cowboys and SF 49ers.
Risking but warning our readers with this "spoiler alert," the Giants documentary, Jersey Boys, reminds NFL fans of the plight of the franchise as New York City and The Bronx fell into financial disaster in the 1970s under the watchful eye of the late Major John Lindsay. The NFL went back into the Wayback machine to unearth the step-by-step poker game between the Mara family, owners of the NY Giants, and the City of New York. Of course, the result was the franchise's move to New Jersey with a pitstop at the famed Yale Bowl in New Haven, Connecticut after negotiations in NYC went up in smoke. Tucked into the well-told, historical, timeline is plenty of footage and interesting interviews telling of the franchise's losing drought between 1964 and 1982, amidst plot-building introductions to the loyal fanbase the Giants built in the northern New Jersey towns of East Rutherford and Moonachie. Quite simply, the real-life stars of the film were born right out of central casting at the fire department in Moonachie.
To that point, most notable to this sports historian was the film's subtle but interesting portrayal of the bond of loyalty stemming from the rank and file Giants players and coaches with the people they lived alongside in north Jersey, illustrated best by Coach Bill Parcells daily stops for coffee at the local delicatessens, along with the players' love for all things at popular Moonachie restaurant, "Manny's," a must stop for any fan who ventures to a Giants game, whether it was back in the disco era of the late '70s or at the present day, state-of-the-art MetLife Stadium. Just as your would expect from talented people at NFL Films, the historical sideline footage and intense game-action featuring the great Giants linebacker, Lawrence Taylor, is worth a tune-in for sure.
Later on in the month, the Timeline will focus on "The Merger" between the old NFL and the American Football League, told through the eyes of Hall of Fame QB Joe Namath, the star of the NY Jets who brought the AFL to legitimacy with his guarantee and upset victory in Super Bowl III, back when Roman numerals where a part of Super Bowl lore, yet, much easier to comprehend.