David Tyree Is My Homey

I’ll be honest, I figured that the next time one of my teams won a championship, it would be the Mets.

It turned out to be the Giants, however, and I’m not complaining. Sunday was as much fun as I’ve had watching a sporting event in a long time, and the best part about it was seeing a player I adopted as a personal favorite many years back emerge as a surprise hero.

I know I’m not alone in falling prey to what I call the “I knew him back when” phenomenon. There’s something we seem to enjoy about discovering something or someone before everyone else.

It’s the reason you’ll hear people brag about the time they saw The Shins play at some tiny club in bumfuck Texas before Zach Braff decided to put them on the “Garden State” soundtrack, and it’s why my friends roll their eyes when I tell them about the time I saw Ryan Braun hitting the crap out of the ball at batting practice in Greensboro while playing in low Class A. And it’s why I was thrilled to see David Tyree make what was probably the greatest catch in Super Bowl history.

Hardcore Giants fans will remember a time around the turn of the century when their special teams were absolutely abysmal. It got so bad at one point that coach Jim Fassel started using his starters because the typical mix of back-up defensive backs and wide receivers were not getting it done. Watching the Giants try to cover a kick was like trying to watch Rocky Balboa chasing the chicken to work on his quickness.

Enter David Tyree.

Even though Tyree was a solid wide receiver while playing at Syracuse, he was drafted in the sixth round in 2003 based solely on his special teams skills. Immediately, my friend Dan and I decided that Tyree was going to be a difference maker. And for once, we were right.

With Tyree covering kicks, the Giants had a special teams weapon unseen since the days of Reyna Thompson. He was so good that he even made the Pro Bowl in 2005 as a special teamer, and Dan and I felt vindicated for having jumped on the Tyree bandwagon so early. At one point we even discussed getting Tyree jerseys.

As you can imagine, we were ecstatic to see Tyree not only make the aforementioned catch that seemed suited for Barnum & Bailey, but also add a TD catch. I felt an even greater bond with Tyree because he is from Montclair, N.J., which is where my family owned a Five-and-Dime for generations.

After the Giants stunning victory, Dan and I were joined by our friend Dave (another Giants fan) walking down the streets of Brooklyn and reveling with other Big Blue faithful. More than once I heard some lesser fan exclaim, “who the fuck is that Tyree guy?”

All I could do was smile and think, “man, those Tyree jerseys would look pretty cool right now.”