Dies at 71. Giants coach who took them to their blowout Super Bowl loss against the Ravens. But I always liked him.

I’m sure MOFO will pour one out for him.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2021-06-07/longtime-nfl-coach-jim-fassell-dies-at-71?_amp=true

The Jim Fassell years were fun for me as a Giants fan. They had some over-achieving teams during that stretch, but also some of the most disappointing, horrific losses. From year to year you never knew what you were going to get. I always felt like they had a chance to have a good team with him coaching. He was feisty and really supported his guys. The wild card loss to S.F. in 2002 where they blew the big lead was pretty horrifying. The run to the Super Bowl was very unexpected and exciting, that beat-down they laid on Minnesota in the NFC Championship game was so out of left field and unexpected. My son was born a couple days before that Super Bowl and we brought him home from the hospital on Super Bowl sunday in time for me to watch them get completely destroyed by Baltimore. That era was interesting, I liked Fassell, sorry to see him go.

he did pull them out of those mid-late 90's doldrums. WFAN was a lot of fun to listen to during those days though. sports radio is always at its best when the city's teams are bad. or, underachieving.

bittersweet story about your son though. at least you didn't name him kerry...

...did you?

LOL no, didnt do that, but I was a fan of Kerry Collins back then. His era with the team came on the heels of a decade of pretty bad QB's for the Giants, so by comparison he looked like Dan Marino. I remember thinking Jeremy Shockey might be the greatest TE ever his first couple of years, and then Tiki came around and things looked really promising. Fassell had a way of making you think you had a chance, even if the team was totally flawed like those teams were. He did help set the table for Coughlin and the Super Bowl 42 team, a lot of those guys were from his era.

i thought he was always an underappreciated coach

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I listened to a lot of WFAN when I was living on the east coast. Mike and the Mad Dog was a great show. They catch a lot of hell from other broadcasters but I think that's jealousy of their success more than anything. If you only listen once or twice you come away thinking its just an arrogant know it all jackass and a bomb thrower. After a few more listens you realize Mike's outrage is legit and often absurd and Dog is actually earnest but insane. They needed each other...Mike's show was a real slog after Dog left.

Fassel interviewed with us when Shell was fired. Al went with Kiffin which was a mistake but I'm not sure it would have mattered. Fassel and Al were good friends (he was our QB coach in 95) so it might have been a case of Al not wanting to hire Fassel and then fire him later on like he had to do with Shell.

I loved Fassell. Kind of an ugly nerdy guy.

I still laugh at his famous quote with the playoff guarantee

He looked so overmatched and embattled when he said that but then somehow managed to do it

And i think he was a genuine good guy too.

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Good summary of his NYG tenure:


Jim Fassel & The UNDERRATED Moment That SAVED the 2000 New York Giants
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8HTRL-ZKSA

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Teh Guarantee:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ab2pnlWkd4

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