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| | Tuesday, January 30
Giants swallow hard after defeat
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com
TAMPA, Fla. -- Giants guard Glenn Parker, a loser of four Super Bowls with
the Buffalo Bills, told teammate Lomas Brown all week that losing a Super
Bowl is the loneliest feeling in the world.
You'd rather not make it, Parker would say, than get there and not win.
The Giants discovered just what he was talking about on Sunday night.
And some 20 minutes after they were dominated by the Ravens in Super
Bowl XXXV, one walk through the locker room told the story.
There, amid a locker room floor caked with dirt-covered athletic tape,
bloody bandages and empty bottles of Gatorade, sat a group of humbled men,
good enough to climb the mountain, not good enough to reach the top.
The narrow room was utterly silent, the only noise the soft voices of
those willing to do interviews and the monotonous hum of a refrigerator
chilling the post-game beverages.
"The most bitter part is that two weeks ago, we played the perfect game,"
cornerback Jason Sehorn said. "Now, to think about this and have it dwell on
us for the offseason, yeah, it sucks.
"Sure, we might get back here, but this one will always be with us. We'll
always remember the one we didn't win."
Outside the Giants locker room, linebacker Jessie Armstead hugged
longtime friend Ray Lewis, who won the game's MVP award. Armstead
congratulated Lewis on his stellar play and Lewis returned the favor. They
talked about where they were going to meet tonight.
"Two hours," Armstead said. "I'll call your cell in two hours."
Slowly, life will go on for the New York Giants, a team that dominated
the Minnesota Vikings 41-0 in the NFC Championship, but couldn't muster a
lick of offense against the Ravens.
"It's a bitter pill," defensive coordinator John Fox said. "Time heals
all wounds they say, but I don't think this will go away entirely."
Some of the Giants were already dressed and out of the locker room by the
time it opened some 25 minutes after the game ended, but some just sat
there, staring blankly into their lockers. Included in that group was
veteran cornerback Dave Thomas.
"Certainly, there's a very bitter taste in my mouth as to the way things
went down," Thomas said. "We didn't accomplish what we set out here to do."
Giants receiver Ike Hilliard, who caught three passes for thirty yards
and was the intended receiver on a crucial interception late in the
first half, echoed those sentiments.
"Nobody remembers second place," he said. "Nobody."
Fox and Hilliard both pointed out also the sentiment they had for Brown,
Parker and Giants defensive tackle Keith Hamilton.
Brown, a 16-year NFL veteran, was one of the Cinderella stories of this
Super Bowl, having finally reached the Super Bowl in the waning years of his
career. Parker, meanwhile, walked away from the world's grandest sporting
event a loser for the fifth time in as many trips.
"Right now, there are a lot of emotions running through my mind," Brown
said. "I'm just hurt with the outcome of the game. And my partner, Glenn
Parker, warned me how it would be if we lose -- and he was right. This hurts
a lot."
Hamilton, a nine-year veteran of the Giants and a favorite among his
teammates, was the guilty party in a defensive holding penalty that cost the
Giants a 47-yard interception return for a touchdown.
"I don't even want to think about football for a little while," he said.
"I just want to get home, play with my kids for a month and then think about
what we need to do to turn this around."
Defensive tackle Michael Strahan wasn't as negative. Strahan, who was
vocal last year in his criticism of coach Jim Fassel and the inept Giants
offense, said that New York's run to the playoffs has given him a new
outlook on his career. From 7-9 and team dissension last year to Super Bowl
runner-ups and team unity this year, he is more than pleased.
"These guys have invigorated my career to the point where I want to play
forever," he said. "I couldn't always say that. But I'm just so proud to be
associated with these guys. I have a smile on my face. Our guys went out
there and put it on the line. I don't think there's anything to be ashamed
of."
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