The one that forever haunts John Mara and Giants fans of his generation came at the Yale Bowl, seven months after Super Bowl III, when Broadway Joe Namath and the Jets, already kings of the world, announced themselves as kings of New York with a resounding win over the Allie Sherman Giants that humiliated Big Brother.
The stakes are entirely different now on Blooper Sunday: The Giants have raised the Lombardi Trophy four times since then, while the Jets remain gripped in a 51-year stranglehold of mostly misery, misfortune, mindlessness and mediocrity … or worse.
Alas, the 2-7 Giants are 49-72 and without a playoff win since Super Bowl XLVI, and have changed head coaches twice, general managers once and quarterbacks once.