If You Saw "C'Mon Man!"...

and you're wondering if that guy with the backpack was me... it was. That was not how I planned to make my television debut (1:43 into the clip), but I'll take it.

Thanks to the uploaders and to Trent Dilfer for putting my bag on blast, LOL.

Dear (insert deity here), I'm not reading the comments.


Many keep asking what happened, so here it goes.

In all NFL post-game press conferences that I know of, the head coach speaks first. During that time, an announcement is made that the players will be available in the locker room; typically a few minutes into or immediately after the coach's presser. New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin had just finished speaking to the media and everyone made their way to the locker room a few yards away.

Unusual for the Giants - even after other tough losses - there were just a handful of players available to speak with. It was a ghost town and thinking on behalf of the players, I would have probably took off under the cloak of night myself. Instead of waiting for the media mob in front of that handful to dissipate, I made my way back to the official presser as Eli Manning and Justin Tuck would speak with the media.

What you thought was funny, I thought was... strange.

Eli - as always, a pro through and through - was likely ready to get home as the rest of us, which says a lot about he handled himself over the course of his career here in this madhouse area I call home. What you don't see was that other reporters were arriving, just quite a few steps slower than me.

The backpack: instead of leaving it in the press box above the field, I always keep it with me since I leave for home immediately after any game I cover. From my understanding, someone at a Philadelphia sports talk station joked that I looked as if I was carrying C-4 (don't worry, I think that's funny). Well, rest assured that wouldn't have happened since New Jersey State Troopers would have found that out quickly thanks to their canine unit.

You have to understand something about this scene: the normally loquacious media couldn't immediately think of anything to say, do or ask Coughlin at the start of the presser. Other than the Giants themselves, no one was more stunned that the press. There was nearly complete silence from the Giants media from the moment DeSean Jackson eventually crossed the goal line to the march to the press conference. Save for a handful of smaller conversations, there was a surrealism that blanketed us all.

The way I like to think of these 15 minutes (or 12) is that media folks of far bigger platforms were scrambling around, looking for dictionaries and thesauruses to attempt to describe the Miracle at the New Meadowlands.

Nearly two full days later, I still can't.

Don't worry, for those sick of hearing about it, I'm trying to speed up the window of fame here. Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.