Radio Free Montone: The Giants Stink But So What
By John Montone, 1010 WINS
The beheading of Peter Kassig and the murder of Wai Kuen Kwok helped me put Eli Manning's five picks in perspective.
The news can be a nasty business. On a rainy, cold and all together miserable Monday morning I drove to the East 167th Street subway station on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. On the way I heard on 1010 WINS that ISIS had severed the head of an American providing humanitarian relief to the people of Syria. The victim was also a former Army Ranger. I also heard that a man had shoved another man off the subway platform as a D-train was pulling into the station and the train had crushed the victim. That was my story. And it made me forget the Giants fifth straight loss.
For a while anyway.
I once read that sports was a "moral holiday." That the games we watch and the teams we root for provide a needed break from often grim reality. As I walked around the subway station I saw Mr. Kwok's photo on a Crimestoppers' poster. He looked like a kind man. Down another flight of stairs I quickly noticed how very narrow the platform where Mr. Kwok was standing was. Turning on my recorder I talked to some early morning commuters who listened as a guy named Marvin urged them to stay alert and stand back from the edge. As I do every weekday morning I edited the tape and wrote my story. I was pleased with its rhythm. "The killer spoke not a word…" I jotted in my reporter's notebook. And with five minutes to spare before my 6 A.M. Live Shot, I read the Big Blue post mortem in The Daily News. What was Offensive Coordinator Bob McAdoo thinking? Four straight passes from the four yard line with the game on the line. Was this game the death knell for Coach Coughlin? Those two Super Bowl wins are fading fast. And what's wrong with Eli? On a couple of his interceptions it looked like he was throwing the football right to the 49er defensive back.
Live on 1010 WINS I said, "The killer spoke not a word. He simply shoved 61-year old Wai Kuen Kwok off this very narrow platform…"
Driving out of the Bronx I heard that President Obama called the beheading of Peter Kassig, "Pure evil." I switched to Boomer and Carton for more Giants talk. The The Fan's morning guys were going on about Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson…some moral holiday.
So I switched back to 1010 WINS to listen again to stories about Kassig and Kwok. Two apparently good and innocent men. Gone forever.
Yes, the Giants stink but so what.