Content available exclusively for subscribers
Giants owner Steve Tisch took a shot at the Jets regarding Tim Tebow on Sunday leaving a tony Hollywood restaurant.
“I think him going from the Broncos to the Jets was not in anybody’s best interest,” Tisch told TMZ on his way out of Dan Tana’s in L.A. Sunday night. “Had another team picked him up after the Broncos, maybe he’d have a career.”
First of all, it sounds like a great restaurant.
Here is a description –
“More than a great restaurant, Dan Tana’s is the ultimate Hollywood hangout. Boasting a superlative menu and a client list that reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood, Tana’s is filled every night with customers who return again and again.
“Celebrating its 47th anniversary in October 2011, Dan Tana’s deserves its longevity. Its superb food, every morsel prepared to order, and its super-sized drinks are created and served with loving care by Tana’s longtime personnel. The bar and restaurant always are fully packed with customers rubbing elbows with Hollywood elite. Still every customer, celebrity or not, is equally important to Tana and his staff. No special preferences are shown, except to offer exceptional service and mouth-watering culinary delights.”
It’s an Italian restaurant, so it gets me at “hello.”
But I digress.
I want to get into a strange dynamic in the New York market involving the Giants and Jets, and their reputation’s publicly.
The way the organizations are generally represented is like this – the Jets are “classless buffoons” (as Mike Francesa put it) and the Giants are “a classy organization that does everything right.”
This is the narrative, and it’s very unfair.
So if the Giants are so classy, how do you explain the cheap shots like Mr. Tisch delivered on TMZ, or that John Mara likes to dish out (he had a couple of zingers about Tebow last year)?
Well, the first answer most people would give – “Hey, they have four rings.”
That certainly helps their image. Winning cures so much.
But it goes deeper than that.
A factor that helps the Giants a great deal in the court of public opinion is how their organization plays the public relations’ game. Pat Hanlon (pictured above) does a great job crafting the Giants image by playing the media game with aplomb.
The Giants do a nice job of giving the media what they need, providing very good background material when the reporters need it. With the Jets, it’s like pulling teeth to get anything.
Hey, that is their right. Who are we to tell the Jets how to run their company? Honestly, they don’t owe us explanations on any issue.
But when you give quality background information, it helps you present your case better to the writers and public.
Yankees GM Brian Cashman is great at this, and it helps the Yankees in the court of public opinion.
This is not a Jets strength.
Here is an example –
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been trying to find out what happened to undrafted free agent defensive lineman Spencer Nealy.
He wasn’t at the rookie mini-camp.
You would think I was trying to get Woody’s bank statements.
I still have had no luck, and I’ve asked repeatedly over the last two days.
Look, I don’t want to make this about me. I’m not looking for a crying towel.
I’m just trying to point a out one reason why the Giants get better coverage, and why they have a much stronger image painted by the media.
They know how to play the game.
This double-standard is wrong. The Jets and Giants should be treated exactly the same by the New York press.
But it’s not happening.
And that is unfortunate.
What Mr. Tisch was said was out of line. He should mind his own business, and worry about his own club.
However, I challenge you to find anybody, aside from me, taking him on over this.
It will be like trying to find a needle in haystack.
Why?
Because the Giants are all class.
May 13, 2013
Premium will return by 9:30 pm on Wednesday.