I received the email at 1:26 p.m. Sunday, about three hours before kickoff for the Giants’ 31-21 loss to the 49ers, which would drop them to 1-8 and into a deeper downward spiral than they’ve been in decades.
It came from a Post reader named Ron Freiman, who’d seen my Sunday column advancing the Giants-49ers game. In it, I referred to this tenuous time for Giants fans as approaching the low-point days of the 1978 revolt by season ticket holders, which included ticket burning and an airplane banner flown over Giants Stadium reading: “15 Years of Lousy Football — We’ve Had Enough.’’
Dear Mark,
I was the one who arranged for flying the plane over Giants Stadium and the ticket burning in 1978 you mentioned in your Sunday article. I was much younger then and quite the fan. Now, I’m living in Florida, much older, but ready to return if I must. Just want to see them competitive.’’
RF
“Competitive’’ is not what you would describe the Giants in the loss to the previously winless 49ers, particularly in the second half when the defense looked like it had completely checked out.
The email, coupled with that performance at Levi’s Stadium, compelled me to reach out to Freiman, who’s 85 and lives in Boynton Beach, Fla., where he’s been since moving out of New Jersey in 2000.
“You wouldn’t believe how often I’m reminded of it,’’ Freiman said over the phone. “That silly thing that I did on a lark went nationwide, and it was incredible.’’
It was a catalyst to seismic change, with the Giants eventually hiring general manager George Young — who would turn the franchise from league laughingstock to a sound, consistent contender that won its first Super Bowl following the 1986 season.
The line of demarcation for Freiman and the rest of the angry Giants season-ticket base was the famous Joe Pisarcik fumbled handoff to Larry Csonka, recovered and returned for a game-winning touchdown by Eagles cornerback Herman Edwards.
To borrow from the movie “Network,’’ which was the inspiration for the message on the airplane banner, Giants fans were “mad as hell and not going to take this anymore.’’
If that sounds familiar to the way Giants fans are feeling now, it should. And, with the 6-3 Chiefs, who are loaded on offense and a terrible matchup for the Giants, coming to New Jersey on Sunday, you have to wonder how ugly it might get at MetLife Stadium if the Giants continue to play the way they have of late, outscored 82-38 in their past two games.
Fans might want to look to the sky Sunday to see if another banner plane has taken flight.
Freiman recalled the catalyst to his becoming the leader of that ’78 fan revolt as “sitting at that Philadelphia game when they had the fumble, and I couldn’t get up from my seat I was so stunned. It was a victory that they just threw away.’’
The day after The Fumble, Freiman purchased a display ad in the Newark Star-Ledger for $120 that included a post office box urging angry fans to send their tickets in.
“We’ll burn them and they’ll play in front of an empty stadium,’’ Freiman said.
“Hundreds of people sent their tickets to be burned,’’ Freiman said. “I was totally baffled by the reaction. There were a lot of disappointed fans … as I’m sure there are now.’’
The famous airplane banner came the following Sunday. Freiman said he and another season-ticket holder named Peter Valentine, an attorney, arranged the plane flyover.
“[Valentine] knew somebody who had this [plane-rental] service and we decided, ‘Let’s fly this thing around and see what happens,’ ’’ Freiman recalled. “It caused quite a stir … and it did some good because they got rid of a lot of people, and they still talk about it.’’
Freiman said he later met Young at a luncheon at the old Giants hangout, Manny’s in Moonachie, N.J.
“He knew I was the guy who did it, so I wasn’t looked upon too well by Giants management,’’ Freiman said with a laugh. “I sent the ashes from the ticket burning to Wellington Mara in a urinal, one of those hospital bedpans, and I don’t think they took very kindly to that. It’s probably still sitting up in their offices.
“I shouldn’t have done it. It was a smartass thing to do, but I was young and I was annoyed.’’
Though he said he’s “still an enthusiastic fan,’’ Freiman said he doesn’t get as riled up about the Giants’ failures as he once did in his season-ticket days.
“It doesn’t bother me now the way it bothered me 40 years ago,’’ he said. “But I know there are other people that are really upset by it now. I can understand how they feel about it.’’