A former Giants ball boy recalls his biggest moment

	Tiki Barber (21) and the Giants rolled up 518 yards of offense in a rout of the Vikings in the '01 NFC title game. Damian Strohmeyer/SI
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By Bob Broderick

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I can remember January 14, 2001 as if it were yesterday. I was an 18-year old freshman basketball player at Albright College and I had the day off from practice, which the previous week had caused me to miss the Giants' victory over the Eagles in the NFC divisional round.

Kickoff for the NFC Championship against the Vikings was scheduled for 12:30. That meant I needed to be at Giants Stadium no later than 8:30. I know what you're thinking: Typical college kid getting to the game early to tailgate, right? Wrong. I was in my third year as an assistant ball boy for the team, and this would be my first playoff game.

When I arrived at the stadium, I embarked on my normal responsibilities which consisted of getting trunks of equipment out to the field, and fetching whatever the players needed, from socks to gloves to snacks to any CD's they left in their car. The one thing a person in my position wanted to avoid was being the guy standing around the locker room amid players and coaches preparing for the biggest games of their careers, looking like you have no business being there.

With kickoff less than 20 minutes away, I was on the field shagging kicks. Then came the national anthem, which was topped off by a fly-over of three F-16s. That got my adrenaline pumping as the 85,000 screaming fans waved their towels.

The game could not have gotten off to a faster start for the Giants. They scored on the fourth play of the game when Kerry Collins hit Ike Hilliard for a 46-yard touchdown pass. Moments later the stadium erupted when the Vikings fumbled the kick return. Collins wasted no time throwing a touchdown pass to fullback Greg Comella. The Giants had a 14-0 lead before the Vikings offense even stepped on the field.

Throughout the game I was on the sidelines passing out water, clearing the mud off the players' cleats, and retrieving photos for defensive line coach Denny Marcin. I can still hear Marcin in my ears: "Keep 'em off the board, keep 'em off the scoreboard."

The Giants ended up blowing out the Vikings, 41-0. As the team took a knee on the final three snaps to run out the clock, the stadium exploded with chants of "Super Bowl, Super Bowl." On the sidelines I was mobbed by players and coaches as I helped pass out hats and T-shirts.

When the game ended, Giants coach Jim Fassel asked me to drive one his friends back to Manhattan and drop him off the hotel. I then came back to the stadium and hung out with the coach's youngest son, Mike, who invited me to his parent's house. There, Coach Fassel, Mike and I sat in the family room, watching SportsCenter re-runs of the game and eating Rocky Road ice cream in celebration of the team's first trip to the Super Bowl in 10 years.

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