Tag Archives: New York Giants

NFL

Brooks, Michael

flr90 mbrooksCard: Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent:  3/16    Received: 4/23    (34 days)

One is better than none- I always say as Michael Brooks returned only this Fleer 1990 card from among the four cards I sent. You never know why he decided to only send one back, but I will assume that it is because he didn’t have the other cards in his personal collection.

Michael Brooks was a 3rd round pick of the Denver Broncos from the 1987 draft.  His draft stock plummeted after Michael had a major knee injury during his final year at LSU. It took Brooks some time to recover, and the Broncos brought him along slowly his rookie year.  Michael eventually made a really nice compliment to Karl Mecklenburg in the linebacking corps. From 1989 to 1992 Michael logged at least 120 tackles in each season, including 2 seasons with over 170 (1990- 175, 1992- 170).  He earned his only Pro Bowl appearance for his 1992 season.

Brooks career continued with the New York Giants in 1993, where he put together 3 more solid 90+ tackle seasons. He’d play 4 games in the 1996 for the Lions, retiring after the season. Brooks is immortalized in Tecmo Super Bowl, and was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

G/GS   138/113        TAC   962              SAC 7.0               FUM   9
INT 4          YDS  34          AVG 8.2          TD 0            LG 17

NFL

Nova, Gary

sage15 nova

Card: Sage Hit 2015
Acquired: 2015, Box Breaker

Gary Nova had a sold career for the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.  He started 41 of 46 career games and set career-highs as a senior with a 57.1 percent completions, 2,851 yards and 22 touchdowns with 12 interceptions. After not being drafted, Nova tried out with the New York Giants at their May mini-camp, but was not signed. He remained on their radar all season but was not brought back in since there wasn’t any injuries in the lineup.

Gary earned another tryout, this time with the Green Bay Packers. He then worked out at the Rutgers’ Pro Day in 2016, while he finished up his degree in Labor & Employment at the university. Nova continues to train for another shot at the pro level, and has most recently garnered some interest from the CFL.

NFL

James II, Charles ‘Socks’

mem15 cjames IIAcquired: IP 12/15/2015, Go Texans Store

Charles James’ star shot to fame in 2015 with the Houston Texans appearance on the HBO show Hard Knocks. Socks was originally a free agent signing of the New York Giants back in 2013, but didn’t make the roster in 2014.  Charles signed as a free agent with the Texans in the offseason. With his colorful and frankly ugly socks, memorable soundbites, rags to riches story, childlike enthusiasm for the game, and play during the preseason, it was easy to cheer for Charles James to make the roster of the Texans. He even got to contribute at runningback, blazing his way for a long TD against the Saints that was called back! The problem is – he didn’t make the team. The Texans were confident with their current lineup of defensive backs, so the turk saw James on the last day of camp. The Texans hoped to float him through waivers so he could join the practice squad, but the Ravens signed him instead to theirs. The Texans reshuffled their defense due to injuries and signed James to the active roster taking him back from Baltimore in October.  James was excited about returning to Houston where he immediately joined the special teams and as a nickel back on the defense.

A really nice guy, Charles James was happy to sign anything and everything fans put in front of him. He engaged each one of us and is grateful that he is back in H-Town.

The second stop on Lance and my marathon tour of Houston was at the stadium Go Texans store. Honestly I didn’t think we were going to be able to squeeze everything in, but it worked out well. It also helped that we were the first people in line for the Whataburger event earlier that day, but Lance got worried about his car and really wanted to get James so we took a shot. The line moved quickly and we were in and out the door in 15 minutes putting us on the way to the third leg of the trip.