Our city was and is a city of stars, and former Jets owner Sonny Werblin recognized that when he signed Alabama native Broadway Joe Namath to a $427,000 contract.
When someone with star power walks into a room, everyone knows it.
New York has produced many great players dating back to Babe Ruth, and now Malik Neighbors has been added to that list.
No one dares to head to the fridge while Aaron Judge is holding a bat.
Football is an 11-man sport, and Malik Neighbors depends on Daniel Jones tossing the ball and throwing it accurately, but we quickly learned that Malik Neighbors with the ball in the air or in his hands is a sight to behold, and USA and the USA team will get to see it Thursday night at MetLife Stadium.
There's no great athlete in any sport who doesn't exude athletic arrogance on the field. You watch Neighbors play and you see it. He knows it. He knows who he is, what he can do, who he can become. He knows when he's being guarded he's going to be open.
Jason Pinnock named Odell Beckham Jr., Derek Jeter, Judge and Jalen Brunson at the top of his list of New York stars, saying, “They've had their ups and downs, but all of those guys that I just mentioned have been consistently great players and have always been at the top of their game.”
Giants teammates believe success won't ruin Malik Neighbors' game.
“The media here, you know, can get a little crazy, so I think you have to be able to compartmentalize things,” Bronx-born tight end Chris Manhertz told the Post. “Having the ability to separate what's going on, what's being said, regardless of how you're playing, and just focus on what you have to do each week, I think that helps you filter out those distractions.”
So far, so good.
“It's all about how you use your success,” Jalyn Hyatt told the Post. “He's calm and he wants to be the best. Not only does he want to be the best here, he wants to be the best receiver in the NFL. He shows that every day in practice and it translates into the game. I think it's only going to benefit him if he continues to have success in his career. It's going to give him more motivation, more confidence and more confidence in DJ.”
Aaron Rodgers brought 20 years of star power and one Super Bowl win to the Jets from Green Bay.
It took three games for Malik Neighbors to become the talk of the town on the other side of the city, desperate for something, someone, to hold onto in the franchise's 100th anniversary season.
He gave beleaguered Giants fans hope — hope that there would be meaningful games again in December, and hope for a season no one expected.
Saquon Barkley brought in a star player from Penn State, but the Giants couldn't fix the offensive line. It's impossible for a running back to become the man in the Gold Jacket without a serviceable offensive line, even if he's touched by the hand of God.
In today's quarterback-driven NFL, it's easy for a receiver who has been touched by God to achieve stardom.
Neighbors made Jones a better quarterback and Brian Daboll a better coach.
“I think he has a strong mind,” Dexter Lawrence told The Post.
Neighbors gives the Giants something they desperately need: a player who expects to win, not a player who wants to win. That's part of his “manly” personality.
“He expects to win, he expects to play,” Darius Slayton told the Post, “and he's done that.”
But he's not some snob who thinks he knows it all.
“When veterans talk to him, he absorbs it so well,” Pinnock said.
Neighbors caught passes from Jayden Daniels when the Cowboys beat the Giants, 40-0, in last year's home opener at MetLife Stadium and then ripped them, 49-17, at Jerry's World in November.
All the stars New York has seen over the years — Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Duke Snider, Patrick Ewing, Mark Messier, Henrik Lundqvist, Jeter, Mariano Rivera and now Judge and Brunson — are men who lived for the brightest lights and the biggest stages.
Now, here come the Cowboys and their stars: CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, Dak Prescott, a fading Ezekiel Elliott and the stars on their helmets.
And then there's Malik Nabors, born for Star Wars, born for New York, born for primetime.
