Phil Simms picked up a memo from the stool in front of his locker. "Let me see if this is my fine for not wearing my socks properly in the Monday night football game," the Giants quarterback said.
Simms said he wore his socks too high and quickly learned he was being docked $1,500. "This is to advise you you were in violation of the NFL uniform equipment rules," Simms read aloud.Rest assured that the NFL grinches are not going to ruin this Christmas for Phil Simms.
His Giants are 11-3, Jeff Hostetler and Ray Handley are far, far away, and a second Pro Bowl berth appears imminent. Game 15 is Sunday against the Cardinals and Simms is still standing and his body doesn't feel like a 38-year-old football body should.
Last year's holiday season was filled with frustration and the sad realization that a 14-year career as No. 11 was almost certain to end. And probably if Tom Coughlin or Dave Wannstedt had said yes to George Young, Simms would be playing for Bill Parcells in New England. But third choice Dan Reeves asked Simms back for a 15th Giant season last March at the expense of Hostetler.
"Yeah," Simms recalled, "I was excited about it. More so, my family was excited about it. I had kind of resigned myself to the fact that I'm ready to accept either way it goes. Of course my family, `Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, we are too, Dad,' and my wife said the same thing, but when it happened I realized by their reaction that they really wanted to stay here. That made me feel good when the decision was made. I didn't realize that they were lying to me."
He still doesn't like talking about himself after all these years, so no, he doesn't admit to feeling rejuvenated or proud and the satisfaction has more to do with his team having the best record in the game than him being the NFC's third-rated passer.
"To be 11-3 is great," Simms said. "And to do what we've done when expectations were very low and the way we've done it in all the different ways has been great."
He doesn't like answering Pro Bowl questions, and only when pressed will he confess, "I would love to go. I think everybody would love to go and of course I'm no different. I'd love to go."
He would much prefer to go to another Super Bowl. "It would be hard right now for us to be happy about anything except really good things," Simms said.
Expectations have changed so January has a chance to be a warm and exciting time if the Giants continue to follow the lead of their coach and quarterback. "We can be a factor," Simms said.
This is more fun than 1990, before he sprained his foot and fractured his Super Bowl dream. "This is a lot different," Simms said. "All in all I've probably played a little better than I did in '90. That team was expected to win. We lost three games and it was like the end of the world."
Maybe when he was hurt and feeling helpless he would contemplate the end of his own football world. But not now. "I don't talk about the future because I don't really know," he said. "I can't make those decisions really till it's over. I think players - somebody said it the other day and they were right - once you're prepared and know what you're gonna do when your career is over, usually your career is over. So that's what kind of makes me feel good. I've never really sat down and really thought about and worried about what I'm gonna do because I still have hopes of playing a little longer."