So long, OBJ

When JFK died, there was a list that got passed around offering comparisons between the deaths of Kennedy and Lincoln – their last names were both seven letters long, Lee Harvey Oswald and John Wilkes Booth’s names had 15 letters, Booth shot Lincoln in a theatre, then fled to a warehouse; Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and fled to a theatre. It was a long list; I can only remember some of it.

As a kid, reading the list brought some sense to a senseless act, put it into a kind of historical context and made me feel like maybe Kennedy’s death was, in some way, fated.

Forty-nine years ago, the Giants traded a record-breaking wide receiver, known for his blazing speed and swagger, to the Cleveland Browns for three players. And today, in trying to make sense of the Odell Beckham trade, I’m relating back to its similarities to the Giants dealing Homer Jones to Cleveland in 1970.

It killed me to see Homer leave New York, but even as a dopey teenager I realized its inevitability. The Giants needed a lot of help and trading their best player, and getting three players in return, was a quick way to start stocking the shelves. It didn’t hurt that one of the guys we got from Cleveland was Ron Johnson, whose star would quickly eclipse that of Jones.

The Giants of 2019 are now officially in full tear-down mode. They received two high draft picks and a promising player in return for Beckham (see, like the Jones trade, three players for one) so there’s a start. I hope like hell the Giants’ front office has a plan.

There were times when you were just dazzled by Beckham’s speed, his moves, his hands. And there were times when he could be a total embarrassment, like choosing the weekend when players were protesting police violence to mime peeing like a dog in the end zone after a touchdown.

Sometimes historical events repeat themselves, and sometimes their outcomes do as well. And for the record, there are 12 letters in Odell Beckham’s name and ten for Homer Jones.