Neal Insult To Fans Crosses A Dangerous Line With New York Giants

To start, let's quote (courtesy of friend of 'The Drive with Charlie & Dan', Darryl Slater of nj.com) New York Giants' offensive tackle, Evan Neal, “Why would a lion concern himself with the opinion of a sheep?...The person that’s commenting on my performance, what does he do? Flip hot dogs and hamburgers somewhere?”

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Hmm. Where to start? What 23-year old Evan Neal may have forgotten, while he collects his $24+ million from his employer, is the fact that those "sheep," who make their living flipping burgers, hammering nails, or whatever else, are the heart and soul of the New York Giants organization.

Big Blue means something to them, as well as their families and friends. The Giants are part of the fabric of their lives. That's why, when they spend a large portion of their paychecks watching players like Evan Neal. And when the players mess up, the fans yell, especially when the player does very little against NFL opponents to earn their respect.

Neal eventually apologized, as seen on his Twitter account below. But, most likely, especially in New York, it will be tough for the former Alabama All American to recover a positive relationship with the fans. It may even be harder to recover with his teammates and the owners.

Giants' owners John Mara and Steve Tisch take tremendous pride in running the NFL franchise that their fathers passed down to them. Neither takes lightly when players, or any members of the organization, make disparaging remarks towards their coveted, loyal fans. However, at times, both have forgiven young Giants' players in their developmental years and stood by them in some difficult situations. You can read about some law-breaking Giants here.

The young Evan Neal will someday learn, and maybe he already has, that the 'burger flipping' fanbase is more important to ownership and the league, than a sub-par right tackle. Hopefully, this is a wake-up call on many levels for Mr. Neal. If not, Giants' fans will be learning another player's name that is protecting the Big Blue quarterback in his place.