John Mara’s mother, Ann, brought what can only be considered an artifact in the high-rent district of sports these days: a shovel used in the 1972 groundbreaking for Giants Stadium.
Mara, the Giants’ president and chief executive officer, told her that the politicians, NFL executives and well-wishers gathering just outside the shadow of that stadium Wednesday wouldn’t be needing that particular implement.
In the 21st century, when grandiose pro sports palaces are rising from parking lots like wildflowers in New York and across America, the emblems of rebirth have changed: Wednesday’s was a long steel beam, autographed by the key movers and shakers in this endeavor, to be mounted above the dazzling entrance of the $1.3-billion, 82,500-seat as yet unnamed stadium that will house the Giants and Jets, with the scheduled opening in 2010. . . Full Story: http://newsday.com/sports/football/ny-spstadium0906,0,5967372.story?coll=ny_entertainment_tv_util
