Greased pigs? Renaissance fairs? What’s going on between Joe Judge and Julian Love?
New York Giants head coach Joe Judge, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania but went to college at Mississippi State and later coached at Alabama, is no stranger to sharing some rather odd southern sayings.
For that reason, when defensive back Julian Love quoted Judge over the weekend in relation to a “greased pig,” barely an eye was batted.
“Joe Judge always says, ‘in the Mississippi heat, it takes more than one set of hands to grease the pig.’ So we’re excited just to all work together collectively as a group,” Love told reporters on Friday with completely straight face.
Does Judge really say that?
“Verbatim. That’s what he says,” Love said, adding that Judge has spent a lot of time in the south.
Onto the next question and not another thought about it. At least not until Saturday night when the Giants held practice in Newark, New Jersey as part of the NFL’s “Back Together Saturday.”
“We actually had a really good conversation. Julian was actually telling me how growing up he worked in Mississippi at a renaissance fair,” Judge told reporters. “While he was down there, he got some kind of European title of ventriloquist. So Julian spent all these years at renaissance fairs. We started just sharing sayings he learned down there and it was kind of a cool thing. Ask him all about it. He loves talking about it. He said he wore the green tights and stuff. It was crazy.”
Wait… What in the world is going on here?
As it turns out, Judge may not be the “football guy parody” Patrick Daugherty of NBC Sports claims he is. You know, the one whose “no-nonsense tough-guy act borders on silliness,” as Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports would say.
Rather, Judge appears to be developing quite the bond with his players and it’s manifesting in hilarious ways — like poking fun at each other through the media.
Just a small glimpse into the relationships Joe Judge is building with his players.
You earn Judge's respect with the way you work, and once you have it, you can bust his chops and have some fun.
But Judge's message: he's going to bust 'em back, so watch out. https://t.co/2OEXTgQ6hf
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) August 1, 2021
The cat may be out of the bag now, but don’t expect that to stop Judge, Love or any other Giant from having a little fun with this. They’re clearly enjoying their time together in East Rutherford and that’s a positive thing. It’s also remarkably entertaining for fans and media alike.
Judge is hardly the caricature he’s been portrayed as by some members of the national media. In fact, it appears they couldn’t have gotten it more wrong.
