Jim Fassel

It was a great time, a great time, people ask me,' Wasn't the media awful to you ?' No, I'm friends with a lot of them. I respect the media. They have a job to do. I'll tell you what, I was with( five) different franchises( including Baltimore, where he served as an assistant post-Giants), but the Giants is how I learned to coach in the NFL, mainly from( the late general manager and Pro Football Hall of Famer) George Young. They run it right. They put the marbles in a row to win.

( Former Mayor Rudy) Giuliani's office asked me if I would come over and just walk around and shake the hands and tell them that we're supporting all these guys, i went over there three or four days afterward and it was unbelievable. You're standing there and this space is just wide open. I asked them,' What am I going to do ?' They said,' You can cheer them up. People recognize you, you can just support them.' So I did. And it did work. That's how I first got involved with some firemen. Even the ones from out-of-state, mainly some from California recognized me, and I stopped and talked to them. Those guys looked like they hadn't slept in days, they were dirty. I was just saying,' Thanks guys for what you're doing here.' You try to do a little something for them.