By STEVE SERBY
The more you hit the late Joe Frazier, the more he seemed to like it. And it is no different with the Giants, heavyweight champions of the NFL.
Some teams would cower and crumble in the face of the mean, green ambush that awaits them Sunday night at the Linc, a prime-time death struggle with the Eagles that begins at 20 past hate.
The Giants rub their hands together with glee and relish the prospect of a Thrilla in Philla, where they try again to batter Michael Vick from pillar to post and make him quit on his stool, if not knock him out.
“You know that when you step on that field down there it’s ... it’s kinda like gladiators — only one man’s going to come out,” Michael Boley said.
The Giants know they didn’t get to be Super Bowl champions without a large supply of mental and physical toughness. So their message to the city of Philadelphia and the team that plays there is this: Bring it on.
They will be standing defiantly inside a belligerent arena, inside the eye of a raging storm of invective and venom, ready to defend the franchise’s honor with every last ounce of courage and willpower against an enemy that will be trying to take their heads off, come hell or Goodell.
“I love loud stadiums, I love fans; they act like they want to come on the field and rip your head off,” Justin Tuck said. “That’s what I grew up watching on TV when I thought about NFL football. I love the fact that that rivalry is as heated as it is. It makes games fun.”
