Friday Blogdome: Bizarro Phil Simms says hello from the year 1979

Apr 15, 2011, 4:48 PM EDT

When, sandwiched between shots of Earnest Gray and George Young, I saw the two shots posted above, I did a double take. Though the photos are of unknown provenance, there is little doubt that they were taken shortly after the Giants selected Phil Simms with the 7th overall pick of the 1979 NFL Draft. They capture a baby-faced Simms posing in front of a backdrop of then-four-year-old Giants Stadium with a football and Ray Perkins, who looks more like a high school math teacher than the newly hired head coach of an NFL team.

The double take, of course, was due to the jersey Simms is wearing in the photos, and the number that adorns it. #19? Who the eff is #19? Who is this impostor, this Bizarro Simms? Phil Simms is, was, and always will be #11. ELEVEN. This is porch pillar stuff. Fixed. Bob Sheppard certainly never announced Phil’s name with any other number. Why would he? [Bluenatic]

LeBron James on NBA player criticism conerning his decision to go to Miami. “It was surprising, but it didn’t bother me. You never know what guys are going to say. I knew I made the right decision and I can’t make decisions and worry about what other people or other historians are going to say about my career. Everyone lives their own career and I set my own path.” [Sports Radio Interviews]