WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The New York Giants’ time at The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia is over. So is mine. This was an amazing trip in many ways to a beautiful part of the country where life is much different than it is in New York or New Jersey. Yes, that includes upstate New York, where I reside.
I hope this post gives a little flavor of the trip. I will try to touch on what the area is like, what training camp itself offered, The Greenbrier, the experience for myself and other media
members, and more. I hope you enjoy this stroll through my ‘excellent West Virginia adventure’.
Monday, July 27
The truth of this story is that it begins long before I hopped in the car to make the 586-mile, 10-hour drive to the cottage I had rented in Covington, Va., about 14 miles outside of White Sulpher Springs.
My trip to The Greenbrier was approved back in March. I knew I was going to drive from my upstate New York home to West Virginia, and knew my beloved 2014 Honda Pilot — with 190,000 miles on it — was not the right vehicle for the trip.
As much as I did not want to, I parted with the Pilot and purchased a 2023 Subaru Ascent with less than 25,000 miles on the odometer. I put more than 1,600 miles on the Ascent during the trip, so that was a good decision.
The 586-mile drive from my home to Covington was uneventful. Not like the storm-filled drive several of my media cohorts had on Tuesday. Or, my interesting drive home.
Not in New York anymore
This is a lesson I learned shortly after arriving at my home away from home for 12 days. It was between 6 and 7 p.m. ET, and I was hungry. I really wanted to settle in, and get a bit of work done. I did not want to drive all over the place looking for food in an unfamiliar, remote, place.
So, what does a Northeasterner do? Order delivery. Only, I first had to find a place that would deliver. That by itself wasn’t simple. I ended up ordering pizza from a nearby Domino’s, only to receive a call back that I would have to meet the driver at a store a few miles down the road because I was outside the delivery zone.
Welcome to remote Virginia!
Tuesday, July 28
One of the benefits of being on site a day early, or what I hoped would be a benefit, was the potential to play tourist for a day. The city of Lewisburg was said to be the best place to walk around and shop, so that afternon I jumped in my car and made the roughly 22-mile drive in an effort to check it out.
Problem was, the weather decided not to cooperate. The further I drove the more my GPS was issuing warnings of severe storms that might render some of the road impassable. By the time I got to downtown Lewisburg, which looked like a quaint town that would be fun to walk around, the sky was incredibly dark and the volume of warnings had increased.
I drove through, turned around, and went back to Covington. Of course, by the time I got there the storms had passed and the weather was good for the remainder of the day.
So, that was strikeout number one in Lewisburg.
Wednesday, July 29
I like to be early for things. I’m the guy who will sit in the airport for 2½ hours waiting for a flight. I feel like I am late if I don’t reach the press box three hours before a Giants game. We had been told that we would not be able to access the Sports Performance Center until two hours before practice.
So, of course I showed up for Wednesday’s opening practice, scheduled for 1:30 p.m., at 11:05. I was told to leave and drive around White Sulphur Springs until 11:30. So, yeah, they were serious about the two-hour rule.
Choo, choo!
One of the annoying things about the Quest Diagnostics Training Center has always been that most pre- and post-practice pressers are held outside, with planes from Teterboro Airport flying overhead and making it difficult to hear.
Well, having a railroad train chug just below the podium where you are trying to do an interview is not easy, either. Cool to watch, not fun to work through.
Thursday, July 30
Hi, guys!
I was hoping to meet a few BBV readers at practices open to fans. Larry Jamison and ‘Pataroons’ introduced themselves in Thursday. I think it was the next day I met ‘Tiki’sBarber.‘
If you made it to The Greenbrier for any of the practices, I hope you enjoyed it.
I did a few ‘In-5 trivia’ videos with fans while in West Virginia. I hope you enjoyed them. I was, honestly, a bit taken aback by fans’ inability to identify Jeff Hostetler.
A different kind of dinner
Life moves at a different, slower, pace in West Virginia than in the New Yorl/New Jersey area. An outdoor dinner with Steve Serby of the New York Post and Evan Barnes of Newsday at a restaurant called Max on Main proved that.
One of my two sons works as a restaurant manager in the Albany area. He has told me that when they give wait times to customers, they usually project a longer time than they expect. In other words, if they expect 10 minutes they will tell customers 15.
On this gorgeous evening, we discovered that 15 minutes has a different meaning in West Virginia. We were told 15 minutes, not because the place was full but because of that night’s staffing. Well, 15 minutes was really about an hour. We seated ourselves, and eventually had to run down our own waitress and insist on at least getting menus and placing drink orders.
The food was good. The weather was great. The company was entertaining. The service? That was on its own schedule. Just remember that if you go out to eat in West Virginia, don’t be surprised if you are there for a while.
Technologically impaired
There was a time when I managed a newspaper’s computer network, and wrote a technology column. That was a long time ago.
This was a tough day for me when it came to technology.
First, I thought I had a great video of Malik Nabers working through drills, only to discover that I had my phone set on “photo” and didn’t take any video at all. Then, after practice I posted a recap video to YouTube without any sound. Apparently, the microphone needs to be on. Sheesh!
Friday, July 31
Slammin’ Sammy’s
As a ‘thank-you’ to media members who made the trip to West Virginia, the Giants — mostly the PR staff — hosted us for dinner Friday evening at ‘Slammin Sammy’s,‘ one of the many restaurants on The Greenbrier grounds.
Since I drove my own car to West Virginia, I brought one set of dress clothes with me — even if I did forget the shoes! Pretty much everywhere you go around The Greenbrier, there is a strictly-adhered to dress code. While I was prepared, even without the dress shoes, some of my cohorts were not. One even had to find a Wal-Mart and buy a collared shirt before dinner.
This was a fun event. GM Joe Schoen showed up, and we chatted for a bit. Dawn Aponte, senior VP of football operations and strategy, was also there. This was the first time most of us had met her.
Saturday, August 1
Gustard’s Bistro in White Sulphur Springs is the one “must-eat” place not on the grounds of The Greenbrier itself that had been recommended to me. Apparently, others had been told the same.
Saturday evening, Serby, Stapleton, Barnes, Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic, Steve Whyno of the Associated Press, Ryan Duynleavy of the New York Post, and I ended up in a private room at Gustard’s for a fantastic, fun meal. Good enough that I went back on my final night in West Virginia.
Between the end of practice and the time of our dinner reservation, there were a couple of hours to kill. I parked in downtown White Sulphur Springs, walked around The Greenbrier property for a while, then went inside, took pictures, and had a pre-dinner ice cream at Draper’s in the resort.
Below, some of the photos I took. Apologies in advance for the scary selfie!
Sunday, August 2
Souvenirs? What souvenirs?
This was the only off day during the Giants’ time in West Virginia. I had hoped to use it to purchase West Virginia-related souvenirs for my wife and grandkids. It turned out to be strikeout number two in Lewisburg.
Lewisburg is a beautiful, quaint village. There are some interesting places to shop, and it’s a relaxing downtown to stroll around.
There were two problems. This is West Virginia, and it operates on its own time line. Most of the shops were closed on Sunday around lunch time, and the ones that were open were antique and knick-knack type stores. I was looking for things that said ‘West Virginia’ on them as items my wife and grandkids could identify as gifts that came from my time here.
No such luck. Searching the Internet, I found out that I would have to drive an hour or more to find places that sold the kind of “touristy” things I was looking for. That wasn’t happening.
A little off-day golf
Having driven my own vehicle, I had my golf clubs and hiking boots with me. I was hopeful of getting nine holes of golf in on the off day.
The ultimate goal, of course, would have been to play The Greenbrier golf course. That would have happened, too, if the trio of reporters who played The Greenbrier Sunday morning had bothered to look for a fourth. Thanks, fellas!
Fortunately, there was more than one way to get my golf fix. Remember, I was staying in Covington, Va. There is a nine-hole golf course there called ‘Cliff View’, which is a full-length course rather than a par-3 executive one. I decided to check that out. It was inexpensive and had room for a single late on a Sunday afternoon.
As I found out, though, Cliff View is way, way, way off the beaten path. It took a whole lot of twists and turns on a lot of sketchy country roads to get there. It certainly made me happy to have a trustworthy vehicle.
The photo below tells you why the course is named ‘Cliff View’:
This day wasn’t over after golf
Serby and Stapleton invited me to dinner just as I was nearing completion of my nine holes. They had a reservation at the dining room in the General Lewis Inn. From where I was, somewhere next to a remote cliff in Virginia, it took almost an hour to get back to Lewisburg.
After all of that, I still had to go back to the cottage and write so there would be content for Monday.
That was a busy “off” day!
Monday, August 3
Bunker tour
The Greenbrier Bunker tour, a look at the nuclear fallout shelter that was secretly located under the resort to house Congress in event of attack, is a must-see when you are in the area.
Monday was a day when media members had a little bit of extra time in the morning since, without fans at practice, there wasn’t quite as much urgency to get to The Sports Performance Center before the fan buses.
Turns out every writer who was in West Virginia at the time — Jordan Ranaan, Art Stapleton, Steve Serby, Dan Duggan, Connor Hughes, Ryan Dunleavy, myself — all took the 90-minute tour Monday.
The tour is fantastic. It is educational. It is bizarre to realize you are underground, and to know what the bunker was designed for. It is also disappointing. The Bunker has been renovated many times since it was exposed to the public in 1992, rendering it unusable for its intended purpose. Aside from a few chairs in one room, a couple of leftover bunk beds, and a now unused incinerator, there is nothing to show what the Bunker looked and felt like when it was a secret fallout shelter.
By the way, you cannot take pictures once inside the facility.
An eventful practice
To say the least, the weather was unpredictable throughout the second week in West Virginia. It seemed to change dramatically every couple of hours. It would be steamy hot, then look like the storm of the century was about to hit, then quickly change back to hot and steamy. I never knew whether to carry my rain gear out to the practice field or slather on the sun screen, wear my bucket hat, and attach my tiny portable fan to my belt.
Monday’s practice started in steamy sunshine. Then, we spent an hour in a torrential downpour that left me soaked, made it impossible to take notes, and mutilated my notebook to the point where I had to throw out a week’s worth of practice notes because the pages were destoyed.
Monday was also the day I had my “pushups” encounter with head coach John Harbaugh. Here is what I initially wrote about that:
“At the end of practice, defensive players were doing pushups — 10 for each of the four penalties they committed. At the end of his daily media session, Harbaugh complained about the quality of those pushups.
“You know the thing that bothers me about their push-ups? They don’t go all the way up. You go all the way down, touch your chest on the ground, and you go all the way up and extend,” Harbaugh said. “But they kind of do this little, short push-up thing.”
“So, as he was about to exit the podium I mentioned to him that he should demonstrate the proper form to his team.
Harbaugh glared at me for a few seconds, which seemed like a few minutes. Then he said:
“Good point. I’m the coach, right?”
For what it’s worth, I do not believe Harbaugh was upset with me. I think he was caught off-guard by the light-hearted question. At least, I hope so.
One cool thing
As we were leaving The Greenbrier following our Bunker tour, we stopped to chat with a Giants employee who was talking to a grandfatherly gentleman none of us recognized. That turned out to be Jeff Rutledge, a backup quarterback for the Giants for seven seasons (1983-89). These days, Rutledge is just enjoying being a grandpa.
One sad thing
I expected this to happen while I was away from, but it was still a bummer to learn that my wife had one of our dogs put down Monday morning. Having to do that always stinks. We had to put a 19-year-old cat down about a month ago, so that made it even sadder. We are now down from four animals sleeping in our bed to two. Our consolation is that this was a one-eyed rescue dog my wife fell in love with while volunteering at an animal shelter, and bringing it home probably added two or three years to the dog’s life.
Tuesday, August 4
Serby was heading home to New Jersey on Wedneday morning. So, the Serby Restaurant Tour concluded on Tuesday evening. It had to finish with a visit to Prime 44, the restaurant that honors NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West and is the top of the The Greenbrier food chain.
Like St. Elmo’s steakhouse in Indianapolis, Prime is a must-experience place if you are there. And, if your credit card isn’t already maxed out. Prime is pricey. Like $80 for a strip steak pricey!
Still, dinner was fantastic. Oh, and don’t tell anybody that I embarrassed myself by having my nose stuck in my phone and not realizing that Chris Mara was standing over me trying to introduce himself at one point as we waited for our food. I wouldn’t want anyone to know.
The evening was topped when Serby, bless his apparently deep pockets, decided to foot the bill for Stapleton, Dunleavy, and myself. Thanks again, Steve! I sure hope your wife didn’t see the credit card bill!
Wednesday, August 5
A media star?
I am certainly not that. As a college kid studying journalism at SUNY Morrisville, I had a professor who tried to convince me to go into television work. I wasn’t interested. I like the written word. I like newspapers. I like this format, where I get to offer my expanded thoughts and analysis.
The way of the world now, though, is that part of the job is to get in front of the camera to do podcasts and other video work.
I was offered the chance to join Brandon London on the New York Post Sports Plus post-practice report on Wednesday. I enjoyed it. Hopefully, I sounded like I knew what I was talking about.
A little fast-food action
Part of the experience in West Virginia was to dine at many of the better spots both at The Greenbrier and in the surrounding area:
- Prime 44 steakhouse and Slammin’ Sammy’s on The Greenbrier grounds.
- Gustard’s Bistro and Max on Main in White Sulphur Springs.
- The Jefferson Dining Room at the General Lewis Inn in Lewisburg for dinner.
- The Hill and Holler in Lewisburg for lunch.
Wednesday, maybe because Serby had gone home, that came to a crashing halt. Wednesday’s dinner was drive-thru from a nearby Wendy’s rather than hitting ‘Food & Friends’ in Lewisburg with some other media members. I needed the evening to catch up on work, so drive-thru worked.
And, yes, if you are paying attention I obviously spent more money at Wendy’s than I did at Prime. Unbelievable!
Thursday, August 6
A tedious practice
I do love this job, but this was one of those days that was like listening to nails on a chalk board. The Giants held a two-hour, 20-minute walk-through on a sunny, HOT day. That meant standing there for two-and-a-half hours watching a practice that offered zilch to report.
Oh, other than the Nic Jones-Xavier Gipson square off and the Malik Nabers-Tyler Nubin near collision that both happened out of my line of vision.
Did I just get flirted with?
A very nice, very chatty woman who is a life-long local manages the cottage where I am staying. Thursday, a few minutes before I needed to leave for practice, she happened by while out on a bike ride. We had a nice 10-15-minute chat before I had to excuse myself.
Before Thursday, I had not visited downtown Covington at all. So, I texted later that day and asked for restaurant recommendations. The response I got was basically this: “I’ll meet you for dinner at Cucci’s if you don’t want to eat alone.”
Wait. What? I begged off with a true answer — that wasn’t necessary because I was used to eating alone.
Cucci’s ended up being closed. Yes, closed. On a Thursday night. I don’t know why, other than this is Virginia/West Virginia, and some of the things I have seen here I can’t explain. I ended up eating at a Subway in Covington that had plywood covering a massive section of its front wall. Apparently, a young West Virginia driver had recently plowed through that wall, mistaking the gas for the brake.
By the way, when I mentioned the dinner “situation” to my apparently untrusting wife of 41 years (as of August 10) during an evening Facetime, she made me carry my laptop around and show her every inch of the cottage to make sure I was alone. Yikes!!!!
Friday, August 7
Still no souvenirs
I was going to head over to downtown Covington Friday morning. I had heard the tourism center there might have a gift shop. I didn’t make it. Instead, I folded laundry, packed, and worked on this beast of a post.
There was an event for media members at The Varsity Club in White Sulphur Springs on Friday evening. I seem to have missed the boat on that one. It was probably just as well. I wanted to leave early on Saturday, and had work and packing to get done.
Saturday, August 8
I hit the road at 8:15 a.m. on Saturday. The photo below shows the final four reporters left at The Greenbrier for the Saturday practice.
I do have a small bone to pick with the fellas. I was there a day before everyone else, and left West Virginia on the same day. So, technically, I was there longer than any other media member. Pat Leonard missed one practice to go home and celebrate his daughter’s birthday, which I applaud him for. So, while he saw the final practice of camp he attended the same number of practices I did — nine.
I considered hanging in for the final practice. I am not young, though, and was looking at a 10-hour drive. I had not interest in starting that around 4 p.m. and getting home at 2 a.m. So, I skipped the final practice.
I guess I’m not petty at all.
I mentioned above that the drive home was “interesting”. Three times I had to use the flashers when torrential rain made it nearly impossible to see.
I made it home safely, though. Now, I just have to figure out how often I can make the 2½-hour drive to Quest for practice before regular-season rules kick in and media only gets about 20 minutes of practice viewing time.
Oh, and I probably have to figure out a West Virginia vacation with my wife.
