Oct 21, 2018; Washington, DC, USA; Jerry Seinfeld in attendance as Julia Louis-Dreyfus (not pictured) walked away with the Mark Twain Prize and a pretty good roasting by her fellow celebrities at the Kennedy Center. Photo by Matthew Sobocinski-USA TODAY Staff ORIG FILE ID: 20181022_ajw_usa_001.jpgUsp Entertainment Mark Twain Prize A Ent Usa Dc
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(New York, NY) – Jerry Seinfeld’s dentist, Tim Whatley, infamously converted to Judaism just for the jokes. Now, it seems Giants offensive lineman Justin Pugh may have rejoined the NFL, just for the stories.
Before he made a comeback from last year’s knee surgery, Pugh says he was influenced to do so by legendary New York City comedian Jerry Seinfeld. In fact, Pugh says his being back with the Giants is all “Jerry Seinfeld’s fault.”
He explained further on Wednesday: “Honestly. I was at a restaurant, Torrisi, in New York, like, four months ago over the summer. My wife and I are sitting there with some friends and across from us is Jerry Seinfeld. I hear his voice, and it was the most quintessential New York moment of all time.
I remember texting my agent, like, ‘Text the Giants, I want to come back.’ So, really, if it wasn’t for Jerry Seinfeld, I don’t know if I’d be here right now. He’s the greatest. He’s the G.O.A.T. But from that point forward, I knew I wanted to come back here. Everything worked out perfectly. They played in Arizona. They stayed there for a week. I came and worked out 10 minutes from my house. They called me right after that, I fly in here. The way I started, it was just meant to be.”
And Pugh, who returned to action on the field this past weekend against the Buffalo Bills, was out of the frying pan and into the fire: he immediately had to move to left tackle after Josh Ezedu went out with a toe injury. But before that, the veteran offensive lineman had gone viral for the way he recorded his introduction on NBC’s Sunday Night Football.
Rather than mention he graduated from Syracuse University, which is typically how Pugh has tagged his intros in the past, he noted his recently-signed status. “Justin Pugh, straight off the couch.” He provided further context on his clever audible: “But I truly was watching last Sunday Night Football on the couch. It just hit me, like, I was a fan last week watching football. How many times can you be a fan watching your favorite team, the New York Giants, and the next Sunday you get to go play for that team on Sunday Night Football?
That is a story. That is a story. I really came straight off the couch and started on Sunday Night Football, and nobody can ever take that away from me. If I never played another football game and that was my last one, I could go out like that. Then obviously, the Giants called the next day and said, ‘Hey, let’s get a deal done.’ So, we were able to come back and keep doing it.”
Teammates Jalen Mayfield and Tommy DeVito apparently enjoyed the tweaked intro idea and encouraged Pugh to go with it. That’s the kind of collaboration that Seinfeld and Larry David would enjoy. Plus, for the Giants offensive line, the mantra has to be repeated: serenity now, insanity later.
