Giants news, 7/28: Upbeat Dave Gettleman updates his health, more

Good morning, New York Giants fans! Let’s get caught up on what is going on with the Giants, including an uplifting visit with the media on Friday by GM Dave Gettleman, currently in remission from Lymphoma.

“I feel really good”

Gettleman has a unique, funny personality. Other than losing his hair, he showed during his meeting with the media that nothing about that has changed.

“I feel really good,” Gettleman said. “Sometimes I feel like I’m apologizing for that. My energy’s good. Chemo ain’t fun, now, there’s been a couple days where – oof. I mean, it rocks your world. Now that I’m going through it, my gosh… It’s not fun, but a really unbelievable scary kind of statistic: 50 percent of all men are going to have cancer. Just so you guys, you know, everybody’s looking right and left. 50 percent of the men in the United States are going to have cancer. I’m blessed, I feel good, I feel energetic.”

[NOTE: I will have more thoughts on Gettleman on Sunday. For now, it was just great to see him and I wish him well as he continues his treatments.]

Beal will need surgery

Gettleman did drop some football news during his Friday meeting with the media. He confirmed that rookie cornerback Sam Beal will need surgery on the shoulder he re-injured during rookie practice at the beginning of the week.

“We knew about the shoulder, there was no mystery there. We knew about the shoulder, it’s like drafting anybody that’s got an injury, we knew about the shoulder. We had MRI’s that Arizona had taken, he comes here, re-injures it, does what he does, and you know, it is what it is,” Gettleman said. “Best case scenario, he’s on the field and we’re not talking about this. Really and truly, we felt we’re getting next year’s third round pick this year. So now with the shoulder, we get it fixed – it’s about a five-month procedure – and he’s ready to go in the spring. So, it is what it is. Anybody can get hurt.”

Pat Shurmur: Odell Beckham “fun to be around”

Odell Beckham brings a unique energy to practice, dancing to the music or messing with teammates when the opportunity arises. In addition, of course, to working hard. Shurmur has noticed.

“You see he’s very energetic on the practice field,” Shurmur said. “He had some production yesterday [Thursday], caught a couple balls from Eli (Manning), in there blocking a little bit, and involved with the punt returns. He’s actually fun to be around on the practice field. Everybody locally knows him better than I do and it’s very obvious to me that the guy loves to play football. When you’re in a practice setting like that and you see that, it’s pretty obvious.”

Shurmur’s tribute to Sparano

The funeral for Tony Sparano was Friday. Shurmur worked with Sparano on the coaching staff with the Minnesota Vikings, and paid tribute to him at the opening of his remarks on Friday.

“It’s a somber day up in Minneapolis,” Shurmur said. “Tony Sparano’s funeral is today and he was all about family, all about football. (He) lived a really good life and made the world a better place, so I think they’re going to honor him today and they’ll move on, as well. … When you work with guys early in the morning until late at night, you go through adversity, you quickly become friends and that certainly was the case with Tony.”