Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen once was snubbed … by someone on the Giants … the baseball Giants, not football Giants.
When Allen was younger, the Firebaugh, Calif. native waited after a Giants game to get an autograph, or some type of acknowledgment from a player. That didn’t happen.
“The player had a really good game -- there was maybe 10 kids, probably an hour after the game, my parents were like begging us, ‘C’mon let’s go, let’s go, he’s not coming out.’ " Allen recounted back in October. "Sure enough, he came out … and so I’m looking and waving and maybe even giving him fistbumps or whatever."
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Allen added the Giants player, who he wouldn’t name, overtly turned his cap to the side and continued to walk by him and the group of kids.
It stuck with him to this day.
“That just left an impression in me, I was like, ‘I don’t want to root for this guy anymore,’ " Allen said. "It bothered me so much that I told myself if I was in a position like I am today, I will do everything in my power to make sure I just acknowledge every kid that looked up to me that was a fan because I’ve been there before and I know how bad it hurt me when that athlete that I looked up to didn’t seem like he cared too much about us."
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“So that’s why in training camp, I’m usually the last one out there, trying to high-five and sign things for kids just knowing how much of an impact something so minor can make.”
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Thad Brown of WROC-TV in Rochester, N.Y., who got the footage of the interview, did say it wasn’t Barry Bonds who snubbed the 24-year-old University of Wyoming product, but it makes you think … and kind of makes me really sad.
At least Allen will make sure no young fan will go unnoticed.