Feeling back at home

It was 10 years ago when Jim Finn sat in the same seat as Ryan Succop Wednesday night at the All-Star Lowsman Banquet.

Finn said he took in all of the jokes as being Mr. Irrelevant XXIV and actually used it as motivation to help him launch a career in the NFL. He played as a fullback for eight seasons, four with the New York Giants, the team he loved as a kid.

He was drafted with the final pick in the NFL Draft in 1999 by the Chicago Bears. He was waived and played with the Indianapolis Colts before moving on to the Giants.

Finn, now away from football for a little more than two years, is managing an athlete-based website, www.playerpress.com.

He said he lived out his dream playing for the Giants.

He spoke briefly at the banquet, lending advice to Succop, Mr. Irrelevant XXXIV, who will try to make the roster for the Kansas City Chiefs. That’s the team that picked Succop, a kicker, last in the NFL Draft.

“Take that chance and make the most of it,” Finn told Succop at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel & Spa.

Finn also made time for an interview with the Daily Pilot.

Question: How does it feel to be back at Irrelevant Week?

Finn: This is my third time back for the the banquet. Four counting the time I was honored. It’s always fun to come back.I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I’ve been drafted, that I went thorugh this experience. It’s always a good memory. It’s like a time machine bringing you back there. It’s good to see the people running this. They’re all great people and they are doing it for a great cause. Any time I can come back and support it, I will. I’m here to help and just be another person to thank them for what they’re doing with the charities.

Q: What are you up to now?

Finn: I have a sports website, kind of a competitor for newspapers. It’s playerpress.com. We work hand-in-hand with athletes because we build websites for athletes in order to get content to promote on the Internet for the athletes. Our goal is to take the voice from the reporters and give it to the athletes and then to have them give the story the way they want to give the story. We officially launch in July. We have 41 pro football players blogging within our network. We’re there to help them, market and promote them and give them an online presence. It’s a chance for me to stay within the sports industry and use my contacts and my experience as a player. It’s been going well.

Q: When was your last year playing in the NFL?

Finn: I was on the injured reserve (2007) the year the Giants won the Super Bowl.

Q: Did you get a ring?

Finn: No I did not because I didn’t go to camp.

Q: How do you feel about that?

Finn: For me, I was a blue-collared player and if I didn’t go to war with them, I don’t feel like I deserved it. It would have been great to have a Super Bowl ring in my closet, but I would have never worn it because I didn’t really feel a part of it. I was on a previous team. But I really wouldn’t wear it as a badge of honor.

I had a great career to finish up at home. I lived 10 minutes from where I grew up in northern New Jersey. For me to have my parents tailgating at the stadium that I went to as a kid every week with my dad to watch the pros, that made it all worth it. I lived out my dream and I had enough and my body had enough and now I’m doing the next phase in my life.

Q: Are you at peace wth that?

Finn: I was definitely at peace with football. A lot of my friends never got a chance to get it out of them. They didn’t feel like they achieved enough or played long enough. For me, I was fortuante enough to stay healthy long enough to get it out of me. Football is like getting into a car crash every day. No matter how tough or how strong you are, everybody eventually has enough and their body has enough. For me I got to that point. I’m thankful every day that I got to that point.

Michael Strahan told me that he was talking to Lawrence Taylor and Lawrence Taylor said the last two years he didn’t want to hit anybody. And, Strahan told me that during my last season. I totally knew what he meant because your body has enough. You can run into that wall so many times. There’s only so much tread on your tires. I was lucky enough to get to that point. I ran them bare.