As a teenager raised in Queens, John Berger prepared hand-written notes and sent them to the Giants owner Wellington Mara. Imagine Burger’s surprise when Burma wrote back. every time.
That correspondence led to a 40-year engagement between Berger and the Giants, first beginning as a summer intern in 1981, continuing as a full-time intern in 1986. Berger became the team’s computer coordinator in 1987 and rose to the role of senior director of football information in 2007, a role he played until last week, when his long tenure with the Giants came to an end.
“It was a mutual deal,” Berger told The Post. “And now was the time. They wanted to do things in a way, I didn’t think it was right for me. So this is the time. The strange thing is that I really don’t know what’s next. I am going to find something out. ”
The giants are making changes in their information technology department. Ty Siam, who was appointed as a football operations analyst in 2015, was named director of football data and technology in 2020. Leading into the 2020 season, general manager Dave Gatelman said the organization’s analytics wing was undergoing a transformation.
“We’ve got to restructure here in terms of using technology and analytics, and we’re in the process of that,” Getman said. “We have got a plan. I want to do a better job of that. We are going to see [Siam] To take us into a world where we have a strong analytics / technology program. “
There was a time when 56-year-old Berger was essentially on the program. When he took over in 1987, the Giants and the entire NFL used the DEC wax system. “It was not yet called ‘IT’,” Berger said.
In 2007, Berger began working directly with the coaching staff, analyzing and presenting data to Tom Coughlin and later Ben McAdoo, Pat Schurmur and Joe Judge, as well as coordinators and assistants. McAdoo was the first head coach to place Berger in the booth, wearing a headset during the game as a game-manager resource.
“They all want things done a little differently,” Berger said. “But it’s essentially the same thing.”
Asked if he believed he was involved with all the new technology, Berger said, “I believe it.” But this is not for me to judge. ”
Only four current veteran employees, including Senior Vice President of Medical Services Ronnie Barnes, have been with the franchise longer than Berger. He owns four Super Bowl rings.
“I’m nothing but a giant, but it’s time to try something different,” Berger said. “It has been an interesting stretch of time. I felt that I am not really having that much fun anymore. Nothing to do with the coach [Judge], I love Coach. He is going to be terrible. He is already awesome. It’s time to do something different. It would be a shame to do just one thing for the entire career. ‘
Berger was a student at the academically acclaimed Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, when he became Penn Pal of Mara. “It was ‘yesterday’s great game’ or ‘I wish we could do something wrong’ or something stupid,” Berger said. “Stupid baby stuff.” He always wrote back and was so enthusiastic and asked me ‘how will the math test be?’ And so on. It was unprecedented. I was just some kid and he always wrote back. ”
In one of the return letters, Mara asked if Berger wanted to earn some extra money for college working with veterans as summer interns. Berger, chaired by the University of Albany in 1981, was taken aback and accepted the offer. He was a full-time intern in media relations in 1986 And Pro scouting – “which now seems preordained,” ‘Berger said – when general manager George Young told him he was going to be a full-time employee next season.
“Just being part of great teams and great wins,” Berger said of the highlights of his career. “Being a part of it and having the opportunity to share great moments with the people I really love. It is indeed so. It is just a matter of people and moments.
“I have been hearing from so many people and it is very encouraging. I hate when people say “it’s polite but it’s polite.” This is strange. I have been a part of it since I was a 16 year old child. ‘
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