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New York Giants defensive end Dave Tollefson(notes) is one of the bit players on a defensive line that has ranked among the league's best in recent years. A seventh-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2006 out of Northwest Missouri State, Tollefson has worked his way into the Giants rotation and has played in every game but the opener this season.
But in last Sunday's thrill ride against the Philadelphia Eagles, Tollefson suffered a knee injury and was taken to the locker room so that the team's medical staff could get a look at the severity of the situation.

They shouldn't have bothered. You see, Tollefson's mom, Debra Crocker, was waiting for her son in the locker room, and she made it very clear as to where he should be after traveling 3,000 miles to watch him play.

"Tape it up! I didn't fly here from California to watch you ride the pines!" Mrs. Crocker said, in a tone that certainly would have made head coach Tom Coughlin proud.

"She was like 'What are you doing?'" Tollefson told the New York Daily News. "I said, 'Mom, I'm hurt.' She said, 'I don't give a [expletive]. Get it taped up and get the hell in there! I don't want to hear this.'"

Yikes. Did this lady watch the "Lombardi" documentary one too many times? In any case, Tollefson was diagnosed with a sprained MCL and he will miss this Sunday's game against the Green Bay Packers. At this point, he's not assured that he'll be able to play in the regular-season finale against the Washington Redskins, either. At least, that's what the Giants' medical staff apparently thinks. Tollefson has another take on things, drawn from another more imposing influence.

"My mom is disappointed that I'm not playing [this Sunday]," he said. "I don't want to disappoint my mom."

No question. If we're concerned that we're headed to Namby-Pamby Land as a nation of jackwagons, we have Dave Tollefson's mom to thank for a well-timed hard dose of reality!

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