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 Ex-Chief Parker just good guy to have around EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Sure, Glenn Parker has a funny line. He injured his ribs during the New York Giants' playoff victory Sunday, and someone asks him for a medical explanation, and that's just way too easy. Of course he has a line. "I pulled some fat," he said. "You know, they did an X-ray, and I was happy to see that there were some bones under all of that." You want to know exactly when the Kansas City Chiefs started going bad? When they did not re-sign poet Pellom McDaniels. When they started mistreating that loyal soul, Kimble Anders. When they did not bring back Shakespeare lover, comedian, wine connoisseur, fantastic father, tattoo guru and one heck of an offensive lineman, Glenn Parker. "I loved Kansas City," he says. "If the offer had been anything close, I would have signed to come back. ... But look at me now. I'm still playing. It has turned out to be a blessing." See, you don't win on talent alone in the NFL. Sure, talent helps, but does any team have more talent than the Washington Redskins? The Jacksonville Jaguars? The Indianapolis Colts? On Sega games, those teams are practically invincible. In real life, they're all gone. The New York Giants are one win from the Super Bowl. Can you name five players on the New York Giants? Well, you can name one. The heart. Glenn Parker's still going, 34 years old, bald head, tattoos everywhere, still playing left guard, still knocking people on their backs, still having a blast, still chasing the Super Bowl. He's been to four Super Bowls, you know, with the Buffalo Bills, and he lost them all. Someone asks him if he's offered any advice to his Giants teammates. It's another softball. He has a line. "Yeah," he said. "I tell them 'Do as I say, not as I do.' " There just aren't that many leaders left in football. There are so many men who play the game, 9-to-5, then just go on with their lives. Those old days, when guys sat in the locker room and just talked football, well, they're as dead as the single-wing and leather helmets. Those old-time players, the kind who know how to play football, real football, who want to share that with their teammates, well, they're dying off too. And that's why the Giants brought in Glenn Parker, why they gave him so much more money than the Chiefs were willing to offer. The Chiefs figured they were loaded at offensive line and, besides, you can't sign everyone. They forgot what Glenn Parker meant to people. They forgot that some things don't show up in physicals or in the weight room. "There was better talent out there," he says. "But I think the Giants thought maybe I could offer something to this team." He has done so much. Well, first of all, he has played some of the best football of his life. He understands the game better than he ever has before. Playing offensive line is about playing angles. It's about visualizing the play. It's about making sudden adjustments. And he's doing all that better than ever before. Giants coach Jim Fassel said the guy has been incredible. But, as much as that, Parker brings something to the locker room, a little joy, a little wisdom, a little craziness. The New York media has figured out that he's a go-to guy, and they surround him after every game. But more than that, his teammates gather around him too, not to ask him questions or get his thoughts on the Super Bowl or anything like that. They just want to talk to him. Guys like that are one in a million. "There's just something about this team," Parker says. "We believe in each other. ... People keep asking me to compare it to my Buffalo teams. But it's different. In Buffalo we knew we were going to win every game. We had so much talent. Here, we just believe in each other." Maybe that's what you get when you put together a team of old pros like Parker and Lomas Brown and Micheal Barrow and Michael Strahan along with rookies such as Cornelius Griffin, who goes around claiming he's the fastest 300-pound man on earth. Sportswriters call it chemistry, but it's really something else. It's really something closer to love. The Chiefs had that once. They had that when Glenn Parker was around. "I feel great," Parker said after the Giants beat the Eagles 20- 10, though he doesn't feel good at all. He did pull something near his ribs, and doctors can't tell what it is, and it hurts like crazy. But, of course, he plans on playing Sunday against Minnesota. Guys like Glenn Parker do not sit out for pulls that doctors can't find. And if you want to know what the Chiefs are missing, well, it's Glenn Parker. Guys like him. Men who play football for the love, for the joy, for the teammates. "You know, every Monday I want to quit," he said. "Every football player's like that. ... Last week I saw (Chiefs center) Tim Grunhard. I'm not so sure he's going to retire. I wouldn't bet on it. Guys like Timmy and myself, it's easy to for us to say we're going to retire after a bad game or a bad season. But you want the next game." Yes, Glenn Parker wants the next game. And the one after that is the Super Bowl. We can all feel good about that. Parker deserves to go to the Super Bowl. Funny thing is, he goes to the Super Bowl all the time. Maybe that's no coincidence. Joe Posnanski's column normally appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. To reach him, call (816) 234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com Copyright Kansas City Star Company Jan 8, 2001 (c)2001 Bell & Howell Information & Learning Services; All Rights Reserved. Only fair use, as provided by the United States copyright law, is permitted. 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