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Bobby Johnson made a pivotal catch for the New York Giants in 1986, when they trailed the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth quarter of Week 12. Quarterback Phil Simms found Johnson on fourth-and-17, putting the Giants within range for Raul Allegres game-winning 33-yard field goal.The 22-20 victory propelled the Giants into the postseason and, eventually, to their Super Bowl XXI win over John Elway and the Denver Broncos.Johnson, an undrafted free agent out of the University of Kansas, recorded 81 catches and 15 touchdowns his first two seasons in New York.Bobby was the mystery guy for a long time, said Bill Parcells, who coached the Giants from 1983 to 1990. No one really knew about him.Johnson might have appeared mysterious on the surface, but, in reality, he was hiding something from his teammates: He was addicted to crack cocaine.It was just a social gathering one night, Johnson said of his first encounter with the drug, sometime in the middle of the 1986 season. We were at my place. Somebody said, Try this. I had never tried it before. I thought my will was strong enough just to try it that one time and continue on with my life. But no. That one hit changed my life forever.The more Johnson began using, the more he struggled to honor his commitment to football. He began arriving late to meetings and practices and almost missed kickoff for the Giants NFC Championship Game against the Washington Redskins.Johnsons erratic behavior was overlooked when the team shared the joy of winning Super Bowl XXI, and of receiving the championship rings.Being as young as I was at that time, playing three years, and actually getting a Super Bowl ring, I didnt believe it, Bobby said. I didnt believe it that day. I just kept looking at it, thinking, This cannot be happening.The next summer, Johnson was traded to the San Diego Chargers.He was cut two weeks later.They couldnt count on me, he said. I dont blame them, you know. Just like a regular job, if you come in late every day, eventually youre going to get fired. Thats what happened. I would have got rid of me, too.But the cut pushed Johnson deeper into his addiction.I started doing cocaine 24/7. I didnt have to be at practice. I didnt have to get drug-tested, he said. I stayed high practically all day and night.Johnson headed home to Tennessee, but instead of being with his family in Smyrna, a rural town outside of Nashville, he hid himself in the city, often sleeping on benches along Nashvilles Cumberland River.It was embarrassing, Johnson said. One day youre in the Super Bowl, the next day, youre walking around, homeless, smoking crack. How in the heck did I end up in this situation?It was outside of a Nashville pawn shop in 1989 when Johnson said he hit rock bottom.The drugs were calling me. I mean, literally, the drugs were calling my name, he said. I walked into the pawn shop to get high, maybe a place to sleep that night. A cheap room.Johnson pawned his Super Bowl XXI ring for $250.I actually asked the man what he could give me for it, he said. He offered me $1,000. I said no because I knew I wasnt going to be able to come back and pay it. Finally, he got down to $250. I said, Ill take it.After that, it was just a distant memory. All I had was the tan line on my finger.Several weeks later, it would be Johnsons mother, Ruby, who snapped her son out of his addiction with a simple but poignant reality check.I walked in the house one day, and she looked me dead in the eye, Johnson said. She said, You look terrible. You look dehydrated, gray, you lost all kinds of weight. It went to my core. It went to my soul.She asked me, Are you my son? I didnt raise you like this. This is not you.Johnson has been clean for 14 years. ESPN learned his story, and shared it before this seasons Giants-Vikings matchup in Week 4.Within hours, a campaign to get Johnsons ring back to him began.Leading the charge was Lee Einsidler, a sports fan who was deeply moved by Johnsons recovery and positive outlook.Einsidler, who declined to be interviewed for this story, reached out to his close friend Bill Parcells with his idea. The two had bonded 10 years ago through a shared passion for horses in Saratoga, New York.Lee had seen the piece that ESPN had done on Bobby, on being homeless and selling his Super Bowl ring, Parcells said. Right after that aired, Lee called me and he said, You know, Bill, we need to try and get this guy his ring back. And I said, Well, Lee, I would like to assist you in doing that, if you would be gracious enough to let me. Which he was.Einsidler pursued the trail of Johnsons Super Bowl ring to a memorabilia dealers collection on Long Island. From there, he and Parcells split the cost to purchase it.I felt like I failed with him in some respects, Parcells said of that 1986 season. I wasnt able to keep him from going off the deep end, so to speak. We wound up having to trade him, and then football ended for him. Most of us thought that when we did hear about him, it wasnt going to be that good of news.Parcells crossed paths with Johnson five years ago, when the 1986 team celebrated the 25th anniversary of its Super Bowl win.He was different, Parcells said. He was good. He came right up to me, he gave me a big hug, told me the dark days were over. You could just tell that things were a lot better for him.On Oct. 16, Johnson was invited to MetLife Stadium to attend the Giants Week 6 game against the Ravens, joining 74?other Giants alumni being honored in a pregame ceremony. But before the ceremony began, Johnson was approached by Giants personnel.We were signing autographs, and they got me and said somebody wants to talk to me, he said. All the guys thought I was in trouble!Johnson was led into a back room, where Chris Mara, Giants senior vice president, was waiting for him, holding a ring box.Thirty years ago, my dad presented you with a Super Bowl ring, Mara told Johnson. Through the efforts of?some very good people, we were able to recover your ring after all these years. We want to present it to you today.Johnson was stunned. I just couldnt believe it. It was like a dream. It really was, he said. I just remember putting it on and crying. For five to 10 minutes, thats all I remember.With his ring finally back on his finger, Johnson could not hold in his emotions any longer. He sat down, bent over and started sobbing. After drying his eyes, he then had an important phone call to make.I just told Coach thank you. A thousand times. Amongst all the tears, and my runny nose, Johnson said.Parcells message to Johnson was a little more like tough love.He was like, Put it on; dont ever take it off! Johnson said with a laugh. Dont lose it again. Speaking to me like a father. Which was awesome. You have to respect that. He did everything he could to get it back. I didnt think it was going to actually happen.He was an important part of the group, and both Lee and I felt the same way, Parcells said. He deserves to share in that with everybody. Thats the only symbol that could represent his participation. So it was nice to get it back to him.Johnson has never met Lee Einsidler but is hoping to set up a meeting with him soon to express his gratitude.I never thought this would happen, Johnson said. God is good. Coach is good. I dont even know Lee. But I love him. This means the world to me.I have come a long way. I have come full circle.Wholesale Lakers Jerseys . -- Its been a long road back for Sean Bergenheim. Fake Lakers Jerseys .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. https://www.lakersjerseycheap.com/ . That gave fans outside Joe Louis Arena another chance to ask for autographs from the 19-year-old whose stardom in the NHL has arrived earlier than most expected. Lakers Jerseys China . Pert has formerly spent time as an assistant coach with Cardiff City, Coventry City, and Bahrain mens national team. "Martyn is a highly-respected coach with experience at the top levels in England," said Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson. Los Angeles Lakers Gear . Then the Pacers gave Oladipo and his Orlando teammates the cold shoulder. Paul Georges buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the third quarter spurred a 21-4 run, finally sending Indiana past the Magic 97-87 in a tougher-than-expected opening night matchup.ESPNs Buster Olney is on vacation this week, but hes still compiling roundups. View Tuesdays roundup here.Needless to say, this was not why I got into politics.It has been a strange year, to be sure. In my career, I have covered three presidential elections, five conventions and countless other major moments in politics, and its safe to say it has never felt this nasty, this uninspiring.As Ive said numerous times on CNN during this election cycle, just wake me when its over.In this year of fear and loathing, politics, for the first time, feels like a job to me. There was a time when politics was just a hobby and sports was actually my job. ??I grew up outside of Boston. When I was 7 years old, my dad took me to Fenway, and I got a photo next to a Wade Boggs cutout and an autograph from first baseman Carlos Quintana -- future Caribbean Baseball Hall of Famer. I was friends with the batting coachs daughter, who lived in my apartment complex. The Red Sox were religion. Thirty years later, I married a Red Sox fan from Rhode Island.But the Mets ... the Mets made me a baseball fan.In the late 90s, I was in college in upstate New York. I dated a guy from Queens who was a devout Mets fan, and I got hooked. It helped that the Mets were good then, which Sports Illustrated hyped by putting Rey Ordonez, Robin Ventura, John Olerud and Edgardo Alfonzo on its cover: Best Infield Ever?The answer was yes, but shhhh! It was too late -- the 2000 Subway Series against the Yankees was officially cursed.I moved to New York and eventually got a dream job. I worked at The New York Times in a department called the Index. I spent all day reading the sports section and writing abstracts for each story. I got health insurance, a 401(k) and every Wednesday off. During the season, I spent every one of those Wednesdays in the cheap seats at Shea. This job was, like, stupid good.Before politics, I became a sports fanatic. The Mets, NASCAR, the Green Bay Packers -- they all got more of my attention than the sequester (the what?), the Hill or the Donald. I wrote my masters thesis on the devotional practices of sports fans. My favorite television show was Stump the Schwab. My greatest accomplishment was getting Bill Simmons to answer one of my mailbag questions.Eventually, I got writing jobs on the side. I wrote a couple columns for NASCAR.com, and at one time, I had a regular online column for Sports Illustrated. I was in heavven.ddddddddddddBut in the years following 9/11, my passion for politics gradually grew into an obsession. Suddenly, I was skipping Shea and volunteering on a city campaign or writing think pieces for conservative publications.Just as I had cobbled together a little career in sports, over a couple years, I cobbled together a little career in politics. Neither has ever felt like a job.Until now, of course. Its just a garbage year for politics, a mechanism I genuinely believe can be good and useful -- and should be -- when exercised properly and can produce something worthy of our great republic. But nobody roots for garbage, in sports or politics. Who would have become a Mets fan in 1962, when they posted a 40-120 record, one of the worst in the history of baseball?Likewise, who would want to get into politics right now?What I do know is this election has made me miss baseball more than ever. The baseball gods must have sensed this because last fall they delivered a postseason gift to me in the form of a New York Mets World Series appearance.Watching the playoffs for the first time in years, all the old emotions flooded back: the exhilaration of a surprise 3-2 series win against the Dodgers in the NLDS, the cautious hope after dispatching the Cubs (a little too easily) in the NLCS, the familiar sinking feeling of knowing its going to end badly when Alcides Escobar hit an inside-the-park home run on Matt Harveys first pitch of the first game of the World Series against the Royals. I was right back in it, only this time, I was watching alongside my 10-month-old son.In those hours, politics didnt matter. Baseball was life. Baseball made the world right again. Baseball wasnt yelling at me or calling me names. Baseball wasnt lying or making promises it could not keep. It wasnt telling me what I wanted to hear. It wasnt pandering or pretending.Baseball was the best of us: hard work, sportsmanship, community and, above all else, faith -- ya gotta believe.I havent gotten to watch much baseball this season, unfortunately. But I know its there and that its more than just a necessary distraction from my life in politics -- its a huge comfort. Maybe after November Ill take a year off, go find some cheap seats at Citi Field (if those exist) and remember what its like to be a fan. ' ' '