Who knew a facemask could generate such a stir?
Justin Tuck and his busy grille took center stage at the New York Giants' minicamp this week. The veteran defensive end was tired of opponents yanking him by the mask last season and -- not unlike Bruce Wayne far below the earth -- went to work on a solution.
TuckMask 1.0 was released in October to little fanfare. We brought you the news of Version 2.0 this week, a model featuring five horizontal bars meshed with 12 finger-crushing verticals. It's generating nicknames at a rapid clip, including Shredder, Optimus Prime and The Fortress of Solitude.
Tuck explained the origin behind his invention.
"You see the old-school trains, the grilles on the old school trains," Tuck told the Giants' official website on Thursday. "That's what I was going for."
Tuck has been hounded by teammates to mass-produce the mask, but he wants no part of that.
"Everybody is like, 'Can I get that facemask?' No, it's exclusive to me, no one else can have it," Tuck said.
We thought we heard Tuck utter the words, "My precious" on the heels of this. Probably our imagination. If not, we've got a problem on our hands.
