Former New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will never get one image out of his head -- and it's not him winning Super Bowl XLVI with Big Blue. Instead, it is the infamous boat trip photo. Late in the 2016 season, Cruz and several Giants teammates took a boat trip on New Year's Day in Miami and posted the photo on social media.
Cruz says the photo still "haunts" him because of the stir it created and how the Giants performed after it was taken.
"It was right after a game, and we were just about to go into the playoffs, and although we had the day off, we went to Miami, we had a good time, it was New Year's Day, we came back the next day, didn't break any rules," Cruz told E! News. "This photo will haunt me for the rest of my life."
The trip came after a win over the NFC East division rival Washington Redskins in the regular season finale. Following the win, a group that included Odell Beckham Jr., Sterling Shepard, Rogers Lewis and Cruz took a boat trip and made the mistake of posting the photo on social media for all to see.
Just days later, the Giants fell to the Packers, 38-13, in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. New York surrendered 406 yards of total offense to Green Bay. To make matters worse, Cruz and Beckham combined to catch seven passes for just 58 yards in the loss.
"Well, obviously, we're back in the locker room, we're getting ready for practice, and the media asking a ton of questions about it, they asked our coach about it," Cruz added. "If this was 1999, no one would have known about the trip, we would have went, had a great time, come back. And then had we won the game, that's the part that kind of bothers me, too. If we won the game, they'd be like, 'Go to Miami every week, apparently that's the good luck charm.' The fact that we lost, left a bad taste in everybody's mouth."
Obviously, everything is put under a microscope in the social media age where everyone knows what athletes are doing moments after they post something. Cruz ended up retiring from the NFL in 2018 and the Giants haven't been to the postseason since.