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    Giant: The Road to the Super Bowl
    Unavailable
    Giant: The Road to the Super Bowl
    Unavailable
    Giant: The Road to the Super Bowl
    Ebook292 pages4 hours

    Giant: The Road to the Super Bowl

    By Plaxico Burress

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    In Giant, Plaxico Burress takes you into the locker room, onto the practice field, and into the huddle, providing a flat-out-honest look at life on and off the field with the New York Giants and at the making of a champion.

    Throughout the 2007 season, Plaxico battled near-crippling injuries, and despite rarely practicing, being heavily bandaged, and on serious painkillers, he led the New York Giants in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. He continued to play through pain in the playoffs, only to be further injured before Super Bowl XLII. Playing the arrogant Patriots—who were inviting the Giants to their victory party before the game was over—Plaxico concealed a significant injury that might have changed the outcome of the game if the Pats had known.

    When he first joined the Giants, Plaxico expected to be the go-to guy for the young quarterback Eli Manning. What he didn't expect was the media and fan scrutiny that was heaped on Manning as they battled to win games.

    What Plaxico also didn't expect was the difficult relationship he had with head coach Tom Coughlin, who was a stickler for discipline and who would fine players for even the mildest offenses. For five years Plaxico had played for the laid-back Bill Cowher and the Pittsburgh Steelers. In contrast, within weeks of joining the Giants, Plaxico and Coughlin were butting heads, and the fines followed.

    But there to make things a little easier were friends like Jeremy Shockey and Amani Toomer, nearly polar opposites. With Shock, everything was always full-tilt and his mouth would usually get him into trouble. Toomer was the easygoing elder statesman—at times absentminded, but a brilliant receiver.

    And in 2007, Manning, with Plaxico's advice and support, would rise above the scrutinizing media and come into his own, and Coach Coughlin would relax his grip somewhat and let the team breathe. The results were obvious.

    It's all here. The ups and downs, the trash-talking, the sweat and blood, and what it takes to be the best.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061983153
    Unavailable
    Giant: The Road to the Super Bowl

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    Reviews for Giant

    4/5

    95 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A tension of two cultures within the United States drives through the entire book. Makes me think about assimilation and understanding vs rigidly being right. Well written and brings out the least likeable personalities of either culture to give the reader is view behind stereotypes.
    • 4/5
      It was interesting to read about how the ranch culture and growth of Texas in the 30s-50s, and to see one take on the problems of prejudice at the time. The movie of this book came out when I was a kid and I remember it was a big deal because my dad knew the owner of the Texas ranch where it was filmed. I'll have to rent the movie to see how well it follows the book.
    • 4/5

      On the surface, Giant is twenty-five years in the life of a Texas family from 1925 to 1950. In reality, Giant is a social commentary on the wealthy. Ferber writes, "We know about champagne and caviar but we talk hog and hominy" (p 17). Ferber's book was controversial because it revealed a stark truth about society in early twentieth century Texas. Take for example, Vashti Hake. As a daughter to a wealthy rancher, Vashti was shunned because she married a lowly cowhand, Pinky Snyth. There was class and there was Class.
      The story opens with a group of wealthy and influential people coming together for the celebration of Jett Rink's new airport. This is a bitter pill to swallow for cattle owner Jordan "Bick" Benedict. Bick sold Jett a seemingly worthless sliver of land on his sprawling Reata Ranch. The meager land just happened to sit on an untapped oil field. Suddenly, there is competition. Who is the richest? But, the competition runs much deeper. In order to understand these important characters and their significance the story needs to first take a detour. We go twenty five years in the past to explain how Leslie the society girl from Virginia ended up marrying ruggedly handsome Bick, moving to big ole Texas, and creating drama with Mr. Rink. Using the differences between Leslie and Bick Ferber does a good job laying out the different conflicts within Giant:
      Geographically - the west versus the northeast. Texas being sprawling, dry and much hotter than lush and green Virginia.
      Racially - the treatment of people of color. Virginia's inclusion of African Americans while Mexicans in Texas are treated as invisible slaves.
      Gender - a woman's role in the household. For example, Leslie doesn't understand why Bick wants his sister, Luz, to run the household while Leslie thinks, as woman of the house, she should assume the responsibility.
      Economically - with the border of Mexico so close the socio-economic borders were bound to clash and blur.

      As an aside, I really liked Leslie. She's smart, funny, and adventurous. In all aspects she truly is a fish out of water but she perseveres.

    • 3/5
      Giant is a very descriptive novel of a Virginia woman who marries a Texan shortly after World War I. The novel is thoughtful and withstands the effects of time. Although I have seen Showboat, I had never read an Edna Ferber book until Giant. After reading it, I will definitely try to see the movie version starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean.
    • 3/5
      I bought this one over five years ago while in Marfa, Texas visiting a friend from high school. Marfa was actually home base for the filming of the movie with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean. I don't know why I put off reading this for so long since I really liked the movie and loved my stay in Texas. In any case, the book was far more enjoyable than I expected it to be, with (sadly) still-relevant commentary on class, gender, and immigration. Most of it consists of the viewpoint of an educated East Coast woman who marries a Texas rancher and her early impressions and observations of life in Texas. I liked both, but now that I've read it, I'd say that the film adaptation is well done, not too faithful, with some good narrative choices and framing decisions.
    • 3/5
      Giant is Edna Ferber's classic novel about Virginia socialite Leslie Lynnton and her improbable marriage to Texan cattleman Jordan 'Bick' Bennedict. Pretty, refined and sharply intelligent, Leslie makes a stark contrast to her swaggering husband. Bick is the king of the million acre Reatta Ranch in Texas. Set after the end of the first World War, Bick has strong opinions about the place of women and everyone else in society. Taught to think for herself, Leslie struggles to adjust to the harsh Texas landscape and the social customs of the society she has married into.Fans of the movie Giant should be happily surprised that the movie followed the book so closely. Fans of Texas will probably be less pleased. While not a smear job, Giant does not always paint Anglo Texans in the most flattering light. Their destruction of the land through unsound farming and grazing practices is described. The inherent bigotry of the Mexican people is also relentlessly explored. The bigness, bragging, overheated egos, misogyny, friendliness, sense of family and custom and racism are all laid bare. Most startling is despite being written decades ago, many of the social themes of the novel still seem very much resonant today.
    • 4/5
      Had to add this books again after deleting it. I am not keeping my copy because it is and old and worn paperback, but it was worth reading. I don't read much fiction, but I did like the movie and that drew me to the novel. It is an view of Texas, predjudice and how we have changed. Well, maybe not that much. I do recommend this book.
    • 3/5
      The writing is so loaded with cliches, I have a hard time understanding how Ferber became an American literary giant. Still, she managed to keep me interested throughout the book. The movie is OK, and James Dean's performance as Jett Rink is brilliant, although much different and far less evil than the Rink of the novel.