Once a Giant

Once a Giant

Author: Gary Myers

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2023-09-12

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1541702417

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The inside story of the Super Bowl champion 1986 Giants, the extraordinary friendships that resulted--and stunning revelations about the hardships they faced, based on new interviews with Bill Parcells, Phil Simms, Mark Bavaro, and Bill Belichick. The 1986 New York Giants are legendary. A championship team coached by Bill Parcells and his wunderkind assistant Bill Belichick, featuring future Hall of Famers and All-Pros like Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor, Mark Bavaro, and Harry Carson. They were dominant on the field and formed a unique and lasting bond off of it. More than thirty years later, it's the friendships that have proved more important--a matter of life and death. In Once a Giant, bestselling football writer Gary Myers tells the story of that team and what became of it. Gridiron glory eventually faded; chronic pain, addiction, and in some cases crimes have followed. Many football players face these harsh realities, but the Giants have confronted and survived them together. With unprecedented access, Myers dives into such issues as Mark Bavaro's battle with injuries, the breakup and reconciliation of Parcells and Belichick, and Lawrence Taylor's struggles with sobriety. He creates a never-before-seen portrait of the team's run to the title, and their even more challenging fight to live after it ended.


Rough and Tumble

Rough and Tumble

Author: Mark Bavaro

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2008-09-02

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 142998466X

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A riveting debut novel of a season in the life of a professional football player-written by one of the NFL's best tight ends of all time. Dominic Fucillo is a tight end for the surging New York Giants. Rebellious, ferociously angry, deeply religious and fighting injuries and a crumbling love life that would bring the average man to his knees, Dom is a veteran player who is having the toughest season of his career at a time when his team can do nothing wrong--or so it seems. Because behind the big wins, a major scandal is brewing. The team's star linebacker has always lived on the edge and enjoyed the nightlife more than he should. But when he's found beaten nearly to death in the stadium parking lot, it's clear he's gotten himself into more than even he bargained for, and it's something that threatens to tear himself and his team's promising season apart. Inspired by his years shedding blood and sweat playing professional football, ROUGH & TUMBLE is Mark Bavaro's novel about the brutal world of the NFL-and a classic sports story of one man's determination and grit.


Simms to McConkey

Simms to McConkey

Author: Phil Simms

Publisher:

Published: 1987-10-01

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9785550221693

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Simms and McConkey stunned millions of spectators when they led the Giants to victory in Super Bowl XXI. Now "the odd couple of the Giants" tell the amazing story of their outrageous fall--and rise--to Dick Schaap, author of Instant Replay. 16 pages of black-and-white photographs.


Big Blue Wrecking Crew

Big Blue Wrecking Crew

Author: Jerry Barca

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2016-08-23

Total Pages: 394

ISBN-13: 1466882670

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Big Blue Wrecking Crew presents the first in-depth examination of the team that rebuilt the New York Giants franchise, a revealing look at football in the 1980s, and how a larger than life cast of characters made something from nothing. A marauding linebacker who changed the game of football, a tough-as-nails quarterback, and a fiery head coach helped the 1986 New York Giants leave an indelible mark on the NFL. Big Blue Wrecking Crew is the no-holds-barred story of the team that created Giant Football, the pound-you-into-submission, quarterback-crushing defense, coupled with a powerful ball control offense that resulted in a 1986 Super Bowl Championship—the first in team history. In a gripping narrative of the season that changed the course of a franchise, author Jerry Barca takes readers on a wild journey filled with improbable characters. Linebacker Lawrence Taylor partied with the same level of recklessness and violence he put forth when he donned his jersey. Bill Parcells motivated his team in an unrelenting Jersey Guy way, and quiet defensive genius Bill Belichick would go on to greatness. Based on years of research and hundreds of interviews, Barca chronicles the Giants’ rise out of rock bottom to their status as a premiere NFL franchise. From behind-the-scenes personnel discussions of general manager George Young to the meeting rooms with Parcells and defensive coordinator Bill Belichick, Big Blue Wrecking Crew is filled with the riveting exploits of unforgettable players. It is an unfiltered look at how enormous egos came together to win a championship, playing hard and partying equally as hard along the way.


Greed and Glory

Greed and Glory

Author: Sean Deveney

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1510730648

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On October 28, 1986, just one day after winning one of the most thrilling World Series in history, the New York Mets were feted by more than two million fans with a parade through the city. In news accounts of the event, there was a small aside, as this one in the New York Times: "Notable in his absence was the pitcher Dwight Gooden, who Mets officials later said had overslept." No, the Mets' twenty-one-year-old phenom had not slept too late. He had not slept at all, in fact. For Gooden, his postgame champagne celebration kicked off a cocaine binge that took him to a club in Long Island and wound up with him, wired, watching his teammates roll through the streets as he sat with strangers in a public housing project. Such were the 1980s in New York City, a gilded era buttressed by fast money from a real estate boom and the explosion of Wall Street wealth. The Mets and Giants, bolstered by lightning-rod personalities like Gooden and Lawrence Taylor, brought the city sporting glory while its celebrity wealthy added a tabloid-friendly touch of intrigue and national envy. Iconoclastic real estate developer Donald Trump gained national celebrity for his deal-making skill and the flaunting of his outsize ego. Even mayor Ed Koch had gained coast-to-coast fame and mention as a potential future president. Beneath the opulence was a tenuous foundation, one that collapsed spectacularly over the last half of the decade. Away from the cameras focused on the city's nouvelle riches, New York was beset by crisis after crisis--homelessness, AIDS, crack cocaine, organized crime. The swell of outrage over the unwillingness of the city elite to address those problems took years to finally reach a tipping point. Through interviews and detailed research, Greed and Glory gives the narrative of New York during these times, tracing the arc of its sports heroes and celebrities of that era, from their memorable highs to their ultimate lows.


Landry's Last Stand

Landry's Last Stand

Author: Ryan C. Bush

Publisher: Ryan Bush Publishing

Published: 2018-08-07

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9780997982329

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The year was 1985, and times were changing fast in Dallas. The mighty Cowboys, participants in five Super Bowls during the previous decade, had been crippled by poor drafts and untimely injuries. But head coach Tom Landry couldn't afford to tear the roster down and start all over from scratch. Rumblings of impatience from the owner's box made it imperative that Landry either right the ship...or be tossed overboard. Landry's Last Stand is the story of Tom Landry's final winning season in Dallas, when he guided the underdog Cowboys on a wildly unpredictable climb up the NFC East ladder. It's a story about a parting plea, a promise well-kept, and a race to the NFL playoffs too impossible to be anything less than true.


Parcells

Parcells

Author: Carlo DeVito

Publisher: Triumph Books

Published: 2014-09-01

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 1633191370

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In this revealing biography, the exhaustive research of acclaimed sports historian Carlo DeVito sheds new light on football coaching legend Bill Parcells, exposing the two-time Super Bowl-winning coach's moxie and lifelong dedication to football. The book digs deep into Bill Parcells' past to unlock the secrets of what made him who he is today, following him from his childhood, through 15 years of college coaching, to his first big chance in the pros and the year that almost broke him. With more than 3,000 interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, and scores of primary resources, DeVito's book brings Parcells to life as readers have never seen him before.


Simms to McConkey

Simms to McConkey

Author: Phil McConkey

Publisher: Random House Value Publishing

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 9780517567036

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Giant underdogs Simms and McConkey talk about their lives and football careers, their teammates, and their comeback victory in Super Bowl XXI.


Sunday Morning Quarterback

Sunday Morning Quarterback

Author: Phil Simms

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2004-10-26

Total Pages: 227

ISBN-13: 0060734272

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An in-depth and surprising look at the game, Sunday Morning Quarterback will dramatically change the way you watch football. You've heard all the football clichés: "Their offense is too predictable," or "They've got to win the turnover battle," or "They didn't make any halftime adjustments." Perhaps you've heard them so often that you've come to see them as obvious truths. Phil Simms, after an illustrious career as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and a broadcaster, is here to tell you that these—and many other blanket statements taken as gospel—are all myths, and whoever says them has no idea of what they're talking about. Drilling deep into the core of football, Simms also shows the hidden signs that players look for that can determine the outcome of a game. Whether it's discovering how a linebacker positions his feet before he blitzes or how to react if the safety is eight or nine yards from the line of scrimmage, knowing these "dirty little secrets" gives players and their coaches a tremendous advantage. In addition, Simms shares his insights into the enormous challenges coaches face in today's game, evaluating the top coaches and what makes them successful. He takes a look at some of the greatest players he's played with and against, and what he misses most about the game—waking up Monday mornings feeling beat up and sore. He looks at the next generation of football players—his son, Tampa Bay's Chris Simms, among them. Through it all, Simms shares stories from his playing days with Bill Parcells and the New York Giants, and the inside access he's had as an announcer for one of the top NFL broadcasting teams in football. Fun and lively, Sunday Morning Quarterback should be required reading for anyone who loves football.


Strong Arm Tactics

Strong Arm Tactics

Author: John Maxymuk

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2007-11-30

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 0786432772

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Signal caller, gunslinger, field general--the quarterback goes by many lofty nicknames. It's arguably the toughest, most high-pressure position to play among all sports. The quarterback touches the ball on every offensive snap, is responsible for reading the defense, adjusting the play, and executing complex schemes that require tremendous physical and mental prowess. He is expected to be the undisputed team leader, whether he's an established veteran or an untested rookie. If he succeeds, he's the most likely player on the field to be canonized by fans and broadcasters. If he fails, he'll be vilified in the press and his home field fans will start cheering for the backup. This book traces the interesting history of the professional quarterback, from the early years when the quarterback was a blocker (and the appellations quarterback, halfback, and fullback were literal and geographically correct) to the modern-day player who must be the eyes, ears, brains, and, of course, the accurate, strong arm of the offense. The narrative history in Section I is rich with statistical analysis. The author employs realistic metrics for statistical comparison across multiple eras, and includes all-time rankings as well as specific rankings among different styles of quarterbacks. Section II compares quarterbacks within their respective eras, putting their accomplishments in context with those of their contemporaries. Section III breaks down the quarterback position, team-by-team, for current NFL franchises. Appendices provide detailed passing records; additional statistics on everything from relative passer ratings to fourth quarter comebacks; and listings of first round draft picks, trades involving quarterbacks, awards, and uniform numbers.