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Giant: The Road to the Super Bowl
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.
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.
- GenresBiography
240 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 22, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: “UNCENSORED!...UNFILTERED!... STRAIGHT TALK FROM PLAXICO BURRESS!”
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If you’re a real pro-football fan and have ever dreamed of having an NFL star come over to your house and spend the weekend… have a couple of beers… talk about all the stuff that really goes on in the clubhouse… on the field… in their private lives… what their childhood was like… and just shoot the “crap” with each other… just like you and I do with our buddies all year long… then this book is the absolute next best thing.
Plaxico Burress the wide receiver on the 2007 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, who not only caught the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, but played the greatest game I have ever seen a receiver play in a championship game in the frozen tundra of Green Bay… 11 catches for 154 yards with the temperature at *MINUS-ONE-DEGREE-BELOW ZERO* with the *WIND-CHILL-FACTOR AT “MINUS-TWENTY-THREE-DEGREES-BELOW-ZERO*!. It was so cold that when a player tried to spit, the spit would freeze to the face mask of their helmet. The teams didn’t have Gatorade on the sideline, it was all chicken broth. “No water, no Gatorade, just chicken broth.”
How was Plaxico shaped into the man he became, that led to these historical games? Burress will tell you himself through the pages of this “ONE-OF-A-KIND” autobiography. I have read hundreds and hundreds of sports books in my life, but I have never read one that the subject pulls absolutely no punches, whether he’s talking about touchdowns, partying, loving his Mother, or describing opponents and teammates, owners or coaches. I am not exaggerating even one iota! There is a co-author mentioned in the title of the book… but with no disrespect meant… I don’t believe he did anything but turn on a tape recorder and let Plaxico speak from his heart to his unrestricted self-content… and then had it transcribed. Any football fan… and it doesn’t matter what team you root for… you can’t miss this book! There has never been an opportunity to have an NFL star come into your family room and tell you “the-way-it-is”… and I mean “ALL-OF-THE-WAY-IT-IS”!
Some examples: “Coach Sullivan is a military guy. He went to Army and he’s gone to the airborne, ranger, and air-assault schools. Because of that, he looks at life the same way I do. You hear a lot of people refer to football as war and he’s real sensitive to that because has been to war. He understands football is not really like, war, so he doesn’t take it like that.” (Personal note: I am a Viet Nam era veteran so that means an awful lot to me.) When he was a teenager, his hardworking Mother who he loved more than words could ever say… “Then one day my mom was going through my pants and she found it. She found two empty bags and smelled it. I told her I didn’t know what it was. She knew. She just went into her room and cried. THAT’S WHEN I THOUGHT ABOUT HOW HARD SHE WORKED AND I REALIZED HOW GUILTY I FELT. SHE HANDLED EVERYTHING DIFFERENTLY. SHE CRIED AND IT HURT ME SO BAD. SHE’S WORKING THIS HARD FOR ME AND I’M DOING THIS IN RETURN. I PROBABLY DID IT FOR ABOUT A SUMMER, BUT ONCE SHE FOUND IT, I QUIT. I STILL HUNG AROUND EVERYONE WHO DID IT. I KNEW WHAT IT WAS ABOUT.”
More directly from Plaxico’s heart: “The way I grew up, we had hard times, we had rough times. But I have no regrets about how I grew up. I wouldn’t change a thing. My mom, she would never have done anything to hurt anybody, but she didn’t bow down to no one, either. SHE WAS MY HERO.” When he went to Michigan State on a football scholarship he played for Nick Saban and did not like him at all. “When Coach Saban cussed out defensive end Robaire Smith on national television, that was his biggest problem. When Saban got mad or something happened, he would just spaz out, flip out. He shouldn’t coach at the NFL level, he has to coach college ball because he’s so over controlling as far as talking to people. You can’t talk to grown men that way.” After Burress had a record setting game against Michigan he admitted he stopped going to class because he knew he was going to be a high first round draft choice.
When he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers he was coached by Bill Cowher who he says: “Coach Cowher is one of my best friends. I love Coach to death. He came to my Mom’s funeral. Everybody thinks he is tough, and he is pretty tough on the sidelines, but he’s not a tough guy that you can’t talk to. He has got one of the biggest hearts and he’s a player’s coach. He is one of the people who you want to work hard for. He just wants you to tell him straight, don’t lie to him.” When Plaxico left the Steelers it was simply because their type of offense would not highlight his talents. The ownership of Pittsburgh even gave the Giants a strong personal reference before he signed with New York.
While Plaxico is “visiting-your-house” he will share such “doozies” as: Rodney Harris is the Patriot’s biggest trash talker, “and he’s a cheap-shot artist.” Or when he was a free agent he didn’t want to play with the Philadelphia Eagles: “I WASN’T GOING TO GO THERE TO PLAY WITH TERRELL OWENS. THAT’S JUST SOMEONE I DIDN’T WANT TO PLAY WITH FROM WHAT I SAW OF HIM.”
What impressed me most about Burris is that he is an ABSOLUTE-STAND-UP-GUY. He tells it like it is! People ask him why he and loud, brash, and misunderstood teammate Jeremy Shockey are such good friends? They say: “WHY DO YOU AND SHOCK HAVE THIS GREAT RELATIONSHIP? IT’S BECAUSE HE IS JUST ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO, WHEN YOU TALK TO HIM, YOU AIN’T GOT TO WORRY ABOUT GETTING A KNIFE IN YOUR BACK. THAT’S JUST THE TYPE OF PERSON HE IS. IF HE’S GOT A PROBLEM WITH YOU, HE’S JUST GOING TO TELL YOU HOW HE FEELS. HE DON’T CARE IF YOU DON’T LIKE HIM OR IF ANYBODY ELSE LIKES HIM.”
Invite Plaxico over to your house… even with all the “aint’s… double-don’ts… and nothing’s… you’ll be spoken to like no sports star has ever openly spoken to a fan (you) before. He is truly a breath of fresh air in this cliché ridden business. Plaxico… my door is always open for you… I hope you come back again real soon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you’re a real pro-football fan and have ever dreamed of having an NFL star come over to your house and spend the weekend… have a couple of beers… talk about all the stuff that really goes on in the clubhouse… on the field… in their private lives… what their childhood was like… and just shoot the “crap” with each other… just like you and I do with our buddies all year long… then this book is the absolute next best thing.
Plaxico Burress the wide receiver on the 2007 Super Bowl Champion New York Giants, who not only caught the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, but played the greatest game I have ever seen a receiver play in a championship game in the frozen tundra of Green Bay… 11 catches for 154 yards with the temperature at *MINUS-ONE-DEGREE-BELOW ZERO* with the *WIND-CHILL-FACTOR AT “MINUS-TWENTY-THREE-DEGREES-BELOW-ZERO*!. It was so cold that when a player tried to spit, the spit would freeze to the face mask of their helmet. The teams didn’t have Gatorade on the sideline, it was all chicken broth. “No water, no Gatorade, just chicken broth.”
How was Plaxico shaped into the man he became, that led to these historical games? Burress will tell you himself through the pages of this “ONE-OF-A-KIND” autobiography. I have read hundreds and hundreds of sports books in my life, but I have never read one that the subject pulls absolutely no punches, whether he’s talking about touchdowns, partying, loving his Mother, or describing opponents and teammates, owners or coaches. I am not exaggerating even one iota! There is a co-author mentioned in the title of the book… but with no disrespect meant… I don’t believe he did anything but turn on a tape recorder and let Plaxico speak from his heart to his unrestricted self-content… and then had it transcribed. Any football fan… and it doesn’t matter what team you root for… you can’t miss this book! There has never been an opportunity to have an NFL star come into your family room and tell you “the-way-it-is”… and I mean “ALL-OF-THE-WAY-IT-IS”!
Some examples: “Coach Sullivan is a military guy. He went to Army and he’s gone to the airborne, ranger, and air-assault schools. Because of that, he looks at life the same way I do. You hear a lot of people refer to football as war and he’s real sensitive to that because has been to war. He understands football is not really like, war, so he doesn’t take it like that.” (Personal note: I am a Viet Nam era veteran so that means an awful lot to me.) When he was a teenager, his hardworking Mother who he loved more than words could ever say… “Then one day my mom was going through my pants and she found it. She found two empty bags and smelled it. I told her I didn’t know what it was. She knew. She just went into her room and cried. THAT’S WHEN I THOUGHT ABOUT HOW HARD SHE WORKED AND I REALIZED HOW GUILTY I FELT. SHE HANDLED EVERYTHING DIFFERENTLY. SHE CRIED AND IT HURT ME SO BAD. SHE’S WORKING THIS HARD FOR ME AND I’M DOING THIS IN RETURN. I PROBABLY DID IT FOR ABOUT A SUMMER, BUT ONCE SHE FOUND IT, I QUIT. I STILL HUNG AROUND EVERYONE WHO DID IT. I KNEW WHAT IT WAS ABOUT.”
More directly from Plaxico’s heart: “The way I grew up, we had hard times, we had rough times. But I have no regrets about how I grew up. I wouldn’t change a thing. My mom, she would never have done anything to hurt anybody, but she didn’t bow down to no one, either. SHE WAS MY HERO.” When he went to Michigan State on a football scholarship he played for Nick Saban and did not like him at all. “When Coach Saban cussed out defensive end Robaire Smith on national television, that was his biggest problem. When Saban got mad or something happened, he would just spaz out, flip out. He shouldn’t coach at the NFL level, he has to coach college ball because he’s so over controlling as far as talking to people. You can’t talk to grown men that way.” After Burress had a record setting game against Michigan he admitted he stopped going to class because he knew he was going to be a high first round draft choice.
When he was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers he was coached by Bill Cowher who he says: “Coach Cowher is one of my best friends. I love Coach to death. He came to my Mom’s funeral. Everybody thinks he is tough, and he is pretty tough on the sidelines, but he’s not a tough guy that you can’t talk to. He has got one of the biggest hearts and he’s a player’s coach. He is one of the people who you want to work hard for. He just wants you to tell him straight, don’t lie to him.” When Plaxico left the Steelers it was simply because their type of offense would not highlight his talents. The ownership of Pittsburgh even gave the Giants a strong personal reference before he signed with New York.
While Plaxico is “visiting-your-house” he will share such “doozies” as: Rodney Harris is the Patriot’s biggest trash talker, “and he’s a cheap-shot artist.” Or when he was a free agent he didn’t want to play with the Philadelphia Eagles: “I WASN’T GOING TO GO THERE TO PLAY WITH TERRELL OWENS. THAT’S JUST SOMEONE I DIDN’T WANT TO PLAY WITH FROM WHAT I SAW OF HIM.”
What impressed me most about Burris is that he is an ABSOLUTE-STAND-UP-GUY. He tells it like it is! People ask him why he and loud, brash, and misunderstood teammate Jeremy Shockey are such good friends? They say: “WHY DO YOU AND SHOCK HAVE THIS GREAT RELATIONSHIP? IT’S BECAUSE HE IS JUST ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHO, WHEN YOU TALK TO HIM, YOU AIN’T GOT TO WORRY ABOUT GETTING A KNIFE IN YOUR BACK. THAT’S JUST THE TYPE OF PERSON HE IS. IF HE’S GOT A PROBLEM WITH YOU, HE’S JUST GOING TO TELL YOU HOW HE FEELS. HE DON’T CARE IF YOU DON’T LIKE HIM OR IF ANYBODY ELSE LIKES HIM.”
Invite Plaxico over to your house… even with all the “aint’s… double-don’ts… and nothing’s… you’ll be spoken to like no sports star has ever openly spoken to a fan (you) before. He is truly a breath of fresh air in this cliché ridden business. Plaxico… my door is always open for you… I hope you come back again real soon.
March 2, 2018
The road to the super bowl by Plaxico Burress is about his trip to the superbowl with the New York Giants. This book is in a first person point of view which is awesome because i thought that I was him practicing and getting ready for the biggest game each season in the NfL called the super bowl. He takes you into the locker room, into the huddles, etc. If you want to know if he wins the super bowl read this book to find out.
Yes I would recommend this book. I would recommend this book to the people who like sports books. But honestly even if you don’t like sports you still can read this book because it is that good and it is like you are on an adventure with the New York Giants.
What I really like about this book is it was in first person so I thought I was Plaxico Burress in the huddles and the locker rooms. And I liked how he went into details and brought us everywhere he did on his journey to the superbowl. I truly didn't dislike anything about this book.
Yes I would recommend this book. I would recommend this book to the people who like sports books. But honestly even if you don’t like sports you still can read this book because it is that good and it is like you are on an adventure with the New York Giants.
What I really like about this book is it was in first person so I thought I was Plaxico Burress in the huddles and the locker rooms. And I liked how he went into details and brought us everywhere he did on his journey to the superbowl. I truly didn't dislike anything about this book.
July 28, 2009
The name of my book is called Giant: the road to the Super Bowl. This is a good book for the real sports fan. it describes the life and carrer of fomer giants wide reciver Plaxico Burress. it tells you everything you need to know about all his coaches, teamates and family. while reading this book I found out some new infomation about plaxico like, he was a basketball player before he became a football megastar. He grew up in a poor comunitity were he acselled in sports. I also learned that he was not a instant star, due to bad grades he had to go to a bootcamp because he wasn't elegable to play collage football his first year. I also learnd that he has always been a hot head. I would recomand this book for someone to read because it tells the real life this book dosnt leave nothing out it. It tells you how he didnt like his collage coach or his last NFL coach .It tells about his life off the feild while reading this book i relised that even thought you are a superstar you can also have a rough life.
November 11, 2008
This book is about giant’s wide recvier plaxico burress and the New York giants super bowl win and what it took to get there. You can say the giants wining the super bowl were pure luck but the giants would say it was all about hard work. in 2006 season fans who looked at the giants as a team said this a big team with big problems which was true but in 2007-2008 they became a big team with big problems but with confidence and that was the # 1 thing they had and needed to win. And it was because of that quarterback of the giants eil manning threw the final super bowl touchdown to Plaxico Burress which made Plaxico feel so proud. I really love this book because Plaxico Burress talks about all the things the team and he had to do to beat the odds and win super bowl 42. So overall this book is good.GO GIANTS
March 6, 2009
Not even for the diehard Giants fan (i.e. me). I thought it was going to be all about the magical 2007 post season. Very egocentric of Plax to think that people care about him enough to read a book all about his life, and that egoism shines through into the book. Even ghostwriting couldn't make his prose readable. He repeats himself and there is no organization to his stories. He rarely has a point and he name drops every chance he gets. Not worth picking up unless you want to contribute to his legal defense fund. Sorry Plax.
January 4, 2013
I got it as a gift. I don't normally like to read books athletes write while they are still playing, but this was surprisingly good. This was pre Plax shooting himself in the leg, so I still liked Plax while reading it. Despite my feelings towards the guy as a Giants fan, it was pretty good and I would recommend it if you really want something to read about the Giants.
August 28, 2008
Well...it's a good thing that Plaxico's career as a wide receiver worked out, b/c his writing talents leave something to be desired. I'll take any behind-the-scenes images of my beloved G-Men, but wow was this a poorly painted portrait.
August 20, 2008
Not a bad book. Gives a little perspective into Burress' life. Written in his tone; it sounds almost dictated. Avoid if you need polished language.
Overall, meh.
Overall, meh.
September 20, 2008
The worst book I've ever read. It is so beyond belief bad that it is almost good.
December 1, 2008
So, I'm a huge Giants fan. And since they won the surprise Super Bowl last season... well, I had to pick this one up. Bad move. I can't believe Jason Cole was willing to put his name on the cover.
Read
January 9, 2010I've read better things written by kindergarteners. Honestly, if I didn't buy it as I was getting it autographed by him, I never would have gotten it at all.
February 15, 2013
Good story
February 16, 2025
Football
This was a very good account of the life of an NFL player. Plaxico Burress is honest and truthful telling his story. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
This was a very good account of the life of an NFL player. Plaxico Burress is honest and truthful telling his story. I really enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews