Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Could not put it down, October 13, 2007
I picked up this book with mixed feelings. Around the NY area, there are Tiki-lovers and Tiki-haters. I neither loved nor hated Tiki, I am just a Giants fan who wishes he had stayed, but understands why he left. It is his own decision, and I respect it. Sometimes I think fans want to control players lives, like they are some sort of commodity and we are on the board of directors. Life doesn't work like that.
Enough preaching, and on to my review: I loved this book. It is the type where you cannot put it down; you say to yourself, "One more chapter and I'll go to sleep," and the next thing you know it is an hour later and you've read 5 more chapters. So you keep on reading.
I think in this book the reader can really get to know Tiki. The style, pace, is as if Tiki is narrating all of this. I am not sure how much his ghost-writer contributed to this, but of all sports biographies, this seems to me the one most likely to have been penned by the athlete, with minimal editing.
Reading about Tiki's childhood, relationship with his twin Ronde, his wife Ginny, members of the team, his masseuse in the city (strictly therapy) and especially his trip to Israel and meeting Shimon Peres, it was just incredibly engaging.
I recommend this book not only to Giants fans, but to anyone who wants to read a biography of someone who has a positive attitude, isn't scared to speak his mind, and wants to better himself and society. I respect Tiki a lot more, and to me he is no longer #21 hiding under a helmet, or the stud runningback on my fantasy team, he is a real person about whom I really know something.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Tiki on Tiki (and the Giants), September 15, 2007
I've always had a lot of admiration for Tiki Barber. Most of those reading this review probably already know who Tiki Barber is, but he played for the New York Giants as a tailback from 1997 to 2006, ending his career with over 10,000 yards rushing and 5,000 yards receiving. Only two other running backs have accomplished that feat (Marshall Faulk and Marcus Allen). He retired last year at the age of 31 on the top of his game.
I'm not a New York Giants fan, but as football fan you have to appreciate the way he played on the field. He wasn't the biggest back but he was an electric one and the last five years of his career he was one of the top backs in the league. He is also clearly a very bright and articulate fellow, retiring to go into a broadcasting career that isn't just some ex-jock talking sports.
In this book Tiki takes the opportunity to talk about his life experiences. He grew up in a single parent household in Roanoke, Virginia with his twin brother Rhonde Barber, who is an outstanding cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Growing up with a hard working mother raising two sons, and having an alter ego in an identical twin, clearly shaped his outlook on life and kept him grounded. He also talks very briefly about his career at the University of Virginia, a school he and his brother chose more for its location and academics than they did (obviously) for its football prowess.
The bulk of the book, however, is about Tiki's career with the New York Giants. There really isn't a lot of nitty-gritty X's and O's discussion in the book, or interesting anecdotes about crazy player antics, strategies, or the inside story of the New York Giants. This book is more about his perseverance going from what many considered to be an undersized back on special teams and third downs, to an every down back and one of the best to ever play the game.
The last part of the book focuses more on the last few years of his career with really a new regime - a new, disciplinarian head coach in Tom Coughlin, a new quarterback in Eli Manning, along with new offensive players, Plaxico Burress (WR) and Jeremy Shockey (TE).
Anyone who has closely followed football the past few years knows of what appears to be a little bit of turmoil and dissention on the Giants team, with prominent players complaining about the head coach and his disciplinarian ways. And of course the media, at least some in the media, were somewhat harsh on Tiki announcing his retirement during last season, saying it was selfish and a distraction for the team. And Tiki himself was part of the problem, saying after one playoff game the team was "out coached" and making other allusions to his dislike of the way the team was handled under Coughlin. Tiki rationalizes this a bit in the book. Certainly players can say what they want, but regardless of what Tiki says - that players aren't paying attention to this and it's not a distraction - I don't find that very believable. Anytime you have prominent players undermining the head coach he loses respect and it will get into the mindset of the team. And maybe Tiki is right. He says he retired, at least in part, because Coughlin made him lose his desire to play and he wanted to pursue other things in his life. But all that swirling attention around the coach certainly couldn't have helped the team mentally.
Overall I found this book interesting but nothing particularly inspiring or insightful. It is Tiki's story and that, in and of itself, is interesting enough for me. For those looking for a tell all, inside story of the Giants or pro football, this is not the book for you. For those looking for X's and O's and strategy, this is not the book for you either. For those looking for a snapshot into the thoughts and life of a great NFL player, this is your ticket.
That is my review of the book but given we are talking about Tiki let's talk about things going on outside this book. Recently there has been a flap about Tiki indicating that Eli Manning, the Giants quarterback, is not a good leader, in fact even making fun of Eli and his leadership abilities. Tiki is rather kind to his teammates and Eli in the book so I wonder why he taking potshots at him now. Recently in the media there are more reports of his taking shots at his old team, but I have not followed the details. Yes, as he says in his book, he can say what he wants, fine go ahead and say what you want. But when he takes swipes at his old team it makes me respect him less. Maybe it's just to get media attention because negativity sells. But I think this may reveal the underlying problem with why, in my opinion, the Giants are an underachieving team.
In this book Tiki says the Giants are a mediocre team and that the organization needs to do a better job of selecting good talent in the draft and free agency (see page 168). I beg to differ. The Giants, on paper, have an outstanding team, they simply have underperformed the past few years. Tiki Barber, Plaxico Burress, Jeremy Shockey, Eli Manning, a solid offensive line, Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and a reasonably solid defensive unit is not mediocre. This team underperforms in terms of wins and losses. Whether it's a lousy coach, a young quarterback who makes mistakes, or simply poor play all around, this is not a mediocre team. It's an underachieving team, and other than its Super Bowl run, it was an underachieving team before Coughlin became the head coach. Tiki himself talks about a loss to Carolina in the playoffs where the coach showed him game film after he said "we were out coached" that showed the players missing assignments and making mistakes that cost them the game. There is something not quite right about this team beyond so called mediocrity.
Tiki's post-retirement comments might be some insight into what has been wrong with the Giants the past few years. If the players really don't respect each other, and they don't respect their coach, that is a formula for failure. Not that the Giants are failures, it's a good team, but if Tiki's comments are any indication of a wider opinion on the team, whether spoken or not, I don't see them going anywhere anytime soon.
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3.0 out of 5 stars
ok, but........, March 26, 2008
I was born and raised in Vinton, VA, just outside Roanoke. I have always followed the careers of both Ronde and Tiki Barber. I am proud that two local guys have done well for themselves--they deserve it! I enjoyed the book, even though I admit to skimming the detailed football games! My problem with Tiki's book is how he made Roanoke, Va seem in the country. He calls it rural and semi-rural a couple of times. He even says at one point that he wasn't sure that Roanoke had a limo service when he graduated from Cave Spring High School in 1993! You've got to be kidding!!! I graduated from smaller William Byrd High in Vinton in 1991 and I am sure we had limos for prom. Please, Tiki, don't act like you came from the sticks. This is Roanoke, not far southwest Virginia!!!
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