Customer Reviews

What Giants They Were

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"What Giants They Were" is a fond look back at the New York Giants. Those folks most likely to enjoy WGTW will remember when one specified "football Giants" when referring to that franchise! The tale recalls a very special time for this reviewer: He can well remember taking a short subway trip to Yankee Stadium and purchasing a bleacher ticket-the day of the game. Price: $2.00. He could buy a game program, a coke and 2 hot dogs and still have change from a Lincoln! For the 1963 season, this reviewer bought a season ticket in the bleachers. Price: $28.00! The actual games, it should be mentioned, were played on real GRASS! By November, the green grass was gone, changed to beautiful brown dirt! The Giants owned New York in the Fall. People paid attention to basketball and hockey-but not until Winter. The Manhattan-centric Giants WERE New York sports. The players became small gods, helped by the fact that rosters were stable in those pre-free agent days. The defense, anchored by #70, the great Sam Huff was virtually unchanged from 1956-1963. The team appeared in 6 NFL Championship Games in that span. That they lost the final 5 of those contests did not cost them a single fan. Those Giants were the pinnacle of franchises in a time that can never be recaptured. The memories of the old Giants are enhanced by the brutal fact that living in NYC was, to put it mildly, vastly simpler then. Author Whittingham has dutifully interviewed 20+ former players and coaches. "Someone" on high was cooperating with the author! The very names tell the story: Huff, Gifford, Rote, Webster, Conerly, Katcavage, Lynch, Mozelewski, Robustelli and Summerall. Those unable to instantly supply the relevant first names to those titans of the past will not fully enjoy WGTW. Homage in passing is paid to the Parcells/Simms era but they are blessedly outside the scope of Whittingham's tale. Those guys do not belong here! In fact, the author goes farther back than forward! Space is devoted to guys like Red Bagro, Benny Friedman, Mel Hein, Tuffy Leemans and Ken Strong! In addition to his strong research, the author has provided some of the sharpest and most personalizing photos this fan has experienced in any sports book. Many readers take typesetting for granted, or suffer silently with it, but in WGTW the work is excellent! The production values are very high indeed. Other attractions are sections on some of the men's college days and the trials they endured as rookies. Sam Huff was on his way back to West Virginia when assistant coach Vince Lombardi collared him at the airport! There is also a section on "life after football". Most of WGTW is positive. The only dirt spilled is Sam Huff's latter day rant about his trade to the Redskins after the '63 season. That was his due; his trade was the dumbest move in the life of the franchise. Sam was the heart of the team; the Giants took nearly 20 years to recover from his untimely departure. If there is a weakness to WGTW, it lies in what is NOT revealed. Some unaddressed issues might include: 1) How did the team let assistants Vince Lombradi and Tom Landry get away in favor of a guy named Allie Sherman? 2) What about the intra-Mara family squabbling? It had to be serious but never made the press. 3) What was behind Kyle Rote's sudden retirement after the '61 season? 4) Why didn't a Mara stop the Huff trade? And on a lighter note: 5) Why on earth did Allie Sherman allow backup quarterback Glynn Griffing to skip practice the entire week before the '63 championship game against the Bears? Couldn't his wedding in Mississippi have been postponed a week or two? And what ever happened to the heir apparent QB after his woefully brief performance in that game? This is first class sports reporting! We may term it pure nostalgia, but to so is to bestow a compliment. Looking backward is the crux of WGTW. This review won't deduct a star for the limited scope. The strengths vastly outweigh the "weaknesses" of a limited audience and the aforementioned unaddressed issues. We should treat WGTW like an old Hank Williams CD. Don't fret that they don't make them like they used to. Let's enjoy pleasant memories as they are handed to us.