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 enlarge | Manufacturer: Simon Spotlight Entertainment PB
Category: EBooks
List Price: $17.99
Buy New: $9.99
You Save: $8.00 (44%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 24515
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 240
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332092
ASIN: B000W7LVUY
Publication Date: September 18, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 Could not put it down October 13, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
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.
 Tiki torch October 9, 2007
7 out of 13 found this review helpful
As a 30-year fan of the New York Giants, I appreciate everything that Tiki Barber did on the football field. I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia in 1995 and saw many of Tiki's games during his senior year at UVa. I mused at what a great acquisition he would be for the Giants should they draft him. And sure enough they did -- and I had the pleasure of meeting Tiki when he returned to UVa during his rookie season for a local youth event. He graciously signed three items for me and accepted my wishes for a great Giants career.
Tiki served as a 3rd down or replacement back for the Giants until an injury to the starting runningback opened the door for him. He played well enough to earn the starting job, and he parlayed the exposure into broadcasting ventures and other interests.
Tom Coughlin - whom Tiki has torched in every way imaginable - was not only his Head Coach with the Giants, but the man who essentially saved his career. Tiki was the starter, yes...but his continued and costly fumbling nearly got him drummed out of New York. Coach Coughlin corrected how he held and protected the football and a star was born. It rejuvenated Tiki's career and combined with his incredible work ethic and elusiveness, Tiki became the all-time greatest runningback for the Giants and one of the top five backs in the entire NFL.
When the times got tough for him, Tiki's coach and team rallied around him. When the times got tough for his coach and the Giants last season, he announced his retirement. He badmouthed his coach, his quarterback, his teammates, and the very organization itself. I am thankful that Wellington Mara didn't live to witness the selfish, backstabbing disgrace that Tiki Barber became.
Next week (the week of October 14), Tiki will say how he misses football, playing on Sundays, his Giants teammates, and how he could play next seasion if he wanted to. Regardless of whether the Giants renew Tom Coughlin's career, I hope the Giants will leave Tiki where he belongs...wallowing on "The Today Show", writing self-indulgent books, and trying to matter when he really doesn't anymore. The Giants have two good runningbacks in Jacobs and Ward and truth be told, the OL didn't get nearly enough credit for contributing to Tiki's success. He can't play anywhere anymore without the Giants blessing so I think they should throw him under the same bus he threw the team under when he left. Good riddance.
 If You Are A True Fan You Will Love This Book September 24, 2007
5 out of 10 found this review helpful
Just for the opening chapter alone, this is worth the price of the book. Tiki takes us on a step by step blow by blow account of a touchdown run. if there is a prize for the best sports writing of the year I think this chapter should be it. I think all the haters who have it in for Tiki should be revealed as having psychological difficulty with a strong successful black man speaking out. If you are a Giants fan and hate Tiki then there is something wrong with you since the guy is the all-time leading rusher for your team. This book shows how he did it, with detailed, interesting descriptions about climbing the ladder of success in the NFL. It was not an easy process and he had to suffer along the way but what goal is achieved without pain and sacrifice? All in all it is a very inspiring story with a lot of insights into how the NFL works. Plus I don't understand how his opinions could be called an attack on his old team. If you read the book he is actually complimentary about Eli Manning his QB and even Tom Coughlin his coach. Tiki calls out all those who say "shut up and play football" as small-minded hypocrites. His football career was awesome, and now he is blazing into a broadcasting career, so if you want to be inspired to become better in your chosen profession, this book is great. It's also good for parents who want to know how to raise their children to be successful. The best thing is that it is an easy, quick read, which leaves you feeling like if Tiki did it, you can do it too.
 coming up short September 22, 2007
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
Tiki gives little more than the usual attempt at life lessons and shares few if any actual insights into the Giants.
Yawn..... September 18, 2007
7 out of 12 found this review helpful
Tiki Barber's self-serving and ultimately exhausting ode to himself offers very little redeeming information to the reader. If you've followed the New York Giants or Tiki Barber's career, then you'll be all-too-familiar with his passive-aggressive pattern of self-love and self-promotion.
For a smart guy (and clearly Tiki is an intelligent man), his emotional-intelligence has to be questioned. Wellington Mara, the deceased patriarch of the Giants liked to say "Once a Giant, Always a Giant." How ironic that while he has always spoken highly of Mr. Mara, Tiki's actions and words would have surely disappointed him.
Tiki has the credibility and the intellect to have written an important sports book comparable to Jim Bouton's Ball Four or Sparky Lyle's Bronx Zoo. Unfortunately for the reader, (and perhaps fortunately for the current Giant players and coaches that Tiki has criticized to advance his new career in broadcasting), the author uses the book to further promote and discuss his favorite topic: himself.
The unintentional laughter generated from the "Tiki interviewing Tiki" part of the book is priceless. Yes...he actually interviews himself, conjuring up a hilarious mental image of a self absorbed athlete interviewing himself in the mirror. He also includes a cringe-inducing topless picture of himself staring into the camera, which made this reader guffaw with laughter, clearly missing the target audience by a wide-margin.
Ultimately, I think society would have gotten by without this one.
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