Here are some Giant-sized memories

Posted Aug 29, 2010 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Aug 29, 2010 at 07:55 PM

Books that tout a team’s “memorable games” usually are one-sided in nature. That is, only the victories are mentioned.

That’s not the case in the “The Most Memorable Games in Giants History: The Oral History of a Legendary Team” (Bloomsbury, $24) by Jim Baker and Bernard M. Corbett. And that’s beneficial to the reader.

Oh sure, the great wins are there — the Super Bowl XXV win at Tampa Stadium, and the Super Bowl XLII victory that denied a perfect season to the New England Patriots.

But so is the “Joe Pisarcik game” — the botched handoff late in the game against Philadelphia that Herman Edwards scooped up and ran in for a game-winning touchdown in 1978.

In fact, of the 13 games covered in this book, the Giants lost four of them.

And it is the format of this book — an oral history, with nuggets of dialogue from the players and coaches involved — that makes it so interesting. It is especially true in the 1978 game that immortalized Edwards. It takes Pisarcik to put the game — and life — into perspective.

“I think in life what counts is not the fumble or failing on a sales call, it’s how you react when that happens,” he said. “Do you get up and dust yourself off? Do you live and learn from that experience and get strong from it, or do you say, ‘Woe is me. It’s bad luck. Everything happens to me … ’”

There are other fascinating games in this book, like the Giants’ 28-point fourth quarter that enabled them to rally past Washington in 1970, or Pat Summerall’s game-winning 49-yard field goal in a blizzard in 1958 against Cleveland.

What is surprising is that one of the most memorable games in NFL history — the Colts’ sudden death victory against the Giants in 1958 — was omitted. The authors claim that particular game has been thoroughly analyzed already — “we didn’t think there was a pressing need to revisit a contest that has been so thoroughly and eloquently covered in the recent past.”

Perhaps. But it was still a memorable contest.

Despite the omission, this is a nice addition to the library of any Giants fan. It’s a blow-by-blow of some the most memorable games in the history of one of the NFL’s storied franchises.