The Cut-Wil Mara

The Cut
Wil Mara
Dunne, Oct 2007, $24.95
ISBN 9780312359300

In two years Giants tight end T.J. Brookman went from nowhere to the best player in the league at his position. However, when he joined the team he signed at the minimum amount but feels he earned a new contract with a substantial increase. His agent Barry Sturtz asks the Giants management to rip up the still valid one and renegotiate. Head coach Alan Gray tells his superiors to refuse and let Brookman sit out without any pay

As Brookman fails to show up at training camp, Gray brings in three people to compete for the tight end slot. Former Pro Bowler Jermaine Hamilton comes out of retirement; Corey Reese comes back from a career-threatening injury; and walk-on rookie Daimon Foster signs on as a free agent. As all three work their butt off, Gray has already made up his mind before he signed these “losers”; none were going to make the squad as he is using them to force Brookman back on to the playing field at a minimum football wage.

The second Giants football tale (see THE DRAFT) is an entertaining sports story that the die hardest NFL fans will enjoy. None of the three signed players competing for the tight end position step out of a classic sports stereotype, but NFL enthusiasts will not care as the look into training camp (seems more like intense boot camp) is detailed and eye-opening. Fans who equate football to religion will want to know who survived THE CUT.

Harriet Klausner