![]() “I was already kicked out of school a second time and I was home when it happened,” he says. It was far and away the lowest point in his life, but he says he dug himself out of it after coming to the realization that his family needed him now more than ever. “I had so many questions to ask him,” he tells her, sobbing into her shirt.Ĭruz was not only kicked out of school and ineligible to play football, but he’d just lost his father. It’s one of the most emotional moments in the film, as Cruz tears up on camera discussing his father’s passing, and then is seen collapsing into the arms of his longtime partner, fiancé Elaina Watley. “There weren’t any signs or anything that led up to him feeling that way, or that would make us think he would do something like that.” The second time Cruz was kicked out of college came in the fall of 2007, and while he was on academic leave, the aspiring pro athlete learned that his father-an ex-fireman-had committed suicide. Though it focuses a great deal of attention on Cruz’s rehab, the doc also sheds some light on Cruz the man, from dodging the drug-dealing life growing up in Paterson, to his time struggling academically after earning a football scholarship to the University of Massachusetts-where Cruz was kicked out of college twice for low grades. In other words: I Am Giant is Cruz’s evidence that he has been busting his ass in rehab, and hasn’t been coasting on his guaranteed money. I wanted my body to be good, I wanted to work hard every day to return to the field, and I wanted to have that resonate with the people.” “You get complacent with laying on the couch or taking a day off rehabbing, but with this documentary, I couldn’t take a day off. I’ll always say, ‘I’m all right, I’ll get past it.’ I felt like this was a form of therapy for me and a way of getting everything out in the open and letting people see a side to me that they haven’t seen.“It helped me keep my mind on straight, and maintain my mental focus,” he continues. “I talk with my family, I talk with my mom, but other than that I keep everything inside. I’m on the upward rise from that, and I’m confident that my body can conquer these things and come out on the other side.”Ĭruz maintains that he’s been fueling his body with “so many vitamins and minerals” and adhering to a very strict diet, doing everything he can to get back to being 100 percent.Īnd he maintains that he agreed to do I Am Giant “not for money or fame,” but in order to occupy his mind while he was rehabbing, and also fuel him to stay vigilant. My calf is the issue right now, and that came from overcompensation on that one side, so I’m battling back from that. “The knee has healed up great-there are no pains or ramifications from the knee. I feel confident about my body now,” says Cruz. On camera, he places his confidence in his body at “about a 7.” When the film opens it’s the spring, and Cruz doesn’t feel entirely confident in the state of his body-having suffered season-ending hamstring and knee injuries in 20, respectively. I Am Giant was shot over the spring and summer, and combines archival footage with a series of Interrotron–style interviews with Cruz conducted by Chopra. He’s here to promote his new Showtime documentary I Am Giant: Victor Cruz, a one-hour film directed by Gotham Chopra ( Kobe Bryant’s Muse) that chronicles Cruz’s rehab from injury, as well as his journey from the mean streets of Paterson, New Jersey, to undrafted free agent, to one of the key cogs in the Giants’ improbable victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI. It’s Monday evening, and the 28-year-old NFL star is sitting across from me in the bowels of SoHo’s Crosby Hotel. You’ve got to fight that urge with understanding that you have to be 100 percent in order to play. ![]() ![]() “We put up 13 points on offense and the defense played outstanding, but I’m dying to get back, man. Cowboys matchup on Sunday, he felt overcome by pangs of regret. The injury came in the second season after Cruz signed a 5-year, $43 million contract extension-with $15.6 million guaranteed. 12, putting a premature end to his 2014 season. Yes, it’s been over a year since Victor Cruz tore his patellar tendon against the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. Anyone who watched the New York Giants’ abysmal offensive performance Sunday against their heavily-depleted rival, the Dallas Cowboys, knows that the G-Men are in dire need of a certain salsa-dancing, sartorially fresh Pro Bowl wide receiver. ![]()
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