Review: More Than a Game (2009)

By Brian Billick with Michael MacCambridge

If you subscribe to the HBO television channel, you might have seen its mini-series on the training camp of a pro football team called "Hard Knocks." I believe four teams have been covered over the years. The first was the Baltimore Ravens, then coached by Brian Billick. Anyone watching the program could tell that Billick was an exceedingly smart guy, definitely worth listening to, and as a former Super Bowl winner he could coach a little too.

Billick lost his job with the Ravens a couple of years ago -- such is the nature of football -- but he's still smart. That means "More Than a Game" is definitely worth reading.

Billick wanted to take a look at the National Football League from the outside looking in for a change, since he had spent most of his adult life coaching from the inside. He had some extra time while he wasn't working as a Fox commentator on NFL games, so he spoke with several people who are involved in various aspects of the game. Then he teamed up with MacCambridge, who has written a few of my favorite books on sports ("America's Game" and "The Franchise.") So you'd expect the resulting book to be worthwhile.

Billick breaks the book down into chapters covering a specific aspect of the game -- owners, general managers, coaches, players, offense, etc. It combines into a fine look into the world of pro football today.

For example, the problems of putting together a winning team in a salary cap era are very illuminated. Billick, known as an offensive coach for his work before arriving in Baltimore, says the Ravens had to devote much of their resources toward defensive players salaries in order to keep that unit together for as long as possible. Other teams have had the reverse problem. The good teams and executives have learned to rebuild on the fly and capitalize on their draft choices.

The game itself has become amazingly complicated. As you might expect, Billick does some good work breaking down the approaches of such players as Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, quarterbacks who are in a sense making things up as they go along ... after studying for a week solid on the possibilities of how certain plays will work in a given week.

The books only bogs down a bit toward the end, where there's a discussion of the end of the current collective bargaining agreement (an uncapped football world is a little scary) and ways the game might grow its revenue base in the future. It's a tough sell to make that sort of dialogue fascinating to the average fan.

But, really, "More Than a Game" isn't written for the average fan. It's for someone who wants to know more about the sports by learning from an insider. Billick has taken a fine snapshot of the game in 2009, and the sooner you'll read it the more you'll learn.

Four stars

Learn more about this book.

Review: Quarterback Abstract (2009)

By John Maxymuk

Call this a "bookstore book."

You know the drill. You walk into a bookstore, look around for something new and interesting, and a title seems interesting. You pick up the book, start to leaf through it, and find a passage that attracts you. So you read it for a moment, jump ahead, find something else good, and read that.

That's the way it is with John Maxymuk's Quarterback Abstract, a charming effort that nicely mixes fun and research.

Maxymuk, a librarian at Rutgers when he's not writing about pro football (eight books), starts by trying to rank the best quarterbacks ever. He uses a complicated formula that you won't understand, but that's all right. It's easy to skip over that part. Just know that a 10.0 rating is a great quarterback, 5.0 is barely a starter, and below 2.0 suggests a different line of work is in order.

Then the fun part begins. Maxymuk has investigated every quarterback with at least 10 starts since 1950, and added a few passers of historical significance before that. As a result, everyone you've ever heard of gets at least a couple of paragraphs.

It's obviously difficult to keep up with 53 players on 32 teams, but quarterbacks get an outsized amount of attention these days. Therefore, we tend to remember them. So that's what makes leafing through the book so interesting. Yeah, I know Brett Favre is great. But why wasn't Jim Everett better? Why did the career arc of Rich Gannon go so oddly? Why was Neil O'Donnell's career ironic? And what went wrong with Akili Smith and David Klingler, besides the fact they wound up in Cincinnati? Ten starts aren't much, so we get the lowdown on some forgettable players on bad teams who still qualified for inclusion. You might not agree with all of the ratings, but the author seems to know what he's talking about and his comments have some bite when necessary.

Each player has a statistical summary with lines year by year, including completions, attempts, percentage, yards, TDs, interceptions, passing rating and rushing yardage. It could be a handy reference device if you are so inclined. There are also little sidebar boxes on interesting little facts on quarterbacks. They include quarterback families, short quarterbacks, good performances in title games, lopsided trades, nicknames, overrated quarterbacks, etc. You get the idea.

And if all this wasn't enough, Maxymuk has a Web site to cover the quarterbacks he missed. The man did his homework.

This probably is of more interest for longtime fans than the newcomers to the game. Those that pick it up, though, will have trouble putting "Quarterback Abstract" back down.

Four stars.

Learn more about this book.

Review: Boys Will Be Boys (2008)

By Jeff Pearlman

Holy mackerel.

If you are going to write an expose about a group of individuals that staggers the reader at times, this is the way to do it.

Jeff Pearlman seemed to talk to just about everybody connected with the Dallas Cowboys organization of the 1990's, which was as good on the field as it was, um, "active" off it. The resulting book, "Boys Will Be Boys," is the cliched page-turner, and then some.

After an introduction, Pearlman starts in with Jerry Jones' clumsy purchase of the Cowboys. Jones jettisoned longtime legendary coach Tom Landry along the way in favor of Jimmy Johnson, who was a top coach at the University of Miami (Fla.). Johnson didn't have much talent at the start, but he did know how to evaluate football players. Not only did he bring in a bunch of good players early in his tenure, he made trades that gave him even more draft choices -- such as the one-sided Herschel Walker deal with Minnesota. Someone named Emmitt Smith came over in that one (at least the draft choice used to take him); Smith became football's all-time leading rusher.

It took a couple of years, but Johnson and the Cowboys eventually became the most talented team in the league. Troy Aikman became a Hall of Fame level quarterback, Smith was as tough as they came, and receiver Michael Irvin scared opposing defenses on every play. Add good line play, defensive stars and plenty of depth, and you had the makings of a championship team. They won that championship in 1993 and repeated in 1994.

Johnson somehow kept that crew focused on winning, at least during practices and games. He comes across here as smart and single-minded if a bit cold. You also have to wonder about someone who essentially fired his wife once he took the Cowboys job. But he got this group to perform, no small task. According to Pearlman, and the details are daunting, the players certainly capitalized on the opportunities presented to them in the areas of sex and drugs. And if you don't shake your head at least a half-dozen times over the antics of Charles Haley, you aren't paying attention here.

The egos of Jones and Johnson wouldn't really fit in the same state, even as one as big as Texas, and owners are always going to win those battles. Johnson left and was replaced by Barry Switzer, who had his own issues with alcohol but still coaxed one last Super Bowl before things fell apart. You could argue that football hasn't been the same in Dallas since.

The antics of the Cowboys got all of the attention when the book came out, of course. There would seem to be a lot of material in here that would be ripe for libel suits if it weren't true, but I haven't heard of any legal actions. Pearlman gets the credit for that. He interviewed almost 150 people with ties to the Cowboys organization, plus others who watched with interest from the sidelines (media, friends, wives, etc.) Just about everyone seemed willing to talk on the record and be directly quoted for the story, which was crucial.

This certainly isn't for the kiddies, or for those who blush easily. But it's hard to imagine a book of this type being done much better than this, for which Pearlman deserves credit. Having written books on the '86 Mets, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens (one of the next books on my list), he's showing how to do this right. This almost got five stars; if you followed those Dallas teams in the 1990's, go ahead and make this a must-read.

Four stars

Learn more about this book.

Review: 100 Ranger Greats (2009)

By Russ Cohen, John Halligan & Adam Raider

There's something immediately striking about "100 Ranger Greats," even before you turn a page past the inside front cover.

That's the price -- an eye-popping $34.95 retail. It's a lot for a book of 240 pages, especially when the print is on the big side and it isn't loaded with pictures (most players get two shots, one a head-and-shoulders version).

That's not to say this book doesn't have some merit, though. Authors Russ Cohen, John Halligan and Adam Raider have obviously done plenty of research into the subject, and it shows in their summaries of the 100 players. Halligan is one of the most well-respected and well-liked people to have ever worked in a National Hockey League team's front office, and it's good to see his name associated with the project.

The starting point is a popular one. Take the most important Rangers in history, and rank them 1 to 100. The book starts with 100 and works toward the greatest Ranger of them all. The fun is reading along, trying to guess who might be where. What to do with someone like Jaromir Jagr, a brilliant star who only spent a short time with the Rangers? And what about Wayne Gretzky?

You can guess who might rank with the all-time Rangers greats -- in alphabetical order, Ed Giacomin, Rod Gilbert, Adam Graves, Harry Howell, Brian Leetch, Mark Messier, and Mike Richter all ought to be much closer to the back of the book than the front. They are. It's difficult to complain about the ratings here, give or take a spot or two.

The fun part, though, comes with the others, who surely will bring back memories for longtime Ranger fans. Hello, Nick Fotiu and Don Murdoch, two players remembered for entirely different reasons in New York.

There is some surprisingly candid material here in a few of the biographies. In particular, former coach Ted Sator gets severely trashed in the book's discussion of some of his ex-players. I'll bet Halligan had some inside information.

The book obviously is written for Ranger fans, who are frequently praised for their loyalty and support. It is a little difficult to make all of the bios stand out from each other after a while, though. Plus, a few more pictures of each player and a year-by-year stat summary might have been nice.

Books like "100 Ranger Greats" aren't great literature, of course, and they won't stay on your coffee table indefinitely. But in this case the publication will bring back some good memories and perhaps teach you a few things about the Rangers' past and present. Nothing wrong with that at all -- especially if you get it at a discount somewhere.

Three stars.

Learn more about this book.

Review: The Best American Sports Writing 2009

Edited by Leigh Montville

At the beginning of "The Best American Sports Writing 2009," series editor Glenn Stout writes about how the toughest part of his job is rapidly becoming the composition of the foreword to the latest book in the series.

I know he feels. I've been reviewing this series for many years, as long as this Web site has been up in one form another. How do I come up with another way of saying, "it's another top-notch collection of the best sports stories of the year?"

The 2009 book was put together by Leigh Montville, who is known now for his biographies of such figures as Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Way back when, though, Montville wrote for the Boston Globe when that paper had the Murderer's Row of sports sections writers -- Will McDonough, Peter Gammons, Bob Ryan, Ray Fitzgerald, etc. Montville fit in with them nicely as a columnist, and he wrote a general-interest humor column on Sunday that often was worth the price of admission.

The format remains the same. Stout collects a number of great stories, fills up a few boxes with them, and fires them off to the year's editor. Montville decided to add brief comments about each of his 24 selections at the conclusions, and it's a great move that should be repeated in future years.

More than most years, I think, the guest editor's preferences seem to come through in this case. There aren't many stories about the big events here, although Chris Jones' "The Things We Forget," a review of 2008, is one of the best stories in the whole book. Montville seems more interested in human nature, or previously unknown tales.

Runner's World magazine again comes up with a pair of stories here, Bruce Barcott's "Life and Limb," and Amby Burfoot's "Running Scared." Speaking as a subscriber, it's good to know that others have noticed the high quality material that magazine is producing.

The usual suspects, Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine, check in here, although familiar names -- other than the obligatory Gary Smith piece -- are less common. Some of the other stories that are worth noting are:

* "Inside the Mind of a ... Genius?" by Matthew Teague, a look at Phillies manager Charlie Manuel.

* "Father Bear" by Wright Thompson, as Jack Nicklaus does anything but fade into the sunset.

* "Commie Ball" by Michael Lewis, the "Moneyball" author who took a long, fascinating look of baseball in Cuba.

* "Where There's Smoke ..." by Mike Guy, an honest portrait of NASCAR's Tony Stewart.

There are even a couple of stories here that you force you to wonder if they belong in a book of sports writing. "The Source of All Things," by Tracy Ross, is more about a tragic family history than the outdoors, but it's powerful enough to be reprinted somewhere.

Just about all of the stories here, though, pass the test of carrying the reader through to the conclusion. That makes "The Best American Sports Writing 2009" well worth your time, as usual.

Four stars

Learn more about this book.

Review: No Substitute for Sundays (2009)

By Steve Serby

Sometimes, a little luck is necessary in the book writing business. Ask Steve Serby.

A book on Brett Favre's move to the New York Jets for the 2008 season seemed like a natural at the time. Favre was coming off a fabulous career with the Green Bay Packers that surely will send him to the Pro Football Hall of Fame the day he is eligible (whenever that is). Then he retired and unretired, causing all sorts of problems with the Packers.

Favre asked for his release so he could land in Minnesota. Instead, the Packers traded him to the Jets. The biggest name in football, in the biggest city in the country? What more could you ask for?

"No Substitute for Sundays" is that book, and it doesn't quite work.

Favre started off well enough, and the Jets were in contention for the playoffs right up until the end of the season. But an undisclosed arm injury slowly slowed Favre down during the course of the year, so that he wasn't an effective passer by December. That was a factor in the Jets' losses at the end of the season, which pushed New York out of a playoff position.

Serby, a smart, snappy reporter for the New York Post who does fine work, does a great job of starting the story. He gives almost a minute-by-minute account of what happened from the Jets' perspective during the time when Favre was about to be traded, and just after the completion of the deal. It's a great example of working a number of sources to put together a story.

But the story turns boring after that. Each week's game is reviewed in similar fashion. Favre's midweek news conference is almost reprinted entirely here. Serby reviews the game's play-by-play. Then Favre and other Jets give their impressions of the contest. From there, it's on to the next week. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Serby spends a little time following Chad Pennington, who was released to make room for Favre. Pennington landed with the Miami Dolphins. Sure enough, the final game of the season featured Pennington and the Dolphins vs. Favre and the Jets, with a possible playoff berth on the line. Oops, bad luck for Serby -- Dolphins win, Jets done. (I'd say "spoiler alert," but anyone who reads this book will know the story already.)

There is a little new information here; owner Woody Johnson had some revelations about the acquisition of Favre and the firing of coach Eric Mangini.

Favre went on to play the "should I stay or should I go" retirement dance another time, and ended up in Minnesota this season. While it wasn't a bad gamble for the Jets, Favre's signing and stay with the Jets won't be long remembered.

"No Substitute for Sundays" may interest big Jets fans who want as much information as possible about a year in the life of their favorite team, or of those with three different Favre jerseys in the closet, but there shouldn't be too much interest beyond that.

Two stars

Learn more about this book.

Review: That First Season (2009)

By John Eisenberg

Fifty years ago this year, the legend of Vince Lombardi started to grow.

Lombardi had been involved in football for most of his life as of 1959, but no one figured to write a book on him based on what had happened to him until then. Lombardi had been a highly regarded assistant coach at Army and the New York Giants, but that won't get your story published. Fifty years ago, he landed the head coaching job with the Green Bay Packers, and we were on our way to St. Vincent, one of the most important figures in the history of the National Football League.

Lombardi took over a team that had been losers for most of the previous decade, and a community-owned franchise that was barely hanging on. Not only did he win championships in Green Bay, he probably saved the franchise and gave the city a unique status in professional American sports.

Transformations don't happen overnight, but they start that way. John Eisenberg goes back to the Green Bay of 1959 for his story of Lombardi's first season, "That First Season." It's a well-chronicled story of how he started to turn the Packers into a league power.

In the first half of the book, Eisenberg dramatically shows Lombardi taking power as general manager and head coach (he demanded both jobs as a precondition of accepting the job). Maybe "taking power" isn't strong enough; "seizing control" might be better. The country club days at Green Bay were clearly over when Lombardi arrived. While the community-owned team tried to work with several bosses before 1959, there was only one boss after that.

Lombardi went through his roster that first offseason, trying to figure out through film study who could play and who couldn't. He made a few trades and signings to bolster the roster, but the author reveals that he didn't do that much in that sense. What Lombardi did do, though, was install a whole new system of discipline to the organization. Party time was over. Packer football soon would become a demonstration of power and perfect execution.

Eventually, Lombardi figured out that Bart Starr was a great fit at quarterback for his system, that Paul Hornung could star in the right role, that Jim Taylor, Forrest Gregg, Jerry Kramer and Boyd Dowler could be top pros. The team came together as the season went along, finishing with a winning season. The Packers were on their way.

The first half of the book sails along very nicely. Eisenberg found out enough good information to tell the story of Lombardi's initial reaction in emphatic fashion. The town and team weren't quite to make sure of this Noo Yawk stranger, but they soon figured out he had a clue.

The second half doesn't have quite the impact. It is very difficult to make play-by-play of a football game exciting, particularly when you do it for an entire 12-game season. But we do get the sense of the ups and downs of the campaign, and that good times were coming ahead of anyone's schedule.

Eisenberg does make one odd editorial decision here. He used "italics where supposition was required or memories conflicted" in a number of places In other words, it's an educated guess as to what was said or thought at the time. That comes off as, well, not quite cheating, but pushing the envelope a bit. But it does give the tale a bit more impact.

Lombardi has been profiled in all sorts of books over the years, many of them excellent ones. "That First Season" is a nice contribution to that list.

Four stars

Learn more about this book.