Review: Just Tackle, Baby! (2026)

By Phil Villapiano with Todd Schmidt

My introduction to Phil Villapiano: 

It was 1980, and I was covering the Buffalo Bills' home games on a regular basis for the first time. The team started the season with a winning streak that showed the previous five years, some of which had been truly dismal, had been put in the past. After games, the reporters gathered around the stars like Joe Ferguson, Joe Cribbs, Jerry Butler, Fred Smerlas and Jim Haslett for the most part ... with one exception. 

Phil Villapiano was a popular interview subject in those days, even though he didn't receive a great deal of playing time. Villapiano had been acquired for Bob Chandler in the offseason, and the idea was that he'd add depth and veteran leadership to the defense. Phil also was a good interview - funny, smart and honest. He didn't play that much at times, but it was always good to stop at his locker to see what he had to say. 

Here we are, more than 45 years later, and people still want to hear what he has to say. Villapiano is out with an autobiography called "Just Tackle, Baby!" If you are looking for stories about a crazy if bygone era of pro football, this is a good starting point. 

Villapiano grew up in New Jersey and went to college at Bowling Green - which was geographically close to the Big Ten but not in the Big Ten. Even so, the Falcons find some football players every year - and Villapiano was one of the best. He was a second-round draft choice of the Oakland Raiders in 1971. All of a sudden, Phil was in the midst of some of the great "personalities" in football history ... and fit in quite well with them. 

At the top was Al Davis, one of the most interesting personalities in NFL history. He did almost everything in the sport from assistant coach to league commissioner (AFL). Davis' slogan was "Just win, baby," which is wear the title of the book comes from Life was never boring with Al around. The same could be said about John Madden, the coach of the team during much of Villapiano's time there. The Raiders were always very good under Madden, and even won a Super Bowl once along the way. 

When it came to players, the team featured names such as Ken Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff, Art Shell, Gene3 Upshaw, Otis Sistrunk, George Atkinson and Jack Tatum. The Raiders played hard and partied hard. They may have bent some rules along the way and broken a few others. It's impressive that the Raiders could do all of that and still be contenders. Villapiano has plenty of stories about those days on the field and nights in bars - you'd call the R-rated stories "examples of team bonding" today. 

Villapiano also is happy to voice an opinion about the most famous play in pro football history (well, at least in the top five) - the Immaculate Reception play in 1972 involving the Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers. You might remember how Franco Harris caught a deflected pass and went in for a go-ahead touchdown in a playoff game. Phil is still angry about what was overlooked on the play - rules violations, penalties, etc. - but the result seems unlikely to be change 54 years and counting later. He and Harris, by the way, became good friends in spite of opposing views of one particular play. 

Villapiano was on the back nine of his football career when he got to Buffalo, and was part of some good times there. Let's just say that Conrad Dobler was quite a character. It might be worth noting to Bills' fans that the linebacker has plenty of good things to say about head coach Chuck Knox. He also praises Kay Stephenson, who was the offensive coordinator at the time. Stephenson was promoted to head coach when Knox left in 1983, and Villapiano's words make that action a better idea than it seemed at the time. (The Bills returned to their losing ways once Knox left.)

A serious knee injury ended Phil's time on the field. It was time to move on with life, and he chose to be attached to the - wait for it - container shipping business. Who knew? It sounds like he's done fine with it, although it's easy to guess that an ex-NFL player with some degree of fame ought to do reasonably well in almost any sales job. After all, his mere name is a heck of an introduction.  

The book comes with a couple of problems connected to it. Villapiano is closing in on 80 years of age these days. There are fewer and fewer of us who have first-hand memories of the Raiders of the 1970s. This could have been written 20 years ago without changing too much of the script. I also noticed some obvious typos that went uncaught along the way. Some names got garbled, and a few facts are wrong. 

Even so, "Just Tackle, Baby!" is easy to read and goes by smoothly. A book like this probably is designed to be a substitute for sitting down with Villapiano at a bar, ordering a couple of cold ones, and having him tell you what it was like to be a Raider when the team had a distinctive personality. It will work well, particularly for those in the proper demographic. 

Four stars 

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Review: Inside the Owner's Box (2026)

By David M. Rubenstein

It seems that David Rubenstein has written another book. That prompts a basic question - where did he find the time?

It takes a few pages of "Inside the Owner's Box" to list Rubenstein's accomplishments. At the top of the list, at least in terms of impact, is that he is the cofounder and co-chairman of the Carlyle Group, one of the world's biggest investment firms. It is said that the organization manages something like $477 billion in assets, which would seem to be a big task. 

From there, Rubenstein works on the boards of several organizations, and is a member of many more. He has made many philanthropic gifts to help maintain some national treasures, such as the Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial, the Library of Congress, and Mount Vernon. He hosts some television shows that run on Bloomberg and C-SPAN, and has written five other books. That's not everything, but you get the idea. 

That is probably enough responsibility for anyone, but he added to his list of responsibilities a few years ago when he became the chairman and CEO of the Baltimore Orioles' baseball team. You'd think he was working on a clock that has 29 hours in a day.

Somehow he now has squeezed in the time to write another book, although "Inside the Owner's Box" sounds like a relatively easy project as these things go. 

Rubenstein starts out by reviewing the process that led him to taking over the Orioles. The team was about to come on the market, and Rubenstein thought he had a chance of making a purchase work. He had some connections to the Baltimore area, and he certainly had the financial means to make an impact. It took some time, but Rubenstein thought he could help the community by purchasing the team. Such actions are complicated, but eventually everything worked out and the sale was completed. From there, the book moves on to what day-to-day life for a pro sports owner is like. 

Rubenstein quickly discovered that he'd have to be a relatively active participant in the team's fortunes, even though he had virtually nothing to do with the on-field product. He also found out that the procedures he followed in the business world, designed to minimize risk in many cases, didn't apply to a baseball team. A lot of work can go down the drain because of a bad hop on a grounder or a fluke injury to a player. 

With that somewhat covered, Rubenstein switches to the meat of the book - interviews with his peers. Owning a major league team no doubt helps get calls returned from other pro sports owners, and the author talks to 14 people who control teams. You'll recognize some of the names - Jim Crane of the Houston Astros, Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots, Ted Leonsis of the Washington Capitals and Wizards, Jeff Lurie of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Tom Ricketts of the Chicago Cubs. The one sort-of-exception is Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports, which has four different groups of employees working on NASCAR entries.  

How does this all work? Moderately well. For starters, the stories are rather similar. Most of the people interviewed had some interest in sports growing up, but weren't good enough to play the game at a high level. They learned to do other things well, which turned their lives into spectacular financial success stories. I wish I could explain what some of those activities were, but they deal with high finance and aren't easy to boil down to a simple level - especially for a review without an MBA. All of them say that they enjoy the chance at trying to unite a community through sports, and the rewards are great. They also point out that while there's money to be made in pro sports, it comes at the back end when the sale of a franchise is made (values keep going up and up) and not along the way. That takes a different mindset for a businessman to have. 

Rubenstein stays away from anything resembling tough questions. We don't hear about the Astros' cheating scandal, or Kraft's personal problems. Therefore, we get the point rather quickly - even though the book goes by quite fast. If there's one happy conclusion to be reached, it's that the cross-section of owners interviewed really seem to care about what's happening to the franchise and the surrounding neighborhood, and aren't in the business just to cash out at the end as values continue to rise. 

"Inside the Owner's Box" couldn't have taken long to compile, since it's mostly transcripts of interviews Rubenstein has done in recent years. In other words, this is rather harmless material. There are a few good stories from the subjects, and it might fulfill some curiosity about the responsibilities and demands of owners in today's sports world. Just don't expect much more than that.

Three stars

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Review: 60 (2021)

By Robert Khayat

A trip to the book section of a thrift store is always interesting, because quite often a surprise is waiting.

For example. 

I recently spotted a book by Robert Khayat. He was wearing a football uniform on the cover, with the No. 60 on it - which was the volume's title. I recognized the name Khayat because I remembered the name of Ed Khayat from a football card from the 1960s. Yes, that was Robert's brother. 

Opening up proved to be fruitful immediately. The junior Khayat had autographed the book on a bookplate, which always generates a reaction. I quickly discovered when leafing through the pages that Robert also had played major college and professional football, and had gone on to become the Chancellor of the University of Mississippi for about 14 years. By that point, I was sold. Four dollars seemed like more than a fair price to learn about someone who obviously had had an interesting life. 

That proved to be a good idea. "60" is a worthwhile read about a key period in Khayat's life that would resonate with anyone interested in that time period. 

This book starts at the beginning of 1960, as Mississippi is ready to play LSU in the Sugar Bowl. The teams were ranked second and third in the country entering the game. A matchup with one of them playing top-ranked Syracuse would have been an appropriate way to settle the mythical national championship of the era. The problem was that the Sugar Bowl was in New Orleans, and it wouldn't accept a team that had Black players on it. Syracuse did. The Orangemen went to Dallas to play Texas in the Cotton Bowl, won the game, and the national title. Khayat and the Rebels - easy winners in its bowl game - had to wonder, what if? 

It's interesting to read Khayat's point of view on the matter, even now. He had grown up in a small town in Mississippi called Moss Point (near the Gulf Coast), and played sports with whites and Blacks throughout his childhood. Robert wanted to face the best, but he was denied the opportunity. The state wouldn't allow Mississippi teams to play integrated opponents. That had kept the Rebels' baseball team out of the NCAA tournament, and had stopped a matchup between the Iona and Mississippi basketball team. 

After the Sugar Bowl victory, it was time for Khayat to move on with the rest of his life. He had discreetly signed a contract with the Cleveland Browns of the NFL, but was traded to the Washington Redskins before a single practice with the Browns. The guard/kicker - an odd combination to us now - eventually arrived with a team that was the only segregated franchise in the NFL. But first, he worked out on his own back in Moss Point - essentially saying good-bye to some of the aspects of his previous life before college graduation.

Khayat was a bit undersized to be a guard, even in those days. On the other hand, he was a good kicker by 1960 standards.  A problem was that the Redskins were simply awful in those days, as not fielding the best possible roster took a toll. Washington finished 1-9-2 that season. Khayat wound up in the Pro Bowl at the end of the year, but even that didn't work out well. The rookie took an immense hit from the giant Bob St. Clair of San Francisco in that all-star game that eventually led to some serious health problems. His pro football days were over almost before they began. 

(Footnote: Ed and Robert were the only brothers who played in the NFL that season. Ed had the better year, winning the NFL title with the Eagles.) 

Many will realize that 1960 was the year that John Kennedy was elected president in a close call over Richard Nixon. That soon led attempts to enforce of civil rights legislation that had been passed by the federal government. It was obviously a difficult time in Mississippi's history, which fought those efforts furiously. The University of Mississippi even was the scene of something of a riot on this issue later in the decade. 

You could probably argue that this was the starting point for the change in the politics of the Deep South. It had been Democratic essentially since Ulysses Grant won reelection in 1872. The changes struck home for Khayat when his father ran for Congress and eventually paid a price for his "tolerant" views of civil rights. The Khayats were Lebanese and on the dark-skinned side by Mississippi standards, which probably affected the family's attitudes about such things. 

Khayat probably couldn't have guessed in 1960 where his life was going. The early retirement from football sent him to law school, which eventually led to the academic side of life. His return to Oxford, Mississippi, as chancellor was capped in 2008, when the university hosted the first Presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain.

"60" goes by quite quickly, as the pages are on the airy side and there are plenty of photos along the way. Khayat's concept that the single year of his life has "turning point" written all over it is exactly on target. Those who like their football mixed in with the rest of life ought to find plenty to consider here. 

Four stars

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Review: Portrait of a Hockey Scribe (2026)

By Gare Joyce

Here's a book that was right in my sweet spot before I opened a page. 

"Portrait of a Hockey Scribe" is the story about how Gare Joyce came into business of writing about hockey. He was the columnist for the Toronto Globe & Mail during much of the 1990s. Meanwhile, I was involved in the NHL in one form or another (public relations and journalism) from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. 

I'm sure our paths crossed along the way. Joyce was close friends with Jim Kelley, a friend and co-worker of mine during that era. There were some group beer-drinking sessions in those days, and no doubt we were all included. But I was closer to Dave Shoalts of the Globe & Mail from that era, so I didn't know Joyce's creation story until now. It comes with some surprises. 

Joyce took the long way to his job in Toronto, as he outlines here. He did go to journalism school, and even worked some desk/clerical work at a newspaper while continuing with his studies. But it's not as if he lived and breathed hockey, which no doubt made him a bit of an exception among Canadian young adults in the field. At one point Joyce became a part-time bouncer at a local bar, and certainly wasn't getting enough sleep. 

The writer eventually hooked on with an independent sports magazine in the Toronto area. Such publications usually seemed like a good idea at the time in big cities, and this one probably qualified. They didn't seem to last too long. There are always stories from such places about how things went wrong, and the author has plenty of them. It's interesting to read such tales from someone who became nationally known. It's not always easy to succeed in the business. 

Joyce's work caught someone's eye at management, as the newspaper ended up hiring him to be the hockey columnist in 1994.  It was quite an upset, since Joyce had never even been in the Maple Leaf Gardens press box before. To demonstrate his orientation in the book, almost all of the chapter titles in the book begin with "Don't" - as in "Don't Let an 82-Year-Old Slip Your Tackle" and "Don't Try Too Hard To Do Too Much Too Soon." The exception is a chapter that starts with "Never" - to be more specific, "Never Drop Your Right Hand." In other words, this is real world stuff from the front lines, and everyone in the business has been through it at some point. 

The focus changes once Joyce reaches "the big time." There are stories about the problems that come with the job, such as near-fights with the people he covered. But other chapters are more typical of a sportswriter's memoir. If you've ever doubted that Jean Beliveau - who could have played hockey in a tuxedo - was just as elegant off the ice and on, a story about an interview with him will erase those thoughts. Joyce's visits to the final game of some Original Six buildings - in other words, Boston, Montreal and Toronto - are entertaining too. The Boston chapter might have been subtitled, "How I watched the final game in the Boston Garden while sitting next to the organist." 

This isn't a short book - about 330 pages - but it's a comfortable read and there are a couple of related surprises at the end. Joyce left his job soon after the Maple Leafs switched arenas in 1999. And basically, the book ends there. If you are counting, that was 27 years ago. So some of the names and events are going to come off on the dated side. What's more, there's not really an update about when he's done in the 21st century. 

As a public service, Joyce has been busy. He's written 14 books, some on hockey and some that were novels. Gare has done some freelance writing for a number of outlets over the years on a variety of subjects, and so he's found a way to write and eat. Joyce also did have a knack for looking for non-traditional angles. That may not be a great fit for a hockey columnist, since that job concentrates mostly on the nuts and bolts of a given season. But it's served him well for the last quarter-century. 

"Portrait of a Hockey Scribe" is an unusual story of someone who is quite willing to look back at his professional life with a critical eye. That makes it worth your time - even if it may not be quite in your individual sweet spot.

Four stars

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Review: Everybody Loses (2026)

By Danny Funt

Here's a snapshot of America today: More people place a bet in a year than read a book.  

That's rather distressing news, since it would be nice to think that reading can be a constructive exercise while gambling is more on the destructive side. It's interesting bordering on ironic, then, to have "Everybody Loses" in the bookstores.  

Danny Funt has written something of a recap of the sports gambling business in this United States, which began on a formal basis with a Supreme Court decision in 2017. You may not like what betting has done to the sports business since then, and that's understandable. On the other hand, as Funt shows here in several ways, the situation is worse than you think.

At the time that gambling on our games became legal, the moral argument for not allowing it had more or less sailed out of port. Casinos and lottery games were growing around the country, and governments were more than happy to take in some of the proceeds - even though it usually proved to be less of a silver bullet for growing debt than was advertised.

But opening up betting on our sports events was a little different. People figured to start betting on matters that nothing to do with the final score, a category that started with point spreads but moved into areas like "prop bets" and "parlays" that tie a string of potentially unrelated events together in an attempt bettors to gamble more money. Sure enough, that's the case. So-called experts or "touts" are happy to offer advice on how a particular game might play out, but they usually don't publish an honest review of their results - and it's probably below the breakeven line of more than 50 percent right. 

There were also fears that that the fans would become more cynical, that they would suggest that foul play was at work when actions by players and officials caused them to lose money. That's difficult to quantify, but certainly the stories of death threats and the like toward players - particularly on social media - have made the rounds. You can't strike out or drop a pass or shank a drive without knowing about possible repercussions any more. 

With so many types of gambling, it's easy to guess how easy it is to fix an outcome. A player can quietly miss a few shots and throw away some passes and change a point spread for the first half. It allegedly happened in some University at Buffalo basketball fans a few years ago, so it can happen almost anywhere.  

We've also seen how news outlets are anxious to play ads (and more ads) for the bookmakers and post odds near game schedules, and noticed how the leagues themselves have invested in those companies after decades of saying they were sticking up for the integrity of the games. It's tough to tune out, and Funt outlines it nicely.

But there's even more to the story, as it outlined in the book. For example, you've probably seen advertising for special introductory offers for opening accounts, such as "First Bet Free." What you don't know unless you've been there is that the offer comes with enough catches to keep a team of lawyers occupied. 

You also don't know what happens to winners. Yes, some people do win consistently for one reason or another. But sometimes the company notices, and immediately limits the amount of money a bettor can gamble on a particular sport. The companies prefer losers, thank you. If that means making big losing bettors part of a VIP club that gives them bonuses and benefits to keep them around, well, that's not a problem. Yes, it would be nice if a company would notice that an individual is betting most of his income on games, but that gets in the way of profit and loss statements. 

The number of addicted gamblers is adding up quickly too. It's gotten far, far too easy to be able to bet on games, thanks mostly to phones. You almost don't even notice the losses adding up. It's particularly true for men in the 18-29 age group, who are full of false confidence that they know more than the experts setting the lines.  

And it's all been done in a haphazard way. After all, other countries like England have been allowing sports betting for many years. You might think it would be ask someone in authority over there about the pitfalls of starting such an operation here. Didn't happen. 

It's all rather ugly. Funt occasionally gets bogged down in legal and governmental bureaucracy (and accompanying anagrams) involved in the subject, but that's unlikely to be objectionable to those reading it. The research is solid, and the background stories are through and interesting. 

Someone once asked me if there was anything that could get in the way of the "gravy train" that is pro sports in this country. I said gambling might represent the biggest potential roadblock, particularly if game fixing became more common. There's a spot for athletic entertainment that has prearranged outcomes - it's called professional wrestling - but much of the attraction of pro sports to fans and - more importantly - television network is that it's real life drama. That disappears if people don't believe everything is on the level.

Those with an interest in the subject will find "Everybody Loses" to be a very good guidebook to where we've been and where we're going.

Four stars

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