2 comments about Giants and Heroes: A Daughter's Memories of Y. A. Tittle.

1. Calling all LSU, SF 49er, and NY Giants fans. This book is a fun read, and leaves one with the feeling of having intimately known one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever wear a football uniform. As opposed to many sports books, the author's vantage point allows her to tell the story of this football icon with refreshing sensitivity. The author, through her lively descriptions, tells the story of how from his humble beginnings in East Texas, Y.A. Tittle rose to become the toast of New York, and a member of the NFL Hall of Fame.

   Y.A. Tittle's unique athletic abilities, and sense of humor are framed by the parables of Greek mythology. This unique treatment is appropriate, because the author provides an inside view of growing up with a legend.




2. I LIKED SEVERAL THINGS IN THIS BOOK. I ALSO DISLIKED A FEW THINGS IN THIS BOOK. IT WAS INTERESTING WHEN IT STAYED FOCUSED ON THE CAREER AND LIFE OF Y.A. HIS EXPERIENCES WITH THE COLTS, 49ERS AND GIANTS IS EXCEPTIONALLY WELL DONE. THE BOOK IS WRITTEN BY HIS DAUGHTER WHO DOES A GOOD JOB OVERALL. BUT SHE RAMBLES ON AND ON ABOUT SOME BORING CHILDHOOD MEMORIES AND NEVER REALLY DOES A GOOD JOB OF TELLING US WHAT KIND OF PERSON AND FATHER TITTLE IS. SHE TRIES TO BE TO TOO DEATILED AND CREATIVE DESCRIBING THINGS OF MINOR IMPORTANCE. BUT SHE IS TALENTED AND VERY SWEET. I DONT WANT TO BE TOO HARD ON THIS BOOK. I RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL GIANT FANS AND FANS WHO WANT TO READ ABOUT A GREAT QUARTERBACK.

5 comments about Black And Honolulu Blue: In the Trenches of the NFL.

1. Hey Dorney, This is Eddy W. Well your book was good and as I'm reading these reviews, they seem to be from students. Anyway, I thought the book was very enjoyable and you have got to get me the movie rights. Don't worry. I'll get get David Spade or somebody to play you.
   
   See Yah!



2. Keith shares with you his life and his love. As a man Keith bares his soul for everyone to look at and into, if you have the guts. Because looking into his, you've got to look into yours and that isn't always easy. Keith knows MOTIVATION, from the inside out and back again. He also teaches motivation to young students of the game and to executives at Fortune 500 companies. You will learn a lot about yourself reading this book. In fact you'll learn a lot about life, the ups, the downs, the joys, the pains, but more importantly what it means to get up off the ground one last time and keep going. Thank you Keith for writing this important work.



3. hey, i was in your thrid period english class in 2003-2004. I bought your book and had you sign it. now for senior year AP english 12 i'm finally going to read it!



4. Awesome book,I really enjoyed reading this book and look forward to more from the Author.It is a must read for football and even non football fans.I found the book hard to put down and wanted more at its conclusion,Bravo Mr. Dorney (big cheese)I really enjoyed the memories you shared it brought back alot of good ones for me also.Keep up the good work!!!



5. A great read, brought back many memories & emotions from my years gone by on the gridiron. It'll stir you whether you played Pee-Wee, HS, College, or Pro Football.
   Don't let this one go by without reading, you won't be sorry..
   Thanks Keith!!!

No comments about The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty.

4 comments about Parcells: A Biography.

1. The book is a pretty good account of his very successful years with the NY Giants and some of his earlier experiences. How he interacts with various other players and coaches and his family experiences are all brought to light in this book. Overall a good read. If you're looking for a leadership book by Parcells, there are other better ones out there but if you're looking at an introspective into his life and who he is, I'd say this is a good book.



2. Unlike the previous reviewer who wrote his opinion twice, I enjoyed the book (I read the hardcover edition 2000). I've read 2 or 3 books on Parcells and this is the best. Yes, there's too much review of games, but I skipped over that.
   
   The book tells a lot of interesting things about Parcells that I didn't know, and I've followed his career very closely the last 16 years because I lived in the NE when he coached the Pats & Jets. The books tells how he got his nickname the "Tuna" and his name Bill (not his birthname). It tells a lot about his early years in HS, college, and as a vagabond assistant coach. I never knew that he took a year off from coaching at 38 to sell real estate for a land development company and actually made more money that being the head coach at the Air Force Academy the previous year. The book tells how BP never liked college coaching.



3. The same for the paperback edition of "Parcells"...This book, by and large, is nothing more then a rehash of old football games coached by Parcells. Gutman should be ashamed of himself for delivering yesterday's cup of coffee to football fans. Giving ad nasuem blow-by-blow accounts of games that took place 5-10 years ago is not my idea of a biography. About 25% represents Parcels' philosophies on life, football, family, and friends, etc., and I would rate that at best a C-. Overall the book is a major flop. Don't waste your money on this one. Of course, I shouldn't complain, I picked it up for a buck at a used bookstore...I paid 99 cents too much!



4. This book, by and large, is nothing more then a rehash of old football games coached by Parcells. Gutman should be ashamed of himself for delivering yesterday's cup of coffee--especially so to knowledgeable football fans. Giving ad nauseam blow-by-blow accounts of games that took place 5-10 years ago is not my idea of biography. About 25% represents Parcels' philosophies on life, football, family, and friends, etc., and I would rate that at best a C-. Overall the book is a major flop. Don't waste your money on this one. Of course, I shouldn't complain, I picked it up for a buck at a used bookstore...I paid 99 cents too much!

1 comments about Fields of Honor: The Pat Tillman Story.

1. Good story to read as fiction.
   
   
   
   Good story.
   

5 comments about Rozelle: Czar of the NFL.

1. When I first saw this book, I knew I had to buy it and read it immediately as Pete Rozelle was one of the icons of my young life. What a disappointment :( ! The book seems to be about everyone else but Pete Rozelle - he's like a guest star in his own story.
   
   Starting from the time Rozelle was elected commissioner, we hear more about George Halas than Pete Rozelle. Why was he a compromise candidate? After his election the story meanders and deals with people, places and incidents only tangentially related to Pete and the growth of the NFL. Many times I was lost in the maze of names both personal and corporate that surround and protect the story of Rozelle from outsiders.
   
   Some of the chapters are long and rambling and make one wonder why the story of the beginning of NFL Films requires 23 pages. Other chapters are the same.
   
   I really thought I would get some more insights into the NFL I grew up with, as a baby boomer "I saw it all" from the rise of the packers to the merger, expansion and becoming the #1 spectator sport. After reading a biography about Wellington Mara and Ernie Accorsi's autobiography, I thought I'd learn more about the people who shaped the NFL. But after some 200 or so pages, I can't continue. It's too painful.



2. An excellent high level history of the NFL since 1950, but not so much as a biography of Pete Rozelle. There is little insight into the man. Lots of what's and when's, very little "how".
   
   Example...many instances are offered about his ordered life, his ability to make people feel at ease. How did he do it? What made him unique?
   
   Far too much reliance on Rozelle's daughter, Steve Rosenbloom, and Eddie Accorsi as sources. Too many lines of thought were opened, and then dropped. For instance, he goes on about how in the 1950's Redskins' owner George Marshall was a major player as an owner...then suddenly he disappears. Jack Kent Cooke is described as a Rozelle enemy because Rozelle married Cooke's former daughter in law...and then the point is dropped. Did Cooke every hamstring Rozelle because of the relationship?
   
   To many ideas are brought up, then dropped without completing the circle. To little is told really flesh out the picture of Rozelle beyond a stick figure with a great tan and ready smile who drank Rusty Nails and smoked too much.
   
   It is a good book...but it could have been great.



3. This isnt a book...it's an awful run-on sentence. This is a worthy subject nonetheless....hopefully someone who knows how to write will take on the subject someday. This is nothing but as told to Jeff Davis "kerflooey"...a word that was actually used on page 24
   
   
   Jeff Davis should have stayed dead with the confederacy....he devalues his Northwestern education with this...can the university give him an honorary defrocking for this. In sum...this book wa neither written nor edited......just bad journalism.



4. Despite what other reviewers have said, this is an excellent book. No, it's not really a biography, so if you want to get more indepth into Rozelle's divorce or what he wore to the Senior Prom, then skip the book. But, if you are interested in a first hand look at the NFL through the eyes of those responsible for its ascent, this is a great book. It very much parallels the Mark Maccambridge book, "America's Game" which is terrific. The reader learns about the intricacies of the NFL/AFL merger, the labor strife of the 70s and 80s, and the "threats" from wannabe football leagues as well as little known facts regarding Joe Namath's almost early retirement due to indirect gambling associations and the infamous Heidi Game. The book is more about the NFL than it is about Rozelle, but it's a terrific book for anyone who enjoys modern NFL history.



5. Rozelle: Czar of the NFL alleges to be a biography of the former NFL Commissioner, but instead it is a meandering, disjointed, almost unreadably round-about tale of certain aspects of the NFL's history. It provides remarkably little, if any, true insight on the man who served as the league's Commissioner from 1960 to 1989, relying heavily on interviews with Ernie Accorsi and Rozelle's daughter for its material but oddly enough not providing any true insight from these sources.
   
   What do I mean by meandering? Well for instance, after 250 pages of the book I've learned through the book's contents that Marlboro cigarettes were originally marketed as a "women's" brand... but I don't know what Rozelle's mindset was when the AFL came along, I don't know anything about his relationships with owners other than Dan Reeves of the Rams, and I know absolutely nothing as to what possessed the owners of the NFL to elect him as their Commissioner beyond the fact that he was a compromise candidate.
   
   Simply and bluntly put, this book is worthless to anyone wanting to learn about its subject. Does anyone know how I can get in touch with Jeff Davis in an effort to get my money back?

5 comments about What a Game They Played: An Inside Look at the Golden Era of Pro Football.

1. This book is a collection of semi-autobiographies of many of the most famous NFL football players of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s when the league was just getting started and fighting for its spot in the sun. Each chapter centered around one player such as Sammy Baugh, Sid Luckman and host of other legendary players still alive to write their story. Its an insightful look of the "good old days" NFL, often funny and other time, amazing. The book has been well edited and reading is superbly entertaining as well as educational. Each chapter also got couple of short anecdotal stories on some of the legends of the game long gone like Jim Thorpe or Bronko Nagurski.
   
   When I read this book, there is no doubt in my mind that men who played this game back then, were probably the toughest players ever to played NFL football. Sure there are guys today who are built bigger, faster and all that, but these stories in this book make any reader realized how tough and mean, NFL used to be compared to today's soft touch rules design to lessen injuries. These players were in the game for 60 minutes, they have to be good in both offense and on defense. Compared that with the specialized players of today.
   
   This book is should be read by any fan of the NFL to give such a fan a good perception on how the NFL evolved and developed during the past 75 years.



2. An oral history about the NFL's early early days, like before most of us were even born and in some cases, before our parents were born. It feels like the author took these oral histories word for word so it makes for very choppy and uneven reading, not something that you can zip thru in one reading, despite the barely 200+ pages - it's nice to read about players who I've barely heard of and some I never knew about, and also about the two way players then. I think the author could have shaped the oral histories better to make it a better read, and like I always say, beware of books which Amazon sells for at the list price - there's a reason for that.



3. In the same vein as Lawrence Ritter with "The Glory Of Their Times," Richard Whittingham interviewed several of the diminishing handful of participants in the NFL's early days, took their words and wove an interesting and insightful book. Much like baseball when it started professionally, scheduling, paychecks, record-keeping and crowd size was often haphazard in those days, and players often played out of love of the game or to pick up some extra money aside from their regular jobs, mostly the latter. But the stories that they tell are wonderful - rugged men playing in football's infancy, helping to build the league that we know today through their legendary work. Many of the players included in the book are enshrined in the Hall of Fame, so these guys had the opportunity to be around a long time and see a lot of changes going on. It's a fascinating book about the birth and growth of the league, told by the guys who were there to help it grow - I highly recommend reading this book.



4. THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT NFL STARS THAT PLAYED IN THE 1920'S THRU THE 1940'S. SUCH STARS AS RED GRANGE, SAMMY BAUGH, DON HUTSON, AND SID LUCKAMN ARE FEATURED. THEIR STORIES AND INSIGHTS ARE VERY INTERSTING AND ENTERTAINING. I BELIEVE THE AUTHOR RICHARD WHITTINGHAM, DID A GREAT JOB. THIS WAS AN ERA WHEN MEN WERE MEN, THEY PLAYED THE ENTIRE GAME. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED HOW THE GAME WAS PLAYED BACK THEN OR ARE A REAL HISTORIAN OF PRO FOOTBALL THIS IS A GREAT READ FOR YOU. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.



5. Stories about great athletes that were famous and not so famous. Each of the chapters talks about an athlete that contributed to the sport in very unique ways. After reading it, I wanted to know more about some of the characters that were great athletes and times very humorous. It's a book I will re-read and recommend highly.

5 comments about T.O..

1. This book was very informative. In his book TO explains how the media edits anything he says. In some parts he tends to say the same thing multiple times, but overall it's an easy read.
   
   Read this book with an open mind. Otherwise, don't bother in reading.



2. Terrell Owens does a remarkable job in his second book. This clears up the controversy that surrounded his season long suspension from the Philedelphia Eagles and lets read the side story that the media would not tell.



3. PG.75 I don't like the way that people say that T.O. is bad. But when he gets on a team has very successful. He makes awesome play and game braking decisions he is an all-round great player
   
   PG.87 T.O. helps carry the Philadelphia eagles to the super bowl. He made 5 catches and one T.D. catch he had a great game knowing that he had a tweaked ankle. I bet he was in really bad pained
   
   PG.100 T.O. played the whole super bowl with metal plated in his ankle. Like to days after the super bowl it was time to get them out and right before he went in to surgery he told the doctor that he want the metal plate for a silvaner and the doctor said ok. So I five day later he went home and look at the plates and they were not his plates looked brand new.
   
   PG110 He says that most young player should say home with there familys and relaex. I think that,that is good to do so thay can do stuff like that to not make the player so tight
   
   PG.120 T.O says that he doesn't have to do any work out that just natural and that is no a good mesiage to send to people that are trying to get to the NFL. Because if you are trying to do a walk on then you have to work really hard to work out and get a lot better



4. The best way to destroy sales is for the "author" to blast portions of the book.
   
   In the follow-up to the commercially successful Catch This!, Terrell Owens has said there are erroneous passages in T.O. Because of that comment, it brings into question the validity of the entire book.
   
   Love him or hate him, Owens is a pop culture phenomenon and that may be why Simon & Schuster rushed to print a second autobiography. I can only guess that Owens was not happy with the project and decided to tank sales by ripping the finished product.
   
   Within the proper context I am sure Owens has a ton of interesting things to say. The line of children's books slated for release may be the venue for Owens to make a positive and lasting impression with fans.



5. The man is 30 and still acts like he is in high school.

5 comments about Bill Snyder: They Said It Couldn't Be Done.

1. My order was easy to make and was shipped to me very quickly and in perfect condition. I was very satisfied. Thank You!



2. Excellent book - easy reading as it chronicles his "miracle in Manhattan." A must reading for every Wildcat fan and great material for young and/or aspiring coaches to see "that it can be done!"



3. Our experience was great, no problems, book came in timely manner, and the book itself was in great condition and was great reading material.



4. i'm always in perspective of a successful coach.this book provides great insight into what made bill snyder the positive influence that he was.



5. What Bill Snyder did at Kansas State is easily, the greatest coaching job, in any sport, at any time, EVER......
   
   Beyond belief is the only way I can even start to describe how BAD Kansas State football was before Snyder took over.
   
   Bill Snyder is maybe the greatest coach of all-time, in any sport. This book should be required reading for ALL business leaders and employees in America. Follow Snyder's steps to success, and apply them to your own life, and you CANNOT fail. Total comittment, goal setting, respect, loyalty, persistence, serious organization, and believing in others, are key components to Snyder's winning formula. The man worked 100 hour weeks, 12 months a year to make this miracle a reality. It's amazing, and it's true......

No comments about Bill Walsh: Remembering "The Genius": 1931-2007.