No comments about The Saints, the Superdome, and the Scandal.

2 comments about Brett Favre: A Packer Fan's Tribute.

1. A good book for all Green Bay Packers fans, especially fans of Favre and those still mourning his retirement. Great pics and great overview of his career, which brings back many fond memories of #4.



2. Super quick delivery from Amazon. Book arrived in pristine condition and I'm proud to display it on my coffee table.

5 comments about Papa Bear.

1. ...though it's a bit long at 512 pages (excluding notes, index, etc).
   
   The book does read pretty quickly. Not any particular chapter that I enjoyed the most. Sid Luckman was George's favorite. Interesting insights on the way the author describes George Allen, Mugs (George, Jr.), the rest of the Halas clan, and many of his ex-players including Geo Blanda, Bobby Layne, Rich Casares, et al. Definitely worth your time to read the book. When I visited Chicago, I passed by the old Soldier Field several times, but never took the time to visit it which is uncharacteristic of me. Wished not I had taken the time, as the place was reportedly to be very antiquated.



2. George S. Halas was, depending on who wrote the piece that you're reading, either the cheapest, back-stabbingest skinflint who ever threw nickels around like manhole covers, or a visionary who had the foresight to see what the NFL could become and ran his family business and associations (read: NFL) to the top of the sporting world heap. You can find both sides in this book, which is a reason that it ranks as high as it does.
   
   To understand the man, the book starts out with his parents, from the old country, Bohemia. As new immigrants, they worked in ways that we don't seem to do any more, like thrift, saving for something better, hard work at odd jobs to get that extra change. This is how George Halas operatered because he was "programmed" to do this at a young age. Subsequently, when he owned the Bears, that was how he operated his business. He saw the possibilities of growth of his team and the NFL through the media. He saw the wealth could be generated, mainly in terms of the league as a whole. He was determined to make his franchise the best, and that meant applying those principles that he learned when young (i.e., thrift). But he could also be extremely generous with his money, especially in family/business tragedies like Brian Piccolo, Willie Galimore and others. His line of succession, to take over the Bears, was also something learned from The Old Country, and thrown into pandimonium when his only son died and his son was estranged from Halas. Therefore, it fell to the McCaskeys to carry on the Halas-nurtured Bears into the 21st century, something G.S. Halas would conceivably be turning over in his grave about.
   
   The book does no favors at all concerning the McCaskeys; they are depicted as rather ignorant of most things concerning football and especially about the Bears, and greedy, controlling the Bears only for the money and prestige. The accuracy of this, since it was laid on so thickly by the author, makes you wonder if it is really true, but the record and gaffes committed by the Bears over the last 20 years tend to bear the author's characterization out. "Papa Bear" is a good, absorbing book for the history of the Chicago Bears and how the league got to where it is today, and hits much closer to the heart, mind and soul of George Halas and how he lived that many other biographies and autobiographies that one may find.



3. As a Bears season ticket holder and lifelong fan who attended the same grade school (St. Emily's in Mt. Prospect, IL) as the McCaskey children and grew up their neighborhood, I was really looking forward to reading this book. Then, right on page 3 it says the McCaskeys lived in Arlington Heights when they actually lived in Des Plaines, and I am left wondering how many other inaccuracies this book contains. It seems very anti McCaskey.



4. Pros: Everything you should know about Papa Bear (including everything the McCaskeys have spent years trying to hide from you)
   Cons: None
   
   I think it's safe to say we've finally seen the
   definitive literary work on George Halas. It did take
   more than two decades after his death for it to be
   published, but that's fitting. To truly grasp
   everything about the man and his legacy, you need to
   have lived through it and it's aftermath. Finally,
   one of us who has experienced it all first hand has put
   it out in the open for all to see. It's the most
   captivating sports book I've read in years, easily.



5. This is one of two books which I have read recently, the other being Let Me Tell You a Story: A Lifetime in the Game, John Feinstein's account of his close association with Arnold ("Red") Auerbach. Both Halas and Auerbach were obviously great coaches but also outstanding CEOs, each building a successful and profitable franchise while playing a key role in a multi-billion dollar professional organization. In this instance, the National Football League. Born and raised in Chicago, I was especially interested in what seems to be the definitive biography of Halas, the longtime owner and coach of that city's NFL team, Duh Bears. It must have taken someone with both his most attractive qualities (e.g. vision, generosity, perseverance, self-confidence) and his most unattractive qualities (e.g. duplicity, arrogance, stubbornness, and -- at times -- paranoia) to accomplish what he did...which was indeed a great deal.
   
   For example, Halas played as a right fielder with the New York Yankees until replaced...by Babe Ruth. He then concentrated on a career in football, playing for as well as coaching the Decatur (IL) Staleys which he organized in 1920. It was one of the 11 original teams in the American Professional Football Association, of which Halas was a co-founder and its driving force. The APFA became the National Football League in 1922. Thirty-five (35) franchises folded during its first ten seasons. It was also in 1922 that Halas relocated his team to Chicago and re-named it the Bears. From 1920 until 1929, he was a coach/player and then concentrated entirely on coaching during three periods (1933-42, 1946-55, and 1958-68), during which the Bears won seven NFL championships and Halas was credited with a then league-record of 325 wins. Only Don Shula has won more.
   
   With all due respect to his achievements as a coach, Halas deserves much (if not most) of the credit for keeping professional football alive. At least until the emergence of television, baseball really was the national pastime and college football was much more popular (and credible) than was the NFL and the All-American Football Conference which challenged it after World War Two. It is debatable when all this changed. Many cite the the Baltimore Colts victory in overtime against the New York Giants in the NFL championship game (December 28, 1958), others Pete Rozelle's leadership as commissioner (1960-1989 and especially during his first years in that office), and still others a program which CBS televised in 1960 as part of its Twentieth Century series, "The Violent World of Sam Huff." Having personally observed the NFL's exceptional growth throughout the 1950s and 1960s, my own opinion is that there were many factors which certainly include these three. Point is, there would have been no NFL as we now know it without the contributions which George Halas made.
   
   That said, there are many (including several who played for Halas) who would agree with then Chicago Daily News columnist Mike Royko that Halas was "a tight-fisted, stubborn, willful, mean old man...[adding that] there isn't a famous Chicagoan in or out of jail who generates such intense dislike." Unlike Arnold ("Red") Auerbach who frequently claimed that he could forgive but never forget a perceived grievance, Halas often seems incapable of either. Davis examines this in several of Halas' relationships with various assistant coaches and players as well as with several owners. However, it is most evident in his relationship with son-in-law Michael McCaskey who married daughter Virginia. Near death, as Halas considered who would next head the franchise, he sighed "Anybody but Michael." That deathbed wish would be denied.
   
   Davis cites numerous examples of Halas' generosity, notably the fact that he paid for nearly all of the immense medical expenses during Brian Piccolo's losing battle with cancer. In the Foreword, Gale Sayers observes, "I love George Halas. When I talk about George Halas on speaking tours, I always say that. I thought that way about him. He made me a better person. He made a young man a better man just by talking to him, offering his advice. I always listened to him. I will always remember him. I appreciate him." Many others share their own fond memories as well appreciation of Halas' often concealed kindnesses.
   
   Davis's research seems exhaustive. He conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews with those who were most closely associated with Halas, including many with whom Halas had serious, at times rancorous disagreements (e.g. Dick Butkus) This is probably the definitive biography of the Old Man but it also offers a wealth of information about the process by which professional football evolved to its current place in American society. As Davis asserts and I agree, no one played a more prominent role during that process than did Papa Bear.

4 comments about The Big House: Fielding H. Yost and the Building of Michigan Stadium.

1. If you are a fan of U of M and a fan of football then you will love this book. It is amazingly written, and really holds the readers attention. It goes in dept into what a great coach and director Fielding Yost was. It covers the building of Yost Field House and the building of the BIG HOUSE. I was able to speak with the author of the book and I was amazed by his level of knowledge. He spent a lot of time reading about U of M at the archives and its evident in the book when you read it.
   I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested.



2. I gave this book to my dad for Christmas. He couldn't put it down. It won't be turned into a movie, because the stories just aren't juicy enough but I would recommend the book to any Michigan fan. It was quick easy reading - great for a plane ride.



3. I cant put it down, My old coach gave me this for x-mas, Knowing that I was a huge U of M fan.. its great, a look into some of the greatest football ever...



4. I bought this as a Christmas present for my husband but then started reading it surreptitiously. It is very interesting and I am not even a Michigan OR a football fan. I am sure my husband will love it.

5 comments about Last Call: Memoirs of an NFL Referee.

1. While parts of this book are fun and entertaining (eg: recalling Ben Dreith's "giving him the business" call), my overall reaction to this book was annoyance at Markbreit's mammoth ego. Yeah, you gotta have self-confidence to be an NFL ref (and Markbreit was one of the best ever). But the book is really just a long string of anecdotes in which Markbreit tells you how this scrappy undersize guy overcame the odds thru his strength of will. And it gets old quick, which is why I give it 3 stars.
   Football fans of the same era would be much happier reading John Madden's "Hey, wait a minute (I wrote a book)!" which if full of the happy fun stuff that made Madden famous.



2. THIS BOOK BY JERRY MARKBREIT FORMER NFL REFEREE WILL HOLD YOUR INTEREST FROM COVER TO COVER. HE TELLS US OF SOME OF THE GAMES HE HASBEEN IN ALONG WITH MANY OTHER INTERESTING TIDBITS. SOME OF WHICH ARE GAME PREPARATION, HOW TO WEAR THE UNIFORM, OFF SEASON TRAINING AND MANY MANY MORE. HE ALSO HAS SOME STORIES ABOUT WOODY HAYES, HOWIE LONG AND MANY MORE. ANOTHER THING I LIKED ABOUT THIS WAS THAT JERRY COULD ALSO POKE FUN AT HIMSELF ALONG THE WAY. HIS USE OF JEWISH WORDS IS ALSO AMUSING ALONG WITH THE STORY OF HIS FAMOUS COIN FLIP AT THE SUPER BOWL. ALL IN ALL THIS IS A GREAT READ AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.



3. I'm not crazy about most Pro Ref's in any sport but Jerry Markbreit is one of the few that I always respected the way He called a game.nothing out of the ordinary when He was ref of a Game or a big game.I enjoyed the way He takes you too the field.



4. At one point in Markbreit's book, he mentions being surprised when someone recognized him on the street. This shocked me. Does he not know he's the best ref in the league?

   I remember my dad first learning to recognize Markbreit (though at that time we thought his name was Markwright), and knowing that if he was officiating the game, the calls would be accurate and fair. In this book, you find out why - because he cared deeply about learning his job and performing at the absolute top level. As my dad says, "Quality of officiating usually exceeds quality of play" - this in response to the occasional bad call by a well-meaning official. When Markbreit was in charge, the truth was that "quality of officiating ALWAYS exceeds quality of play".

   This book takes you through Markbreit's entire career as a ref, beginning with covering intramural football at his college, and through the NFL and multiple Super Bowls. You'll also learn the basics about how officating works, how the NFL works to ensure accurate, consistent officiating (hint: if you saw an error on TV Sunday, they'll see it on tape on Monday), and how Markbreit made it to the top of his field.

   If you're a Markbreit fan, this is probably already on your bookshelf. If you're a football fan at all, and have ever even thought about what it takes to ref an NFL game, this book is for you.

   Markbreit is a five-star ref. This is a four-star book for the kinds of things that make a co-written autobiography not five-star fare. It's no worse than any other co-written autobiography, and better than most, but not quite five-star material. Still, the book is excellent and will be enjoyed by anyone who appreciates the game.




5. Jerry Markbreit is not only a veteran NFL official but an insightful author who knows how to make the game (and the rules) a wonderful read. So many "bios" are filled with fluff, but this one tells grat stories, the kind you wish you'd hear from the so-calld expert talking heads on TV. I loved this book as much as his first one, which is now rightfully a collctor's item. Anyone who considers themselves and NFL fan will enjoy this book as well as his feature "Ask Jerry Markbreit" on the Chicago Tribune's web site...Great stuf. Thank you, Mr. Markbreit.

1 comments about Tiller: Not Your Average Joe.

1. Purchased this book for my son's 26th B'day. He is a Purdue grad and an avid football fan. He is not much of a reader until he received this book. He thanked me greatly for it and stated he can't put it down.

No comments about Glory Days: Life with the Dallas Cowboys, 1972-1998.

5 comments about Flutie.

1. If you like Doug Flutie, you will enjoy this book. Typical "sports hero" book... not extremely well written, will drag on at times unless you are a fanatic. Interesting read if you want to learn more about Doug Fluite.



2. Doug Flutie was the best player in CFL
   history and a Pro Football legend who
   taught the overrated NFL a thing or
   two about the 'size' NON-issue. If
   this guy had ever had a REAL good Coach
   (how about if he'd gone to New England
   under Bill Belichick before Thomas Brady!)
   who would have trusted him, man, I beleive
   he could have won that elusive Super Bowl.
   The drop kick may end up being the Coda
   on a fine career. Instant Canadian Foot-
   ball Hall of Fame and Museum selection
   as soon as he's done (and maybe a broad-
   caster this year, eh?). What a career.
   He always rose above the stupidity of
   sorry Coaches like Wade Phillips!-R.A.S



3. Read this book! I loved it as much as you do! So read it



4. Doug Flutie recounts his career from his earlest days on the playing field thought his magical first season with the Buffalo Bills. Lots and lots of football facts and game-related jargon here! I would have liked to have learned more about Flutie's personal life; what sort of things really shaped and inspired such an exemplary athlete? Who is the man behind the face mask? I recommend this book for Flutie and football fans everywhere but don't expect any great revelations.



5. Excuse me, the 2nd review listed for Doug Flutie's autobiography is for another book entitled "Flutie, a novel". The juxtaposition of the reviewed content is hysterically funny however, so you might want to leave it.

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 Remember This Titan: Lessons Learned from a Celebrated Coach's Journey.

1. In a world saturated with stories overcoming life challenges, Remember This Titan delivers a message unlike any I have read.
   Steve Sullivan's ability to capture the essence of Coach Bill Yoast while weaving in an out of the life narrative is remarkable. He has cleverly captured in words, the essence of a man who made it his life's commitment to make a difference and inspire. Sullivan has beautifully portrayed with drama, insight and humor, the life of a man whose unwavering commitment to others enabled them to prosper- all became better, some became great. Many went on to positively impact on other's lives and for this, Sullivan's book is a brilliant reminder that the `Domino Effect' can be a powerful force.
   Although Coach Bill Yoast is in the twilight of his journey, Remember This Titan and the wisdom it delivers is a legacy that will live forever.



2. A friend sent me the book as gift. She said it would change my life. She was right. It took me on a glorious trip. In a world filled with deceit, fear, anger and lost people Remember This Titan shows how one man can make a differance. Remember This Titan is a story that delivers integrity and courage in abundance. Coach Bill Yoast is now my hero. Remember This Titan is triumph and should be required reading for anyone looking to navigate life with a sense of purpose. Five Stars is not enough.



3. This is a great motivational and uplifting story. A must read for teens and parents alike!!



4. Remember This Titan, is a wonderful accounting of Bill Yoast's life, ups and downs, the expected and the unexpected. It is the story of a man who LIVED decency long before it was fashionable. The success of the team, both on the field and in their interpersonal relationships, was nurtured by the presence of this fine teacher, leader and coach. In a time when schools go out of their way to emphasize that character counts, this is a fine, enjoyable book to share with the children/students in your life. There are so many valuable lessons, from Mary's impact on Coach Yoast to the profound influence of Raymond Tetfeller on Yoast's young life. This book is beautifully written. It flows with astonishing honesty from humor to heart-wrenching pain. Sullivan has an obvious knowledge, understanding and respect for Coach Yoast. As if all of the above isn't enough, there are action plans and lists of invaluable facts in the back. Remember This Titan is a great read which has had a lasting impact on me. p.s. I had a student at the end of the year say, "Hey, Ms. Stewart are YOU reading a football book, cool!" Enjoy.



5. "Remember This Titan" is an excellent story of an American hero. In a time when personal glory is mainstream, Bill Yoast was not only an inspiration to a community but to the nation as well. Absorbing every word of a simply beautiful story of a no-nonsense man, I learned that, "In navigating life, the best lessons are learned when the riding gets rough". Not only do I believe in the philosophy of life according to Coach Yoast but our entire youth organization and metro area are looking forward to having Mr. Sullivan and Coach Yoast motivate our young men for our 2006 football season. I look forward to meeting Coach Bill Yoast and Steve Sullivan in August, (www.greenmountainfootball.org) and showing them that the TITAN theory exists in Colorado. Steve Sullivan along with Bill Yoast are truly the cornerstone of INSPIRATION.