Book Review: Football Nation

I got the chance to read Football Nation: Four Hundred Years of America's Game, and it was a very cool book.

There are many great pictures and stories in the book, which would make for a great coffee table book. It really shows the evolvement of the game from its inception, in both pro and college football.

It starts with its earliest mention in 20th century London, all the way to the behemoth that football is today in our society across all levels, from Pop Warner to the NFL. It comes from the Library of Congress, so the resources and research are unparalleled.

It is a book I would recommend for the football fan.

Book Review: "The Extra 2%" by Jonah Keri

This book review was originally posted on Reed Reads.

I got the chance to read The Extra 2%: How Wall Street Strategies Took a Major League Baseball Team from Worst to First by Jonah Keri and thought this it was a fantastic book.

The book begins by talking about the early parts of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise - how they came to be, and how they first ran things under the initial owner and general manager. It was a period marked by futility, alternating strategies, and a lot of losing. Fans lost interest, and the D-Rays were a joke of an MLB franchise.

Around the mid 2000s, they were sold to a buyer that had a history on Wall Street. The people he hired to run the team also had extensive experience on Wall Street, which is where the title of the book comes from. It talks about some of the areas where the Rays looked for inefficiencies in the market to build the baseball team, since they knew they would not have the financial resources to compete against teams like the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.

The book's most obvious comparison is Moneyball by Michael Lewis. It wants to be like that, and reaches out for the same fans that liked Moneyball. It is not that good - the detail into what makes the Rays successful is not shown in nearly as much detail as Lewis' famous book, but it is a great look into an MLB franchise. I would recommend it to baseball fans.

"Stillpower" by Garret Kramer Review

This Stillpower book review is also posted over at Reed Reads. 

I got the chance to get an early copy of the book Stillpower: Excellence with Ease in Sports and Life by Garret Kramer, and I have to say that I enjoyed it. It was not my favorite book, but I think it is worth reading for athletes and coaches on the chance that they are able to glean one or two insights from the book that will really help them out.

The book talks all about recognizing that motivation is internal, whether it is in sports or in life, and we cannot seek external motivations. If we do that, it will be fleeting, and we will soon find ourselves performing worse. If we look to things happening to us as getting us down or up, we are not relying enough on the internal factors of performance. One story that I enjoyed from the book which talks about being motivated and satisfied by the right things was a story about former Argentinian golfer Robert De Vicenzo. The story from the book goes:

Robert De Vicenzo, the renowned Argentinian professional golfer, once won a tournament with a substantial cash prize. After receiving his check and smiling through interviews and photos, he went to the clubhouse and was prepared to leave. Sometime later, as he walked to his car in the parking lot, he was approached by a young woman. She offered well wishes on the victory and then told him that her baby was seriously ill and near death, but she had no money to pay the doctors' bills and hospital expenses De Vicenzo was so moved by her story that right on the spot, he took out a pen and endorsed the winning check over to the woman. "Make some good days for the child," he said as he pressed the check into her hand.

The following week, De Vicenzo was having lunch at the next tour stop when a PGA official approached him. "Several members of the parking lot crew told me you met a young woman after the tournament last week."

De Vicenzo nodded. "Well," said the official, "I hate to tell you, she's a phony. She has no sick kid. I'm sorry, my friend, but that girl fleeced you."

De Vixenzo responded, "You mean there's no dying baby?"

"That's right."

"That's the best news I've heard all week," De Vicenzo responded.

Book Review: Scorecasting

I was fortunate to get a copy of Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won, and it is a book that I have been enjoying immensely.

The book is like the freakonomics of the sports world... it looks at common assumptions in sports (homefield advantage, does defense win championships?, why coaches don't go for it on 4th down, etc) and why they are correct or incorrect. It gives strong statistical backup for all of their beliefs.

As a sports fan that also loves numbers (I am an accountant by trade), it has been a fascinating read. I have learned a lot about these commonly held beliefs, and certainly it will provide at least subtle changes to how I view sports and how I think about them.

If you like sports and like numbers, then I am confident in saying that you will enjoy this book.

Review of "A Game Plan for Life" by John Wooden

I had the good fortune of receiving a copy of "A Game Plan For Life" by John Wooden, and I enjoyed the book immensely.

The book has an interesting format, as the first half is written by John Wooden, and he talks about 7 people that were mentors to him in his life, including his father, his wife, and former coaches. The second half of the book is written by 7 different people, people who were mentored by John Wooden, including former players, NCAA coaches, and his granddaughter.

The book focuses on the importance of having mentors in your life, and in being a mentor for other people. It talks about how you can learn something new from every person and from every day, and it is that continuous learning that helps us grow. People can mentor by the things they say or the things they do, and lessons can be taught at all times.

The book also talks about how you don't have to actually know someone personally to be mentored by them. You can simply read their words, or watch how they lives their lives, and learn from that. For example, two of John Wooden's mentors that he writes about are Mother Teresa and Abraham Lincoln, neither of which he met.

The book is definitely worth a read, especially if you are a fan of John Wooden and his writings (and really, if you have read anything by him, how can't you be?), or are just simply interested in being a better person. Check it out if you get a chance.

Book Review: Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants Complete Illustrated History

I had the good fortune of receiving copies of both Pittsburgh Steelers: The Complete Illustrated History and New York Giants: The Complete Illustrated History, two excellent books put together by Lew Freedman.

The books document the storied histories of each franchise with great photos, going over the best players and coaches of the franchise, as well as many of the great moments in each franchise history. It brings to life to on and off the field storylines of each franchise from its inception.

If you are a fan of either franchise, then you should definitely give the books a look. Even if you are simply a fan of football, these would be great books to get to learn and understand more about each franchise. Here are the publisher previews of each book:

New York Giants:

"Purchased in 1925 for $500 by bookmaker and businessman Tim Mara, the New York Giants were New York City’s introduction to professional football. The National Football League was a mere five years old, and for almost a century since, the history of football, the city, and the Giants has been inextricably linked. New York Giants: The Complete Illustrated History is a thorough and thoroughly entertaining illustrated chronicle of the New York Giants football team, telling the full story of the seasons, players, coaches, teams, and moments that have made history decade after decade. Filled with player statistics and team records, and brilliantly illustrated with vintage and contemporary photographs, this book is a fitting celebration of a team whose name is synonymous with football in America."


Pittsburgh Steelers:

"Pittsburgh Steelers: The Complete Illustrated History documents the great moments in a tradition that stretches back more than seventy-five years and offers an unmatched legacy of success. Fresh on the heels of a record sixth Super Bowl victory, the Pittsburgh Steelers are a team steeped in history and accomplishment. The roster of players who have donned the black and gold reads like an all-star team, and the 1970s dynasty alone featured nine players currently enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This book celebrates the players, the teams, the legendary coaches such as Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher, and the legions of passionate fans throughout western Pennsylvania and across the nation who cheer the black and gold. Lavishly illustrated with vivid color and classic black-and-white images from throughout the team's history, Pittsburgh Steelers brings to powerful life the on- and off-field exploits and achievements of this iconic franchise."

Review of "Our Boys" by Joe Drape

This isn’t some urban football juggernaut. This isn’t some wealthy suburb. The nearest McDonald’s is ninety miles away and the town has a hard time keeping businesses on Main Street. These players are the hard-working sons of farmers, laborers, teachers and coaches. They don’t drink, smoke or do drugs. They work multiple jobs. Here, teachers are nobility. Parents are heroes. And a football coach is revered.

This is Smith Center, Kansas. The home of the Redmen.

I got the chance to get an early copy of Our Boys: A Perfect Season on the Plains with the Smith Center Redmen, and it turned out to be one of the best football books I have ever read. The author Joe Drape moved to Smith Center, Kansas, to follow the football team all year, as they worked towards their 5th straight state title and a Kansas record of consecutive victories (they entered the season with 55).

If you didn't know anything about the book, you might think it was like Friday Night Lights, which was surreal in the sense that high school football consumed the town of Odessa, TX, and the success of the team became bigger than the players themselves. With any book about high school football, I wondered if that would be the case here.

However, it was just the opposite. Oh, the town sure loved the football team, and they cheered them on passionately every week. But their lives were not built around Smith Center football. They were able to keep perspective, and focus on the education and maturation of the boys, not just their football success.

Their head coach says, "None of this is really about football. We're going to get scored on eventually, and lose a game, and that doesn't mean anything. What I hope we're doing is sending kids into life who know that every day means something." He went on, "Sure, we like our football around here. But we truly believe it takes a whole town to raise a child, and that's worth a whole lot more." The motto of the coach was basically to get a little bit better each day, and football was simply his way of getting the message across.

It was a very heartwarming story about this rural area of Kansas, where it seems the kids are raised right and the people have the right priorities. Football is important, but it's not more important than living life and becoming the best you can be, and sometimes that gets lost in the shuffle. Not in Smith Center. Family and teamwork is valued above all else. To be honest, the book kinda made me want to move to Smith Center. In a world where we hear so much negativity, it is refreshing to read about people that simply care about each other and want the best for each other, and that seemed to be the case in Smith Center.

This book highlights all of the reasons we love sports, and especially high school sports. Players playing simply because they love the game, without letting it overtake their life. Bravo Joe Drape for writing one of the best sports books I have ever read.

At the end of each game, the team would huddle with parents in the locker room, and they would hold hands and the coaches would all say a few words. It was great bonding for the team as well as reinforcing the importance of the family As Drape writes, "I watched Coach Barta listening to his soon. I looked down the rows of fathers holding the hands of their boys. Coach Barta was more than just a helluva football coach."

Book Review: Friday Night Lights

I realize I might be a little late to the party reading this book, since there's a movie and TV show at least based on this idea (I haven't seen either)... but wow, what a great book.

In case you don't know what it's about, H.G. Bissinger basically followed around and almost became a part of the Permian High football team (obviously minus the actual playing part) and part of the town of Odessa, TX for a year in the late 80s, to follow the phenomenon of High School football in Texas.

In essence, the town lived and died by the football team, placing enormous pressure on the boys from a very young age, and making them play through almost any injury, all to be a part of the team, and be a "hero." Football was the most important thing in Odessa... certainly more important than the actual education aspect of high school. The football players were the most respected members of town, and looked up to by everyone.

A review on the back of the book says, "It reads like fiction, unhappily, it is fact." This is a good description as far as I'm concerned... the seriousness that high school football is taken with is a bit disconcerting, almost like its fiction. And I don't mean to tell anyone how to live... obviously a large part of my life revolves around sports... but when high school football becomes far more important than high school education, that becomes a bit of a problem.

Here are a couple of my favorite passages from the book... this first one is talking about how 3 teams tied for the best record in the conference, but only 2 teams make the playoffs. So, they had a coin flip to determine what 2 teams made it, and it was AIRED LIVE at 1 AM. That is how important this was. For reference, the Permian coach was getting "For Sale" signs planted in his yard with upset fans after Permian had lost 2 games up to that point (by 1 point each), and if he didn't make the playoffs he might get fired.

If the nickel came up tails, Permian was out of the playoffs, and the chorus of complaints and criticism against him would only intensify to the point that it might become unbearable for his family to remain in town. If it came up heads, it simply meant that three men would have to line up in a row and make jackasses of themselves once again in front of live television cameras.

The other passage I thought really captured the spirit of the book came near the very end, talking about the end of the season, when [SPOILER] Permian won the state title the year after Bissinger followed the team.

They played with a flawlessness and sense of purpose that had been building inside them all their lives. After it was over tears flowed freely down their faces, and also down the faces of the grown men and women who depended on them year after year after year.

It was hard to fathom the shock of what Odessa had gone through during the eighties, from a world where everything seemed possible to one in which it was hard to hold on to anything with certainty. So much had happened. So much had changed. But one anchor was still there, as strong and solid as ever. It didn't matter who was playing, or who was coaching. It would always go on, just as Jerrod McDougal had realized, because it was a way of life.

Overall, just a great book, and one I highly, highly recommend reading if you have not yet.

If you have read it, what did you think?

Book Review: A March to Madness

A few months back I talked about a great book I read called The Last Amateurs by John Feinstein, in which he followed around teams from the Patriot League.

This time, I got around to reading A March to Madness, in which he followed around the ACC teams for a season and talks about what happened, what they did, how they did it, etc.

It was a very interesting book that I really recommend reading, especially in conjunction with The Last Amateurs. The differences and similarities really showcase the difference between low-major college basketball and perhaps the most powerful conference in the NCAA.

One obvious difference and part that I loved was seeing the differences in the conference tournaments. In the Patriot League Tournament he detailed, it was do-or-die every game, because there were no at-large bids. In the ACC Tournament, there were probably 2 teams that were really playing in games that they saw as "must-win." Quite a difference, obviously.

Another difference was a lot of the players themselves. In The Last Amateurs, the academic lives of the players were frequently discussed. In this book, there were far less references to any type of academics, and more to attitude problems of a lot of the players. Not say that Feinstein cast them into a bad light, because he didn't, but the differences between big-time and small-time college basketball were evident.

Overall, one of the most interesting books I've read, and definitely one of the best college basketball books I've read. If you get a chance, I definitely recommend you take a gander at it.

Yet Another Book Recommendation!

Ok, so maybe I have a little too much free time here in the summer. And I have a boring job where I can sometimes read books at. Regardless, I have another good sports book to recommend (if you haven't read it already.

That book is: Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, The American Dream by Mitch Albom.

Last week I recommended The Last Amateurs by John Feinstein, and other than the fact that they both cover college basketball, the books couldn't be more different. The other book follows the Patriot League and talks about the players who are mostly focused on academics, while this focuses on the Michigan players that were a lot more focused on basketball than athletics, and where there is some corruption, and was found out later.

Now, I'm sure you know Albom from his other books or from his shoddy work on The Sports Reporters, but really, this is an excellently written book that covers 1992 and 1993 Michigan basketball... obviously the two years the Fab Five were together for the Wolverines.

The book starts off with good detailing on the recruiting process and how and why they all wound up at Michigan. It talks about how the Fab Five really changed college basketball in a lot of ways, not all of them good. Albom also does a good job showing how there was sometimes a double standard for these guys (both good and bad) because they were so talented, so outspoken, and so brash.

It was interesting to see how they went from being 'media darlings' in one year to being constantly criticized the next. Or how they all meshed together so well, even with some resentment from their upperclassmen.

Another interesting thing was to see how the book portrayed Steve Fisher. Sure, Albom did show him as a family man, but there was also the writings about how he 'bent the rules' at times to recruit these guys, how he applied a double standard when it came to disciplining them compared to the rest of the team, etc.

As someone who was really too young to remember much about the Fab Five, it was certainly interesting to read. I'm not sure if it would be more or less interesting if you remembered them well (or in some cases, as I know some readers here are, were/are fans of the Wolverines). All I know is that if you haven't read the book yet, you should. It's really quite excellent, as its rating on Amazon shows (though my recommendation should be enough!).

Another Book Recommendation

Ok, I know that only like a week ago I recommended reading 'Ball Four' if you by some chance had not read it, but today I just finished another book that I think some people might like.

The book is called "The Last Amateurs" written by John Feinstein.

If you like college basketball, especially small-conference college basketball, I think this is definitely a worthwhile book to check out.

Basically, Feinstein follows along with the Patriot League for the 1999-2000 season, and chronicles what they do, who they are, etc. It's really an interesting from the standpoint that these are not your typical Division 1 college basketball players (a point that Feinstein drives home ad nauseum, which can get a little annoying). For example, at one point he mentions that before the conference championship game, the players went to class for part of the day before loading onto the bus and driving for the game that night.

The book has its shortcomings. Feinstein sometimes goes a little overboard, basically saying that all the big conference college basketball players are just there for basketball and not school, which isn't really the case. Also, his game summaries can be a little dry, and some of the player stories do tend to get a little cheesy.

But really, if you like college basketball, especially the small, one-bid leagues of college basketball, you really ought to take a look at this book.

Just read "Ball Four"

Yeah, every other baseball fan on the planet has probably read the book, but I just got around to reading it lately, and am just about to finish, and I couldn't recommend it more highly.

It's been called the best baseball book of all-time, and while I myself am not qualified enough to say whether that's accurate or not, I can say that it's the best baseball book that I've ever read, and one of the best books that I've ever read, period.

If you're not an avid reader, the fact that it's rather long could scare you, but it's all written in short parahraphs, easy to read, funny, and well written. And I think the prevalining thing is that it's just brutally honest. Some guys aren't exactly portrayed well regardless of their talents, but that's part of what makes this book so interesting.

Anyway, on the off chance that someone reading here hasn't read the book, I urge you to go down to your local branch of the public library and pick it up. Amazon has it rated 4.5 starts.

On that note, have you read it and what did you think?