Exactly what you want from down-and-dirty sports gossip
599607
I'm giving this five stars, but bear in mind it's for its place within the "sports gossip" genre, not because it's one of the greatest books ever. It's entertaining, backstabby, snarky and full of loathing and bad apples - so five stars for being fun to read.

I'm not a Cowboys fan at all, which also helps. These aren't my heroes being dragged through mud of their own making, so I am happy to read all about their respective downfalls. That's the 'value' of a book like this - can the reader vicariously wallow in the excess and debauchery, and the answer is yes.

Most of the reviews have hit the high plot points - the whores, the drugs, Irvin stabbing guys, Emmitt being miserable, etc. All the stories you want to see are there.

To earn five stars from me, I have to feel like the writer is having fun with it, and Pearlman really is. So many of these sports books take themselves soooo seriously - please, it's a bunch of rich men living crazy lives with their own money. So I don't want to judge them - I want to laugh at them. Pearlman does a great job of interviewing to get the dirt, and without making himself a pretentious narrator trying to be above the fray.

This is simply a fun, comical read that won't take any brain cells or much extra thought on the readers part. We already knew the Cowboys of the '90s were crazy, and this is a look behind that curtain. But they were fun, and part of me would trade my being a fan of the passionless, all-business Patriots, for the insanity of the Cowboys.

It also made me want to read Pearlman's other books, at least the one on Clemens and maybe Payton, so that's also strong praise I can give it.
2923788
This book takes you through Parcells' "Final Season" with the Jets (not as a coach, since he went to the Cowboys afterwards).  I honestly thought it was great; he kept journal entries during a season when everybody thought the Jets would be on the rise, when in reality they had some huge injuries that absolutely crushed the team and took them to a mediocre record.

Reading Parcells recount the season and the frustrations is fun, even reading it in 2011.  His assistant coaching staff contains a bunch of big names, including Bill Belichick, Charlie Weis, Todd Haley, Romeo Crennel, and Eric Mangini, and he talks a bit about all of them, especially Belichick, since this was his last season in New York before bouncing out (and breaking his contract) to coach the New England Patriots.  To hear Parcells tell that story is really interesting, since he holds them over a barrel and gets draft picks galore, while the exact same thing happened a few years before when the Jets got Parcells from the Patriots.

He doesn't hold back when assessing the players.  There are a bunch of guys he says sucks, talks about "dumb mistakes" with banned substances, and... well... the guy is ruthless.  The no-nonsense descriptions were highlights of the book.

Anyway, fun read, all told through the probably biased viewpoint of Parcells.  Recommended.
4144817
This thing is what you need during the college football season.  If you ever had a problem with a buddy telling you that something happened that you know it didn't, then you definatly would want this.
2603105
You know those internet stories that begin "Whatever Happened to (insert celebrity name)?" Well, this volume of "The Best American Sports Writing" has plenty of stories which fit that genre. These run the gamut from major sports figures like Olympic figure skater Debi Thomas (lost her medical license, now lives in a singlewide trailer with her unemployed boyfriend) and Tiger Woods, to folks I've never heard of like Ms. Lahkpa Sherpa, who has summitted Mt Everest a record six times...and is hiding out from her ex-husband while working as a housekeeper.
Besides being very sad, most of the stories contained in this book are extremely well-written and researched. Many are inspirational, and all of these stories bring their subjects to life in a way most profiles fail to achieve.
If you're looking for superficial puff pieces, this book isn't for you. On the other hand, if you don't mind less than upbeat, realistic sports journalism to offset TV soundbites, I definitely recommend "Best American Sportswriting", 2017 edition.
3142009
I am just amazed at the number of obvious Ole Miss fans that have left a 1 star review!  Troll elsewhere, or better yet, go have sex with Walowitz from BBT under a bridge in WoW.  But as far as sports writing, Steve is superb!  He blew the lid off this entire story in rather grand fashion.  He showed incredible poise in keeping his sources secret.  He really gets the whole mentality of favoritism showed towards Ole Miss by the press in Mississippi.  Even when MSU was number 1 in the country in football, it barely made a blip in the local press.  The whole catfish incident with RebelAP was enough to sell the book alone.  Amazing writing buddy and keep on doing your hearts desire to publish the truth!
1568166
Nothing new from the articles from
these same reporters over the past year or two and extremely one-sided. It's clear the authors had an agenda going into their investigation and they believe and report the stories that support their hypothesis but ignore any other information or sides to the stories. Did some bad things happen at baylor? Absolutely. But do we need to keep beating a dead horse now that baylor has a new football staff and administration? I can assure you there is another school and scandal just waiting for Paula/Mark to break open the story. Time to move along instead of trying to make a buck off of this one.
2840587
I enjoyed SPORTS TALK.  The narrative pulls you in; the author makes you feel as though you are behind the scenes, really seeing the inner process of the top echelon of sports radio guys.  I found the book to be very insightful, and not at all superficial; a wonderful, in-depth read.
4742680
Bill's book is warm, accessible, and helps decode the advanced stats movement in a way that just about any fan can understand. This book will make you way better at teasing out what really happened during a game outside of an imperfect box score, and brings great insights from coaches, and some of the smartest minds around the sport. A quick read, and a welcome addition to any fan's football library.
273773
To enjoy this book, you have to like either statistics or sports. Preferably both: *The Wages of Wins* is a crash course in *Freakonomics* for the really, really motivated guys in your fantasy baseball league.

 But even if you only like competition and not the numbers, *The Wages of Wins* (Stanford Business Books) lives up to its subtitle, "Taking Measure of the Many Myths in Modern Sport."

 It takes measure by using plenty of numbers -- authors David Berri, Martin Schmidt and Stacey Brook are economists, after all -- but also by relegating most of the statistics to the (lengthy) footnotes. And it keeps a sense of humor: There's a running joke about the NBA and its "short supply of tall people."

 Economists are such cards. But they're also capable of exploding a few sporting myths: Can owners use giant payrolls to buy themselves championships? (No.) Don't fans prefer leagues that are competitively balanced? (Not really.) Does having a superstar lead to increased ticket sales? (Only for the other teams.)

 Turns out that superstars don't help their teammates play better, don't perform better in crunch time, don't elevate their game during the playoffs. Oh, and NBA coaches and scouts basically don't know what they're doing: With draft prospects and veterans both, they overemphasize the value of scoring while greatly undervaluing things like shooting percentage, assists and rebounds -- you know, the stuff that wins games.

 Quarterbacks, moreover, aren't anywhere near as essential to a team's won-loss record as the NFL's rating system implies. One of the book's funniest passages is the account of how the NFL came up with its convoluted, inaccurate quarterback rating.

 Naturally, in among all the standard deviations and regression analyses and Gini Coefficients, the authors devise their own methods for rating quarterbacks and power forwards. The math isn't impossible to follow, and it's fun to watch Philadelphia 76ers guard Allan Iverson being used as a whipping boy. (Sure, he's a scoring machine, but only because he coughs up the rock a lot and shoots with no discernible conscience.)

 Still, if you're "not the competitive type" and not a bean-counter, what does *The Wages of Wins* have to offer? The performance measures devised by Berri et al. aren't applicable to regular Joes, mostly because mid-level managers don't usually rate their employees in 17 separate statistical categories. But stats, the authors remind us, measure all the things that players are doing when we're not watching. Your wages for reading *Wins*? A healthy distrust of the conventional wisdom. Whatever we're sure about is probably wrong.
4371306
If you live for sports you may not want to read it , I knew something was up some time ago . like they always say follow the money
it's entertainment they make a lot of money of you and the players pro sports  full gambling addicts , thugs, drug addicts and wife beaters but the beat goes on....
4668964
This is a great book for Patriots fans, and for any football/sports fan.  Vin writes in an easy, conversational style and provides insight and thoughtful comments based upon the (in)famous deflategate episode in Tom Brady's and the New England Patriot's history.  It was a good and easy read.  Even for a Giants fan, it had some details and insights that I was unaware of.  As avid a Patriots fan as Vin is, he presents an even-handed presentation of what the events were, peppered with analysis by national writers, almost all of whom agree with Vin's ultimate conclusion.  If you like some "inside football" and like a thorough analysis of it, this is the book for you.
1496552
Pat Summerall, a terrific longtime sports broadcaster, writes in a straightforward, easy to read style. It's impossible not to "hear" his enjoyable Southern speaking voice as he tells about his college football days at Arkansas, his NFL and broadcasting careers and his terrible fight with alcohol abuse . His former CBS and Fox broadcast booth partner, John Madden, wrote several funny and opinionated books in the 1980s. On and Off the Air is unlike those in content and style. Summerall reveals much more about himself personally than did Madden and discusses the nuts and bolts of how television covers professional football. Like when the two called games together, John Madden is the frenetic, bombastic commentator while Pat Summerall comes across as the smooth, down to earth pro. An excellent book, I wish it were a bit longer.
1060819
This is a great book in helping understand the mood and personalities of the players, rather than focusing on play-by-play of a game. I would consider reading other books by him. However, why does he have to refer to Salt Lake City as Mormon central. Clearly a back handed swipe. He also likes to paint racism into things when he is flat out wrong. He claims the Celtics were a racist organization because of how many white players they had and because Bob Mcadoo says so. Gee, a real stroke of genius by the writer. So, easy to refute. 1) If Celtics were racist why do the black players speak so fondly of their time as Celtics: Cornbread Maxwell, KC Jones, Parrish, ML Carr, Tiny Archibald. 2) McAdoo was a problem across many teams and that is why he bounced around. So, were all those teams racist also.

Reporters should simply write without bias, but welcome to today's world.
2652006
What were considered rumors about the wild lifestyles of the Oakland  Raiders are actually truths according to one of the leaders, Kenny Stabler.  Drinking, honky-tonking, reading the playbook by the jukebox light,  womanizing and oh yes - football are some of the sideshows in this book.  This is not only about the "Snake" but also about the other  characters from the Oakland Raiders during their heyday.
336719
If you didn't buy this book because you wanted Gossip! and Lots Of It! you'll come away very disappointed. Because Nelson Mandela she ain't. Fortunately for the rest of us, this book has plenty of gossip, drama and more. Wanna know what *really* (and by "really," I mean "according to Solo") went down in 2007? Than this is the book for you. But the rest of it isn't entirely a waste either. There's something absurdly compelling about this woman who feels very much at odds with society, has a vaguely confrontational, almost violent mindset about nearly everything, lives in a tiny cabin in the woods, and, oh yeah, is the best goalkeeper in the whole world. She's a real-life anti-hero, folks!

There's also the usual ghostwritten nonsense, of course, with drama injected, and I'm not sure how I feel about it being written when it was (it just sort-of... ends - sequel bait!). But as crazypants celebrity autobiographies go, this is one of the better ones.
878148
Where is the news? Sports keeps popping up instead.  Please correct.
2189460
Okay, let's get something out of the way right now:

I am not a Washington Redskins fan. I'm not even a football fan. What the heck? Why beat around the bush? I don't know a damn thing about football except that it's a sport involving a ball (perceptive, am I not?), and the wearing of padding and helmets. I wouldn't recognize a touchdown if I saw one. I am aware of something called the Super Bowl but I have never watched it and probably never will. I admit it: I'm a wimp, the kind of guy who, as a kid in gym class, was the last one selected for any team and then only after a lot of audible grumbling from my reluctant teammates.

So what am I doing reviewing "The Redskins Encyclopedia" by Michael Richman???

As a member of the Amazon Vine program, I receive a monthly newsletter with various new products, one of which I can have sent to me at no cost providing I agree to review it. More often than not, the items that interest me are long gone before I get a chance to choose them, and I'm left with slim pickings, leftovers like "The Redskins Encyclopedia." What the hell? I'll take it, and after skimming its pages and writing a review, I'll pass it on to someone I know who likes football.

I've skimmed it and admit that I'm completely baffled by the statistics and football terminology that permeates every page. But I think I can safely say that a true blue fan of the Redskins will find this book sufficiently fascinating and informative. It includes profiles of notable Redskins personnel, both on and off the field (yes, I am aware that football is played on a field), plenty of black-and-white photos, and tons of facts and figures, none of which I understand but which anyone who knows and likes the game will likely appreciate.

So there. For what it's worth, I recommend "The Redskins Encyclopedia."

Brian W. Fairbanks