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When the alarm clock sounds, Cindy Gruden usually gives her husband, Jon, the turbulent and talented Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, a shove out of bed, which serves as a sort of kick start to his 20-hour day. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
When the alarm clock sounds, Cindy Gruden usually gives her husband, Jon, the turbulent and talented Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, a shove out of bed, which serves as a sort of kick start to his 20-hour day. Read the first page
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I love to read the behind the NFL scenes books, You're Okay It's Just A Bruise being still my favourite but this is another worthwhile addition to the genre. The book takes a look behind the scenes by telling the stories of a range of names including Tampa coach John Gruden, NY Giants star Michael Strahan, and anonymous player who talks of the difficulty in being a homosexual player in an anti-homosexual sport.
The insight into the American psyche is fascinating, particularly in covering attitudes to sexuality, race, and gender. This isn't football as a sociological study but it's deep enough to be thought provoking. The working hours culture is also covered, and the obsession with working longer than rivals is insightful for a non-American. An American football fan looking for another insider view is bound to enjoy the book.
Unforunately for the author, the parts of the book that aren't great are the parts where he himself is forwarding a theory rather than reporting on the theories of others. Naming Coach Gruden as the ccurrent best looks a little silly in retrospect, and the fawning over Mike Vick is ridiculous. If I were to make starting praising a current player, it would no longer be Vick, it'd be new kid Vince Young. The worship of the here and now is itself worth reading, as so much of American football is based on winning now and this author seems to be part of that failure.
The insight into the American psyche is fascinating, particularly in covering attitudes to sexuality, race, and gender. This isn't football as a sociological study but it's deep enough to be thought provoking. The working hours culture is also covered, and the obsession with working longer than rivals is insightful for a non-American. An American football fan looking for another insider view is bound to enjoy the book.
Unforunately for the author, the parts of the book that aren't great are the parts where he himself is forwarding a theory rather than reporting on the theories of others. Naming Coach Gruden as the ccurrent best looks a little silly in retrospect, and the fawning over Mike Vick is ridiculous. If I were to make starting praising a current player, it would no longer be Vick, it'd be new kid Vince Young. The worship of the here and now is itself worth reading, as so much of American football is based on winning now and this author seems to be part of that failure.
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Written by obviously long standing NFL reporter, this book takes you behind the scenes of this fascinating sport.
To understand what it is that causes people to seemingly sacrifice their entire life to the tough games that American football is, this book is a "must read" who can only really get their weekly fix via Sky Sports' coverage of the NFL.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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14 reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
This guy works for the New York Times?
25 Jan 2005
Format:Hardcover
I bought this book hoping for a solid piece of investigative reporting regarding the most successful sports league in America, if not the world. Sadly, this book failed to live up to expectations. Parts of the book were interesting, but just about all of Freeman's pronouncements are now seriously out of date. Would anyone out there take John Gruden over Bill Belichick as coach of their football team? Freeman would. Does anyone consider the Browns to be in the top 5 of all teams in the league? Freeman also throws out serious pronouncements casually and then fails to explain. He does this with Wellington Mara, saying he is the best owner in the league. Only towards the very end of the book do we find out why.
The typographical and factual errors detract significantly from this work. As a reporter for the New York Times, how can he not possibly know where Fort Bragg is? Mike, I can tell you it ain't in Georgia. Care to guess again? Where were his editors and proofreaders? Additionally, parts of his introduction are repeated exactly word for word in other chapters, most notably the chapter on the gay player. All of this plus his atrocious grammar adds up to a book that exhibits some serious bush-league writing. It makes you wonder how this guy made it to such a prestigious newspaper such as the Times. This book leaves me scratching my head.
If that weren't enough, his last few chapters are absolutely horrendous. What was he thinking when he decided to compare football and baseball in such a juvenile way? And his list of changes he would make were he commissioner of the league are stunning in their profundity--he would welcome dogs into the press box but ban cats. Well, that is the mark of a truly great commissioner, let me tell you. His worst gaffe comes in his list of the greatest players by position. He tells you that Marshall Faulk is the best kick returner the league has ever seen. Only Faulk doesn't return kicks. But those kinds of trivialities do not matter to Freeman. Faulk is too good to be left out, so he had to include him somewhere. Such deft reasoning makes for a highly disappointing read.
The typographical and factual errors detract significantly from this work. As a reporter for the New York Times, how can he not possibly know where Fort Bragg is? Mike, I can tell you it ain't in Georgia. Care to guess again? Where were his editors and proofreaders? Additionally, parts of his introduction are repeated exactly word for word in other chapters, most notably the chapter on the gay player. All of this plus his atrocious grammar adds up to a book that exhibits some serious bush-league writing. It makes you wonder how this guy made it to such a prestigious newspaper such as the Times. This book leaves me scratching my head.
If that weren't enough, his last few chapters are absolutely horrendous. What was he thinking when he decided to compare football and baseball in such a juvenile way? And his list of changes he would make were he commissioner of the league are stunning in their profundity--he would welcome dogs into the press box but ban cats. Well, that is the mark of a truly great commissioner, let me tell you. His worst gaffe comes in his list of the greatest players by position. He tells you that Marshall Faulk is the best kick returner the league has ever seen. Only Faulk doesn't return kicks. But those kinds of trivialities do not matter to Freeman. Faulk is too good to be left out, so he had to include him somewhere. Such deft reasoning makes for a highly disappointing read.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Big League Issues, Midget League Writing
5 Oct 2004
Format:Hardcover
The modern NFL faces many very important issues, which are rarely covered amid the fandom and sensationalism of the mainstream sports press. Here Mike Freeman digs up some much-needed dirt on the poor mental and physical health of workaholic coaches and banged-up veteran players, racial matters and discrimination in the league, and drug use and domestic violence among trouble-prone players. Freeman also offers plenty of coverage about why the NFL is so successful, from great team owners and general managers, brilliant business practices at the league level, and many mature and charitable players. These are all things that both the fans and critics of the NFL should know more about, and Freeman is providing a valuable service by giving us both the great and not-so-great of the NFL.
Unfortunately, Freeman's writing style doesn't always measure up to the challenge, resulting in a book that often seems more like a jumble of mashed-up sports-page columns rather than the strong reporting that these subjects require. Chapters and vignettes on important issues end abruptly with few authoritative conclusions. Freeman's command of language leaves something to be desired, with unfocused run-on sentences and unimaginative word choice. Early on he criticizes the modern sports press for hyper-analyzing every single move and miniscule statistic of NFL games, but then does the same thing at several spots in the book. And the end the book deteriorates into lists of Freeman's favorite players and silly reasons why he thinks football is better than baseball. These are fan-style opinions that can be found by the thousands in chat rooms and fantasy football sites, and sadly detract from the seriousness of the issues Freeman is trying to bring to light. [~doomsdayer520~]
Unfortunately, Freeman's writing style doesn't always measure up to the challenge, resulting in a book that often seems more like a jumble of mashed-up sports-page columns rather than the strong reporting that these subjects require. Chapters and vignettes on important issues end abruptly with few authoritative conclusions. Freeman's command of language leaves something to be desired, with unfocused run-on sentences and unimaginative word choice. Early on he criticizes the modern sports press for hyper-analyzing every single move and miniscule statistic of NFL games, but then does the same thing at several spots in the book. And the end the book deteriorates into lists of Freeman's favorite players and silly reasons why he thinks football is better than baseball. These are fan-style opinions that can be found by the thousands in chat rooms and fantasy football sites, and sadly detract from the seriousness of the issues Freeman is trying to bring to light. [~doomsdayer520~]
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
A little Dull......
8 Nov 2010
Format:Paperback
An interesting subject matter, but I found the writing style to be a bit dull and redundant. I didn't like how the author profiled certain individuals, instead of taking a broader approach in discussion. I did find the "99 Reasons Why Football is Better than Baseball" chapter to be quite amusing. I have to conclude that I found Tim Green's NFL expose, "The Dark Side of the Game: My Life in the NFL" a much more entertaining and enjoyable read.
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