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Really an interesting book.
I love reading about football, its history, and well-known players of the previous era, so I very much enjoyed this biography of John Unitas (1933-2002), one of the best quarterbacks in professional football history.
Plimpton is best known, perhaps, among football fans as the author of Paper Lion. This book can be read as a companion or independently. Paper Lion is referenced but not a pre-requisite. The book is further NFL tales with Alex Karras and John Gordy. They had intended to work with Plimpton on a book about linemen but it never saw light of day but this book was spawned from the embers of that initial quest.
Mad Ducks and Bears is a fantastic read about NFL from the late 50's and early 70's and the experiences of Karras and Gordy in and out of the NFL. Of interest is Chapter 8 which focuses on business ventures outside of football. The portion about Karras brief side hustle as a Bible salesman is hilarious. Joe Schmidt's telling of Karras trying to sell him a Bible was worth reading twice.
America's Game was published in 2004, written by Michael MacCambridge. It is IMO the most comprehensive book on the history of professional football that I have read yet. 500 plus pages of some of the most interesting stats and stories that you'll ever read about. About the same time in 2004 NFL Films was working on the same title- America's Game. They are 60 minute bios of each team that won the super bowl. MacCambridge has a certain amount of commentary in each of those documentaries.
IIRC, 1967 was their last year together as Vikings and the screaming matches they would have on the sidelines were epic! The Dutchman never believed in running with the football when HE played and he cringed when Tarkenton would go off on one of his scrambles. Back in the early 60's IMO scrambling, especially to Tarkenton's level, was just unheard of.
In his autobiography "Better Scramble than Lose", Tarkinton (or his ghost writer) wrote that he always regarded himself as a pocket passer and he only scrambled when the play broke down. He thought it was great that teams devoted valuable game prep and practice time defending his scrambles which stastically didn't happen very often.
I haven't read many NFL books and none since I was a kid but that one was good.
When the Lions Were Kings: The Detroit Lions and the Fabulous Fifties by Richard Bak
Of course it takes Wayne State to get a book published about the Lions these days! The glory years of the Lions are overlooked occurring in the pre-Super Bowl era NFL. A damn crime if you ask for my biased opinion. My old man was a mere tot to child in their best years. They played in Tiger Stadium before it was called Tiger Stadium in those days.
This had been on my Amazon radar before I bit the bullet. Not the biggest fan of hardcover books with the inflated prices but I am not sure if this will see a paperback publication so I threw down $30+ and happy I did. A nice chronicle of the best Lions decade. Bobby Lane, Doak Walker, Les Bingaman, Leon Hart...all the vets of yore. Recommended.
In his autobiography "Better Scramble than Lose", Tarkinton (or his ghost writer) wrote that he always regarded himself as a pocket passer and he only scrambled when the play broke down..
I haven't read many NFL books and none since I was a kid but that one was good.
Thanks for mentioning this book; I wanna check it out.
The NY Times "Athletic" is coming out with a book this fall, "The Football 100" where they pick what they think are the greatest 100 players among the 25,000 who've played the game.
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