Top 100 Pro Football Books of All-Time By Chris Willis, NFL Films

[TanksAndSpartans]

Just finished this one:

81) The Red Grange Story by Red Grange as told to Ira Morton

There were a few really interesting tidbits like Grange mentioning Potsy Clark as a favorite player as a youth, the details of his injury (I would have never guessed he was going up for a pass with Trafton covering - I always kind of assumed it was a dirty play or late hit), Grange's views on Pyle (very positive and complimentary), and what was I think the only drop of drama in the book - his account of walking out of a banquet when Zuppke (whom he loved) made negative comments about his turning pro (but even this was glossed over when he said we both forgot about it the next day). It felt like he gave more detail on his college days than his pro days and among his pro experiences I think there was more emphasis on the Yankees than the Bears (Eddie Tyron probably got his name mentioned more than any other pro teammate.) Despite some positives and the overall optimistic tone of the book, in my opinion, even though it was a relatively short fast read, I didn't think there was enough in there... Not enough information that can't be easily gleaned from other sources, not enough of his opinions, not enough depth to the majority of events covered, etc. Probably not a great choice for me as I don't particularly like autobiographies, but it was Red Grange and super cheap via a third party seller on Amazon, so I gave it a try. Looks good on my shelf and the cover picture of him holding a 77 jersey superimposed over what looks like a classic photo of him running the ball in the background is pretty cool.

[revmoran]

On the Sally Jenkins book - this review on Amazon highlighted some serious historical deficiencies

Poor Research
ByJames G. Sweeney on September 9, 2008
Format: Paperback
Don't be fooled by the media blitz behind this book. It is filled with serious errors and is the product of poor, second hand, research. The "Long Knives" metaphor around which this book is built is just plain false. Jenkins picked that up from Babe Weyand's first book. He, in turn picked it up from none other than the less than believable 1940-50's sportscaster Bill Stern who included it in a 1948 ghost written book for juvenile readers without single authoritative source behind it. In a lengthy series of correspondence and ghost written articles Warner never mentions the Long Knives pep talk once. Nor do authoritative and contemporaneous (with Warner) football historians such as Allison Danzig and Tim Cohane. As to the double wing, Warner's correspondence, newspaper articles and interviews reveal that the Warner was using the single wing in 1906 and the double wing in 1910. Even Army in this game used the single wing as were many other teams in the Country. The Indians didn't consider Army very important. The "Big Four" (Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale) were far more important to Carlisle and Warner than Army. As to Ike. He was a bit player on a terrible "D" who was knocked out of the game when, comic book like, he and his teammate Charley Benedict collided headon in a missed attempt to "high low" Thorpe in the 3d quarter. If the "Long Knives" metaphor can be distilled into one game it is the 1905 game between Carlisle and the Cadets at West Point - seven years closer to Wounded Knee - and a game far more important on the national stage than the 1912 game. It took a special act of the War Department to be played at all. Jenkins doesn't even mention it. The Indians won that game too. Want more? See my "There Were No Oysters - The Truth About the 1912 Army vs. Carlisle Game" which I wrote earlier this year in response to Jenkins' and Lars Anderson's companion book about the 1912 game.

[Beansballcardblog]

On this look, I just looked at the 20-1 post.

As someone that doesn't read much, I was shocked to find that I've read the #1 book. I've actually read it a few times. That's saying something with as little as I read. Right now I'm trying to read a book by Dave Revsine...again. I'm on my second attempt.

I owned "The Hidden Game of Football" from the time I was a kid. However it was on the bookshelf in my old room when my dad's house burnt down a couple of years ago.

I have "Fatso." Perhaps I should go dig it out.