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 Customer Reviews
You have to admire him..., 31 Oct 2007
Lawrence Taylor is arguably the greatest linebacker the NFL has ever seen. In this book he writes about his amazing career with the New York Giants and about the incredible things achieved as part of 'The Big Blue Wrecking Crew', including the amazing Giants victory at Super Bowl XXI. However, this book is not just a celebration of a fantastic sporting career but also an account of the ugly side of the man they called 'LT'. Taylor talks candidly about his drug problem, his many stints in rehab and the long road to recovery. Sure, it makes for uncomfortable reading but some laugh out loud moments help to balance things out. You have to admire the way in which Taylor holds nothing back in recounting some of the less glmourous episodes in what's been a pretty turbulent, but ultimately astonishing career.
The most destructive linebacker...on and off the field!, 22 Jul 2005
This book is a great book for any football fan! Lawrence Taylor's 100% honesty makes this book 5star! Many sports auto biographies can be very focused on their sporting achievments in hope that their legend can live on and they can reep the benefits of a fabricated image, this book is very different! Although LTs book makes you shake your head in disbelief sometimes, this book will make any football fan laugh outloud numerous times with his stories from the NFL and perspectives of ex-coaches and ex-players! This book defines LTs career as a linebacker but gives an honest and funny-at-times account of his destructive life of cocaine, hookers and slinging muggers out of his car whilst they were robbing him! An excellent story of a great individual!
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Customer Reviews
You have to admire him..., 31 Oct 2007
Lawrence Taylor is arguably the greatest linebacker the NFL has ever seen. In this book he writes about his amazing career with the New York Giants and about the incredible things achieved as part of 'The Big Blue Wrecking Crew', including the amazing Giants victory at Super Bowl XXI. However, this book is not just a celebration of a fantastic sporting career but also an account of the ugly side of the man they called 'LT'. Taylor talks candidly about his drug problem, his many stints in rehab and the long road to recovery. Sure, it makes for uncomfortable reading but some laugh out loud moments help to balance things out. You have to admire the way in which Taylor holds nothing back in recounting some of the less glmourous episodes in what's been a pretty turbulent, but ultimately astonishing career. The most destructive linebacker...on and off the field!, 22 Jul 2005
This book is a great book for any football fan! Lawrence Taylor's 100% honesty makes this book 5star! Many sports auto biographies can be very focused on their sporting achievments in hope that their legend can live on and they can reep the benefits of a fabricated image, this book is very different! Although LTs book makes you shake your head in disbelief sometimes, this book will make any football fan laugh outloud numerous times with his stories from the NFL and perspectives of ex-coaches and ex-players! This book defines LTs career as a linebacker but gives an honest and funny-at-times account of his destructive life of cocaine, hookers and slinging muggers out of his car whilst they were robbing him! An excellent story of a great individual! Lombardi's legacy, 11 May 2003
This is a valuable book in understanding a particular cultural mileau in sport. Maraniss does not insult the reader by making analogy to the current day trends in sport, but places in context the rise of the "professional", the role of the agent, the changing nature of sports journalism, the nature of leadership and the role of the fan. To enjoy the book it's not essential, but it is useful, to know something about the American Football game. My frustration with the book was in the structural assymetry. Maraniss elegantly pilots the reader through the early years of Lombardi and the unique convergence of events and personalities that made the Packers the greatest team of their era. Lombardi was one, but not the only factor, in this phenomenen and some of the cameo actors are thoughghtfully introduced. The book ends though with a funeral and makes no attempt to track the longer range impact that Lombardi and the Packers had on the development of the American Football or the culture of sport in general. The reader may be left with the frustration that the story is only half written.
Lombardi Deserves Better Than This, 07 Oct 2000
I came to David Maraniss' _When Pride Still Mattered_ a big fan of Vince Lombardi's, and I left it the same way. At first the book's condescension toward Lombardi bothered me; but by the time I finished I realized that it didn't matter if Maraniss never "got" Lombardi -- as he certainly never got American football. Maraniss notes in his foreword that the title is meant ironically -- which will be news to thousands who bought the book because Lombardi's name and picture were on the cover, and because they mourn the loss of a time when pride did, indeed, matter. The modern urge to deconstruct is unnervingly present in the first few chapters of _WPSM_, as Maraniss traces Lombardi's unbending pursuit of victory to everything from his father's Elmer Gantryesque tattooed knuckles ("WORK and PLAY") to the philosophical musings of St. Ignatius. As someone who has personally experienced the contradictions of football -- of losing the self in the expression of eleven wills striving for perfection, thereby paradoxically achieving great personal satisfaction and, yes, self-expression -- I have always been perfectly happy taking Lombardi at face value. Why yes -- you DO have to pay the price to achieve success, as Lombardi's great mentor Earl "Red" Blaik liked to say. And indeed, fatigue DOES make cowards of us all, which drove Lombardi to push his players to the edge of physical exhaustion -- but in pursuit of physical excellence, not as an exercise in sadism. Maraniss ...subtly inserting questions about Lombardi's character and intelligence, not once but throughout the book... Having read Maraniss' other modern biography, _First in His Class_, it is apparent that Maraniss understands Bill Clinton in ways that he can never understand Lombardi. This is not just because Maraniss knows so little about football (the book is full of groaners for even the casual fan -- when Maraniss attempts to explain why Lombardi's ability to convey four vital pieces of information in the phrase "Red Right 49" is so significant, he gets three of them wrong). Clinton gets a free pass from Maraniss not once, but many times during _FIHC_, while Lombardi's shortcomings as husband and father are related ad nauseum. Maraniss' imability to connect personally with Lombardi is simply a question of generation -- Maraniss is cut from the same cloth as Bill Clinton, so of course he needs to deconstruct Lombardi to the point where the great man appears to be a complete fraud. OF COURSE Lombardi was a fraud, I found myself yelling -- all football coaches are frauds, at least the good ones. The coach can only succeed in getting his players to regularly commit acts which are the physical and psychological equivalents of racing a car at full speed into a brick wall -- not once, but over and over again, month after month -- by building myths. The myth of indestructibility, the myth of moral superiority, the myth of Divine favor -- these are all frauds. Without a large dollop of Barnum in his makeup, the football coach is nothing more than a teacher who has taken a disastrous career detour -- as Lombardi's successor at Green Bay, Phil Bengston, discovered in 1968. For all its shortcomings, the book moved me for the simple reason that the stories of all great men and women are moving -- we see the subject touched with grace, moving among normal human beings, then making his or her exit from the stage. This moves us to awe when the protagonist changes the world in some way that is important to us. Maraniss attempts to chronicle that awe among Lombardi's contemporaries, but he does so as a cultural anrthropologist would, observing and recording, but never really understanding. If you want to learn some interesting details about Lombardi's life, by all means, read this book -- but if you want to understand Lombardi, read Lombardi.
Amazing man.Wonderful book, 21 Nov 1999
David Maraniss has written an intelligent account about one of America's sporting legends.His words do not eulogise the subject,rather placing into context the personality traits of Vince which some people may not have approved of.This makes for a truly engrossing read with insights into an era sadly lost.
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Education of A Coach
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Customer Reviews
You have to admire him..., 31 Oct 2007
Lawrence Taylor is arguably the greatest linebacker the NFL has ever seen. In this book he writes about his amazing career with the New York Giants and about the incredible things achieved as part of 'The Big Blue Wrecking Crew', including the amazing Giants victory at Super Bowl XXI. However, this book is not just a celebration of a fantastic sporting career but also an account of the ugly side of the man they called 'LT'. Taylor talks candidly about his drug problem, his many stints in rehab and the long road to recovery. Sure, it makes for uncomfortable reading but some laugh out loud moments help to balance things out. You have to admire the way in which Taylor holds nothing back in recounting some of the less glmourous episodes in what's been a pretty turbulent, but ultimately astonishing career. The most destructive linebacker...on and off the field!, 22 Jul 2005
This book is a great book for any football fan! Lawrence Taylor's 100% honesty makes this book 5star! Many sports auto biographies can be very focused on their sporting achievments in hope that their legend can live on and they can reep the benefits of a fabricated image, this book is very different! Although LTs book makes you shake your head in disbelief sometimes, this book will make any football fan laugh outloud numerous times with his stories from the NFL and perspectives of ex-coaches and ex-players! This book defines LTs career as a linebacker but gives an honest and funny-at-times account of his destructive life of cocaine, hookers and slinging muggers out of his car whilst they were robbing him! An excellent story of a great individual! Lombardi's legacy, 11 May 2003
This is a valuable book in understanding a particular cultural mileau in sport. Maraniss does not insult the reader by making analogy to the current day trends in sport, but places in context the rise of the "professional", the role of the agent, the changing nature of sports journalism, the nature of leadership and the role of the fan. To enjoy the book it's not essential, but it is useful, to know something about the American Football game. My frustration with the book was in the structural assymetry. Maraniss elegantly pilots the reader through the early years of Lombardi and the unique convergence of events and personalities that made the Packers the greatest team of their era. Lombardi was one, but not the only factor, in this phenomenen and some of the cameo actors are thoughghtfully introduced. The book ends though with a funeral and makes no attempt to track the longer range impact that Lombardi and the Packers had on the development of the American Football or the culture of sport in general. The reader may be left with the frustration that the story is only half written.
Lombardi Deserves Better Than This, 07 Oct 2000
I came to David Maraniss' _When Pride Still Mattered_ a big fan of Vince Lombardi's, and I left it the same way. At first the book's condescension toward Lombardi bothered me; but by the time I finished I realized that it didn't matter if Maraniss never "got" Lombardi -- as he certainly never got American football. Maraniss notes in his foreword that the title is meant ironically -- which will be news to thousands who bought the book because Lombardi's name and picture were on the cover, and because they mourn the loss of a time when pride did, indeed, matter. The modern urge to deconstruct is unnervingly present in the first few chapters of _WPSM_, as Maraniss traces Lombardi's unbending pursuit of victory to everything from his father's Elmer Gantryesque tattooed knuckles ("WORK and PLAY") to the philosophical musings of St. Ignatius. As someone who has personally experienced the contradictions of football -- of losing the self in the expression of eleven wills striving for perfection, thereby paradoxically achieving great personal satisfaction and, yes, self-expression -- I have always been perfectly happy taking Lombardi at face value. Why yes -- you DO have to pay the price to achieve success, as Lombardi's great mentor Earl "Red" Blaik liked to say. And indeed, fatigue DOES make cowards of us all, which drove Lombardi to push his players to the edge of physical exhaustion -- but in pursuit of physical excellence, not as an exercise in sadism. Maraniss ...subtly inserting questions about Lombardi's character and intelligence, not once but throughout the book... Having read Maraniss' other modern biography, _First in His Class_, it is apparent that Maraniss understands Bill Clinton in ways that he can never understand Lombardi. This is not just because Maraniss knows so little about football (the book is full of groaners for even the casual fan -- when Maraniss attempts to explain why Lombardi's ability to convey four vital pieces of information in the phrase "Red Right 49" is so significant, he gets three of them wrong). Clinton gets a free pass from Maraniss not once, but many times during _FIHC_, while Lombardi's shortcomings as husband and father are related ad nauseum. Maraniss' imability to connect personally with Lombardi is simply a question of generation -- Maraniss is cut from the same cloth as Bill Clinton, so of course he needs to deconstruct Lombardi to the point where the great man appears to be a complete fraud. OF COURSE Lombardi was a fraud, I found myself yelling -- all football coaches are frauds, at least the good ones. The coach can only succeed in getting his players to regularly commit acts which are the physical and psychological equivalents of racing a car at full speed into a brick wall -- not once, but over and over again, month after month -- by building myths. The myth of indestructibility, the myth of moral superiority, the myth of Divine favor -- these are all frauds. Without a large dollop of Barnum in his makeup, the football coach is nothing more than a teacher who has taken a disastrous career detour -- as Lombardi's successor at Green Bay, Phil Bengston, discovered in 1968. For all its shortcomings, the book moved me for the simple reason that the stories of all great men and women are moving -- we see the subject touched with grace, moving among normal human beings, then making his or her exit from the stage. This moves us to awe when the protagonist changes the world in some way that is important to us. Maraniss attempts to chronicle that awe among Lombardi's contemporaries, but he does so as a cultural anrthropologist would, observing and recording, but never really understanding. If you want to learn some interesting details about Lombardi's life, by all means, read this book -- but if you want to understand Lombardi, read Lombardi.
Amazing man.Wonderful book, 21 Nov 1999
David Maraniss has written an intelligent account about one of America's sporting legends.His words do not eulogise the subject,rather placing into context the personality traits of Vince which some people may not have approved of.This makes for a truly engrossing read with insights into an era sadly lost.
Bill Belichick: The Early Years, 13 Jan 2006
Coach Belichick is so good that I doubt if he will be fully appreciated and understood in his own lifetime. His intense reluctance to share his private thoughts and experiences makes that lack of appreciation and understanding even more likely. Since coach Belichick began heading up the New England Patriots, everyone has become familiar with his one game at a time attitude and approach. Due to the publicity associated with the recent passing of his father, coach Steve Belichick, everyone has begun to sense that the real dynasty in New England began with coach Belichick's father. Recounting the early years of coach Belichick's education and start in coaching reveals a lot that I didn't know before, and I appreciate Mr. Halberstam's efforts in that regard. But I was shocked to see some of the more obvious omissions in that dimension. For instance, both Belichicks found lots of wisdom in football books. While that aspect of their learning is referenced here, I learned more about that part of their approach from a brief television profile where coach Belichick was interviewed recently than from this book. It's pretty clear that Mr. Halberstam doesn't know very much about football. As a result, you get constant references to game preparation such as watching and rewatching films . . . but not much beyond the mere recounting of the intense effort. Everyone watches films intently now. How is coach Belichick different in his methods? It isn't spelled out. The descriptions of coach Belichick's time in New England could have been written from daily newspaper reports. There's not much value added by Mr. Halberstam. Because others were willing to say a lot more about coach Belichick than either the coach himself or his colleagues were, this book is primarily about others' impressions of how coach Belichick learned and what he learned. I found those observations to be very superficial in most cases. I attend as many open practices by the Patriots as I can during training camp. Anyone who came to three or four of those practices could have added a lot of depth to this book. I suspect that Mr. Halberstam was working in an air conditioned library somewhere rather than attending those sessions during recent summers.
Homage To A Man, 11 Nov 2005
5+ stars Joan Vennochi, a political writer who rarely writes about sports said this of Bill Belichick. "Belichick, she noted, wasn't 'glib or glitzy'. At press conferences he sometime seems a little goofy and is often way too grim. But he is a leader without the swagger, selfishness, and pomposity that so many men in business, politics, and sports embrace as an entitlement of their gender and posture." This is not just a book about a man, or just about a coach, or just about a game, or just about football. This is a book about a man, who is a coach, who happens to love football, and the manner in which this man leads his life. David Halberstam, who has written his twentieth book, the last fourteen of which have been best sellers; and the last six, based on sports has written the coach's coach book in "The Education of a Coach". He has been able to dig deep inside of this man, Bill Belichick. The man who has come to be known as the best professional football coach of our era. And, the fact, that this man coaches the New England Patriots, is the icing on my cake. Bill Belichick is the son of a man who is known as one of the best football scouts of his era. Steve Belichick has molded his son to not only follow in his footsteps, but to lead the way. Steve taught his son to break down a football film so acutely that he knows, understands and can recite to memory every play made in that game or any game. Bill grew up loving the game of football. He went on to Andover where he met his best friend, Ernie Adams, who, to this day works with Belichick.. Together, they have the bid on the history of and every play ever made in football. Why is this important? Because you can pick apart every mistake and every nuance of the opposing team. That is one method Belichick uses in his winning team. The Rams/Patriots game that won the Patriots their first Super bowl, was according to ESPN’s Ron Jarowski, the best coached game he has ever seen. “Belichick, he goes on to say, is the best in the game today, maybe the best ever”. Belichick is known as a quiet man, too quiet, not at all flamboyant. Dressing in gray, trying to be as private as he can be. Difficult as the media firs thought. Hard to draw out
A star who did not want to be a star. Unfortunately, 40 million people wanted to know all about him and the team he coached. His life is football, and he dedicates most of his waking hours to that job. He has his best friends as his coaches with him on hi steam. They re the ‘Best and The Brightest’, as h author of this book would so eloquently say.
In 2005 Bill Belichick and his wife quietly separated after more than 20 years of marriage. They have three children whom Belichick loves and spends as much time with as possible.. But somewhere, the game of football became too much for the family and now Bill is alone. Known as he best football coach of his era, compared to Lombardi and Landry, his name will go down in history. David Halberstam has brought knowledge and the power of football to this book. How one man was able to build a team from practically nothing, to win a Super bowl in two short years, and then go on to win 2 more Super bowls gives us a glimpse of this genius. We learn how luck has played a part o=in this history. The luck of drafting Tom Brady. How Tom was taught and how Tom Brady has become one of the best quarterbacks of his era.
How has this man built a dynasty, and the Patriots may be called a dynasty. How the old work ethic from the western, steel mills of Pennsylvania has played a large part in the
Growth of this man, His background, his culture and the “stuff” that helped to shape this man. A brilliant took. One every sport fan should read. Insight into the working mind of a man who will become a legend. Highly recommended. prisrob
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Customer Reviews
You have to admire him..., 31 Oct 2007
Lawrence Taylor is arguably the greatest linebacker the NFL has ever seen. In this book he writes about his amazing career with the New York Giants and about the incredible things achieved as part of 'The Big Blue Wrecking Crew', including the amazing Giants victory at Super Bowl XXI. However, this book is not just a celebration of a fantastic sporting career but also an account of the ugly side of the man they called 'LT'. Taylor talks candidly about his drug problem, his many stints in rehab and the long road to recovery. Sure, it makes for uncomfortable reading but some laugh out loud moments help to balance things out. You have to admire the way in which Taylor holds nothing back in recounting some of the less glmourous episodes in what's been a pretty turbulent, but ultimately astonishing career. The most destructive linebacker...on and off the field!, 22 Jul 2005
This book is a great book for any football fan! Lawrence Taylor's 100% honesty makes this book 5star! Many sports auto biographies can be very focused on their sporting achievments in hope that their legend can live on and they can reep the benefits of a fabricated image, this book is very different! Although LTs book makes you shake your head in disbelief sometimes, this book will make any football fan laugh outloud numerous times with his stories from the NFL and perspectives of ex-coaches and ex-players! This book defines LTs career as a linebacker but gives an honest and funny-at-times account of his destructive life of cocaine, hookers and slinging muggers out of his car whilst they were robbing him! An excellent story of a great individual! Lombardi's legacy, 11 May 2003
This is a valuable book in understanding a particular cultural mileau in sport. Maraniss does not insult the reader by making analogy to the current day trends in sport, but places in context the rise of the "professional", the role of the agent, the changing nature of sports journalism, the nature of leadership and the role of the fan. To enjoy the book it's not essential, but it is useful, to know something about the American Football game. My frustration with the book was in the structural assymetry. Maraniss elegantly pilots the reader through the early years of Lombardi and the unique convergence of events and personalities that made the Packers the greatest team of their era. Lombardi was one, but not the only factor, in this phenomenen and some of the cameo actors are thoughghtfully introduced. The book ends though with a funeral and makes no attempt to track the longer range impact that Lombardi and the Packers had on the development of the American Football or the culture of sport in general. The reader may be left with the frustration that the story is only half written.
Lombardi Deserves Better Than This, 07 Oct 2000
I came to David Maraniss' _When Pride Still Mattered_ a big fan of Vince Lombardi's, and I left it the same way. At first the book's condescension toward Lombardi bothered me; but by the time I finished I realized that it didn't matter if Maraniss never "got" Lombardi -- as he certainly never got American football. Maraniss notes in his foreword that the title is meant ironically -- which will be news to thousands who bought the book because Lombardi's name and picture were on the cover, and because they mourn the loss of a time when pride did, indeed, matter. The modern urge to deconstruct is unnervingly present in the first few chapters of _WPSM_, as Maraniss traces Lombardi's unbending pursuit of victory to everything from his father's Elmer Gantryesque tattooed knuckles ("WORK and PLAY") to the philosophical musings of St. Ignatius. As someone who has personally experienced the contradictions of football -- of losing the self in the expression of eleven wills striving for perfection, thereby paradoxically achieving great personal satisfaction and, yes, self-expression -- I have always been perfectly happy taking Lombardi at face value. Why yes -- you DO have to pay the price to achieve success, as Lombardi's great mentor Earl "Red" Blaik liked to say. And indeed, fatigue DOES make cowards of us all, which drove Lombardi to push his players to the edge of physical exhaustion -- but in pursuit of physical excellence, not as an exercise in sadism. Maraniss ...subtly inserting questions about Lombardi's character and intelligence, not once but throughout the book... Having read Maraniss' other modern biography, _First in His Class_, it is apparent that Maraniss understands Bill Clinton in ways that he can never understand Lombardi. This is not just because Maraniss knows so little about football (the book is full of groaners for even the casual fan -- when Maraniss attempts to explain why Lombardi's ability to convey four vital pieces of information in the phrase "Red Right 49" is so significant, he gets three of them wrong). Clinton gets a free pass from Maraniss not once, but many times during _FIHC_, while Lombardi's shortcomings as husband and father are related ad nauseum. Maraniss' imability to connect personally with Lombardi is simply a question of generation -- Maraniss is cut from the same cloth as Bill Clinton, so of course he needs to deconstruct Lombardi to the point where the great man appears to be a complete fraud. OF COURSE Lombardi was a fraud, I found myself yelling -- all football coaches are frauds, at least the good ones. The coach can only succeed in getting his players to regularly commit acts which are the physical and psychological equivalents of racing a car at full speed into a brick wall -- not once, but over and over again, month after month -- by building myths. The myth of indestructibility, the myth of moral superiority, the myth of Divine favor -- these are all frauds. Without a large dollop of Barnum in his makeup, the football coach is nothing more than a teacher who has taken a disastrous career detour -- as Lombardi's successor at Green Bay, Phil Bengston, discovered in 1968. For all its shortcomings, the book moved me for the simple reason that the stories of all great men and women are moving -- we see the subject touched with grace, moving among normal human beings, then making his or her exit from the stage. This moves us to awe when the protagonist changes the world in some way that is important to us. Maraniss attempts to chronicle that awe among Lombardi's contemporaries, but he does so as a cultural anrthropologist would, observing and recording, but never really understanding. If you want to learn some interesting details about Lombardi's life, by all means, read this book -- but if you want to understand Lombardi, read Lombardi.
Amazing man.Wonderful book, 21 Nov 1999
David Maraniss has written an intelligent account about one of America's sporting legends.His words do not eulogise the subject,rather placing into context the personality traits of Vince which some people may not have approved of.This makes for a truly engrossing read with insights into an era sadly lost.
Bill Belichick: The Early Years, 13 Jan 2006
Coach Belichick is so good that I doubt if he will be fully appreciated and understood in his own lifetime. His intense reluctance to share his private thoughts and experiences makes that lack of appreciation and understanding even more likely. Since coach Belichick began heading up the New England Patriots, everyone has become familiar with his one game at a time attitude and approach. Due to the publicity associated with the recent passing of his father, coach Steve Belichick, everyone has begun to sense that the real dynasty in New England began with coach Belichick's father. Recounting the early years of coach Belichick's education and start in coaching reveals a lot that I didn't know before, and I appreciate Mr. Halberstam's efforts in that regard. But I was shocked to see some of the more obvious omissions in that dimension. For instance, both Belichicks found lots of wisdom in football books. While that aspect of their learning is referenced here, I learned more about that part of their approach from a brief television profile where coach Belichick was interviewed recently than from this book. It's pretty clear that Mr. Halberstam doesn't know very much about football. As a result, you get constant references to game preparation such as watching and rewatching films . . . but not much beyond the mere recounting of the intense effort. Everyone watches films intently now. How is coach Belichick different in his methods? It isn't spelled out. The descriptions of coach Belichick's time in New England could have been written from daily newspaper reports. There's not much value added by Mr. Halberstam. Because others were willing to say a lot more about coach Belichick than either the coach himself or his colleagues were, this book is primarily about others' impressions of how coach Belichick learned and what he learned. I found those observations to be very superficial in most cases. I attend as many open practices by the Patriots as I can during training camp. Anyone who came to three or four of those practices could have added a lot of depth to this book. I suspect that Mr. Halberstam was working in an air conditioned library somewhere rather than attending those sessions during recent summers.
Homage To A Man, 11 Nov 2005
5+ stars Joan Vennochi, a political writer who rarely writes about sports said this of Bill Belichick. "Belichick, she noted, wasn't 'glib or glitzy'. At press conferences he sometime seems a little goofy and is often way too grim. But he is a leader without the swagger, selfishness, and pomposity that so many men in business, politics, and sports embrace as an entitlement of their gender and posture." This is not just a book about a man, or just about a coach, or just about a game, or just about football. This is a book about a man, who is a coach, who happens to love football, and the manner in which this man leads his life. David Halberstam, who has written his twentieth book, the last fourteen of which have been best sellers; and the last six, based on sports has written the coach's coach book in "The Education of a Coach". He has been able to dig deep inside of this man, Bill Belichick. The man who has come to be known as the best professional football coach of our era. And, the fact, that this man coaches the New England Patriots, is the icing on my cake. Bill Belichick is the son of a man who is known as one of the best football scouts of his era. Steve Belichick has molded his son to not only follow in his footsteps, but to lead the way. Steve taught his son to break down a football film so acutely that he knows, understands and can recite to memory every play made in that game or any game. Bill grew up loving the game of football. He went on to Andover where he met his best friend, Ernie Adams, who, to this day works with Belichick.. Together, they have the bid on the history of and every play ever made in football. Why is this important? Because you can pick apart every mistake and every nuance of the opposing team. That is one method Belichick uses in his winning team. The Rams/Patriots game that won the Patriots their first Super bowl, was according to ESPN’s Ron Jarowski, the best coached game he has ever seen. “Belichick, he goes on to say, is the best in the game today, maybe the best ever”. Belichick is known as a quiet man, too quiet, not at all flamboyant. Dressing in gray, trying to be as private as he can be. Difficult as the media firs thought. Hard to draw out
A star who did not want to be a star. Unfortunately, 40 million people wanted to know all about him and the team he coached. His life is football, and he dedicates most of his waking hours to that job. He has his best friends as his coaches with him on hi steam. They re the ‘Best and The Brightest’, as h author of this book would so eloquently say.
In 2005 Bill Belichick and his wife quietly separated after more than 20 years of marriage. They have three children whom Belichick loves and spends as much time with as possible.. But somewhere, the game of football became too much for the family and now Bill is alone. Known as he best football coach of his era, compared to Lombardi and Landry, his name will go down in history. David Halberstam has brought knowledge and the power of football to this book. How one man was able to build a team from practically nothing, to win a Super bowl in two short years, and then go on to win 2 more Super bowls gives us a glimpse of this genius. We learn how luck has played a part o=in this history. The luck of drafting Tom Brady. How Tom was taught and how Tom Brady has become one of the best quarterbacks of his era.
How has this man built a dynasty, and the Patriots may be called a dynasty. How the old work ethic from the western, steel mills of Pennsylvania has played a large part in the
Growth of this man, His background, his culture and the “stuff” that helped to shape this man. A brilliant took. One every sport fan should read. Insight into the working mind of a man who will become a legend. Highly recommended. prisrob
Work Hard, Do Right, Roll with the Punches, Be a Role Model, and Persevere, 21 Sep 2007
If you only read one book about a sports star this year, I recommend Never Give Up. This book is Tedy's way of answering the many letters of encouragement and questions he received about his experience of having and recovering completely from a stroke, the first NFL player to do so and return to regular play in the following years.
I had the good fortune to attend the Buffalo Bills game at Gillette Stadium in 2005 when Tedy Bruschi returned to the team. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life . . . as the cheers boomed for miles when he was introduced and everyone held their breaths in silence whenever he made a hit or was in a pile-up. Everyone there was praying for Tedy and his family, hoping that it would be all right. And it was. Thank God!
Rarely do sports present us with role models for being good people these days, but Tedy Bruschi is the exception. Whether you are a child, a recovering stroke patient, or a middle-aged child who loves football, Tedy Bruschi's life and thoughts will make you feel good and teach you something you need to know. Michael Holley is one of our best sports writers, and he takes Tedy's unvarnished integrity and polishes it to a bright message containing many valuable lessons. A portion of the proceeds from the book are being donated to the American Stroke Association.
If you think you know all about Tedy Bruschi, you are wrong. Read this book and you'll realize that there's more to the man than being a hard-working middle linebacker for the Patriots who has recovered from a stroke and is a good family man. Never Give Up provides a philosophy of life that anyone can learn from . . . especially the parts about overcoming emotion and fear to do something that no one has ever done before.
I especially appreciated the candor in the book about the difficulties that his wife, Heidi, and he had in deciding to try to return to football after the stroke. Most people would have covered that up, but Tedy shares it full-throttle knowing that most families will be concerned about the risks of stroke patients becoming physically active again.
If you don't know what the symptoms of a stroke are, they are in the book. Read and remember those symptoms: They could save the life of someone you love.
Naturally, the book explains in detail what happened during 2005 when Tedy had and recovered from his stroke. But you'll also learn about Tedy's youth, his family, how he came to play football, and ended up with the Patriots. The book continues on to describe the 2006 season as well. There's also good behind-the-scenes material about how Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick handled Tedy's initial plans to retire and adjusted to his desire to return to football.
The book has some priceless color photographs of Tedy both as victor and while leaving the hospital, including the famous shot of giving a cold shower to Bill and Steve Belichick in the Super Bowl.
The book opens with a beautiful foreword by Tom Brady that explains what's so special about Tedy.
If you don't already have a 54 jersey, this book will make you want to get and wear one.
God bless Tedy Bruschi and his family!
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Customer Reviews
You have to admire him..., 31 Oct 2007
Lawrence Taylor is arguably the greatest linebacker the NFL has ever seen. In this book he writes about his amazing career with the New York Giants and about the incredible things achieved as part of 'The Big Blue Wrecking Crew', including the amazing Giants victory at Super Bowl XXI. However, this book is not just a celebration of a fantastic sporting career but also an account of the ugly side of the man they called 'LT'. Taylor talks candidly about his drug problem, his many stints in rehab and the long road to recovery. Sure, it makes for uncomfortable reading but some laugh out loud moments help to balance things out. You have to admire the way in which Taylor holds nothing back in recounting some of the less glmourous episodes in what's been a pretty turbulent, but ultimately astonishing career. The most destructive linebacker...on and off the field!, 22 Jul 2005
This book is a great book for any football fan! Lawrence Taylor's 100% honesty makes this book 5star! Many sports auto biographies can be very focused on their sporting achievments in hope that their legend can live on and they can reep the benefits of a fabricated image, this book is very different! Although LTs book makes you shake your head in disbelief sometimes, this book will make any football fan laugh outloud numerous times with his stories from the NFL and perspectives of ex-coaches and ex-players! This book defines LTs career as a linebacker but gives an honest and funny-at-times account of his destructive life of cocaine, hookers and slinging muggers out of his car whilst they were robbing him! An excellent story of a great individual! Lombardi's legacy, 11 May 2003
This is a valuable book in understanding a particular cultural mileau in sport. Maraniss does not insult the reader by making analogy to the current day trends in sport, but places in context the rise of the "professional", the role of the agent, the changing nature of sports journalism, the nature of leadership and the role of the fan. To enjoy the book it's not essential, but it is useful, to know something about the American Football game. My frustration with the book was in the structural assymetry. Maraniss elegantly pilots the reader through the early years of Lombardi and the unique convergence of events and personalities that made the Packers the greatest team of their era. Lombardi was one, but not the only factor, in this phenomenen and some of the cameo actors are thoughghtfully introduced. The book ends though with a funeral and makes no attempt to track the longer range impact that Lombardi and the Packers had on the development of the American Football or the culture of sport in general. The reader may be left with the frustration that the story is only half written.
Lombardi Deserves Better Than This, 07 Oct 2000
I came to David Maraniss' _When Pride Still Mattered_ a big fan of Vince Lombardi's, and I left it the same way. At first the book's condescension toward Lombardi bothered me; but by the time I finished I realized that it didn't matter if Maraniss never "got" Lombardi -- as he certainly never got American football. Maraniss notes in his foreword that the title is meant ironically -- which will be news to thousands who bought the book because Lombardi's name and picture were on the cover, and because they mourn the loss of a time when pride did, indeed, matter. The modern urge to deconstruct is unnervingly present in the first few chapters of _WPSM_, as Maraniss traces Lombardi's unbending pursuit of victory to everything from his father's Elmer Gantryesque tattooed knuckles ("WORK and PLAY") to the philosophical musings of St. Ignatius. As someone who has personally experienced the contradictions of football -- of losing the self in the expression of eleven wills striving for perfection, thereby paradoxically achieving great personal satisfaction and, yes, self-expression -- I have always been perfectly happy taking Lombardi at face value. Why yes -- you DO have to pay the price to achieve success, as Lombardi's great mentor Earl "Red" Blaik liked to say. And indeed, fatigue DOES make cowards of us all, which drove Lombardi to push his players to the edge of physical exhaustion -- but in pursuit of physical excellence, not as an exercise in sadism. Maraniss ...subtly inserting questions about Lombardi's character and intelligence, not once but throughout the book... Having read Maraniss' other modern biography, _First in His Class_, it is apparent that Maraniss understands Bill Clinton in ways that he can never understand Lombardi. This is not just because Maraniss knows so little about football (the book is full of groaners for even the casual fan -- when Maraniss attempts to explain why Lombardi's ability to convey four vital pieces of information in the phrase "Red Right 49" is so significant, he gets three of them wrong). Clinton gets a free pass from Maraniss not once, but many times during _FIHC_, while Lombardi's shortcomings as husband and father are related ad nauseum. Maraniss' imability to connect personally with Lombardi is simply a question of generation -- Maraniss is cut from the same cloth as Bill Clinton, so of course he needs to deconstruct Lombardi to the point where the great man appears to be a complete fraud. OF COURSE Lombardi was a fraud, I found myself yelling -- all football coaches are frauds, at least the good ones. The coach can only succeed in getting his players to regularly commit acts which are the physical and psychological equivalents of racing a car at full speed into a brick wall -- not once, but over and over again, month after month -- by building myths. The myth of indestructibility, the myth of moral superiority, the myth of Divine favor -- these are all frauds. Without a large dollop of Barnum in his makeup, the football coach is nothing more than a teacher who has taken a disastrous career detour -- as Lombardi's successor at Green Bay, Phil Bengston, discovered in 1968. For all its shortcomings, the book moved me for the simple reason that the stories of all great men and women are moving -- we see the subject touched with grace, moving among normal human beings, then making his or her exit from the stage. This moves us to awe when the protagonist changes the world in some way that is important to us. Maraniss attempts to chronicle that awe among Lombardi's contemporaries, but he does so as a cultural anrthropologist would, observing and recording, but never really understanding. If you want to learn some interesting details about Lombardi's life, by all means, read this book -- but if you want to understand Lombardi, read Lombardi.
Amazing man.Wonderful book, 21 Nov 1999
David Maraniss has written an intelligent account about one of America's sporting legends.His words do not eulogise the subject,rather placing into context the personality traits of Vince which some people may not have approved of.This makes for a truly engrossing read with insights into an era sadly lost.
Bill Belichick: The Early Years, 13 Jan 2006
Coach Belichick is so good that I doubt if he will be fully appreciated and understood in his own lifetime. His intense reluctance to share his private thoughts and experiences makes that lack of appreciation and understanding even more likely. Since coach Belichick began heading up the New England Patriots, everyone has become familiar with his one game at a time attitude and approach. Due to the publicity associated with the recent passing of his father, coach Steve Belichick, everyone has begun to sense that the real dynasty in New England began with coach Belichick's father. Recounting the early years of coach Belichick's education and start in coaching reveals a lot that I didn't know before, and I appreciate Mr. Halberstam's efforts in that regard. But I was shocked to see some of the more obvious omissions in that dimension. For instance, both Belichicks found lots of wisdom in football books. While that aspect of their learning is referenced here, I learned more about that part of their approach from a brief television profile where coach Belichick was interviewed recently than from this book. It's pretty clear that Mr. Halberstam doesn't know very much about football. As a result, you get constant references to game preparation such as watching and rewatching films . . . but not much beyond the mere recounting of the intense effort. Everyone watches films intently now. How is coach Belichick different in his methods? It isn't spelled out. The descriptions of coach Belichick's time in New England could have been written from daily newspaper reports. There's not much value added by Mr. Halberstam. Because others were willing to say a lot more about coach Belichick than either the coach himself or his colleagues were, this book is primarily about others' impressions of how coach Belichick learned and what he learned. I found those observations to be very superficial in most cases. I attend as many open practices by the Patriots as I can during training camp. Anyone who came to three or four of those practices could have added a lot of depth to this book. I suspect that Mr. Halberstam was working in an air conditioned library somewhere rather than attending those sessions during recent summers.
Homage To A Man, 11 Nov 2005
5+ stars Joan Vennochi, a political writer who rarely writes about sports said this of Bill Belichick. "Belichick, she noted, wasn't 'glib or glitzy'. At press conferences he sometime seems a little goofy and is often way too grim. But he is a leader without the swagger, selfishness, and pomposity that so many men in business, politics, and sports embrace as an entitlement of their gender and posture." This is not just a book about a man, or just about a coach, or just about a game, or just about football. This is a book about a man, who is a coach, who happens to love football, and the manner in which this man leads his life. David Halberstam, who has written his twentieth book, the last fourteen of which have been best sellers; and the last six, based on sports has written the coach's coach book in "The Education of a Coach". He has been able to dig deep inside of this man, Bill Belichick. The man who has come to be known as the best professional football coach of our era. And, the fact, that this man coaches the New England Patriots, is the icing on my cake. Bill Belichick is the son of a man who is known as one of the best football scouts of his era. Steve Belichick has molded his son to not only follow in his footsteps, but to lead the way. Steve taught his son to break down a football film so acutely that he knows, understands and can recite to memory every play made in that game or any game. Bill grew up loving the game of football. He went on to Andover where he met his best friend, Ernie Adams, who, to this day works with Belichick.. Together, they have the bid on the history of and every play ever made in football. Why is this important? Because you can pick apart every mistake and every nuance of the opposing team. That is one method Belichick uses in his winning team. The Rams/Patriots game that won the Patriots their first Super bowl, was according to ESPN’s Ron Jarowski, the best coached game he has ever seen. “Belichick, he goes on to say, is the best in the game today, maybe the best ever”. Belichick is known as a quiet man, too quiet, not at all flamboyant. Dressing in gray, trying to be as private as he can be. Difficult as the media firs thought. Hard to draw out
A star who did not want to be a star. Unfortunately, 40 million people wanted to know all about him and the team he coached. His life is football, and he dedicates most of his waking hours to that job. He has his best friends as his coaches with him on hi steam. They re the ‘Best and The Brightest’, as h author of this book would so eloquently say.
In 2005 Bill Belichick and his wife quietly separated after more than 20 years of marriage. They have three children whom Belichick loves and spends as much time with as possible.. But somewhere, the game of football became too much for the family and now Bill is alone. Known as he best football coach of his era, compared to Lombardi and Landry, his name will go down in history. David Halberstam has brought knowledge and the power of football to this book. How one man was able to build a team from practically nothing, to win a Super bowl in two short years, and then go on to win 2 more Super bowls gives us a glimpse of this genius. We learn how luck has played a part o=in this history. The luck of drafting Tom Brady. How Tom was taught and how Tom Brady has become one of the best quarterbacks of his era.
How has this man built a dynasty, and the Patriots may be called a dynasty. How the old work ethic from the western, steel mills of Pennsylvania has played a large part in the
Growth of this man, His background, his culture and the “stuff” that helped to shape this man. A brilliant took. One every sport fan should read. Insight into the working mind of a man who will become a legend. Highly recommended. prisrob
Work Hard, Do Right, Roll with the Punches, Be a Role Model, and Persevere, 21 Sep 2007
If you only read one book about a sports star this year, I recommend Never Give Up. This book is Tedy's way of answering the many letters of encouragement and questions he received about his experience of having and recovering completely from a stroke, the first NFL player to do so and return to regular play in the following years.
I had the good fortune to attend the Buffalo Bills game at Gillette Stadium in 2005 when Tedy Bruschi returned to the team. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life . . . as the cheers boomed for miles when he was introduced and everyone held their breaths in silence whenever he made a hit or was in a pile-up. Everyone there was praying for Tedy and his family, hoping that it would be all right. And it was. Thank God!
Rarely do sports present us with role models for being good people these days, but Tedy Bruschi is the exception. Whether you are a child, a recovering stroke patient, or a middle-aged child who loves football, Tedy Bruschi's life and thoughts will make you feel good and teach you something you need to know. Michael Holley is one of our best sports writers, and he takes Tedy's unvarnished integrity and polishes it to a bright message containing many valuable lessons. A portion of the proceeds from the book are being donated to the American Stroke Association.
If you think you know all about Tedy Bruschi, you are wrong. Read this book and you'll realize that there's more to the man than being a hard-working middle linebacker for the Patriots who has recovered from a stroke and is a good family man. Never Give Up provides a philosophy of life that anyone can learn from . . . especially the parts about overcoming emotion and fear to do something that no one has ever done before.
I especially appreciated the candor in the book about the difficulties that his wife, Heidi, and he had in deciding to try to return to football after the stroke. Most people would have covered that up, but Tedy shares it full-throttle knowing that most families will be concerned about the risks of stroke patients becoming physically active again.
If you don't know what the symptoms of a stroke are, they are in the book. Read and remember those symptoms: They could save the life of someone you love.
Naturally, the book explains in detail what happened during 2005 when Tedy had and recovered from his stroke. But you'll also learn about Tedy's youth, his family, how he came to play football, and ended up with the Patriots. The book continues on to describe the 2006 season as well. There's also good behind-the-scenes material about how Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick handled Tedy's initial plans to retire and adjusted to his desire to return to football.
The book has some priceless color photographs of Tedy both as victor and while leaving the hospital, including the famous shot of giving a cold shower to Bill and Steve Belichick in the Super Bowl.
The book opens with a beautiful foreword by Tom Brady that explains what's so special about Tedy.
If you don't already have a 54 jersey, this book will make you want to get and wear one.
God bless Tedy Bruschi and his family!
The man, the legend., 27 Jan 2004
Every football fan knows about Walter Payton the football player, and the title of the book best sums up his football playing life, 'Never Die Easy'. He played hard and never took the easy way out. What people may not know is that this title could equally well be attributed to Walter Payton the man. Tragically torn from this world by cancer at a young age, this book gives an insight into Walter Payton, not only the great football player, but the great man. A truly inspirational story and a true lesson on how to live your life and to conduct yourself.
One of the best books you will ever read, 04 Dec 2003
A spectacular account of a life lived by a truly extraordinary person. Whether its the best written book or not is immaterial as the words are genuine, highly compelling, thought provoking and display the level of regard the people that met this man hold him in. His coach Mike Ditka summed it up best when he said, 'He had a far greater impact on my life than I ever did on his. He's the best football player that I've ever seen, and he's one of the best people I ever met.'
Lazy and Fawning, 31 Aug 2003
A truly lazy piece of work - by both author and publisher. Also, one of the most fawning books I have ever read. Did I need to be told twenty times each page how great a man Walter Payton was? If you're thinking of reading this book because you're interested in football, forget it. Too much sugar makes people sick....
Sweetness makes for a sweet read, 08 May 2003
A inspirational and sometimes sad tale concentrating on Walter's passion for life and Football. Great moments such as his enshrinement in the hall of fame and the breaking of Jim Browns rushing record are all relived in detail as are the setting up of his lasting legacy the Walter Payton Foundation. In short a great read about a great man. Highly recommended.
The Man Behind The Football Player, 17 Feb 2003
Everyone knows about Walter Payton, the hall of fame football player. They know that for years he single handedly carried the Chicago Bears on his back all the while working his way towards becoming the NFLs all time leading rusher. But the fans could not know the man Walter Payton, the father Walter Payton, the man under the football player.
This book is made up of thoughts, feelings and quotes of Payton's closest friends and family members as well as himself. It is insightful and emotional. These are people that cared for him deeply and it shows. Beginning with his childhood and progressing to his death, this book covers a lot. It was origionally started as his autobiograhpy but unfortunately he passed away before it's completion. So they added the perspectives of his friends and family, in their own words to round the book out. I remember Walter Payton, the football player, and was a fan. I now know Walter Payton the man, and must say that I am a fan. He was an outstanding individual. Read this book and you will see a refreshing look at a professional athlete and a refreshing look on life and death. Walter Payton is truly a man to remembered. Bottom line - you can't go wrong with this book. Read it an enjoy.
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Customer Reviews
You have to admire him..., 31 Oct 2007
Lawrence Taylor is arguably the greatest linebacker the NFL has ever seen. In this book he writes about his amazing career with the New York Giants and about the incredible things achieved as part of 'The Big Blue Wrecking Crew', including the amazing Giants victory at Super Bowl XXI. However, this book is not just a celebration of a fantastic sporting career but also an account of the ugly side of the man they called 'LT'. Taylor talks candidly about his drug problem, his many stints in rehab and the long road to recovery. Sure, it makes for uncomfortable reading but some laugh out loud moments help to balance things out. You have to admire the way in which Taylor holds nothing back in recounting some of the less glmourous episodes in what's been a pretty turbulent, but ultimately astonishing career. The most destructive linebacker...on and off the field!, 22 Jul 2005
This book is a great book for any football fan! Lawrence Taylor's 100% honesty makes this book 5star! Many sports auto biographies can be very focused on their sporting achievments in hope that their legend can live on and they can reep the benefits of a fabricated image, this book is very different! Although LTs book makes you shake your head in disbelief sometimes, this book will make any football fan laugh outloud numerous times with his stories from the NFL and perspectives of ex-coaches and ex-players! This book defines LTs career as a linebacker but gives an honest and funny-at-times account of his destructive life of cocaine, hookers and slinging muggers out of his car whilst they were robbing him! An excellent story of a great individual! Lombardi's legacy, 11 May 2003
This is a valuable book in understanding a particular cultural mileau in sport. Maraniss does not insult the reader by making analogy to the current day trends in sport, but places in context the rise of the "professional", the role of the agent, the changing nature of sports journalism, the nature of leadership and the role of the fan. To enjoy the book it's not essential, but it is useful, to know something about the American Football game. My frustration with the book was in the structural assymetry. Maraniss elegantly pilots the reader through the early years of Lombardi and the unique convergence of events and personalities that made the Packers the greatest team of their era. Lombardi was one, but not the only factor, in this phenomenen and some of the cameo actors are thoughghtfully introduced. The book ends though with a funeral and makes no attempt to track the longer range impact that Lombardi and the Packers had on the development of the American Football or the culture of sport in general. The reader may be left with the frustration that the story is only half written.
Lombardi Deserves Better Than This, 07 Oct 2000
I came to David Maraniss' _When Pride Still Mattered_ a big fan of Vince Lombardi's, and I left it the same way. At first the book's condescension toward Lombardi bothered me; but by the time I finished I realized that it didn't matter if Maraniss never "got" Lombardi -- as he certainly never got American football. Maraniss notes in his foreword that the title is meant ironically -- which will be news to thousands who bought the book because Lombardi's name and picture were on the cover, and because they mourn the loss of a time when pride did, indeed, matter. The modern urge to deconstruct is unnervingly present in the first few chapters of _WPSM_, as Maraniss traces Lombardi's unbending pursuit of victory to everything from his father's Elmer Gantryesque tattooed knuckles ("WORK and PLAY") to the philosophical musings of St. Ignatius. As someone who has personally experienced the contradictions of football -- of losing the self in the expression of eleven wills striving for perfection, thereby paradoxically achieving great personal satisfaction and, yes, self-expression -- I have always been perfectly happy taking Lombardi at face value. Why yes -- you DO have to pay the price to achieve success, as Lombardi's great mentor Earl "Red" Blaik liked to say. And indeed, fatigue DOES make cowards of us all, which drove Lombardi to push his players to the edge of physical exhaustion -- but in pursuit of physical excellence, not as an exercise in sadism. Maraniss ...subtly inserting questions about Lombardi's character and intelligence, not once but throughout the book... Having read Maraniss' other modern biography, _First in His Class_, it is apparent that Maraniss understands Bill Clinton in ways that he can never understand Lombardi. This is not just because Maraniss knows so little about football (the book is full of groaners for even the casual fan -- when Maraniss attempts to explain why Lombardi's ability to convey four vital pieces of information in the phrase "Red Right 49" is so significant, he gets three of them wrong). Clinton gets a free pass from Maraniss not once, but many times during _FIHC_, while Lombardi's shortcomings as husband and father are related ad nauseum. Maraniss' imability to connect personally with Lombardi is simply a question of generation -- Maraniss is cut from the same cloth as Bill Clinton, so of course he needs to deconstruct Lombardi to the point where the great man appears to be a complete fraud. OF COURSE Lombardi was a fraud, I found myself yelling -- all football coaches are frauds, at least the good ones. The coach can only succeed in getting his players to regularly commit acts which are the physical and psychological equivalents of racing a car at full speed into a brick wall -- not once, but over and over again, month after month -- by building myths. The myth of indestructibility, the myth of moral superiority, the myth of Divine favor -- these are all frauds. Without a large dollop of Barnum in his makeup, the football coach is nothing more than a teacher who has taken a disastrous career detour -- as Lombardi's successor at Green Bay, Phil Bengston, discovered in 1968. For all its shortcomings, the book moved me for the simple reason that the stories of all great men and women are moving -- we see the subject touched with grace, moving among normal human beings, then making his or her exit from the stage. This moves us to awe when the protagonist changes the world in some way that is important to us. Maraniss attempts to chronicle that awe among Lombardi's contemporaries, but he does so as a cultural anrthropologist would, observing and recording, but never really understanding. If you want to learn some interesting details about Lombardi's life, by all means, read this book -- but if you want to understand Lombardi, read Lombardi.
Amazing man.Wonderful book, 21 Nov 1999
David Maraniss has written an intelligent account about one of America's sporting legends.His words do not eulogise the subject,rather placing into context the personality traits of Vince which some people may not have approved of.This makes for a truly engrossing read with insights into an era sadly lost.
Bill Belichick: The Early Years, 13 Jan 2006
Coach Belichick is so good that I doubt if he will be fully appreciated and understood in his own lifetime. His intense reluctance to share his private thoughts and experiences makes that lack of appreciation and understanding even more likely. Since coach Belichick began heading up the New England Patriots, everyone has become familiar with his one game at a time attitude and approach. Due to the publicity associated with the recent passing of his father, coach Steve Belichick, everyone has begun to sense that the real dynasty in New England began with coach Belichick's father. Recounting the early years of coach Belichick's education and start in coaching reveals a lot that I didn't know before, and I appreciate Mr. Halberstam's efforts in that regard. But I was shocked to see some of the more obvious omissions in that dimension. For instance, both Belichicks found lots of wisdom in football books. While that aspect of their learning is referenced here, I learned more about that part of their approach from a brief television profile where coach Belichick was interviewed recently than from this book. It's pretty clear that Mr. Halberstam doesn't know very much about football. As a result, you get constant references to game preparation such as watching and rewatching films . . . but not much beyond the mere recounting of the intense effort. Everyone watches films intently now. How is coach Belichick different in his methods? It isn't spelled out. The descriptions of coach Belichick's time in New England could have been written from daily newspaper reports. There's not much value added by Mr. Halberstam. Because others were willing to say a lot more about coach Belichick than either the coach himself or his colleagues were, this book is primarily about others' impressions of how coach Belichick learned and what he learned. I found those observations to be very superficial in most cases. I attend as many open practices by the Patriots as I can during training camp. Anyone who came to three or four of those practices could have added a lot of depth to this book. I suspect that Mr. Halberstam was working in an air conditioned library somewhere rather than attending those sessions during recent summers.
Homage To A Man, 11 Nov 2005
5+ stars Joan Vennochi, a political writer who rarely writes about sports said this of Bill Belichick. "Belichick, she noted, wasn't 'glib or glitzy'. At press conferences he sometime seems a little goofy and is often way too grim. But he is a leader without the swagger, selfishness, and pomposity that so many men in business, politics, and sports embrace as an entitlement of their gender and posture." This is not just a book about a man, or just about a coach, or just about a game, or just about football. This is a book about a man, who is a coach, who happens to love football, and the manner in which this man leads his life. David Halberstam, who has written his twentieth book, the last fourteen of which have been best sellers; and the last six, based on sports has written the coach's coach book in "The Education of a Coach". He has been able to dig deep inside of this man, Bill Belichick. The man who has come to be known as the best professional football coach of our era. And, the fact, that this man coaches the New England Patriots, is the icing on my cake. Bill Belichick is the son of a man who is known as one of the best football scouts of his era. Steve Belichick has molded his son to not only follow in his footsteps, but to lead the way. Steve taught his son to break down a football film so acutely that he knows, understands and can recite to memory every play made in that game or any game. Bill grew up loving the game of football. He went on to Andover where he met his best friend, Ernie Adams, who, to this day works with Belichick.. Together, they have the bid on the history of and every play ever made in football. Why is this important? Because you can pick apart every mistake and every nuance of the opposing team. That is one method Belichick uses in his winning team. The Rams/Patriots game that won the Patriots their first Super bowl, was according to ESPN’s Ron Jarowski, the best coached game he has ever seen. “Belichick, he goes on to say, is the best in the game today, maybe the best ever”. Belichick is known as a quiet man, too quiet, not at all flamboyant. Dressing in gray, trying to be as private as he can be. Difficult as the media firs thought. Hard to draw out
A star who did not want to be a star. Unfortunately, 40 million people wanted to know all about him and the team he coached. His life is football, and he dedicates most of his waking hours to that job. He has his best friends as his coaches with him on hi steam. They re the ‘Best and The Brightest’, as h author of this book would so eloquently say.
In 2005 Bill Belichick and his wife quietly separated after more than 20 years of marriage. They have three children whom Belichick loves and spends as much time with as possible.. But somewhere, the game of football became too much for the family and now Bill is alone. Known as he best football coach of his era, compared to Lombardi and Landry, his name will go down in history. David Halberstam has brought knowledge and the power of football to this book. How one man was able to build a team from practically nothing, to win a Super bowl in two short years, and then go on to win 2 more Super bowls gives us a glimpse of this genius. We learn how luck has played a part o=in this history. The luck of drafting Tom Brady. How Tom was taught and how Tom Brady has become one of the best quarterbacks of his era.
How has this man built a dynasty, and the Patriots may be called a dynasty. How the old work ethic from the western, steel mills of Pennsylvania has played a large part in the
Growth of this man, His background, his culture and the “stuff” that helped to shape this man. A brilliant took. One every sport fan should read. Insight into the working mind of a man who will become a legend. Highly recommended. prisrob
Work Hard, Do Right, Roll with the Punches, Be a Role Model, and Persevere, 21 Sep 2007
If you only read one book about a sports star this year, I recommend Never Give Up. This book is Tedy's way of answering the many letters of encouragement and questions he received about his experience of having and recovering completely from a stroke, the first NFL player to do so and return to regular play in the following years.
I had the good fortune to attend the Buffalo Bills game at Gillette Stadium in 2005 when Tedy Bruschi returned to the team. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life . . . as the cheers boomed for miles when he was introduced and everyone held their breaths in silence whenever he made a hit or was in a pile-up. Everyone there was praying for Tedy and his family, hoping that it would be all right. And it was. Thank God!
Rarely do sports present us with role models for being good people these days, but Tedy Bruschi is the exception. Whether you are a child, a recovering stroke patient, or a middle-aged child who loves football, Tedy Bruschi's life and thoughts will make you feel good and teach you something you need to know. Michael Holley is one of our best sports writers, and he takes Tedy's unvarnished integrity and polishes it to a bright message containing many valuable lessons. A portion of the proceeds from the book are being donated to the American Stroke Association.
If you think you know all about Tedy Bruschi, you are wrong. Read this book and you'll realize that there's more to the man than being a hard-working middle linebacker for the Patriots who has recovered from a stroke and is a good family man. Never Give Up provides a philosophy of life that anyone can learn from . . . especially the parts about overcoming emotion and fear to do something that no one has ever done before.
I especially appreciated the candor in the book about the difficulties that his wife, Heidi, and he had in deciding to try to return to football after the stroke. Most people would have covered that up, but Tedy shares it full-throttle knowing that most families will be concerned about the risks of stroke patients becoming physically active again.
If you don't know what the symptoms of a stroke are, they are in the book. Read and remember those symptoms: They could save the life of someone you love.
Naturally, the book explains in detail what happened during 2005 when Tedy had and recovered from his stroke. But you'll also learn about Tedy's youth, his family, how he came to play football, and ended up with the Patriots. The book continues on to describe the 2006 season as well. There's also good behind-the-scenes material about how Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick handled Tedy's initial plans to retire and adjusted to his desire to return to football.
The book has some priceless color photographs of Tedy both as victor and while leaving the hospital, including the famous shot of giving a cold shower to Bill and Steve Belichick in the Super Bowl.
The book opens with a beautiful foreword by Tom Brady that explains what's so special about Tedy.
If you don't already have a 54 jersey, this book will make you want to get and wear one.
God bless Tedy Bruschi and his family!
The man, the legend., 27 Jan 2004
Every football fan knows about Walter Payton the football player, and the title of the book best sums up his football playing life, 'Never Die Easy'. He played hard and never took the easy way out. What people may not know is that this title could equally well be attributed to Walter Payton the man. Tragically torn from this world by cancer at a young age, this book gives an insight into Walter Payton, not only the great football player, but the great man. A truly inspirational story and a true lesson on how to live your life and to conduct yourself.
One of the best books you will ever read, 04 Dec 2003
A spectacular account of a life lived by a truly extraordinary person. Whether its the best written book or not is immaterial as the words are genuine, highly compelling, thought provoking and display the level of regard the people that met this man hold him in. His coach Mike Ditka summed it up best when he said, 'He had a far greater impact on my life than I ever did on his. He's the best football player that I've ever seen, and he's one of the best people I ever met.'
Lazy and Fawning, 31 Aug 2003
A truly lazy piece of work - by both author and publisher. Also, one of the most fawning books I have ever read. Did I need to be told twenty times each page how great a man Walter Payton was? If you're thinking of reading this book because you're interested in football, forget it. Too much sugar makes people sick....
Sweetness makes for a sweet read, 08 May 2003
A inspirational and sometimes sad tale concentrating on Walter's passion for life and Football. Great moments such as his enshrinement in the hall of fame and the breaking of Jim Browns rushing record are all relived in detail as are the setting up of his lasting legacy the Walter Payton Foundation. In short a great read about a great man. Highly recommended.
The Man Behind The Football Player, 17 Feb 2003
Everyone knows about Walter Payton, the hall of fame football player. They know that for years he single handedly carried the Chicago Bears on his back all the while working his way towards becoming the NFLs all time leading rusher. But the fans could not know the man Walter Payton, the father Walter Payton, the man under the football player.
This book is made up of thoughts, feelings and quotes of Payton's closest friends and family members as well as himself. It is insightful and emotional. These are people that cared for him deeply and it shows. Beginning with his childhood and progressing to his death, this book covers a lot. It was origionally started as his autobiograhpy but unfortunately he passed away before it's completion. So they added the perspectives of his friends and family, in their own words to round the book out. I remember Walter Payton, the football player, and was a fan. I now know Walter Payton the man, and must say that I am a fan. He was an outstanding individual. Read this book and you will see a refreshing look at a professional athlete and a refreshing look on life and death. Walter Payton is truly a man to remembered. Bottom line - you can't go wrong with this book. Read it an enjoy.
Excellent!!, 14 Jun 2008
I bought this book after listening to Bill Romanowski speak on a radio show and being inspired. Romo is a warts and all insight into the extent to which professional athletes push themselves for their trade. A excellent read.
This blokes a lunatic, 25 Feb 2008
Loved this book. I had a slight knowledge of american football before i read this book, so it wasnt like im an american football fanatic and i still loved it.
I couldnt put the book down and ive since lent it to friends who say the same thing. Romo goes into battle every Sunday and you feel like your going with him. Marvel at his sacrifices to be on the field and stay there.
Ive read a few more American football autobiographies since this one, but this was the best.
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Customer Reviews
You have to admire him..., 31 Oct 2007
Lawrence Taylor is arguably the greatest linebacker the NFL has ever seen. In this book he writes about his amazing career with the New York Giants and about the incredible things achieved as part of 'The Big Blue Wrecking Crew', including the amazing Giants victory at Super Bowl XXI. However, this book is not just a celebration of a fantastic sporting career but also an account of the ugly side of the man they called 'LT'. Taylor talks candidly about his drug problem, his many stints in rehab and the long road to recovery. Sure, it makes for uncomfortable reading but some laugh out loud moments help to balance things out. You have to admire the way in which Taylor holds nothing back in recounting some of the less glmourous episodes in what's been a pretty turbulent, but ultimately astonishing career. The most destructive linebacker...on and off the field!, 22 Jul 2005
This book is a great book for any football fan! Lawrence Taylor's 100% honesty makes this book 5star! Many sports auto biographies can be very focused on their sporting achievments in hope that their legend can live on and they can reep the benefits of a fabricated image, this book is very different! Although LTs book makes you shake your head in disbelief sometimes, this book will make any football fan laugh outloud numerous times with his stories from the NFL and perspectives of ex-coaches and ex-players! This book defines LTs career as a linebacker but gives an honest and funny-at-times account of his destructive life of cocaine, hookers and slinging muggers out of his car whilst they were robbing him! An excellent story of a great individual! Lombardi's legacy, 11 May 2003
This is a valuable book in understanding a particular cultural mileau in sport. Maraniss does not insult the reader by making analogy to the current day trends in sport, but places in context the rise of the "professional", the role of the agent, the changing nature of sports journalism, the nature of leadership and the role of the fan. To enjoy the book it's not essential, but it is useful, to know something about the American Football game. My frustration with the book was in the structural assymetry. Maraniss elegantly pilots the reader through the early years of Lombardi and the unique convergence of events and personalities that made the Packers the greatest team of their era. Lombardi was one, but not the only factor, in this phenomenen and some of the cameo actors are thoughghtfully introduced. The book ends though with a funeral and makes no attempt to track the longer range impact that Lombardi and the Packers had on the development of the American Football or the culture of sport in general. The reader may be left with the frustration that the story is only half written.
Lombardi Deserves Better Than This, 07 Oct 2000
I came to David Maraniss' _When Pride Still Mattered_ a big fan of Vince Lombardi's, and I left it the same way. At first the book's condescension toward Lombardi bothered me; but by the time I finished I realized that it didn't matter if Maraniss never "got" Lombardi -- as he certainly never got American football. Maraniss notes in his foreword that the title is meant ironically -- which will be news to thousands who bought the book because Lombardi's name and picture were on the cover, and because they mourn the loss of a time when pride did, indeed, matter. The modern urge to deconstruct is unnervingly present in the first few chapters of _WPSM_, as Maraniss traces Lombardi's unbending pursuit of victory to everything from his father's Elmer Gantryesque tattooed knuckles ("WORK and PLAY") to the philosophical musings of St. Ignatius. As someone who has personally experienced the contradictions of football -- of losing the self in the expression of eleven wills striving for perfection, thereby p | | |