Football Books

Review: Legends of the Dallas Cowboys

Monk, Cody. Legends of the Dallas Cowboys, Champaign, IL: Sports Publishing LLC. 2004 184p, illus. list: 24.95, ISBN 1-58261-707-4

This lavishly illustrated "coffee-table" sized book covers the greatest legends of the Cowboys, starting with Tom Landry. It includes chapters for some of the original Cowboys like GM Tex Schramm, QB Don Meredith, DT Bob Lilly, MLB Lee Roy Jordan, DB Mel Renfro, and WR Bob Hayes.

Stars from the 70s who made the Cowboys "America's Team" include QB Roger Staubach, twin safeties Cliff Harris & Charlie Waters, LB Hollywood Henderson, DE Ed Jones, DT Randy White and RB Tony Dorsett.

The book closes with the "Triplets" of the 90s, Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith. As expected of a coffee-table book, it is lavishly illustrated.

© Fred Goodwin, Feb 23, 2008

My husband was thrilled to get the book and is enjoying reading it.

There I was-desperately needing a couple of appropriate gifts that solved the problem of what to get the guy who has everything but I can't afford new golf clubs - and I stumbled across Legends of the Heisman.Not being a football fan, and still wondering what hash marks were, I typed in "football" to get some suggestions.First off, the book's concise.No long complicated descriptions of winning plays, and second, it's extremely informative from a practical/historic viewpoint.During World War II, how many non-service teams were there?A little humor's tucked in, and just enough trivia to keep a seasoned neophyte or semi-interested reader wanting to read on.Gwaltney's done his homework, and ours, too, as each bio gives us a different slant and we pick up some odd tidbits- such as how Jim Plunkett happened to choose Stanford.I donated a couple copies to an inner-city teen=ager's club and the staff reports it's more popular than the bodybuilding magazines, so that says something! I wish the author had concluded each winner's write-up with a sentence or two as to what the recipient ended up doing, what business he went into after football, as we tend to think all Heisman winners made tons of money a la OJ...might be an eye-opener and definitely good fodder for trivia games.Overall, this book's a good quick read or browse for just about anyone.

This book tells all in a glorious manner that a fan wants to know about the heroes of the college game. A super gift!

I love this book. As a life long Bengals fan I can read this book over and over. It's well written and provides lots of interesting information on the clubs greatest ever players. This book should be of interest to all Bengal fans, particularly if you are a young fan or have recently began supporting the team and have never heard of great players like Bill Bergy, David Fulcher etc...It is not very expensive and is definately worth 20 dollars

Chick Ludwig does a very nice job taking you through the history of the Bengals via firsthand looks at the players. He covers the key franchise players, even if they weren't there all that long.
There is a nice summary of where they are, gametime recollections and ample pictures from his Dayton Daily News reporting trove.

Evoked a lot of great memories and filled in some of the holes from the early Bengals era for me. Stofa, Cook, Esiason, Anderson, Munoz, Ickey, Gregg, Wyche and a lot of recent history
rather forgotten. There aren't many books about the Bengals but this one definitely is worth putting on your bookshelf.

Now if Nflfilms would start bringing out some Bengals dvds of the Bengals 80/81/88 seasons. Need something to tide us over until they reach the pinnacle again.

Thanks Chick for a great book!

The words are fun to read aloud, and the pictures are darling. I don't mind reading this book over and over and over again.

Granny Whiteoak remembers the good old days when she was a big football star, the trophies, the awards, and all the press coverage. Now, sitting up in bed, she hears on TV that her team is in big trouble. She jumps up, grabs her cane, and dives into the television set, landing on the football field, ready to play. Not to worry, Granny's here to save the day..... Bill Martin Jr and Michael Sampson have written a rip roarin', high spirited picture book that will have little sports fans cheering, as Granny runs onto the field in her bedroom slippers, and takes charge of the game. Their joyous, rhyming, energetic text is just perfect for reading aloud, and complemented by Michael Chesworth's charming and amusing illustrations. Youngsters 3-7 will enjoy the hilarious details and marvelous facial expressions in each picture. Be ready to laugh and cheer, each and every time you open this book as Granny scores one for the home team. Little Granny Quarterback is a winner!

This book teaches the value of teamwork and the results that can come from it. Great for all kids, not just Husky fans.

A fun book to read to and with kids...especially if you want them to grow up to be a Husky fan!

The Lombardi Rules provides an insiders look at Lombardi's extroidinary methods and shows you how to adapt and adopt those methods for leadership success in your own career.
Pages 53 paperback

Exerpt Favorite chapter Page 1-2
"The Lombardi code is founded on the belief that you can only become a leader after developing your character-that is, after building integrity, honesty, and commitment. The way to develop these attributes is through self-knowledge. You can't improve what you don't understand.....The first steps on the road to self-knowledge involve asking ourselves the tough questions."

The employee handbook for enhancing corporate performace.
Table of contents
1. Ask yourself tough questions.
2. Look the straight truth on.
3. Play to your strengths.
4. Write your character.
5. Think big picture.
6. Be Completely committed.
7. Work harder than everybody.
8. Be prepared to sacrifice.
9. Be mentally tough.
10. Balance humility and pride.
11. Lead with Integrity.
12. Build team spirit.
13. Explain the whys.
14. Strike the balance.
15. Build confidence.
16. Use your mission.
17. Know your stuff.
18. Demand autonomy.
19. Respect legitimate authority.
20. Act, Don't React.
21. Keep it simple.
22. Chase perfection.
23. Tailor your motives.
24. Motivate by degrees.
25. Focus on fundamentals.
26. Run to win.

C. THE LOMBARDI RULES by Vince Lombardi Jr. is a
short but powerful book that has a lot of information in it that can be
used by coaches, business executives and just about anybody else
looking to succeed in today's world.

The author, whose father led the Green Bay Packers to five NFL
titles in seven years, compiled several of Lombardi's most
famous quotes; for example:

I would say that the quality of each man's life is the full measure
of that man's personal commitment to excellence and to victory--whether
it be football, whether it be business, whether it be politics or
government.

He then transformed the quote into a rule, such as: Be
Completely Committed . . . and after a brief discussion
of what it meant, Lombardi Jr. showed various techniques
to implement the rule in any organization.

In the case of how to up the "commitment quotient," he
suggested:

Start with yourself: Inspire those around you with your own level
of commitment. When leaders go the extra mile, their troops will
follow.

Talent only gets you so far: A person with 100 percent ability
and 50 percent commitment can throw a wrench into the whole
system through inattention, inconsistency and laziness.

Weed out the uncommitted: The organization that wins is
populated by winners. Weed out the uncommitted and get
the last 10 percent out of everyone.

A cute cartoon that accompanied each chapter also added
to my enjoyment of THE LOMBARDI RULES.

I own a dozen or so books about Longhorn football, but this one's my favorite. From the gorgeous photos to the insightful text, this book covers UT football history better than the others. One difference is in the large, coffee-table-sized format. Another is the unmistakable feeling that Hawthorne's "one of us." He's not afraid to use first person pronouns when talking about the Horns, and his commentary nicely captures the feelings of us orange-blooded fans (e.g., the teams we consider rivals). Thanks, Bobby, for this excellent addition to my Longhorn library!

If you LOVE football as much as I LOVE football, you absolutely must purchase LONGHORN FOOTBALL by up and coming author, Bobby Hawthorne. Hawthorne has gleaned the very best from over 113 years of outstanding Longhorn photography to create a dynamic picture that seems to come to life in your very hands. His insightful commentary only adds to the overall enjoyment of the book. I just couldn't put it down once I opened the book. I could almost hear the crackle of helmets on crisp fall afternoons as I reminisced over many of the best loved players, coaches and fans of the last 100 plus years. In short, this is the book that Darrell Royal would have wanted to be written about the greatest game in the greatest state in the union. Rick Hill

This was a great biography and is good for children to read. It tells about Drew Bledsoe's complete football career as well as his childhood and family life. You feel like you know Drew Bledsoe personally after finishing this book.

This book was outstanding! It is written in an enjoyable fashion - totally entertaining. It is agreat book for parents and children to read together. It contains great parenting tips woven into a wonderful story about growing-up. It illustrates how the ideas in a child's head will cause them to make strong, productive, positive decisions as they travel the journey of childhood, young adulthood, and parenthood.

Trust the NFL to do it best! Their book, Make the Right Call, is a rule book, but an extremely detailed and easy to understand rulebook with hundreds of example (not historical) plays to help you understand a rule even more. There is much more to NFL rules than I first thought, and much more to the signals. For instance, the book described how once a football touches an eligible receiver, all of the players, including offensive linesmen, become eligible. Today while watching the Tampa Bay/Philadelphia game, I saw this rule in action, and was enriched by knowing about this rule.

An excellent book worth reading for any NFL fan.

What do lawyers and football referees have in common? Well, aside from the fact that everybody hates 'em, they both work in a field that has little room for error. Making a snap decision based on your knowledge of frequently arcane laws is no easy task.
This outstanding book should be obligatory reading for every Monday Morning Quarterback. In fact, if I were the NFL's commissioner, I would make every "fan" answer ten questions correctly before they were allowed into a game! I guarantee that you do NOT know the game as well as you think you do. And the next time you call the ref an expletive, you should be glad you don't have to know what HE has to know in order to collect a paycheck - and YOU don't have to make an unpopular decision in front of 60,000 screaming fans! Just like lawyers, the refs are walking encyclopedias of rules and regulations, so the next time you watch a game, have this invaluable tome at your disposal. You'll soon realize that the officials are not as dumb as the fans!

I come at this with a totally different viewpoint. I have been coaching football for 11 seasons now and this book has been the best tool in putting a team together and how to coach my players. By using this book as a guide we have been able to use a lot of the patriots techniques to help us create better teams. I am proud to be able to recommend this book to any football coach. James has done a great job.

This is just as great, if not better, than the first volume. If you loved the first like the rest of us, you will need this one as well. These should both be required reading for both business professionals and Patriots fans.