Jackson MichaelThe Game before the Money: Voices of the Men Who Built the NFL

Fascinating read! You don't have to be a football fan to appreciate the heart-felt first-person accounts of life as an early player in the NFL. What great stories from the mouths of the guys who were the foundation for the teams. The emotions, their personal challenges make great reading. Funny, light hearted anecdotal stories along with deeply personal accounts of how the lives of these early players from the 50's, 60's and 70's evolved, inter-twined and impacted them as they have aged. Every current player owes these guys a huge debt. There are lessons to be learned by the young guys that would serve them well.The sacrifices are amazing, their financial expectations so under whelming---they just wanted to play football. Great personal insights. Fun tidbit: Walt Garrison asked for a horse trailer in lieu of a fancy car as part of his signing bonus. Not a car--a HORSE TRAILER---so cowboy-ish and so very like Walt. This book would be an amazing movie.

Very much in the format of my favorite baseball book of all time, "The Glory Of Their Times," this one is a thick stack of fascinating interviews with the men who pioneered the league. Its format of chaptering by decades of play provides a nice sense of how the game evolved. I came away with a renewed awareness of how profoundly TV changed every bit of popular culture in the 20th Century. A great book, even for casual football fans.

Would buy again, great shape

I loved the book, particularly as my deceased husband, Nolan Luhn, had a chapter on his experience playing 5 years with the Green Bay Packers. These men really did the tough things that made football the game of America. They played hurt and played both offense and defense a lot of the time.

good