Top 100 Pro Football Books of All-Time

[JohnTurney]

http://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com/ ... me_95.html

Top 100 Pro Football Books of All-Time
Chris Willis, NFL Films
Part 2 of 5

[oldecapecod11]

by mwald » Thu Mar 17, 2016 6:45 am
"To anyone disappointed that a certain book doesn't make the list, there's one way to resolve that: make your own list.
This list is just one man's opinion. Fun to read (and an interesting list for a change!) but no more valid than your own well informed opinion..."

In a recent issue of our newsletter, we had an opportunity to enjoy a list compiled by an informed and qualified
PFRA member, John Maxymuk.
Of course, that feature will not be available to our fans and other lurkers for another year-or-so.

The initial list focused on publications by PFRA members but it was mentioned that the list would be expanded
in future issues to include other publications.
Now THAT will be a list worth waiting for - not some attention-groping effort.
Again, the drawback will be the "wait" forced upon our guests.

Of course, this did not have to be.

A number of members had suggested and requested that the accessible portion of our web site include
a bibliography. There were even offers by some of our more qualified members (Hickok, Moran, Reaser,
and others) to contribute mightily to that effort.
Unfortunately, these suggestions, requests, and offers were ignored.

Perhaps now that we are on the road to getting our house in order we will see some progress in this regard
that is not the result of spam infestation.
Hope springs eternal...

[mwald]

In terms of who's qualified to make a list, it depends on what kind. If it's a straight bibliography, I can't think of many people more qualified than a librarian, which, to my knowledge, both Willis and Maxymuk qualify.

A list of the "best" or the "top" books? Different matter altogether. Highly subjective, and a librarian certainly doesn't corner the market on personal insight. There's a Starbucks barista in Des Moines that might blow us all away.

I'll respond with my thoughts after Willis has the floor, as will many others, no doubt.

[Jay Z]

http://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com/ ... me_95.html

Top 100 Pro Football Books of All-Time
Chris Willis, NFL Films
Part 2 of 5

Nice to see the Alex Hawkins book on there. I would agree that's a good one.

[oldecapecod11]

...Highly subjective, and a librarian certainly doesn't corner the market on personal insight. There's a Starbucks barista in Des Moines that might blow us all away...

Glad you mentioned Des Moines.
Baristas in these Iowa towns might also qualify:
Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport, Marshalltown, Mason City, Keokuk, Ames and Clear Lake
but make sure it's a coffee shop and not a place that might have a pool table.
Iowans are known to be
"...so by God stubborn we can stand touchin' noses for a week at a time, and never see eye to eye..."
~ Meredith Willson, Iowa Stubborn (The Music Man, 1957)

[Ronfitch]

...Highly subjective, and a librarian certainly doesn't corner the market on personal insight. There's a Starbucks barista in Des Moines that might blow us all away...

Glad you mentioned Des Moines.
Baristas in these Iowa towns might also qualify:
Dubuque, Des Moines, Davenport, Marshalltown, Mason City, Keokuk, Ames and Clear Lake
but make sure it's a coffee shop and not a place that might have a pool table.
Iowans are known to be
"...so by God stubborn we can stand touchin' noses for a week at a time, and never see eye to eye..."
~ Meredith Willson, Iowa Stubborn (The Music Man, 1957)

Some do wait until the third date to kiss ... or so I am told.

Fun list, nice to see familiar names and looking forward to the rest of the list.

[Rupert Patrick]

I thought both the Three Bricks Shy and Great Teams Great Years series books would rate higher.

A book I would expect to rate in the top ten is the Super Bowl XL Opus. If you attended the PFRA meeting at NFL Films in 2012, it was the giant book on display in the lobby at NFL Films that measures approximately three feet by three feet and has 1,400 full color photographs, many of which take up an entire square yard page and many of which have never before been published. Weighing approximately 95 pounds, it is the heaviest sports book ever made. Only twenty thousand of these books were produced; I am currently in the process of finalizing a deal to purchase one of these books.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=belqdxiJyD4

EDIT: I bought the book from an Ebay auction, but I got the version without the autographs of all the Super Bowl MVP's. Same exact book as the one shown on the video, but missing that one page, and much, much cheaper. Now I have to build some sort of table to hold the book.

[Gary Najman]

Will any of those Super Bowl books sold at grade school book fairs in the 80s when I was a lad be on the list? I, for one, hope so.

The one Super Bowl book that should be on the list is the book they did for Super Bowl XXV. Here is the book that is on sale on Ebay; if you ever see a copy of this where you can pick it up for a couple bucks, I recommend you buy it. It is worth purchasing for the artwork alone:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-SUPER-BOWL- ... SwmrlUzq6g

It is hoped somebody has the sense to continue this book over the past 25 years.

I have that book and it was remarkable how I bought it: in my Senior year at college here in Mexico (1992), usually many editorials brought their books for the students to buy them at the start of the semester in the library. Behind all the math, physics, engineering and accounting books there was this book, in pristine condition! I thought it was worth it a lot, but I was stunned that it only costed (at the time) 20 pesos (less than 7 dollars)! So I have it and as Rupert said, the artwork is great as all the photos. Also it has a list of all the players who were in Super Bowl rosters, ths starters and the officials (in the pre-internet era for someone like me, who wasn't even born until the fifth Super Bowl in a foreign country , it was very valuable data).

[JohnTurney]

http://nflfootballjournal.blogspot.com/ ... me_18.html

Top 100 Pro Football Books of All-Time
Chris Willis, NFL Films
Part 3 of 5

[ChrisBabcock]

My parents bought me #48 at the PFHOF when we went during a family vacation when I was about 10. It was one of my favorite books as a kid. I still have it.