I enjoyed this book but I will say there was more details and research than I had prepared myself for so I did get a bit bogged down in that at times. Some of the stories are hard to read and fathom and I appreciated the eye-opening aspect of that.

This is a hard book to peg down. Its part memoir, part cautionary tale, part advocacy. It was an entertaining book. I learned a LOT about Gay and her family. She wrote about her time in the NFL and afterwards being an advocate. There was a TON of talk about CTE....more then I thought was necessary.
I never realized how many different programs that the NFL provided to players and former players. The author alluded to them being very complicated and some sounded like it.
I liked the book, I learned from it, but for a person who doesn't watch the games, I am not a former player, and I am not an attorney, this book left me puzzled.
I was puzzled when profiles of ex players would abruptly END, with no further mention of what happened to them.
I was puzzled when CTE was mentioned ad nauseum and was the majority of the book. While depression, suicide, and obesity were mentioned briefly....but not in depth like CTE.

Overall I got the impression that the NFL has TRIED to make things better for players and former players, they just need to know where to look.
Is there still work to be done? YES!

I really wanted to read this, thinking that Gay was a former player....I found out she was an uber rich white lady whose daddy owned the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. She was an advocate for CERTAIN players, but only certain players.

I would say that this is a half finished book...so much more needed to be written.

It's really hard to pin down exactly what this book is. It's partly a recounting of the author's life and professional career, partially a discussion of hardships faced by rank-and-file NFL players, partially cautionary tales about players who have struggled, and partially a call to arms for better protection and support for current and former players.

This book absolutely bursts with one-of-a-kind information and perspective from the author. It's quite unvarnished--I would be shocked to hear it was ghostwritten or even heavily edited. It's not shy at all about naming names and confronting issues and bad actors directly. The research is well documented/cited. As a fellow Tampanian, I enjoyed the many fascinating glimpses into local history and culture.

I think I was expecting either a memoir or a manifesto, but this turned out to be neither, exactly. It feels more like a massive transfer of information from Ms. Culverhouse, and I'm glad she got to share it before her death. Given her unique access and position, what she has to say is worth reading.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!