First we got the Baseball 100, and now we have the Football 100. The idea worked better for the former than the latter (largely because of equivalency issues relating to how much the game of professional football has evolved, but also because baseball is much more of a narrative sport), but this is an interesting read nonetheless.

Like The Baseball 100, it’s best read in small snippets a few players at a time rather than straight through. Though this makes it a rough go if you prefer narrative nonfiction, it also makes it a great choice to pick up on a Sunday to read while watching a football game.

I don’t agree with a lot of the rankings, though I can’t imagine anyone who follows football would with ANY set of rankings exactly, and I think the writers did a good job of making the book more about highlighting the careers of the players they chose than using the text to defend WHY they made those choices.

Very informative if you're looking to learn more of some of the best football players of all time. It takes a look at the life of the player as well as talks with people who knew those player. Each player has 5-6 pages which makes it easier to read considering how long it is.

One Hundred Fascinating Paths to Football Greatness

This is a prerelease book review.

I was born in 1950 in Denver when baseball and football were the primary sports played in the streets. My first team was the Packers and my first heroes were Johnny Unitas and Roman Gabriel. Reading these stories reminded me what made football special for us kids, especially when it was being played in snow or mud. That’s why we left the street when it snowed or rained and walked to a nearby park to play. Received my head concussed playing tackle, with no protection, on a snowy grass ‘field’.

These 100 stories are only a small glimpse into the complex lives of 100 men who were/are (including the recently retired numbers 1, 35, 43 & 47, and the still active numbers 21, 26, 54, 56 & 98) dedicated to being the best of the best despite any limitations they faced at the time they grew up and/or played. As one author splendidly put it regarding Darrell Green: “… raised with six siblings in a rough part of Houston and drugs, alcohol, lack of opportunity, and other potential kryptonite lurking everywhere.” Each persevered and earned their legacy making football truly America’s game.

I appreciate this quote by Bud Grant; that says a lot about the football careers of most of these men: “You might be good, you might be great for five years, but if you don’t have durability, you never achieve greatness.” Of course, Gale Sayers, and to some extent Jim Brown, were the exceptions.

I’ll have to admit I especially enjoyed the articles on players #33, 44 & 45. It’s interesting that in my 70+ years I have watched or heard about many of these great athletes, many of whom were in their prime when they lined up for the opposing team. I never really appreciated their talent (Walter Payton and Johnny Unitas being the exception). For instance, consider Neal Smith (KC) and Bill Romanowski (SF) before they went to Denver and helped the Broncos win their first SB. Fickled fan? Yep! Its amazing how free agency provides redemption for all their previous football “sins”.

Just being honest, but I came away seeing Bobby Layne as an exception. Similar too many present-day athletes, he seemed to look out the window and never sew his own reflection. Maybe this book can reset the priorities of young athletes who long for the social accolades and financial rewards of playing professional sports. It takes far more than raw talent to become part of the legacy of greatness set down by these 100 men, and many others (e.g., Larry Fitzgerald, Warren Moon, Tony Dorsett, Jack Youngblood, Kurt Warner, Shannon Sharp, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher, Jerry Kramer, John Randall, Troy Polamalu, Terrell Davis and even Jim Thorpe or Red Grange to name but a few). Most, if not all of these men understood that they had to continually learn more about the game and their positions, to work harder than their opponents, and to remain flexible to ‘reinvent themselves’ as the game evolved around them.

Ah, but then there is OJ’s … and maybe Bret Favre’s … post gridiron fall from grace. It’s appreciated that no punches were pulled regarding any of these athletes’ personal flaws (except, perhaps, for number 17?).

Thank you for including stories that highlight the consequences of the repeated physical punishment that these athletes endured across their careers (e.g., 18, 57, 58, 63, & 67).

Nevertheless, what dropped the rating to 3 Stars was an overall imbalance in telling the various 100 stories. An example is the level of information provided for number 10 and 22 compared to the snippet provided for number 15. My personal interest in this individual is that I followed his career from high school to the Hall of Fame.
• All though number 15 had a 27-year career as a player and executive with the same team, his article seemed to focus on a single, though important and legendary game.
• Even at that, there was no mention that the opponent was the defending SB champions; that the AFC SB representative was a Wild Card team; and that the AFC had lost the previous 13 SB’s by ever widening margins.
• And there was no mention how the presence of four future HOF members (i.e., running back, offensive lineman, tight-end, and safety) were key ingrediencies in number 15’s redemption for his previous three SB loses.
• And if my memory serves me correctly the winning team had no negative yardage plays until number 15 took the knee to end the game.
• But outside that one game, there was no mention of “The Drive”, or that he was the starting QB with the most victories (148) when he retired.

This type of overall imbalance needs to be addressed before the book is released because each player should have an honest retrospective of their greatness.

Two final thoughts: (1) this is not a book that is meant to be read like a novel but enjoyed leisurely over a period of days or weeks. (2) Brady is not only the GOAT but the NFL’s “unicorn”; i.e., that mythical measure of true greatness.

Below are specific comments as a prerelease reviewer not included on GoodRead:
1. Number 85’s story seemed disjointed and didn’t need to repeat Halas’ kindred appreciation for “Bulldog”. It didn’t flow like the previous 15 stories.

2. Number 82: how many times does the term ‘mismatch’ need to be used? Are there alternatives that can be used such as ‘a competitive disadvantage’?

3. Number 76: 3-step, 5-step, 7-step … a rambling proses. Actually, the rambling commentary could also apply to number 79 as well.

4. Page 350 indicates player number 39 scored 13 touchdowns in his career and his team was “12-2 of the games in which he scored a touchdown”. Thirteen TDs but fourteen games? New Math?

5. Page 398 (player number 30) starts a story about a fan and his wife going to the Palomino Club in North Hollywood to celebrate her birthday. The next paragraph starts talking about the player’s niece and never goes back to the fan’s story.