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Book Review
The Ultimate Super Bowl Book
Author: Bob McGinn
Review by Michael E Lawrence
2/12/2009
The NFL is a tactful, media-savvy league where the last thing players and coaches want to do is throw each other under a bus in the wake of a tough loss or a crucial mistake.
Or so we thought.
Then we read the superb Ultimate Super Bowl Book, in which author Bob McGinn has not only delivered an exhaustive, blow-by-blow account of every Super Bowl game so far, he’s also done some magnificent work in collating retrospective interviews from everyone involved, from the head coach down to the water boy.
And the results are a jaw-dropping, no frills delight to read:
Take for example Bill Belichick speaking bitterly about Bill Parcells in the wake of the Patriots’ Super Bowl XXXI loss to Green Bay: “There was a lot of stuff going on prior to the game him talking to other teams, which, honestly, I thought was totally inappropriate It was disrespectful to the team.”
Or former Packers’ GM Ron Wolf venting angrily about former coach Mike Holmgren’s failings in Super Bowl XXXII: “Certain calls were to be made that weren’t made. Mike Holmgren refused those calls.”
And how about Bobby DePaul, then Bears director of player personnel, speaking candidly about his own quarterback Rex Grossman and his opposite number in Super Bowl XLI, Peyton Manning: “Manning stunk early, but he regrouped because it’s Peyton Manning. He played an excellent second half. Everybody’s good when you’ve got a quarterback, for God’s sake. Let’s be honest. That was a tale of two quarterbacks.”
There are many, many more zingers like these, and it’s fair to say there will be some ears burning if not spontaneously combusting when the terrific interviews McGinn has collected get out there.
Apart from the deeply enjoyable tittle-tattle, McGinn clearly voted one of America’s top 20 sportswriters in 1998 for good reason has also done a grand job of breaking down the games, providing all the necessary stats and lineup info, and all round making a potentially formidable topic easy to flick through, a doddle to understand, and a joy to read.
The Ultimate Super Bowl Book: every football fan should own one.
Diner Rating 10/10
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