Thank you, Penguin Group Dutton, for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Mr. Book just finished Why We Love Football: A History In 100 Moments, by Joe Posnanski.

First, let me get this bias out in the open. When it comes to sports, my obsession is baseball, baseball, baseball. I have baseball on my mind all of the time, regardless of which baseball season it is (regular season, postseason, offseason moves season, spring training). When it comes to football, I am a fan while watching a game, but otherwise, it’s never a priority.

So, when it comes to football books, I have a simple standard. If a football book can interest me as much as a good baseball book does, then it’s definitely at least an A.

I am also a big fan of Posnanski’s work. I am a subscriber to his Substack. I have given both Why We Love Baseball: A History In 50 Moments and Baseball 100 A+’s. I also gave The Machine, about the 1975 Reds, an A. I don’t recall exactly why, but I did give The Soul Of Baseball, which was about Buck O’Neil a B. Maybe eventually I’ll reread that to see if it warrants a higher grade on a reread. The others will definitely warrant rereads sooner than that, in order to give me opportunities to publish reviews here.

There are so many great stories in this book. Because football history is not my strong point, unlike baseball history, many of them were things I read for the first time. Meanwhile, being as old as I am and been a fan of the sport for so long, it brought back plenty of great memories of things that I’ve seen.

I guess I really can’t give 100 great examples of good stories (actually, 101 if I count the story on Dick Butkus before the countdown began). So, this just is the tip of the iceberg: the Philly fans booing Santa, the butt fumble, the chapters on certain individual players like Walter Payton and Lawrence Taylor and the Immaculate Reception. Of course, no Giants or Syracuse fan can leave Ernie Davis, Jim Brown, the Helmet Catch. And, as I long-time Giants fan, I’ve suffered ever since the Miracle at the Meadowlands (No. 27) was the first game I ever attended, as a 7-year old. And, even though we have our four Lombardi trophies, being a Giants fan is an exercise in suffering, just like it for the Browns fans.

Prior to reading this, my scoreboard was 74 baseball books getting an A+ vs. only two football books getting one. Now, that number is three for football. And I have gladly just placed my preorder for the audio version, so I can enjoy it again later this week.

Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In my personal conversion system, an A+ equates to 5 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).

This review has been posted at NetGalley, Goodreads and my blog, Mr. Book’s Book Reviews

Mr. Book finished reading this on September 15, 2024.