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Why We Love Football. Joe Posnanski.

 


Why We Love Football.   A history in 100 Moments.      Joe Posnanski. 

There is no question American’s love their lists from best movies, songs, gadgets and even football plays.    Esteemed author Joe Posnanski, who has tried his luck at putting together a list of “greatest” moments in American football history, writes in his latest book Why We Love Football.  This is a much anticipated follow up to his popular book Why We Love Baseball   but only a history of 50 moments.  However, unlike the baseball themed manuscript which selected moments based on a semi-complicated formula consisting of importance, distinctiveness, emotion and awesomeness, the author explains early on that the football edition of historical moments was based just on emotion. 

One of the most gripping sections of the book appears near the end.  In fact, this play happened in a 1972 NFL playoff game between the Raiders and the Steelers in Pittsburgh and was ranked the #3 moment.   (Posnanski admits or acknowledges that this could have easily been placed at #1) The author impressively broke down the reception in 100 steps within itself and done in a way that was easy to follow and gripping at the same time.  This, of course, was just one of many intriguing stories.   The book features moments from not only professional and college football but high school and semi-pro plays as well.    Furthermore, the book does not suffer from recency bias as some of the reported moments happened in the early days of football featuring topics centered around the galloping ghost, George “Papa” Halas and the Chicago Bears, and coaching legend Paul Brown.    

What is more is that the book features many additional upsides.    One example is that while the moments are ranked from 100 to 1 in the author’s order, the reader is told early on that the book comes with no instructions.  The reader is free to pick and choose whichever chapter they like in any order they choose since there is not a distinctive connection between each selected moment. The chapters are short and easy to finish.   An unexpected bonus are the numerous footnotes included within the pages of each story.     Podnansky inserts little tidbits about the topics ranging from humorous to fascinating to personal connection.    In fact, one of his footnotes tells the football fan to look carefully at the stories ending with 0.   Those stories are “secretly” woven into another countdown of sorts.   That is, the author’s version of the 10 greatest players in pro football history including the likes of Aaron Donald, Walter Payton, Jim Brown and Jerry Rice among others. 

A small downside to any book of lists, particularly a lengthy one that contains one hundred stories and dozens of additional tidbits, is that it may be hard for the reader to retain or remember all the stories.    While the moments range from various football topics, the moments can blend particularly depending on how the reader processes and schedules their way through this opus.     

Now did Podnanski select the very best one hundred moments in football over the last one hundred years or so?   Quite possibly, yes, but the reader will have to decide for themselves since this is a monumental, subjective task.  While there have been countless plays and moments in football history, most fans would have a hard time coming up with identifying that many plays let alone some of the greatest since the inception of the sport.  For this reason alone, it is why football fans, but sports fans, too, will glean more than they expected from the three hundred and seventy pages.   While the list is quite subjective and up for debate the quality of the way the stories are delivered is a fun, often hilarious, way to unfold historical, emotional moments in America’s most favorite spectator game.           

You might like to read this book if you are a college football fan.

You might like to read this book if you are a fan of professional football.

You might like to read this book if you are a football fan.

You might like to read this book if you are a sports fan.

You might like to read this book if you relish reading lists of historical moments. 

Learn more about the author on X:  https://x.com/JPosnanski


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