I read the book because I am a fan of Bill James and the work he did with the Baseball Abstract and using regression analysis to take a look at conventional wisdom that frequently turned out to be false.

If you are a fan of pre-1970 football, there are some interesting tidbits. If you are interested in post 1990 football the book is far less useful.

While the author states that he tries to be objective when coming up with his questions and answers I don't think he has done a good job. His chapter on best defenses of all time could have been done much better, and more correctly. Other reviewers comments on thsi in more depth.

Some of his "studies" use arbitrary cut off like "do coaches loose effectiveness after 10 years". Whats special about 10 years? As opposed to 9 or 11? Is there really a large enough sample set to draw meaningful conclusions? Are there any outliers that distort the data? Maybe the big name coach is offered an ENORMOUS contract by the owner of a terrible team and while improving it, doesnt bring it to the level of the superbowl team he left. In short, I don't think the author looked at the data in enough detail.

I also don't like how the aucthor comes off as opinionated and makes ridiculous and unsupported comments. I can accept that not everyone likes the salary cap, and revenue sharing. But it doesn't help him make his point by calling the NFL socialist. The author dosn't like the draft. He thinks the bad teams like Detroit should have to fight to convince the next crop of players to join them. I think this is a bad ida and would greatly harm weak teams chances of improving, and also hurt teams in weaker markets.

Bill James always did a much better and thorough job than this author.

I did not find it worthwhile to read, and would not recommend it.

I give it 2 starts because there are some interesting parts scattered around

KC Joyner provides some interesting information through this book, but then has 22 pages of utter garbage. In one part he creates categories to put coaches in, which enabled me to better understand coaches' philosophies. In another he showed how teams that compile good records through playing bad teams generally fail in the playoffs-The Arizona Cardinals were a wild exception. In yet one more, he shows that the majority of the time teams that win Super Bowls don't have elite running backs. However, the first 200 pages of information were ruined The term was invented by a socialist, George Orwell, to describe the worst type of fascist regime he could think up.

So, if you want to read an interesting book, pick it up, but don't forget that there are a very ignorant 22 pages that should have been left out. At least you can currently find the book on Amazon for eleven cents.

Let me preface this review with a warning; I am pretty into stats and the like, and this review is written from that point of view.

This is a book that is designed to answer rhetorical questions: is the left tackle as important as people say, what was the best defense ever, and so on. There are two kinds of books with this goal: books that attempt to solve these problems with statistical reasoning, and books that attempt to tease the problems out simply indulgent rambles.

For example, there is a chapter inquiring which is the best defense ever. It is clear from the phrasing used that the author has long believed that the best defense is not the 85 Bears, but instead the mid-70s Steelers, and has written the chapter to make that case. He admits at the beginning of the chapter that he loved the Steelers as a child. His initial point is that the Steelers allowed fewer points than the Bears. And that concludes his statistical analysis. No reference to the fact that the 70s had fewer points scored generally than the 80s (thus skewing the numbers), no inquiry as to whether or not Chicago played a schedule with better offenses. He then goes on to compare the teams position head because of its cursory reasoning and sloppy deduction. For a more general football fan who merely wants to read opinions... you could do worse. This book in many ways reads less like a book and more like several blog entries, driveby opinions that never fully delve into the heart of the matter. From a wit like Bill Simmons such reading is a pleasure, but KC Joyner lacks the chops to sustain his readers purely with his force of personality.

This is a mediocre work, lacking in any real originality or value. If you enjoy reading about football, you may well enjoy this book. If you're looking for something more, look elsewhere.