SI.com's Darren Eliot reviewed the CBC's
DON CHERRY's new book titled, "
HOCKEY STORIES AND STUFF," which was transcribed by the CBC's
AL STRACHAN. Eliot noted it is a "quick read full of memories and anecdotes," as Cherry "covers his career as a minor league pro, a successful coach of the Boston Bruins, and a staple on 'Hockey Night In Canada.'" Strachan "kept the language more Cherry; meaning the English language sometimes takes a back seat to Grapesian syntax." Cherry "rolled on the stories and Strachan added insight into the many references while correcting the pronunciation of Cherryesque versions." Cherry and Strachan made a "conscious effort to clean up any profanity so the read would be kid-appropriate, but that doesn't mean the book is for everyone," as English professors "might want to avoid it" (
SI.com, 12/1).
GLORY DAYS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Russell Adams noted Pro Football HOFer FRANK GIFFORD, who recently released his new book titled, "THE GLORY GAME: HOW THE 1958 NFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME CHANGED FOOTBALL FOREVER," had originally "intended to help" late author DAVID HALBERSTAM on a similar book. However, Halberstam in '07 died in a car accident, and Gifford said, "I thought, 'Shoot, I'll go ahead and do it.'" Gifford, who interviewed players for the book, said Pro Football HOFer RAYMOND BERRY had "been thinking about writing the book himself so he kept some really copious notes." Gifford added, "This wasn't the greatest game ever played. It was electric and it later took on the unbelievable air about it. But there were six fumbles during the game" (WSJ.com, 12/3).
READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? George Mason Univ. professor JAMES TREFIL, in a special to the WASHINGTON POST, reviewed author MURRAY GREENBERG's new book, "PASSING GAME: BENNY FRIEDMAN AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF FOOTBALL." Friedman's contribution to football was to "bring the forward pass to prominence as an offensive weapon." Friedman was a "tough Jewish kid," but Greenberg in the book "suggests that it was Friedman's personality, rather than his religion or ethnicity, that impeded his acceptance by football fans" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/2). Friedman was elected to the Pro Football HOF in '05, and SI's Elizabeth McGarr writes Greenberg's "well-researched narrative ... offers possible explanations" for the delay, which include Friedman's "egotism, his public disagreement with the [NFLPA] in 1970 over pension benefits and his outspoken incredulity at the Hall's omission." Greenberg said, "I look at this book as the rediscovery of a great American innovator" (SI, 12/8 issue).
SOUTHERN COMFORT: In Pennsylvania, Michael Sedor wrote ESPN's IVAN MAISEL's book, "THE MAISEL REPORT: COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S MOST OVERRATED & UNDERRATED," might instead "carry the subtitle 'Why The SEC and Southern Football Is Underrated and Why Northern Football (Big Ten, Big East and Notre Dame) Is Overrated and Has Become Old and Irrelevant." The theme of the book is "undeniable," and Maisel's choices "hold true to college football's conventional wisdom, a pronouncement of Southern hegemony and Northern deficiency." Sedor: "So should you buy 'The Maisel Report'? Not if you love Northern football. The book is 240 pages of why you are irrelevant and dying. There's no counterbalance to your flogging" (PENNLIVE.com, 12/1).
PEN PAL: In L.A., Tom Hoffarth wrote ESPN's SAL PAOLANTONIO in his new book, "HOW FOOTBALL EXPLAINS AMERICA," takes "more than a whimsically scholar approach in fitting the jagged pieces of American football into the way the country has been soldered together over the past 230-some years" (L.A. DAILY NEWS, 11/30).
