This book is an excellent read for anyone who has a genuine interest in football statistics. The authors are actually statisticians themselves, and they go through each phase of the game and attempt to come up with scientific ways to rate each position, including the offensive line!

The part I found most interesting was the chapter on quarterbacks and the conventional NFL QB rating system and why it is flawed. From there the authors go into a lengthy process of building a better rating system, which more accurately reflects who the most efficient passers in the NFL are.

You would think being written by a bunch of statisticians, this book would be dull, but it is far from it! It is lively and humorous throughout, and is very easy to read. Also, most of the heavy statistics are relegated to notes, so if you are not interested in that sort of thing you can skip it easily.

All told this is an outstanding book to read if you are interested in learning the "Nitty-gritty" behind football statistics.

For any "I love Lucy" fan, you'll love these plays. If you're not a fan of Lucy, you'll still love it. These two episodes show why Lucille Ball is considered a legendary comedian and regardless of the fact that she's not in these episodes herself, the actors give brilliant acts.

The Red Sox Trivia Book was published in 1993, so it only covers history until 1992. It does provide a brief (50-page) history of the Red Sox, followed by crossword puzzles and trivia questions, and an all-time player list as of 1992. The questions themselves might be challenging for the average fan, but a real Red Sox trivia buff will not find them all that obscure. And they're directly based on the history chapter, so if you're going to buy the book to answer the trivia questions, try them before reading the history, or you'll likely be disappointed.

It is really good. It includes all kinds of different trivia questions about the Red Sox history, past and present day. I suggest it.

The 1960s are, as Carroll suggests, pro football's best decade, but this book doesn't quite bring that assertion to life. It's written rather functionally and relies rather too heavily on facts instead of anecdotes or the author's own assertions. It recites too many stories that the devoted fan already knows, and doesn't quite manage to tell them in an interesting new way. There are interviews with players, some of which are mildly enlightening, and some photographs, most of which I'd seen before.

I was hoping for something which would tell me more about this period of the game which I didn't already know, and less about things I could have looked up in a reference book.

Would give this a marginal recommendation, with a heartier one to those who know little about the decade in question. For those who do, I'd suggest Daly and O'Donnell's "Pro Football Chronicle."

If you are in your 40's and loved pro football as a kid in the 1960's, then this is the book to read! It brought back so many wonderful childhood memories of the NFL and AFL that I wanted to weep. I remember some of these game in the 60's better than I do games of a couple years ago. And the author provides much insight into the players and games that I was never aware of.
The early struggles of the AFL are particularly interesting to read about. As I watch the often boring world of the NFL today, I yearn for when pro football was a much more simple game. This book satisfies that longing.

A short read, only 90 pages, an easy read also. The book is short stories from Walter "rabbit" Maranville's experiences as a baseball player from 1911-1939. Each story is no more than a page or so. Did everything he talks about really happen? Well I guess that's part of the charm of this book. Like your favorite Grandpa spinning stories from the past, I sure there is some embellishment, but the spirit of the story comes through. If you're looking for the story of Rabbit's life this is not it, this is just great short stories from a great story teller. A fun, quick read.

Don't expect to find a football book you can use exclusively from the rest. This is a good supplement to books like "The Pro Football Encyclopedia" (by Maher/Gill). If you're into statistics this is one of the best to have. Whereas "Pro Football Encyclopedia" has players longest gains, which this book doesn't, this book gives you kickoff and punt return stats for all players, the encyclopedia doesn't. This book is mainly about the NFL. I bought it for the statistics. It's also a good book to use if you want to find out more about a specific player (statistically speaking). Chapters like "The 25 Most Memorable Regular Season Games" and "The 300 Greatest Players" etc.. are not what I got this book for. I would prefer a book that leaves out author's opinions. I've seen games I'll never forget that I knew wouldn't make the list and also players. Although these chapters are somewhat interesting along with others I could live without half this book easily but like I said, it's a good season by season individual stat book that has information other books don't. It mainly depends on what you're buying this book for. There are statistics here excluded from other books but there are stats left out that ARE in other books, like blocked punts for instance, which may not seem to matter to most, but it all depends on what you're buying it for. It has stats other books don't, that's what I bought it for.

This is a reference book, and a darn good one, but they could have trimmed a couple of hundred pages of heft by leaving out the a lot of the subjective content. For example their list of the best 300 players of all time is pure opinion, albiet educated opinion. The section on strategy was outdated almost as soon as it was printed.

That's a minor complaint, though. I use it extensively in research for the book I'm writing. Its guide to the stadiums that teams have used over the years is by far the best, most complete out there (although, another small criticism, they could have summarized the info in a table for quicker reference)

Clearly not for the casual fan, but a great arguement settler for the serious football fan.

Any facts which is not listed in Total Football 2, is not worth to know! Here you have it all, all managers, all players, all probowlers and so on. You even get every score of every NFL game ever! The only thing that is not in the book is every pre-season result! But if I shall say a word that describes this book, it would be: Touchdown!