I'm Reading this book and let me tell you something, this is a great book. Tells the story of an old time football team and it talks about the great Colts players like Jonnhy Unitas, Raymond Barry, Lenny Moore, and other greats. A real must read for any TRUE football fan!

I'm not a Colts fan, I've never been to Baltimore, and I grew up ten years too late for the 1950s but this is still the best football book I've ever read. Much of it is down to William Gildea's engaging writing style and his ability to seamlessly blend interview with reminiscence. This book isn't so much about the Colts as it is about growing up in Baltimore during the 1950s - which, for me, only strengthens its appeal.

With books like this and John Eisenberg's "Cotton Bowl Days," George Plimpton's "the smaller the ball, the better the literature" axiom is, at long last, under threat.

Can't recommend this strongly enough.

This is a book that evokes memories of a golden era in America and American sports when men played professional football for the love of the game. To those who loved them, the Baltimore Colts of the late 50's and 60's were a gallant and mythical team that resonated with names like Johnny Unitas, Lenny Moore, Alan "The Horse" Ameche, "Big Daddy" Lipscomb, Raymond Berry, Gino Marchetti, Art Donovan, and Weeb Ewbank. William Gildea has captured, in a wistful reminiscence, these men and that time...a time when the players were an integral part of the community and the community shared a deep and abiding emotional attachment to the team. This was professional football before free agency, player strikes, owner lockouts, and team relocations.

Like Mr. Gildea, my father introduced me to the Colts when I was a small boy. Like Mr. Gildea, my father instilled an appreciation for the men with the horseshoes on their helmets who won with quiet humility, lost with defiant grace, and personified determination, hard work, and team loyalty. My father and I had never been within 2,000 miles of the city of Baltimore, yet through television on Sunday afternoons, we felt the Colts were our team, too. Sadly, the Baltimore Colts have been forever consigned to memories. In this book, you can relive those memories and once again hear the names of the legends and the prideful roar of a city echo across the years...

A year in the life of a number of teams from all over the state of Indiana. This book profiles the last year of one class basketball--"as it should be."

Who will win Mr. Basketball--The best player in the state or the one with the best publicity machine? Does race matter?

While the writing style is easy to read, it's almost like reading newspaper accounts and this is the only thing keeping this book from 5 stars.

This book reminds me of listening to 1190 AM WOWO and the crazy call in shows where scores are reported from all over the state with brief summaries. You hit all the big games for the top stars for the year. And of course there still lives the dream of the small school David conquering the Goliath of New Castle Chrysler etc...

Truly a three point basket!

While I agree with the earlier review, that the teams profiled, didn't advance as far as you may have originally expected; I also feel that is part of the beauty of the book (and Hoosier basketball itself). Anything can happen on a given night and the giants can fall to the Davids. This is the exact purpose of the book and why so many Hoosier basketball fans are unhappy with the delineation of their sacred tournament.

I found myself seated in many of the gyms depicted in the book, as the games were described. I was on the edge of my seat, surrounded by the atmosphere of the noisy arenas, the smell of hotdogs and popcorn. I don't think anyone could ask for more from any written work.

While this will be a great read for most Indiana basketball fans, it should also be a delight for anyone who enjoys sports at its purist form; one where the athletes play simply for pride and enjoyment, rather than a larger chunk of the corporate puzzle.

I've read it twice now, and when it returns from the autograph circuit I've sent it on, courtesy of the post office, I'm sure I'll read it again.

I am a Hoosier from Anderson Indiana and I really enjoyed the book,it captured the flavor of Indiana non-class basketball. The glow of what might be was forever taken from the game when class basketball was brought into play. I attended a small school and I remember the hope of this might be the year when tourney time rolled around. I was working in the food service at Anderson High School during the 96-97 season and Mr. Gildea captured the spirit of the coach and players of that year. This book is a good read for those outsiders who cannot understand the importance of basketball in Indiana.

A VERY WELL WRITTEN STORY ABOUT THE RAH RAH COACH OF THE REDSKINS. IT IS A STORY OF AN INTENSE, WORKAHOLIC, NEVER SATISFIED COACH, WHO BELIEVES IN WINNING WITH VETERANS. HE HAD IMMEDIATE SUCCESS WEAREVER HE COACHED. THE BOOK FOLLOWS HIS PLAYING CAREER IN SCHOOL FOLLOWED BY HIS COACHING CAREER IN COLLEGE, ASSISTANT COACH IN NFL, AND AS HEAD COACH OF RAMS AND REDSKINS. IT MOSTLY COVERS THE 1971 REDSKIN SEASON AND THEIR RISE TO THE PLAYOFFS. VERY DETAILED AND FACT FILLED. WELL WORTH READING.

As a die hard Redskins fan, I was very sorry to see this excellent concept so badly muffed. The idea behind this book is to cash in on the Washington Post vault, providing great photos and articles combined with new pieces by long-time Skins beat reporters to tie it all together. Sadly, whoever edited and proofread this thing reeeally dropped the ball. Sentences at the bottom of the page are repeated at the top of the next, photographs are mislabeled, pieces of sentences are missing, words are chopped off in the middle. Probably still of some value for the die hard Skins fan, but a real black eye for the Washington Post. If their newspaper were produced as shoddily, Richard Nixon would have finished his second term.

Yes, there are some typos and such in the early chapters but the book isn't as lousy as described in the 2-star review. Most of the problems are hyphen-ated words that are not at the end of a page or line. It is like the typeset was changed but the book was not reproofed.

Still, there is a lot of good information in the book. I think it covers items that Loverro's book (very good as well) ignored or glossed over-- how Gibbs wanted to sign and trade Riggo and how Joe Jacoby ended up sticking around in that first camp. The Times summary makes it sound like Gibbs and Beathard were geniuses building a team. This book shows that they were also lucky geniuses. If you are a Skins fan, you should own this book.

I see there is also a newer edition out with the Synder years (ugh).