Brooks on Books: A football doubleheader

Since it's Sunday, and since we sort of have a Monday night doubleheader now that the NFL has moved the Giants-Vikings game due to weather (how is it everyone was blindsided by a snowstorm in Minnesota?), let's go for two hardcore football works for the return of "Brooks on Books.

If you know an intense pro football fan who loves to analyze the strategies of the game in detail, and who, well, loves to read, here's your Christmas present for that person: "The Games that Changed the Game: The Evolution of the NFL in Seven Sundays." I can't recommend this book highly enough, and I'm surprised it seems a little under the radar considering it's published under the ESPN banner. Former QB and current "Monday Night Football" analyst and noted film junkie Ron Jaworksi wrote this book with the help of TV producers and fellow film fanatics Greg Cosell and David Plaut, and they've created an insightful and fun read.

Jaworski's approach is simple: He chooses seven games that are notable for epitomizing facets of the development of pro football strategies and tactics, that analyzes each in detail. Each chapter digs into X's and O's, and, yes, there are a few diagrams scattered throughout the book, but the text is still accessible. I don't like reading football diagrams, myself, but I love reading Jaworski's explanations of how, say, Buddy Ryan's 46 defense or Dick LeBeau's zone blitz revolutionized the sport. There is great balance between accounts of the specific game and broader mini-histories of the personalities involved (especially the men who crafted these strategies) and discussions of the lasting effects. Plus, Jaworski and his co-authors did more than just watch old films; they interviewed players, coaches, and execs to garner valuable commentary on these "seven games." The result is an outstanding football book. You probably have to be a serious fan to get into it, but it's lively reading with a lot of entertainment value to go with its educational value.

Steeler haters may want to avoid my next recommendation, "About Three Bricks Shy of a Load...and the Load Filled Up" by Roy Blount Jr. This recent trade paperback edition collects the original "About Three Bricks Shy" and combines it with supplemental material and updates Blount published in subsequent years after the original's publication after the 1973 season.

See, Blount hung around the Pittsburgh Steelers for the entire '73 season, and he got a ton of great material out of it, BUT the team didn't reach the Super Bowl till the next season. Of course, Pittsburgh won that game and 3 others as it dominated the decade. This edition includes essays Blount wrote about those teams, as well as some of the key players.

But the heart of the book is "Three Bricks Shy," and it's great stuff. I will warn readers that Blount's style is very self-aware and maybe a bit too clever sometimes. For a good chunk of the beginning of this one, I was thinking that I was learning a hell of a lot more about Roy Blount than I was about the Steelers. Yet Blunt settles down eventually (or maybe I just get used to it), and it becomes an incredible inside look at pro football in the 1970s.

Through his coverage of the entire season, Blount really does cover all aspects of the game. It's far from dated, too, despite the changes that have occurred since 1973. There are thoughtful passages on the violence of football, for example, that still feel relevant in 2010. One thing that is funny is how steroids are treated rather casually (though not with any detail) whereas Blount is careful not to name names when discussing sex lives.

This is a must-read for Steelers fans, but it's also a valuable book for NFL fans with an interest in history. Some might get impatient with Blount's style early on, but if they stick with it, they'll be rewarded with an outstanding "I was there" kind of sports book.