As a sports fan, I often lament at the dearth of quality books on the subject. While there are gems like Ball Four, many sports books are corny, half-baked “tales of the locker room,” anodyne autobiographies, and team recaps that don’t reveal anything new. A truly good sports book is a pearl-in-the-oyster. And when you find it, you don’t want to let it go.
This is one such book.
No it doesn’t stand there with the greats but it’s a fascinating look at Kyle Shanahan’s story and his assistants who branched out. It delves into their lives in terms of what makes them good coaches, touches on their various intersections, and shows how these men changed football in a most unlikely way. It gives the insider access look at the maneuvering and manipulations that comprise the profession; access the lay sports fan rarely gets anymore. And it’s wrapped in a tight, readable narrative.
But what’s best about this book is it’s neither hagiographic nor overly-critical. It’s definitely favorable to each of these guys; it could probably go deeper on how they do or do not build relationships in the locker room with the players they respectively coach. But I do get the sense of how they became what they are, especially considering some of the Game of Thrones-esque maneuvering that went on behind the scenes. No one is innocent but it’s a fascinating story all the same.
We’re not going to get many more books like this in the modern age so I’ll cherish it for what it is and what it does.