(Part 2) Best football books according to redditors

I just recently read a this book about the '86 Giants run.

There was a story in there that during a team meeting, a coach writing a defensive plan on the board noticed LT passed out sleeping under a table in the back. He angrily woke him up and told him to pay attention. LT takes one look at the board, marches up to it and basically finishes diagramming the play scheme the coach was working on.

Dude knew his stuff.

I know most people on this sub weren't old enough to watch football in 1999, so its probably not common knowledge how badly the league fucked the Browns in their expansion season. After seeing the Panthers and the Jaguars both make it to their respective conference championships in their second season as expansion teams, the NFL over corrected in the other direction when the Browns were brought back and set them up to fail. Probably didn't help that the fan outcry after the team was relocated was particularly embarrassing for the NFL that it allowed the team to be relocated under the circumstances it was.

Interesting read if anyone cares to learn a little bit of NFL history.

To make matters worse, they decided to turn over the front office and coaching staff every 2 or so years all the way up until a few years ago (hopefully). Being a Browns fan has tested each and every one of our characters. The fact our team was taken from us by a lying crook and add the historically terrible officiating against us (another egregious one for good measure) and the recipe for an obnoxious fanbase now that we have talent is complete. We all think its Cleveland vs the world, and for good reason. So laugh at us for going 100-230 over 20 years all you want, but be ready for what happens once this team gets out of its own way.

We weren't the only fanbase to overbuy the hype.

We got enough for a book

OP, this is free on Kindle unlimited

It's a pretty good rundown of our short history from 1995 until the 2015 NFCCG. It covers good and bad and is almost completely homeristic.

Not exactly what you asked for, but I got Keep Your Eyes Off the Ball off Amazon for just a few bucks a couple years ago, and it really helped me a lot with this very thing. The spiral bound "playbook edition" comes with a three hour DVD as well. The spiral version isn't dinky/flimsy so don't be scared.

Before that book, I never knew where I was supposed to be looking and missed out on a lot. Problem solved.

Edit to Add: There is an updated/newer version now, but Amazon reviewers are unclear about whether it has a DVD, if that matters to you--I think the book is pretty clear on its own.

Check out Graham Hunter's book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Barca-Making-Greatest-Team-World/dp/0956497128

Full thread, excerpt from Football Hackers book detailing #AFC's transfer strategy in 2018 & the role played by Sven Mislintat. The full book can be purchased here:

In the first 2 transfer periods, Mislintat pushed through the signings of 3 players he knew from his BVB days. Goal-scorer Aubameyang was an immediate success and became #AFC's best goalscorer straightaway.

Sokratis, a solid Greek defender, too, established him self in the 1st XI, while Miki arrived from MUFC in a swap-deal for Alexis. The swap reduced #AFC's wage bill & replaced 1 player who was past his best with a reliable performer.

Those were all safe transfers in the sense that they held little risk. The same was true of buying German keeper Bernd Leno, who took over from Petr Cech in goal before too long.

Mislintat was aiming higher, though. He wanted to take the club back to its player-developing roots and discover talents with the potential to grow in the #AFC shirt. Midfielder Lucas Torreira from Uruguay exemplifies this strategy. Mislintat found him thanks to a feature in his software called 'Similar Players'. It follows the logic of Amazon's algorithm: 'Clubs who like this player might also be interested in those ones.' Eager to add more resilience to #AFC's midfield, Mislintat checked players with a similar data profile to N'Golo Kante. The system proposed Sampdoria's Torreira.

'I knew him, and I had also noticed him doing well before,' Mislintat said. But without looking at the stats, he might not have thought of the South American.

The club's fans also took an instant liking to French Matteo Guendouzi, a signing from second division Lorient. For once, the energetic young CM's arrival had nothing to do with data analysis but instead courtesy of some old-fashioned scouting, similar to Julian Weigl [at BVB]. Mislintat saw in the 19-year-old qualities that cannot easily be measured in numbers: courage, strength of nerve, enthusiasm & leadership. In his 14 months at #AFC, Mislintat proved that his way of doing things worked in the PL.

#AFC's newly appointed DoF Raul Sanllehi, however, decided to put more trust in his network of agents as far as recruitment was concerned. Mislintat saw this startling development as a signal. His contract was terminated by mutual consent.

There's stuff about buying StatDNA in secrecy in late 2012. Apparently, it identified Manolas before his move to Roma but scouts weren't convinced. Implies Wenger was convinced to buy Chamakh & Park Chu-young after data from StatDNA suggested they'd be poor signings.

Two easy recommendations: The Essential Smart Football from Chris Brown and Study Hall from Bill Connelly. The former is the easier read but both go in-depth without being too confusing. When I was done reading them I felt smarter, for whatever that's worth.

I miss Paul Rhoads. Dude knows how to coach. Resurrected Pitt's defense after years and years of being trash. If you ever have a chance to read the book Chris Peak wrote about the 2007 Pitt football team, there is an awesome chapter about how Paul Rhodes planned for the 13-9 game against WVU.

Its been around forever, this book is about the 2004 Ravens. It isn't the 9ers thing or "philosophy".

http://www.amazon.com/Next-Man-Up-Behind-Todays/dp/B000Y8SDX4

There's a book about it

https://www.amazon.com/Walk-This-Way-Wisconsin-Tradition/dp/1940056330

Very interesting. Their approach seem to fall very much in line with methods outlined in ["Football Hackers" by Biermann] (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Football-Hackers-Science-Data-Revolution/dp/1788702050). Especially when they discuss the types of chances they create, and identifying a striker that is particularly good at those. Very interesting to see them benefit from it.

Well, the book about the game is called "You dropped it, you pick it up".

As a side note to my rebuttal, I would like to recommend Death to the BCS by Dan Wetzel. It deals with a lot of your concerns and arguments, plus more.

Study Hall: College Football, Its Stats and Stories by Bill Connelly this book is incredible. It is a great blend of pure college football stories and raw advanced statistics. He has interviews with coaches, former players, and top college football writers. He has personal stories, he discusses pay for play, concussions and other hot topics, and explains his advanced saber metric-esc statistics. You can read the first chapter here

Chris Peak wrote a book about it.

13-9: The story of a game, a season, and a team that never quit https://www.amazon.com/dp/1973440121/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_HiHQCbCECDQQX

I recommend you give this a read.

https://www.amazon.com/False-Start-Browns-Were-Fail-ebook/dp/B00939RFNO

Football Outsiders Football Almanac

1. Did you find it as confusing as I did when Mike Sam played the WILL linebacker?
   
   
2. Football seems to lend itself to ad hoc theorizing, in which we try to fit an intuitive line to a bunch of noisy data. But we've got the tools now to test these fan explanations fairly rigorously. I'm curious about your logical process when you're writing an article - how would go about proving or disproving something like, "For the past four seasons, Baylor's offensive is consistently excellent, and they win or lose the game based entirely on a wildly inconsistent defense"? Feel free to pick a different example.
   
   
3. Setting aside the obvious GIGO issues -- injuries to key personnel and insufficient/poor data from early games -- what is the factor that gives you the biggest pause about advanced stats? Is there an intangible physical, psychological, or strategic quality that you think can't or can't yet be captured?
   
   
4. I believe it was Andy Staples on Stewie Mandel's podcast who was lamenting that there weren't any geeks on the Playoff Committee, and mentioned you by name as the obvious omission. Would you have any interest if your name was floated? If not you, whom would you nominate?
   
   
5. I really enjoyed Study Hall. I was surprised at the wide variety of answers from coaches on how they use stats, from motivation to quality control to strategic guidance to not at all. Do you think we're approaching a Billy Beane moment, where an on-paper inferior team pulls a number of upsets and publicly credits it to statistical analysis over subjective traditions?

I highly suggest going through each link someone posted, and I'd like to add 2 things.

1. I've never heard of this book until the other day, when I think a former Rams fan was posting. But, check out this book. I've never read it, but the guy who recommended it said it's really good, with a touch of homerism.
   
   
2. Since you're a CMC fan, let me direct you to a shirt.. There was a post here after Thursday with the shirt minus the Roaring Riot logo on the bottom. But, it's still sweet. Might be worth getting since you said CMC is one of your favorite players.
   
   Also, being a former Chargers fan, I'm assuming you live around San Diego? Regardless, on the 2nd link, check the Chapters link near the top. It's basically a chapters of fans who, I assume, meet up to watch Panthers games and likely go to games when they're close (I've never been to one near me, so I'm just assuming. There's one in Los Angeles that has almost 340 people on Facebook. Most are in the Southeast, but they're spread out (and growing). Might be a way to find more fans to help you increase your fandom of the team.
   
   Edit: Just noticed there's a Chapter in Denver. If any of you guys are here, I salute you for being in enemy territory. Actually, any Chapter outside the South - Boston, LA, etc.
   
   Edit#2: Depending on when you come here's a few things: Charlotte Knights Triple-A (Chicago White Sox) baseball team that finally moved into Charlotte a few years ago. NASCAR Hall of Fame. Carowinds, not sure how suitable it would be for a 5 year old. There's a saying in NC that, "No matter where you're at, you're just a few hours from the mountains, and the beach." Boone is beautiful in the mountains, and there's the Outer Banks in the opposite direction.
   
   Edit#3: ALSO a smaller sub, and not that active (compared to other multi team subreddits) /r/CatTeamBrotherhood

Gilbertson -> Willingham -> Sark

This is a good read.

I have...there are just still so many difference that could be had outside of that. Recruiting wise inaddition to Academic, social, political(scheduling). A great read from the wv sideline:
http://www.amazon.com/Waiting-Fall-Virginia-University-Football/dp/0985200901

Check out this book if you want to know more:

Raye of Light: Jimmy Raye, Duffy Daugherty, the Integration of College Football, and the 1965-66 Michigan State Spartans

I highly recommend the book about that game, You Dropped It, You Pick It Up

Hunter has written a book about Pep's Barcelona. Maybe everything else comes up short by comparison.

But.... the book was about us!

http://www.amazon.com/Next-Man-Up-Behind-Todays/dp/B000Y8SDX4

Has anyone read The Thinking Fan's Guide to the College Football Playoff by Stewart Mandel? I read his earlier book, but I might not recommend it because it's already dated.

The book was written 15 years ago but The Backyard Brawl looks at why the rivalry between A&M and UT is so intense.

Another homer pick is The Junction Boys. It's the story of Bear Bryant's first year at A&M and how he took the team out to west texas for summer camp and nearly killed everyone

I got my dad this book on the 86 Giants. He liked it a lot

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250071534/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There's probably going to be a BiblioFriday post later on, but...

After reading the I lost my NFL team today post in the mothersub, I figured I should do some actual reading on CFB and traditions in this long offseason. I'm not a non-fiction reader at all, but I have enough interest that I can probably make it through a few of these.

Anyone of have any recommendations? I don't especially care what school the book's on (since I don't really have an FBS team to cheer for).

ETA: I did already add Running for my Life by Warrick Dunn on my wish list.

Edit 2: Running list:

• Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer
  
• The Backyard Brawl
  
• The Junction Boys

I've recommended it once, but I will say it again, if you're interested in the Lone Star Showdown, UT-A&M rivalry, Backyard Brawl is a great read. It was fun reading it while coming from Austin, and going to A&M.

I like this one. http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Football-Baseball-Smart-People/dp/1494389266/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1411349146&sr=8-3&keywords=jonathan+bales

I mean nobody likes losing... but yeah we have some bad apples... as does any fanbase. Our program and our fans are used to winning thanks to success throughout the 2000s. As a team, we've come close but haven't tasted a championship and as fans, we feel that our program has not gained the respect we believe we deserve. If you look at West Virginia as a state (I only went to WVU - wasn't born there) it is often stereotyped and ridiculed by people who have never even been there. There's a book that sums up the history of the program pretty well. One of the reasons fans are so down is because we saw this loss coming and know what the rest of the season could end up being.

With the new College Football Playoff coming along, I think it might be interesting to read up on it & how we got there.

Stewart Mandel's (formerly of SI, now with Fox Sports) book, A Thinking Fan's Guide to the College Football Playoff


I really enjoy his writing. One of the best CFB writers in my opinion. Should be an interesting read for all.

Remember that stupid book he came out with? Man he really jumped the gun on that one...

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Blue-Wrecking-Crew-Smashmouth/dp/1250071534

I read this one a few years back. Nothing crazy in it, but was an enjoyable little history lesson about the Tuna era

Websites (Most are not active):

• Inside the Pylon - Videos may not load embedded, but you can copy the url. Pretty good look at base plays, position responsibilities, and other terms you run into.
  
• Breakdown Sports another place for looking at the above, less available though covered deeply. See article on Cover 1 for example.
  
• Football Study Hall More on the statistics side of football (old stomping ground of Bill Connelly), a bit more all over the place.
  
• Dan Casey's Twitter If you want to see clips of fun and interesting plays past and present, he's a good'un.
  
• Playbooks - Historic coaches' playbooks. You can get a pretty good understanding of things like read progression and play goals from these, as well as what the purpose of each player on the field for each play by reading through some of these.
  
  ---
  Books: These are the books most people recommend starting from.
  
  

1. David Seigerman's Take Your Eye Off the Ball This is a really good book for understanding the game holistically. From positions to managing a season to how you can pay attention to a play, a drive, and a game.
   
2. Chris B. Brown's The Essential Smart Football and The Art of Smart Football (read in order of printing) Fantastic book set for anyone ready to dive a deeper into how the game has and could develop. Seeing everyone raving about the wildcat is always a chuckle though.
   

• Tim Layden's Blood, Sweat & Chalk. Definitely worth the the purchase. Would recommend the above first, but this is a great go for the stories behind the plays. How they came to be and why.

someone posted this in another current thread. i picked it up to give it a whirl.

http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Football-Baseball-Smart-People/dp/1494389266/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411387266&sr=8-1&keywords=daily+fantasy+sports

Just got home for the weekend to visit the family (mostly the dogs). Class and my first time living alone has been going for 3 weeks now, I'm having a good time. Eagerly waiting for the fall. Not just for that though, for Everton as well.

My personal life is still a shambles though and will probably continue to be for a while. Girlfriend 3 of the year went like the first two, not well at all. I should just chill at this point.

https://www.amazon.com/Bow-Down-Willingham-Once-Mighty-Washington-ebook/dp/B005WM4IZO

It's not that simple. Graham writes great articles and books about Barca, he's just not a good commentator.

https://www.amazon.com/Barca-Making-Greatest-Team-World/dp/0956497128

I think it's just referring to the influence that southern indiana culture had on race relations.

If you want to read more there are some texts I could recommend.

> I know that on offense the QB can either pass it to the receivers downfield (is this the position that Gronk plays?)

Yes and no. Gronk is a Tight End. This is a special position, which typically lines up at the end of the offensive Line. From that spot he can either help block or release downfield for an reception. Or both.
Its different in the sense, that typical receivers, so called Wide Receivers, ar lining up more towards the sideline. They are usually less bulky than TEs, they are mostly faster and more agile. But this really depends what type of routes the team wants them to run.

> or run the ball while the linebackers keep the pocket open

no, linebackers are on the defensive side.
You probably think of the offensive line which consists of 2 tackles, 2 guards and a center...like that:

Left Tackle - Left Guard - Center - Right Guard - Right Tackle

This line's duty is to block any/all rushers the defense sends towards the Quarterback, who receives the snap from the center and then either hands the ball off or steps back behind them and looks for a throw downfield. The line tries to push aways any rushers that want to come around through the ends or up the middle, which should creat an area of 1-4 yards, a bubble of safe space for the QB, thats the pocket.

> but on the defensive end I'm really not sure about the positions and roles. I guess the linebackers are the ones trying to sack (am I using this word right? Haha) the opponent QB while the backs are chasing the receivers (so this is what Hightower does right?).

Think of it as 3 layers.

1st layer: there is the defensive line. Defensive tackles in the middle and defensive ends on both sides. like that:

DE - DT - DT - DE or DE - DT - DE

we call that a 3 man front or a 4 man front, which is just depending on the system or the players a team has. DT are more beefy and DEs are usually a little less beefy but more agile/speedy.
DTs directly collide with the Center and Guards and try to eat up as much space as possible by binding blockers or just penetrate the pocket by beating the matchup - means they try for a sack but pushing the pocket often results into it collpasing, which also means its harder for the QB to escape and/or make a clean throw.
Same applys to DEs with the difference being, they try to get by Tackles on the outside of the line and just flat out trying to sack the QB.

2nd layer: the linebackers
those can have multiple jobs, depending on skillsets. mostly they cover the middle of the field, help closing running lanes or - as you said - are sometimes an additional rusher. Hightower does this very well, as you can put him anywhere behind or outside the defensive line. If the opponent doesnt account for him he has a free rushing line towards the QB for example.

depending on how many Receivers are on the field and how many Players are on the Defensive line there are 2 to 4 LBs on the field. Thats just a scheme thing and, as I said, influenced by what formation the opponent runs.

finally there is the 3rd layer: the defensive backfield
its a little more complex but these are usually 2-4 Cornerbacks and 1-3 Safeties.
The cornerbacks are usually directly assigned to the opponents Wide Receivers, while the safeties usually stay a little more behind and go whereever its needed, clean up lanes and help the Corners by doubleteaming good receivers.

------
This is just a VERY basic overview. Roles shift and alter all the time and so do their duties.

If you are really interested into this I recommend the book "Take your eye off the ball" by Pat Kirwan. Its great for learnign the basics, easy to understand and fairly cheap in most regions.

there is a 2.0 version of it out for a year: link
I cant speak for the differences to version 1.0: link
Just a note though, v1.0 has a spiralbound version with a DVD. I dont know exactly what it contains, but I guess it supports with visualization by showing plays. Might be worth a look.

> Apart from that, player positions like Safety and the part about
> >
> > Belichick purposefully taking a safety because he knew his defense would big-dick the other team's offense are still unclear to me.

dont mix that up, the term Safety has two meanings. Its a player position on the field and also a playevent. When the offense starts on its own 1 yard line and the ballcarrier after the snap gets tackled in the own endzone, thats called a 'Safety' aswell. It results in 2 points für the opponent and you have to kick away the ball next play, aka changes possession.

The intentional safety mentioned above was a tactical genius from Bill Belichick that day.
Trailing the Bronocs 23-24 with around 3 minutes to go in the 4th quarter, Patriots couldnt move the ball out of their own Redzone, 4th down & 10 at the own 1 yard line.
Belichick decided to take an intenional safety, which made the game 23-26 for the Broncos. He gambled that the D would stop the Broncos, resulting in a 3 and out and likely in a better field position for Brady and not much time wasted. The D delivered and Brady had the Ball back with ~2 minutes remaining, driving down the field for a TD, Pats win 30-26.

> Lastly about the part about having to deal with hate...ummmm kind of sorry to break it to you as a Pats fan who has to deal with that, but I live in Southeast Asia where the other Football is super popular, and where the NFL has 0 presence. The worst case scenario would be people judging me for following American Football instead of "real" Football, but even that's really unlikely. So I'm all safe and cushy from sports hatred all the way on the other side of the world haha. The worst thing that could happen to me as a fan would be having to watch games at 3am in the morning over here? And losing another Superbowl of course.

Yeah pretty much the same here in Germany, although the sport gathers some steam and with streaming services growing, access is that much easier. I dont mind the hate though. Nearly everyone here is even less educated on deflategate/spygate so in 99% of the cases I can shut them up within a few minutes or I realize the hate for the sake of it and there is just no point argueing.

I've read 3 of Bales' books and they are all awesome and super informative, especially for beginner DFSers. The first one I read was "Fantasy Football (and baseball) for Smart People" which is only $6 for the digital version.

Here's a link:
https://www.amazon.com/Football-Outsiders-Almanac-2017-Essential/dp/1974013782/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502392961&sr=8-1&keywords=football+outsiders+almanac

It’s hard to quantify, yes, but we are getting better and better at advanced metrics across professional sports, and soccer is no exception.

This book is in my Amazon queue for that reason.

>as honestly the only 3 who really "deserve" as shot based on resume are Oregon, Bama, and FSU, leaving one of them out would be a big deal, having ohio st in there is just a bonus.

Ah, so it's a "bonus" to have a team in there that doesn't "deserve" to be? Why wouldn't it be a "bonus" to have even more?

>I don't think anyone really agrees that a 16 team playoff is the way to go, and you obviously believe it is.

These guys do. Lots of people do.

>Why do we not have a 32 team playoff though? How many teams does there need to be.

There need to be ten plus however many independent teams there are. That's the only way to guarantee that every team can control their own path. But realistically, people will want at-large teams and not all independents will be successful enough to earn a spot, so 16 is a reasonable number to include every team that people WANT to see AND every team that has earned it through winning their conference.

So don't waste my time arguing 32- and 64-team formats when I'm not arguing for them. You seem to think that I want 16 just because it's more, but I have a reason for that number and I have told you what it is many, many times.

>and honestly the teams that win the championships in the G5 are very often garbage

This isn't about your opinion. This is about what's fair. They earned a shot by winning their conference. If they're not good enough, they'll lose and no harm was done. If they win, then you must have been wrong about them and it's a good thing we didn't exclude them.