(Part 3) Top products from r/nfl

A Fan's Notes while not so much an in depth football book as it is a literary work, A Fan's Notes is still a brilliant read for any football fan. Deals with the authors alcoholism, nihilism, the bizarre relation a fan has to his team, and the fear of spending ones life on the sidelines of the action. An all around excellent read. It does have some nice insight to the 60's Giants as well.

Some other more traditional books I'd recommend would When Pride Still Mattered, Run to daylight, Instant Replay, and for one none packer book: Badasses. All four of those provide excellent looks into storied franchises at their best, and When Pride Still Mattered is the definitive book for the NFLs greatest coach.

Thanks OP, I've been meaning to make this thread for awhile now and I love reading books about football and sports in general. I really do heavily recommend A Fan's Notes though, that novel is excellent.

And while I'm still here I guess, even though it isn't football, I'll quickly recommend A Season on the Brink as one of the greatest sports books ever.

EDIT: On the off chance anyone takes an interest in this I have lots more I could recommend.

The Raiders.

They're just so cool. The uniforms, logo, and name are badass. I don't know what it is, but the fact their colours are silver and black just really sticks with me. I remember watching one of the NFL Super Bowl champ rundown and they mentioned Al Davis always checking the uniforms to make sure they were silver, not grey.

On the topic, Al Davis was such a badass.

> He remains the only executive in NFL history to be an assistant coach, head coach, general manager, commissioner and owner.

• He was also active in civil rights:
  
  > refusing to allow the Raiders to play in any city where black and white players had to stay in separate hotels. He was the first NFL owner to hire an African American head coach and a female chief executive. He was also the second NFL owner to hire a Latino head coach.
  
  
• His motto, 'Just win, baby'.
  
  
• John Madden coached them and reading his book was really fun.
  
  
• Raider nation.
  
  
• The Black Hole. Talk about intimidating.
  
  
• Howie Long is one of my favourite ever players. Started after I read Maddens book.
  
  
• Bo Jackson. I'm 21 and didn't grow up in the States much, and I had vaguely heard of Bo. Watching his 30 for 30 was beautiful.
  
  
• Seen as working class team with an aggressive play style (historically).
  
  ---
  
  ^^I ^^also ^^think ^^the ^^ ^^49ers ^^are ^^cool.
  
  ---
  
  EDIT: For those interested, John Maddens book is called 'One Knee Equals Two Feet'. Here's a link for it on Amazon. It's quite old, but still a stonking great read.
  
  Also that word reminded me of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Buy it as well.
  
  EDIT 2: "If you're buying any of the books mentioned in these comments, Amazon has a physical book sale today. 30% off, use promo code HOLIDAY30" - thanks to /u/Mandarinez.
  
  EDIT 3: If you're interested in some Raider history check out Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden's Oakland Raiders by Peter Richmond. - thanks to /u/Imaygetyelledat.

That's one of the contributing factors of Football IQ, and the very basics. Other than that, you have to know what defender is going to do what in which system.
There are QBs who also determine blocking schemes for their line. They say which blocking scheme to apply for which play, and switch them up if need be.
Very, very basically, a spread offense spreads out the defense across the width of the field, instead of bunching everything together around the ball. If you spread the defense out, there are bound to be more holes. That could mean putting 4 or even 5 WRs out away from the Oline (hence, wide), for instance.
A lot of the times, they add in the read option in that play. If a certain defender goes into coverage or for the HB, the QB keeps the ball and runs through the gaps of the defense. If the defender stands pat, the QB hands it off to the HB (or throws).
There are some great books that explain a lot of these things. A few I would definitely recommend are (in order of how deep they go into stuff):

• Take Your Eye Off the Ball
  
• The Essential Smart Football
  
• Blood, Sweat and Chalk, which is slightly more advanced but the best out of the three. It dives into the history of the game. Absolutely fascinating!
  
  And Arians' book, The Quarterback Whisperer goes into the practicallities of making the jump from college to the pro's. It's a marvellous read!
  
  Edit: formatting
  

War Room is a great book that gives insight to how teams are built, prepare for the draft, and gives background on the 1995 Browns Staff that ended up having like 3 GMs and 7 head coaches

I'm at work right now, but will add some more as I think of them.

Edit: There's also "The GM" which gives insight about being a GM, the decisions made, and again building a team. It's centered around Ernie Accorsi who was the GM of the Giants, and one of the more respected GMs in football history.

And of course, everything you are looking for can be found in The Winning Edge by Bill Walsh. Literally covers everything from top to bottom on how to run/build a football team. But it is super expensive. If you can find the means, I highly suggest it.

If you don't mind spending a tenner, buy this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Football-For-Dummies-Lifestyles-Paperback/dp/1118012615/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344784338&sr=8-2

It's only a dummies guide but it's brilliant, really helped me understand the more advanced aspects of the game. It explains some of the most basic plays and some of the more interesting ones, it explains what the point of the different defensive formations are, what every individual player's role is and how they're used, etc.

Slow Getting Up by former WR Nate Jackson. Great narrative that looks at the game from a fringe player fighting for roster spots and battling injuries.

A Few Seconds of Panic by Steve Fatsis.
A journalist joins the Broncos in training camp as a kicker and profiles the team. He becomes a pretty good kicker, and shares a lot of insight about the team and the NFL.

I loved reading this and learned a lot from them

http://www.amazon.com/Few-Seconds-Panic-Sportswriter-Plays/dp/0143115472

I enjoyed this one not only because I´m a Broncos fan, but also because I always like to get a look behind the scenes and this book focuses on the bottom half of the roster and it makes you realize that some are basically just playing for a job in the NFL and that not everybody makes a killing.

Fatsis basically was a part of the team for training camp and writes about his impressions, what he encountered, the people he met.

I'm that weird person who's more of a reader than a gamer, and I, too, am trying to get more into the game. I've found the current edition of Football for Dummies to be a surprisingly good resource. Enjoy the journey! Love this sport.

https://www.amazon.com/Football-Scouting-Methods-Steve-Belichick-ebook/dp/B006O4DHDI

Its an older book and some of the stuff is outdated but its one of those foundation books that is a great place to start from. It's a bit dry here and there but sounds like what you are looking for.

Instant Replay. It is the diary of Jerry Kramer during the 1967 NFL Season. Lombardi's last year with the Packers, the Ice Bowl. Its goes into what NFL players did then. The side jobs they had, how making the playoffs actually meant something to them money wise.

Jerry Kramer is not in the HoF because of this book. Before Primetime made it okay for a football player to use his "celebrity" off the field, Kramer did it. He was loud and outspoken. Wrote this book, and one's about Lombardi. Due to this he was "punished" by not being put in. Now, despite being voted one of the two best guards in the first 50 years of the NFL (The 50 year Anniversary team), he is thought of as a "good player on a team of Hall of Famers" and that is only real contribution was the Ice Bowl block.

If you're looking for a nice alternative, try this: NFL Films - The Power and the Glory.

I have it and it is a GREAT CD to listen to on game days or if you're tailgating. You can find most, if not all, of the tacks on YouTube if you wanted to take a listen.

Now is my fuckin' chance! I've been pushing this thing for weeks with no success—I still cannot tell whether you guys like him or not—but this is 500 pages of rambling and preposterously detailed press conference interview answers, most of it fucking recent, technically a great read, available for $6 if you can afford to go download Kindle for PC

From this book!. Really great read for any football fan interested in seeing what goes into putting together a team.

They talk about how they were settled on Sjax but were surprised when Chicago passed on Wilfork so they had to take him. Then they tried to trade back up into the first round but the Rams got to him first.

Obviously, team-centric, but Didinger is a great writer.

https://www.amazon.com/New-Eagles-Encyclopedia-Ray-Didinger/dp/1439912114/ref=la_B001H6U5Y2_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501603782&sr=1-1

Not sure what you mean about juicy details, but A Few Seconds of Panic is a great read. It's about a sportswriter who decides to try out for the Broncos as a kicker.

Against Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto

It goes into the long term health effects and other negative externalities of football and then at the end suggests some minor changes in the interest of looking out for players of all ages. A quick, interesting read that definitely made me rethink how much I cheer for those huge hits and what these people are putting on the line for my entertainment. I'm not going to give up on watching like the author did but even just being more conscious of these issues has changed how I approach watching football.

reddit.com/r/footballstrategy/wiki

The Games that Changed the Game

Take your eyes off the ball

Blood Sweat and Chalk

are all great if you want to get into detail

Just in general, or on a specific topic?

Books I'm reading right now:

• Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems
  
• The Outer Limits of Reason: What Science, Mathematics, and Logic Cannot Tell Us
  
• Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association by Terry Pluto (Halfway through, this book is fucking hilarious)
  
• The United States Football League, 1982-1986 (I do not recommend this book... "The $1 League" by Jim Byrne is much better if you can find it)
  
• Football Scouting Methods
  
• Square Foot Gardening

Next Man Up by John Feinstein. It's the best "year in the life of a team" I've read so far. Even if it is the Ravens.

Scorecasting says the Cubs' strategy for years was to offer cheap beer to drive attendance. No need for a winning team when people can go day drinking at Wrigley for a reasonable price.

I wish the Nationals did this :(. $50 for bleacher seats and $10 per beer. As if I needed more reasons to not want to go to a regular season MLB game!

Once football season starts, every sunday before the games start, I listen through all of Sam Spence's The Power and the Glory. The actual track "The Power and the Glory" gets me pumped every time.

Ernie Acorsi's The GM reminds me of this specific topic as well. Ernie was instrumental in drafting Eli and also missed out on Elway if you didn't happen to catch Elway to Marino 30 for 30. Very good read, a lot of football insight from a front office perspective and also details how much the Giants organization really takes the coaches needs and game plan into account when drafting and grooming players, ect.

Luxe Bidet Neo 120 - Self Cleaning Nozzle - Fresh Water Non-Electric Mechanical Bidet Toilet Attachment (blue and white) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A0RHSJO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_N1SNAb2MGXDD8


Am I allowed to link directly to products? This is the one I bought. I was off by 15 bucks It looks like but w/e.

I recommend this one. Next Man Up by John Feinstein.

This is the closest thing I know of. It's filled with stuff like this.

The GM: The Inside Story of a Dream Job and the Nightmares that Go with It.

It's about Ernie Accorsi's career.

May I suggest a bit of reading for those who are genuinely interested in a possible reason for this? I am in no way affiliated with anyone who gets money from this book.

http://www.amazon.com/Spygate-Untold-Story-Bryan-OLeary/dp/0985467002

http://www.amazon.com/Spygate-Untold-Story-Bryan-OLeary/dp/0985467002

Here's something to look at. Some people love to minimize the whole SpyGate fiasco, but the evidence is out there. You just have to open your eyes.

You got $35?

NFL Films CD

https://www.amazon.com/Boys-Will-Be-Cowboys-Dynasty/dp/0061256803

https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728

Read the book "Blood, Sweat and Chalk", you will have more knowledge than any two lifelong NFL fans you know afterwards.

> Scorecasting

A link for the clicky clicky.

http://www.amazon.com/Against-Football-Fans-Reluctant-Manifesto/dp/161219415X

A decent read is The GM if you're into reading how the Giants set up for their '07 Superbowl.

Not in the one I got.

I mean, his father literally wrote the book on scouting players.

Next Man Up is a fantastic read. The author spends a year with the Baltimore Ravens FO and is given an unprecidented look inside how an organization is shaped. It will also make you hate Daniel Snyder even more than you already did, if that is possible.

[ War Room: The Legacy of Bill Belichick and the Art of Building the Perfect Team ] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004W2ZOIK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)

I'm a big proponent of killing the sports/warrior culture that still pervades modern society. But this guy doesn't get to that point. It doesn't read like he has any depth to his arguments beyond the basic surface-scratching. Even the reviews on Amazon that like the book complain about lack of depth.

You can't kill a sports culture, and you most definitely can't hide your children from it, simply by turning off the games. It's an enormous topic that covers politics, society, sociology, anthropology, psychology, health and fitness, and other topics as well.

But this book reads like one guy ranting on why he turned off his TV, and not (what it should have been) a man bringing a logical and expanded argument against a paradigm.

My Shiny Hiney commercial... It saddens me that Bidets still aren't a thing in the U.S.

Seriously - go buy and install one. It will cost you $35 on Amazon. Your butt will thank you. You also will not use nearly as much toilet paper. The one I linked is the one I have in my apartment. It took 10 minutes to install. You'll recoup that $35 in savings on toilet paper.

I'd recommend "war room: the legacy of bill belichick". It talks about their scouting methods and how they choose the players.

http://www.amazon.com/War-Room-Belichick-Building-Perfect-ebook/dp/B004W2ZOIK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1422139371&sr=1-1&keywords=war+room%3A+the+legacy+of+bill+belichick

read this

or this book

Bud Adams was a total dick.

Okay, my other post got downvoted to oblivion because of this silly notion of not speaking ill of the dead, and a general lack of knowledge about Bud Adams, so I'll try again.

The man was an absolute dictator.

http://www.amazon.com/Loser-Takes-All-Football-Business/dp/1563524325

The pro-PFF circlejerk is even dumber.

If you can't see the massive flaws in their methodology, I don't know what to tell you.

"We came up with a flawed system and asked 10 people if they could tell the difference between different criteria taken totally out of context."

Do you ever go to /r/conspiracy or /r/conspiratard?

Have you ever seen these people use math out of nowhere?

Have you ever seen the people who try to get numbers out of the bible to predict when Jesus is coming back?

And of course he never comes back, does he?

But these people just keep moving the goalposts.

It doesn't matter because the initial thing is flawed.

PFF are trying to defend themselves and it's laughable. This is a wakeup call for them. "Fuck, if our system grades him that badly, is there a flaw in it? Naah, let's fucking double down and repeat ourselves over and over again. That's how they do it in fundamentalist religions. How can we get the math to show only the facts that support our point?"

I have said this since PFF came on the scene: their analysis is worthless because it can't account for context and moving parts. Grading something that is inherently flawed doesn't provide you a reliable observation just because you can repeat the flaw ad nauseum.

Look I get it - you like PFF. People like to take things that sound authoritative on faith. Not everyone is anti-authoritarian. But FFS, you don't have to be. All you need to do is open your eyes and say "wow, if they downgraded him under pressure, how is the pressure he was facing on the poorly graded play different than someone who got a good grade under pressure when...the weather was different. Fatigue was different. The players were all totally different. Down, distance, score, time on the clock were all different."

How many relevant criteria do I need to name for you until you admit that what they're trying to do is impossible? It's an insult that they would attempt to sell us snake oil in this way, as if their use of statistics makes it true.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728/

Put this on your wishlist. I will buy it for you.