Next Man Up : A Year Behind the Lines in Today's NFL
 
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ABOUT THE BOOK Next Man up: A Year behind the Lines in Today's NFL FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly According to the punchy start of this sprawling, in-depth account of the 2004 Baltimore Ravens' season, you can forget about all the other pretenders to the throne: pro football is (at least in and around cities that have a franchise) America's sport. Furthermore, Feinstein, bestselling author of A Good Walk Spoiled, persuasively argues that pro football is the most dramatic American sport, with its many deeply religious players, limited media access and comparatively low number of games, which are all then accorded life-or-death status. Given excellent access to the Ravens operation, Feinstein is, not surprisingly, very generous with his subjects, painting evenhanded portraits of the players (many of whom, like Jamal Lewis and Deion Sanders, have had plenty of bad press over the years) and even more neutral portrayals of management, especially coach Brian Billick. The runup to the first game of the young franchise's ninth season is so assiduously documented, the season itself is almost an afterthought, though the games are smartly and excitingly rendered. Feinstein wisely avoids the grandiloquent hyperbole often found in sportswriting; there are no references to deities or Greek heroes here. This hefty tome will surely keep football fans happy between games. Agent, Esther Newberg. (Oct. 17) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. Library Journal The topnotch sports journalist hits the gridiron with this tale of the troubled but still, ahem, game Baltimore Ravens. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information. Kirkus Reviews Sportswriter Feinstein (The Punch, 2002, etc.) spends a rough year with the Baltimore Ravens, carefully charting each up and down, and down, and down. For the 2004 season, the author was given unprecedented access to the football team's players, who had a reputation as bad boys full of swagger. It was impressive that coach Brian Billick gave Feinstein unconditional passage. After all, it hadn't been long since one of the team's star players had been absolved of murder accusations. More to the point, the team had tanked after a Super Bowl win in 2000, though Billick hoped the 2004 season would yield grand results. Feinstein's easy, deliberate chronicle of the Ravens' days provides sumptuous details on draft picks, coaching decisions, the search for a diamond in the rough among the free agents, players' injuries, squabbles between teammates, family matters that stole important players from important games and the criminal inquiries that seemed to come like bees to honey upon young men with a great deal of money. Despite the leisurely measure of his delivery, the author has opinions. He won't be thwarted from calling unsportsmanlike play for what it is, nor will he go along with front-office folderol ("[Michael] Powell was head of the Federal Communications Commission, a job he had clearly been given on pure merit having nothing to do with the fact that his father was Secretary of State"). It's a wonder the Ravens didn't simply implode, given their insecurities, personal tribulations and sheer bad luck under intense scrutiny. A crash course for those with professional football aspirations and those who feel that the players are a coddled bunch of ingrates.

Submitted On:

09 Sep 2007

File Author:

Feinstein, John

File Size:

3.41 MB