Title/Author:
“On
the Clock: The Story of the NFL Draft” by Barry Wilner and Ken Rappoport
Tags:
Football
(American), professional, draft
Published:
April
1, 2015
Length:
220
pages
Stars:
4
of 5 stars (Very Good)
Review:
For some professional football fans, the day when
all 32 pro teams hold the annual draft of college players is just as big a day
as Super Bowl Sunday. The television ratings for the draft are higher than
basketball and hockey playoff games on that day. The action is really non-existent
– just men talking about the players interrupted by walks to the podium so a
player just chosen can shake hands with the commissioner and show off his new
team’s jersey.
So why is this event so popular? The answer to this and other questions about
the NFL draft is revealed in this entertaining book by Barry Wilner and Ken
Rappaport. The book starts off with drama at the 2014 draft – who is going to
select Johnny Manzeil? What are the
Cleveland Browns doing with these trades?
Not only did the authors take the reader inside this draft, they
presented the comings and goings in a manner that would make the reader think
he or she is reading about a reality TV show.
Which, later in the book, is a reason given for the huge popularity of
the draft.
The book also gives the history of the draft,
which was the brainchild of Bert Bell before he became commissioner of the NFL.
There are stories about the best draft choices, the worst, and how some men
used the draft to their advantage to build winning football teams. As a reader, I enjoyed most of these stories.
I felt that too much of the history section was devoted to the history of the
Bell family that had little to do with the draft. It is like when reading a fictional book that
starts off exciting, gets a little boring in the middle, but later gets even
better.
I make that comparison for this book because my favorite section was when the writers describe how the draft went from simply something to put on the air in the early days of ESPN to the glamorous, dramatic TV show it is today. I also liked the short biographies on four men who are considered to be the best in analyzing the draft and the players taken: Mike Mayock, Mel Kiper, Gil Brandt and Joel Buchsbaum – the “Gurus” as the chapter states.
The only drawback to the book in my opinion is
the best and worst picks for each team. Not because I disagree with many of
them – any list of “best” or “worst” will be debated – but because I thought
that there wasn’t enough reasons given why the authors believed this was
so. Take the San Diego Chargers – okay,
it’s easy to see why Ryan Leaf was the worst player they ever selected, but
give me more of a reason why Dan Fouts is the best other than he is in the Hall
of Fame. He is not the only player for
the Chargers who has made it.
Overall, this was a decent book with interesting
and entertaining stories on some of the more famous players selected and the
event itself. Football fans will enjoy
reading this book which is very good at the beginning and toward the end, with
some softness in the middle.
I wish to thank NetGalley and Taylor Trade
Publishing for an advance review copy of the book in exchange for an honest
review.
Pace of the book:
This
is a quick read as it took me less than two hours to finish the book. The stories and reporting are all written in
small segments, which made reading it quickly even easier.
Do I recommend?
Readers
who are football fans will enjoy this book and those who are among the many who
cheer just as loudly for a draft pick by their favorite team as a touchdown
will especially enjoy this.
Ebook
(Kindle)
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