Review of "Buffalo Football"

Getting an early start on my New Year's resolution of working on older review requests first and this book is one that I meant to read when the current NFL season started, but like so many other good intentions in 2020, this was put aside for other matters.  This book is a decent summary of the glory years of the Buffalo Bills. 

 Title/Author:

“Buffalo Football: A Game-by-Game Summary of the Glory Years" by Chris Stucchio

Tags:

Football (American), professional, Bills, history

Publish date:

July 7, 2020

Length:

160 pages

Rating:

3 ½ of 5 stars (good)

Review:

While the Buffalo Bills are usually remembered for losing four consecutive Super Bowls in the early 1990's, it still meant that those teams were successful enough to win their conference championship and as such, they had much success to even get to that point.  These successes are the main focus of this quick read written by Chris Stucchio.

The time frame for this book is 1988 to 1994 which was the time of the greatest amount of success for the Bills.  The context is straightforward – quotes from notable players and the stars of those teams such as Bruce Smith, Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas are interspersed in accounts of each game played by the Bills, from preseason to the playoffs.  The game descriptions are good recaps, especially for those which the Bills were victorious and Stucchio notes each game in which he was in attendance.

Of course, each of the Super Bowl losses are covered in a little more depth, but that doesn't detract from the main goal of the book. That is, a reader will not only learn about the number of wins and the extent of success that these Buffalo teams achieved, but also a little bit about the players from their quotes and the pride they had wearing the Bills uniform.  If a reader is looking for longer stories or biographies of players, coaches or other key personnel from those teams, those are not in this book.  But for fans who remember the glory years of the Buffalo Bills, this is a good book to pick up to take a trip down memory lane and recall those years when the Bills were among the best teams in the NFL.

I wish to thank Mr. Stucchio for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. 

Book Format Read:

Paperback

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1645433889/ref=x_gr_w_bb_sin?ie=UTF8&tag=x_gr_w_bb_sin-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1645433889&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2

Review of "The Dancing Bear"

Even though I was a big professional football fan in the 1970's, I did not remember Ron McDole or what teams he played for. After reading this book, I do know now and it is very clear that he had a lot of respect for his performance from his coaches and peers. Here is my review of his memoir, "The Dancing Bear."

Title/Author:

“The Dancing Bear: My Eighteen Years in the Trenches of the AFL and NFL” by Ron McDole with Rob Morris

Tags:

Football (American), professional, memoir, Bills, Redskins

Publish date:

October 1, 2018

Length:

248 pages

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (good)

Review:

It isn’t often that one will find a memoir written by a football player who didn’t play in one of the sport’s glamour positions, such as quarterback or running back.  This book breaks that stereotype as Ron McDole was a standout defensive lineman during an eighteen-year career with the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins. As a reader would expect, the stories that come from a lineman are very different than those that would come from a skill position.

There are aspects of the book that do fit the typical sports memoir and some that break the mold.  McDole follows a tried and true form by starting with his childhood, then talks about his playing days in high school and at the University of Nebraska. He continues it with stories from his time with both professional teams with which he played.

That is where a change in the usual method takes place. Instead of talking about particular games or seasons in the order they came, he becomes a storyteller. Most of these stories come from teammates, although there are stories from family members and personal friends later in the book. At times, these felt out of place because just like when one asks someone to reflect on a person, the narrator can go off on tangents.  That was good because that made the stories sound more genuine and natural, but it did make reading the book take a little longer as it got off the narrative track McDole was telling.

For example, it is unclear to a reader who didn’t know how he got his nickname “The Dancing Bear.”  In one account, he got it from a Redskins teammate. In another story, it was given to him earlier. The stories are both probably true, as they came from the memories of the men telling them, but the information seems to conflict.

While stories like this make up the bulk of the book, this isn’t to say there isn’t any good football writing.  This is especially true for McDole’s memoires from championship games in which he participated – the three consecutive AFL championship games between 1964 and 1966 with the Bills and Super Bowl VII with the Redskins in January 1973. The latter game is one in which McDole tells about his bitter disappointment with the loss by the Redskins, but what I especially liked about that topic is the illustration of how little attention the Super Bowl received during its early days, at least in comparison to the spectacle it has become today.

Much like the career of the author, this book is a hidden gem that while it may not be the best sports memoir ever written, it does a nice job of portraying a man whose performance in the game may not have brought a lot of recognition from fans or the media, but it did garner widespread praise among his coaches and peers.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

Hardcover

Buying Links:

 https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/university-of-nebraska-press/9781496212610/

https://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Bear-Eighteen-Years-Trenches/dp/1496212614/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1542550673&sr=1-1