Review of “Brady Vs. Belichick”

 While I am not a New England Patriots fan, I find books about their recent dynasty very interesting and this one is certainly one that fit the bill. Here is my review of a book that answers the debate of who was more responsible for their success, the quarterback or the coach. 

Title/Author: “Brady vs. Belichik: The Dynasty Debate” by Gary Myers

Rating: 5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: The New England Patriots are the most recent example of a sports dynasty, having won six Super Bowls in 18 seasons between 2002 and 2019. They had the same quarterback and head coach for all of those championships, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick respectively. Most football fans have an opinion on who was more responsible of these two for the Patriots’ success and this book by noted pro football author Gary Myers is his attempt to settle the debate.

One of the best aspects of the book for me came right at the very beginning. Myers made it clear that his opinions were formed only for the time the two men were with the Patriots. Therefore, the Super Bowl that Brady won with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t factor into his beliefs, nor did Belichick’s five years of coaching the Cleveland Browns before joining New England. That made this a true discussion on who was more important to the team during their time together.

Myers covered the Patriots a lot during this stretch so he was privy to a lot of information on the Patriots that many others would not have. This made some of the topics covered quite interesting even if a reader thought they already knew plenty about the two men and the team.  The two scandals involving the Patriots, “Deflategate” and “Spygate” are great examples of the extensive coverage Myers did. It shouldn’t go unnoticed that Belichick was judged far more harshly by fans, the press and his peers for spying on other teams’ defensive signals than Brady was for allegedly deflating football below specifications before an AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.

While the events are not covered in strict chronological order, it still is an easy book to follow if one is a football fan, especially a Patriots fan. The time both men spent in New Englad tigers leaves nothing unturned and owner Robert Kraft also plays a prominent role in the book. By the end, after all is said and done, Myers does pick one of them to be more important to the Patriots dynasty and his reasoning is sound. Of course, this review won’t give that away, but no matter which side a reader takes on this debate, they will come away well informed about the team and the two key men of that dynasty.

I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own. 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Brady-vs-Belichick-Dynasty-Debate/dp/1250381193/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 

Review of "Kingdom on Fire"

Having taken a break from sports reading for a short period, this was a very good choice to get back into sports - great book on the UCLA basketball dynasty. 

 Title/Author:

“Kingdom on Fire: Kareem, Wooden, Walton and the Turbulent Days of the UCLA Basketball Dynasty” by Scott Howard-Cooper

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (Excellent)

Review:  One of most storied sports dynasties took place in the 1960’s and 1970’s when the UCLA Bruins won 10 of 12 NCAA men’s basketball titles.  While there were many players and other people who helped make this dynasty, there were three people who were the biggest names.  First it was Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who will be referred to by that name in this review although he was “Alcindor” at UCLA) and the legendary coach John Wooden.  Then shortly after Abdul-Jabbar graduated, another “greatest college player ever” came to UCLA – Bill Walton.  How these three men made UCLA basketball as great as it was during a time of social upheaval is captured in this book.

While there is some text about the games on the court, especially famous ones like the 1968 “Game of the Century” in the Houston Astrodome and the January 1974 game in which Notre Dame broke UCLA’s 88-game winning streak, most of the work is about the lives, personalities, and beliefs of the three men.  This is especially true for Abdul-Jabbar as he was at times conflicted about what he truly wanted from his education and time in Los Angeles.  His conversion to Islam and his actions toward civil rights for Black citizens are particularly noteworthy, such as his decision to not participate on the 1968 USA Olympic basketball team.

Here, there is a connection to Walton as he too declined becoming part of USA Olympic basketball in 1972 – this time as a protest over the Vietnam War.  Like the civil rights issue in 1968, the war was a hot spot of protest in 1972 and how both players approached their beliefs and actions upon those beliefs made for very good reading.  Of course, there is also material on their basketball accomplishments at UCLA.  Reading those, while good, is no match for the great material on their off-the-court lives.

As for the coach, how he dealt with these types of personalities was to just be himself.  He never let on that he was playing favorites with Abdul-Jabbar, Walton or any other player – he coached the way he always coached, instilled discipline as always and never seemed to move away from what he believed was correct.  Whether that meant never cursing no matter how tense the situation, teaching players at the first practice the proper means of tying shoes and pulling up socks or never calling a time out during games to let opponents think the team was in trouble, Coach Wooden was mostly a pillar during this time.  However, that doesn’t mean there weren’t moments of weakness, and this book shows that side of Wooden as well.

For basketball junkies or historians, this book is a great addition to their libraries.  It isn’t the most perfect book on UCLA basketball, but it gives excellent insight to topics one may never have heard previously about one of the most dominant teams in college basketball.

I wish to thank the author and publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.

Link: Amazon.com: Kingdom on Fire: Kareem, Wooden, Walton, and the Turbulent Days of the UCLA Basketball Dynasty eBook : Howard-Cooper, Scott: Kindle Store

Review of "Horns Up"

While many college football fans are still buzzing about the fantastic finish to the national championship game for the FBS level of the game, there still is another big story worth reading about in college football and that is the dynasty of North Dakota State, the first school to win five consecutive championships at any level.  A book has been written about this dynasty and it is one that all fans of this team should read.  Here is my review of "Horns Up."

Title/Author:

“Horns Up: Inside the Greatest College Football Dynasty” by Jeff Kolpack

Tags:

Football (American), college, dynasty

Publish date:

March 8, 2016

Length:

236 pages

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very Good)

Review:

When a college football fan talks about towns that are home to some of the best football programs, they just roll off the tongue.  Places like Columbus, Ohio…Happy Valley, Pennsylvania…Tuscaloosa, Alabama…Fargo, North Dakota.

Yes, that last city belongs in the conversation. Fargo is the home of the North Dakota State Bison, the only team to win five consecutive national titles in any level of college football.  Their march to these championships, as well as the decision by the school to join the Football Championship Series (FCS, or formerly Division 1-AA) is chronicled in this book by second-generation North Dakota sportswriter Jeff Kolpack.

The book stars off with the rise of Bison quarterback Carson Wentz, who was the second pick of the 2016 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles. From there, the book will take the reader into the school administrative offices, the coaches work areas, the locker room and even on the campus when ESPN hosted its popular College Game Day show in Fargo in 2013 and 2014. Through it all, Kolpack writes with a style that shows he is not only knowledgeable about the program and the game of football, he displays that he also thoroughly enjoys covering the team as he intersperses some personal, but pertinent, stories as well.

The game coverage is very good, especially the chapter that has excellent summaries of each of the five championship games in which the Bison became the FCS champions. This was a chapter near the middle of the book, which seemed to be a strange placement for a summary chapter. That was the biggest drawback encountered while reading the book as it did not have a good flow by jumping around from topic to topic without a sense of order. 

However, the stories of key persons in the Bison program, everyone from Wentz to coach Craig Bohl and athletic director Gene Taylor, are what make the book fun to read. Kolpack’s knowledge about the school and the football team will educate the reader about the team, the enthusiastic fan base and the dedication of the players. The stories about the fans making trips to Minneapolis when the Bison would play the Gophers, a Big Ten team, were very interesting, outnumbering the fans from the much bigger school and even winning two of the three games played by the two teams.

For any football fan who wants to read either about a true football dynasty or about the rise of a smaller program, this is the book to pick up.  Of course, Bison fans will want to read this as well, even if they have probably soaked up all this information on their team from other sources. 

Book Format Read:

E-Book (Kindle)

Buying links:

https://www.amazon.com/Horns-Up-Greatest-College-Football/dp/1530455170/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484359922&sr=1-1&keywords=horns+up+jeff+kolpack

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/horns-up-jeff-kolpack/1124156850?ean=9781530455171