What Book Should We Read for the Blue 58 Book Club?
A few weeks back I threw out the idea of starting some kind of offseason book club for Blue 58 podcast listeners. After much deliberation, I’ve landed on these four books as possible options for that club.
Each should enhance our understanding of the Packers or football in a different way and each should be fairly affordable, giving anyone interested in participating a pretty low barrier to entry. Take a look at the descriptions of each book, then vote in the poll below.
Before They Were Packers: Green Bay’s Town Team Days - Denis Gullickson and Carl Hanson
Amazon description: Can't get enough of the Packers? Discover a unique and fascinating historical survey of Green Bay's early town football teams. Colorful accounts of individual team members, descriptions of significant games, fan and community reactions, and snippets of actual newspaper stories will take you on a journey from 1895 to the day in 1921 when the Packers became founding members of the National Football League. Included are photographs of Green Bay town teams and some of their earliest opponents.
Why I like it: Packers history is fascinating, and learning more about pre-Packers history (proto-Packers history?) should be a rewarding pursuit.
The Art of Smart Football - Chris Brown
Amazon description: Masterfully blending thought provoking analysis with engrossing storytelling, The Art of Smart Football examines football’s most innovative and enduring strategies and ideas, through the lens of the sport’s best coaches and players. The Art of Smart Football is an eye-opening, fascinating and accessible contribution to our understanding of America’s favorite sport.
Why I like it: Chris Brown is one of the best football writers working today and his thoughts on the development of particular strategies should aid our understanding of the modern NFL.
Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0 - Pat Kirwan
Amazon description: More and more football fans are watching the NFL each week, but many of them don’t know exactly what they should be watching. What does the offense’s formation tell you about the play that’s about to be run? When a quarterback throws a pass toward the sideline and the wide receiver cuts inside, which player is to blame? Why does a defensive end look like a Hall of Famer one week and a candidate for the practice squad the next? These questions and more are addressed in Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0, a book that takes readers deep inside the perpetual chess match between offense and defense. This book provides clear and simple explanations to the intricacies and nuances that affect the outcomes of every NFL game.
Why I like it: Before we know why we’re seeing what we see on the field, it would help if we had a better understanding of how we should be watching. Even if you’re good at it already, learning how to watch better is worth doing.
The Genius of Desperation - Doug Farrar
Amazon description: If necessity has been the mother of invention throughout the history of professional football, it could also be said that desperation is the father. Rare are the football innovations that have occurred without an owner, general manager, coach, or player up against the wall and reaching for a way to succeed anyway. In this meticulously researched, lively book, Bleacher Report lead NFL scout Doug Farrar traces the schematic history of the pro game through these “if this/then that” moments—paradigm shifts in the game from 1920 through the present. More than just a book about schemes and strategies, The Genius of Desperation: The Schematic Innovations that Made the Modern NFL also tells the stories of the game’s most prominent innovators, the adversities they endured, and the ways in which they learned to exceed their own expectations.
Why I like it: Looking back at how key concepts developed over the course of NFL history will help us understand a lot of why the NFL is the way it is today, and learning why some concepts survived while others died out will help even more.