Puttering in the Study

The Perfect Pass: American Genius and the Reinvention of Football - S. C. Gwynne

I finished this book some time ago, and really enjoyed it.  It tells the story of Hal Mumme, the football coach that made the forward pass more dangerous, and takes him through his career at Texas high school football, then college, and explains how the offense - best known through the “Run and Shoot” of his assistant Mike Leach when he ran it at Texas Tech.

I heard the author speak on this book at the recent EDTX bench/bar and to my surprise got to spend some time talking with him afterwards.  Unfortunately I forgot to bring my copy to get it signed!

New Books: Bob Lilly: Reflections & A Ship to Remember: The Saga of the Hornet

Yesterday afternoon I made a couple of finds at a used bookstore. The first, Bob Lilly: Reflections is a first printing hardback of the former Cowboy's book of his photos of his teammates through his career. The second, A Ship to Remember: The Saga of the Hornet is a 1943 account of the short life of the first carrier Hornet, commissioned in late 1941 and lost in late 1942.

The Lilly book was a great find - I already had a copy of the 1992 second printing, which is in softcover, and coincidentally autographed by Lilly and his coauthor Sam Blair.

The Hornet book I had never heard of before, but did have another book on the Hornet - and when I checked it last night found (not unexpectedly) that the 1943 book was the inspiration for the 1995 Lisle Rose book I had had ever since its publication. Looking forward to reading the latter, and hopefully getting an autograph on the former!

If These Walls Could Talk - Nick Eatman

Really enjoyed this book by one of our favorite Cowboys writers about his experiences around the team.  It has good commentary of recent coaches, players and staff.  While we missed Nick at the Green Bay game, Bryan Broaddus was nice enough to take the book up to him to get it signed for Jamie.

Breakthrough 'Boys: The Story of the 1971 Super Bowl Champion Dallas Cowboys - Jaime Aron

For me, the 1971 Dallas Cowboys are the be-all, end-all of professional football.  Super Bowl VI, in which they defeated the Miami Dolphins 24-3 is still, to me the ultimate game of football.  It was the last Cowboys game I did not watch - we drove to Irving to watch it at my aunt's home, but I wasn't interested (hey, I was seven).  I got interested in the Cowboys immediately after the game, and have been semi-obsessed with that year and that team ever since.  I got the record album (yes, there is one) started collecting cards, got the electric football teams (for SB V, VI and VII) and yearned for a copy of the Sports Illustrated magazine about the game that my Gough cousins had.  (Just look at me here in 2007 the first time I met someone from the team - with the Cowboys' two rings from their Super Bowl wins). 

It is so bad the year even has its own shelf in the study - with generic Cowboys on the shelves above and below and generic football on the shelf below that.  (There are some compromises - America's Team won't fit anywhere else and the DVD of the actual game film and the America's Team feature is with the other Cowboys DVDs.  And the Staubach photo is technically 1973.  And I got the banner in 1973.  But the theme is the 1971 team).  It has the SI edition I always wanted, a photo signed by MVP Roger Staubach, and a card signed by HOF cornerback Mel Renfro, who Grayson and I met at the Cowboys' Thanksgiving game in 2007.  (Yes, those are the rings for SB VI and XII on his hand on my shoulder - how cool is that!  Woohoo!)

Well, all good things come to those who wait, and finally there is a book about that team and that season.  As books go, it's pretty good.  It retells some of the stories in Bob St. John's 1972 We Love You Cowboys, points back to Steve Perkins' Next Year's Champions about the 1968 squad, and doesn't have the musical score of the America's Game piece.  But it tells a similar story, and does it well.  And good or bad - it has a place of The Shelf.