Congratulations. Will be pre-ordering as soon as I can figure out a inscription. Any chance Kenny Wheaton's Pick from the 1994 Oregon - Washington game magically made the cut?
I’d wondered about the Athletic book. Appreciate you taking the high road regarding discussing it. Since I saved all of your Football 101 emails from JoeBlog, I’ve got the book I want right there. Looking forward to the new book.
I’m looking forward to this book a lot more than I would have had a Football 101 based on players. Mainly because when I was reading the football 101 I just had the feeling you weren’t putting in nearly the effort that you did for your baseball 100. Many days you had two or more players combined into one day’s blog post, and even combined the post was usually shorter than an individual post in the Baseball 100. It seemed to me you had this idea, but as the countdown continued it seemed your heart wasn’t in it- I got the feeling you just wanted it to be done and over with. I felt this the most when I think you had 5 players- all offensive linemen perhaps, from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s?- I enjoyed each separate story, but they were so short I was wondering if you’d make it to the finish line.
So am looking forward to reading about the Stanford band in John Elway’s last college game!
Can’t wait! Description makes perfect sense, loved the Football 100, learned so much about players from the 60’s and earlier I wasn’t familiar with, but comparisons are impossible.
He said during Molly’s zoom call that he didn’t choose the subtitle and didn’t even remember what it was. He tried but failed to recall it. My guess is that.
Also a possible homage to Sir Terry Pratchett's gifted handling of footnotes in his Discworld series. If you are unfamiliar I should tell you his biography by Rob Wilkins is titled TERRY PRATCHETT: A Life With Footnotes*
Joe, you could write the Football 110, in which you count down the greatest 5 players at every position, or maybe the Football 120, throwing in kickers and punters, or maybe you could do top 10 at each position and it would be the Football 240, but then you'd also need to consider nickel backs, the different positions on the D-line, non-kicking special teamers and ... :-)
But we don't have to stop at 110. We could add 5 more for the best two way players not on another list, best punter, place kicker (maybe even split into soccer style versus old school traditional), kick holder, long snapper, kickoff returner, punt returner, special teams blocker, special teams tackler and anything else we choose to dream up.
Hey Joe. Congrats on the book. Looking forward to the football book. Much prefer the Why I Love style book for football as I don’t tend to think of football players as individually as I do baseball folks. In baseball happy to read about Carl Yastrzemski and then read about the Impossible Dream season of the Sox. But in football less interested in what a wonderful guard Jerry Kramer may have been considering stats etc. and much more interested in how he and his teammates were able to beat the Cowboys on the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau field back in the day or Johnny Unitas driving against the Giants or maybe if I’m lucky how running back Tom Matte almost quarterbacked the Colts to a championship. Can’t wait.
Joe, not at all surprised about your grand football book mulligan pivot. Anyone who grew up a Browns fan (me, too) understands that such an allegiance messes with your mind in addictively tragic, but nonetheless hopelessly hopeful ways. Not unlike real life Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football. PS Wise choice: It's ALWAYS about the storytelling -- the ones that you tell others...and yourself.
You might not want to speak on it, but I think how gross it is everyone I see an add for the Athletic’s Football 100. I didn’t get the Baseball 100 because of the format,.. I got it (for me and my brother) because if the stories. Making a football version without the heart that write the Baseball 100…. It’s gross.
It was lots of fun having you join the SABR Casey Stengel Chapter on Saturday. You remind me of one of my running friends, who is also a journalist. You, like Pete, can field a borderline yes/no question and turn your answer into a wonderful story. That's a true gift. Looking forward to WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL!
It actually makes sense that individual baseball players stand out more than individual football players, so what we love in football would be less player-based and more team/conversation-based.
Joe, will there be any kind of pre-order event with Rainy Day Books? I'd love to support my (and formerly your) local bookstore!
Congratulations. Will be pre-ordering as soon as I can figure out a inscription. Any chance Kenny Wheaton's Pick from the 1994 Oregon - Washington game magically made the cut?
I’d wondered about the Athletic book. Appreciate you taking the high road regarding discussing it. Since I saved all of your Football 101 emails from JoeBlog, I’ve got the book I want right there. Looking forward to the new book.
Joe, is it really a 100-character limit on the inscription? Mine is for like 250 characters, but the form doesn't allow for more than 100!
I’m looking forward to this book a lot more than I would have had a Football 101 based on players. Mainly because when I was reading the football 101 I just had the feeling you weren’t putting in nearly the effort that you did for your baseball 100. Many days you had two or more players combined into one day’s blog post, and even combined the post was usually shorter than an individual post in the Baseball 100. It seemed to me you had this idea, but as the countdown continued it seemed your heart wasn’t in it- I got the feeling you just wanted it to be done and over with. I felt this the most when I think you had 5 players- all offensive linemen perhaps, from the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s?- I enjoyed each separate story, but they were so short I was wondering if you’d make it to the finish line.
So am looking forward to reading about the Stanford band in John Elway’s last college game!
Can’t wait! Description makes perfect sense, loved the Football 100, learned so much about players from the 60’s and earlier I wasn’t familiar with, but comparisons are impossible.
No mention of the Bobby Witt extension?
Why is there an * next to The Machine?
He said during Molly’s zoom call that he didn’t choose the subtitle and didn’t even remember what it was. He tried but failed to recall it. My guess is that.
Thanks!
If anything the asterisk should be attached to Paterno.
I just want to know why it was put there.
Also a possible homage to Sir Terry Pratchett's gifted handling of footnotes in his Discworld series. If you are unfamiliar I should tell you his biography by Rob Wilkins is titled TERRY PRATCHETT: A Life With Footnotes*
Lol...that's great!
Joe, you could write the Football 110, in which you count down the greatest 5 players at every position, or maybe the Football 120, throwing in kickers and punters, or maybe you could do top 10 at each position and it would be the Football 240, but then you'd also need to consider nickel backs, the different positions on the D-line, non-kicking special teamers and ... :-)
But we don't have to stop at 110. We could add 5 more for the best two way players not on another list, best punter, place kicker (maybe even split into soccer style versus old school traditional), kick holder, long snapper, kickoff returner, punt returner, special teams blocker, special teams tackler and anything else we choose to dream up.
For your author's portrait for the dust jacket to this book, you MUST wear a tweed jacket with elbow patches.
Or a Browns helmet
Hey Joe. Congrats on the book. Looking forward to the football book. Much prefer the Why I Love style book for football as I don’t tend to think of football players as individually as I do baseball folks. In baseball happy to read about Carl Yastrzemski and then read about the Impossible Dream season of the Sox. But in football less interested in what a wonderful guard Jerry Kramer may have been considering stats etc. and much more interested in how he and his teammates were able to beat the Cowboys on the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau field back in the day or Johnny Unitas driving against the Giants or maybe if I’m lucky how running back Tom Matte almost quarterbacked the Colts to a championship. Can’t wait.
Joe, not at all surprised about your grand football book mulligan pivot. Anyone who grew up a Browns fan (me, too) understands that such an allegiance messes with your mind in addictively tragic, but nonetheless hopelessly hopeful ways. Not unlike real life Charlie Brown and Lucy with the football. PS Wise choice: It's ALWAYS about the storytelling -- the ones that you tell others...and yourself.
You might not want to speak on it, but I think how gross it is everyone I see an add for the Athletic’s Football 100. I didn’t get the Baseball 100 because of the format,.. I got it (for me and my brother) because if the stories. Making a football version without the heart that write the Baseball 100…. It’s gross.
Fantastic background material!
It was lots of fun having you join the SABR Casey Stengel Chapter on Saturday. You remind me of one of my running friends, who is also a journalist. You, like Pete, can field a borderline yes/no question and turn your answer into a wonderful story. That's a true gift. Looking forward to WHY WE LOVE FOOTBALL!
It actually makes sense that individual baseball players stand out more than individual football players, so what we love in football would be less player-based and more team/conversation-based.
I'll put my name on the library waiting list.
Congratulations! Placed my order last week. Can't wait for all the special stuff.