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If every NFL player & coach wrote a memoir in retirement, which would you want to read most?


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Maybe there’s an actual memoir out there on your list, or it’s never been written—but either way, which one would be a must-read? 

 

OP’s initial suggestions (I’m excluding Kelly’s since I already read that one a few times over 🤷‍♂️):

 

-Dan Marino (so I could revel in constant defeat at Buffalo’s hands);

-Antonio Brown (everyone likes gawking at car crashes and his stories would have to be epic);

-Josh Allen…Duh!

-Hue Jackson (how did he manage to swindle/hang on to his tenures so long?) 

-Dick Jauron (morbid curiosity to see how he would explain punting as an offensive weapon no matter the field position) 


Eventually getting the behind the scenes story on 13 seconds would be possible? But who is the most likely to accurately dish that disaster? 😳

 

Some of the 60’s-80’s players would also no doubt discuss ‘roids and bounties galore…the options here are endless!

 

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For the HBO titillation factor, I think the players of the 1960s and 70s would have the most scandalous stories of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.  

 

But for the cerebral fan, I think reading Bill Belichick's account would be great, as much as I hated the Pats dynasty.  

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Coach - Joe Gibbs, doesn't get enough credit for winning 3 Superbowls with 3 different QB's

 

Player - George Blanda. What could drive a man his age to play that long in a brutal era with no dieticians, off season programs, huge contracts, etc..

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7 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

Interesting question. Too bad you couldn’t get thru it without mentioning 13 seconds.  Weird. 
 

The reason I mentioned that episode is because I feel like we still haven’t gotten a clear answer for the autopsy of what went into it, fwiw. That’s the type of game where any of its participants would include it if writing a memoir imho. 

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I would definitely want to read a coach's perspective. Belichick would be high on my list, although I'd probably skip over the chapters on Spygate, and Deflategate. Pete Carrol might be another. And I'll bet Jim Harbough would make for an informative, and entertaining read, albeit unhinged.

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44 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

The reason I mentioned that episode is because I feel like we still haven’t gotten a clear answer for the autopsy of what went into it, fwiw. That’s the type of game where any of its participants would include it if writing a memoir imho. 


Understandably so.  It was horrific.  I just can’t think about it daily.  

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8 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

The players I would be most  interested in reading probably can't spell or write

Most are broke too...

 

Most of those books are not actually written by the players, they are written by ghost writers or actual writers who publish it "as told to me by player X"

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2 hours ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Maybe there’s an actual memoir out there on your list, or it’s never been written—but either way, which one would be a must-read? 

 

OP’s initial suggestions (I’m excluding Kelly’s since I already read that one a few times over 🤷‍♂️😞

 

-Dan Marino (so I could revel in constant defeat at Buffalo’s hands);

-Antonio Brown (everyone likes gawking at car crashes and his stories would have to be epic);

-Josh Allen…Duh!

-Hue Jackson (how did he manage to swindle/hang on to his tenures so long?) 

-Dick Jauron (morbid curiosity to see how he would explain punting as an offensive weapon no matter the field position) 


Eventually getting the behind the scenes story on 13 seconds would be possible? But who is the most likely to accurately dish that disaster? 😳

 

Some of the 60’s-80’s players would also no doubt discuss ‘roids and bounties galore…the options here are endless!

 


that has to be the most exhaustive list of the most boring memoirs ever potentially published—Yeesh! 
 

Lawrence Taylor or Michael Irvin maybe. 

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1 hour ago, Rocky Landing said:

I would definitely want to read a coach's perspective. Belichick would be high on my list, although I'd probably skip over the chapters on Spygate, and Deflategate. Jim Carrol might be another. And I'll bet Jim Harbough would make for an informative, and entertaining read, albeit unhinged.

 

I agree, assuming you meant Pete Carroll.  I'd be more interested in coaches than players.  I don't care about the bro stuff.  I want to hear about leadership philosophies, schemes, and all that.  

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7 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

I don't care about the bro stuff.  I want to hear about leadership philosophies, schemes, and all that.  

 

I want to hear about the time in Pittsburgh when Matuszak kept jamming mud in Mike Websters earhole so he couldn't hear the snap count :D

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6 minutes ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

I agree, assuming you meant Pete Carroll.  I'd be more interested in coaches than players.  I don't care about the bro stuff.  I want to hear about leadership philosophies, schemes, and all that.  

It's not a memoir, and I've already read it, but there's a biography of Bo Jackson out that is an interesting insight into a unique individual.  That's what would be true about the coaches.  I read the Belichick biography, and it's really interesting.  Better than most of the player stuff.  

 

And I have a friend who wrote his memoir about being a big-time golf agent.  Rainmaker.  Also good stuff. 

 

Really interesting stuff in books by the people who spent a lifetime thinking about their sport at the highest level.  

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2 hours ago, Goin Breakdown said:

Ryan Fitzpatrick. He's seems like such an awesome person on and off the field. 

It might have taken me a while to get their, but yeah, Fitzpatrick.  He's had interesting experiences and he could tell the story well.  

 

For example, who else in the NFL has spent four years in college with some of the smartest people in the world, a college where the jocks actually take classes.  Then he follows it up with an amazing pro career, where he accomplished way beyond what anyone expected of him.  And he was funny and reflective at the same time.  Remember he wore all that weird red hairy mask think when he was giving his speech at a roast - must have been Eric Wood?  And stories about this family and moving all the time.  

 

Yes, Fitz!  Do it!

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