Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments

Image of Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments
Author(s): 
Release Date: 
September 17, 2024
Publisher/Imprint: 
Dutton
Pages: 
416
Reviewed by: 

Why We Love Football is Joe Posnanski’s latest in a series of sports books that include Why We Love Baseball and The Baseball 100. In each of these gems, Posnanski draws upon his intimate knowledge of the two sports and his skill as a sportswriter. In Why We Love Baseball Posnanski chooses 50 stories from the world of baseball for his attention. In The Baseball 100 he chooses his top 100 players. Now, in Why We Love Football, Posnanski turns to his choice of the top 100 moments in football. Hidden within that group of 100 are his top ten players.

Posnanski is a self-confessed fan of both sports, but it is football that seems to burn deepest for him. It is a sport of emotion and rage, highs and lows, relief and joy, that can be negated, as he points out, by a flag on the play. Many of these football moments are given the tag “magical” or “miracle.” For a time in the NFL “Fantastic Finishes,” was a theme for a TV commercial at the two-minute warning. How this came to be is a story of American commercial ingenuity.

One difference in this book from his previous work is that Posnanski chooses moments from beyond the professional and collegiate world. These are wonderful choices filled with high stakes and high drama that can only be found in the adolescent world of sport. The best of these is the recap of a 1994 high school game in Texas between Plano and John Tyler High. Both were undefeated, and the game was loaded with flip-flopping emotion and high drama.

The great players and great plays receive minute examination often featuring the odd twist and surprising reversal of fortune. Underdogs dot the pages, some well-known and others not so much.

The periphery is scoured for all manner of interesting tidbits. Did Philadelphia really boo Santa? Posnanski clears this up. The cloudy origins of the Halftime Show are uncovered. The Immaculate Reception is here, but so is the Immaculate Deception. There is the Hail Mary, the Hail Flutie, and the Holy Roller.

All the great players and their accomplishments are recalled, and the great blunders and mistakes are piled up for all to see. There is The Drive that Posnanski cannot write about because it is too painful for the Cleveland Browns fan that he is. There is The Catch (both of them) and The Guarantee, and the strange and short life of The Tuck Rule. And of course, The Butt Fumble and The Clock Play.

The great runners are recalled: Jim Brown, Gayle Sayers, Walter Payton, and the Galloping Ghost. The great and notable quarterbacks are recounted: Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Payton Manning, Sammy Baugh, Fran Tarkenton, Bart Starr, and more.

The pass receivers list could go on forever, but Jerry Rice leads the way in Posnanski’s eyes. Mike Ditka “invents” the tight end or was it John Mackey who invented the tight end.

There are many firsts acknowledged in the 100 moments. Some of the important issues found in the history of football receive attention.

And so it goes, on and on, until there are 100 moments or players on the list. There are many more than mentioned in this review, and probably many more that each one who reads this book will want to add to the list. But this is Joe Posnanski’s list, and it is difficult to argue with any of the 100 he includes.

He ends with his number one moment, which he identifies as John Madden’s last game. It is much more than that, and once you read this tribute to the man and the game of football you will find it difficult to disagree with the choice of Madden for the number one moment.