Customer Reviews

Cleveland Browns History (OH) (Images of Sports)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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A very well written book. There is an amazing amount of information packed into 128 pages. The book is broken down in chronological order, starting in the early days of the All-American Football Leauge, through all the NFL and AFC championships, the hard years of the 1980's and 90's, the move out of Cleveland and the triumphant return in 1999. The book starts with Cleveland's utter domination of the AAFC and their move to the NFL. It covers Paul Brown's accomplishments and his eventual firing by Art Modell, the "Kardiac Kids" of 1979 - 1984, and the careers of Lyle Alzado and Bernie Kosar. The book draws to a close with the old Browns moving to Balitimore, the fans fight in Congress to keep the team in Cleveland, and the eventual rebirth of the new Cleveland Browns and their future, including the recent hiring of Romeo Crennel as the team's new head coach. Plus, there are countless black-and-white pictures and rich captions of Cleveland Browns history. The cool thing about b&w pictures is that it makes everything equally historical, from 2004 to 1946.

Overall, I throughly enjoyed this book about one of the most historic sports teams in history. I look forward to Mr. Henkel's next book. Perhaps he can work his magic over the Dallas Cowboys history.

It is remarkable how much information Frank Henkel crams into 128 pages. From the Cleveland Browns' beginnings in the mid-1940s, to the title teams of their first decade, to the club's "slump" in the late-1950s and early '60s, to Cleveland's last pro sports championship in 1964, to the near-misses of the late-'60s, to the Bad News Browns of the mid-70s, to the Kardiac Kids, to the Kosar era, to The Move, to the "return" of the Browns in 1999, to the troubled times of today, Henkel takes the reader on a unique path through the history of one of the most celebrated franchises in the NFL. Besides bringing to the reader the obvious highlights and lowlights of nearly 60 years of Browns football, Henkel also writes of players and happenings about which many fans may have forgotten. The author goes into great detail in the play-by-play of some very memorable games. He also adds spice by offering the reader an array of trivia tidbits throughout the book. If you are a fan of Cleveland Browns history, you will love Cleveland Browns History. It's that simple.

I am a Browns fan, and I like learning about the team's great history. But reading this was boring. Lots of facts are presented but it reads almost like a narrative form of a statistics book. I want to experience more of the emotional and humanistic elements. There are literally no quotes from fans and only a few from players and coaches. I am interested in reading specific examples of fan reactions during the team's highs and the lows. I want to read about the players' personal accounts during the "Kardiac Kids" era games. I want to read quotes from the coaches' regarding in-game decisions. I would like to have seen clippings from the local newspapers. This book gives way too few for any of above. The book does, however, provide some nice black-and-white photos. It is somewhat brief being only 128 pages yet the book costs more than others. I was expecting much more for my money. Since this is my first Browns book, I can't recommend another although I'm hoping there are better ones available.

My husband bought this book for his dad planning to either cut it up and make a collage of photos or scan it and do so, and after the book arrived he liked it too much in it's entirety to do so. He ended up reading through the book himself and just giving the book as a whole. It was like a dual gift, he enjoyed it himself and then gifted it like he had planned.

I WAS VERY EXCITED TO RECIEVE THIS BOOK AND EVEN MORE AS I BEGAN TO READ IT! THANK YOU