3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, but Major Error, December 29, 2009
This review is from: Denver Broncos: The Complete Illustrated History (Hardcover)
I bought this book as a birthday gift for my husband, a die-hard Broncos fan. The minute he opened it, he flipped to the back of the book to see where the history "ended". On page 177, the very last page of the book, is a chart detailing the team's win/loss records for each season of the 2000's decade. He immediately noticed that the chart was totally wrong. The data was an exact copy of the win/loss chart from the 1960's decade that is printed earlier in the book. A careless copy/paste error by the designer, no doubt. All the detail had been updated for the "2000's" except the actual stats. Nice.
We contacted the publisher, MVP Books, who was very nice and receptive to our concern. They are aware of the error and will send an updated page with the corrected data. We would much prefer an entirely new book of course, but if this is the best they can do we will have to deal. They said they would not run a reprint until the entire stock is sold - that will take awhile. They also said that there should have been a card tucked inside the book detailing the error and instructions to receive a new page. The book we ordered from Amazon did not have this card. They said we were only the second customer to contact them about the error.
Other than that, this is a great book. If you're willing to overlook one mistake, there is a world of great information, photos, and unique perspectives inside.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Company History, August 30, 2009
This review is from: Denver Broncos: The Complete Illustrated History (Hardcover)
One would expect that a book chronicling the history of the Denver Broncos by its long-time and very capable Vice President for Public Relations, Jim Saccomano, would be a treasure. It is. This should be on the bookshelf of every serious Denver Bronco fan, especially those who are not aware of the growth of the Bronco Nation from its early, humble beginnings to becoming the prominent and successful franchise it is today. Saccomano tells a richly illustrated story of Denver football moving from cow town survival to the football pinnacle. He is on the inside of the franchise and he tells the story with family pride in a little over 175 pages of prose and pictures, including a warm introduction by its Hall of Fame Quarterback, John Elway.
Surprisingly, there are over a dozen books telling the history of the Denver Broncos, with editions running the gamut from being primarily coffee table photography souvenir books (gradually moving from black-and-white to color photography as the years go by), to books for grade school libraries, and a couple of books with few pictures written by talented journalists and writers. Most of these books are now out-of-print, but made the storytelling of the early years much easier for Saccomano. He nicely adds a modern touch to the story of the early years, for example, by revisiting modest former Broncos practice and administrative facilities during the writing of the book.
Saccomano chose to divide the history by decades, similar to the style adopted by
Broncos: Three Decades of Football, which makes sense for a book celebrating the Broncos 50th Anniversary. Other books have organized the history by owners, coaches, or eras of accomplishment, i.e., getting to a winning season, getting to the Super Bowl, and eventually winning the Super Bowl.
While Saccomano celebrates the accomplishments of the Broncos franchise, it is clear that he is writing from the perspective of a spokesperson for the current Bronco organization. The reader will find little dissension in "Dove Valley" (the practice complex for the Broncos) even in 2009, the most melodramatic off-season soap opera year in Denver Bronco history. In the book, coaches rise with great applause in the beginning, yet fall most quickly. You will find not a scintilla of criticism of owner Patrick Bowlen, nor a complete examination of what truly unfolded for Bowlen's "coach for life" Mike Shanahan to lose his job after a .500 season.
So, to some degree, this is a positive company history, updating several earlier Broncos-sponsored books, not objective history written by an outsider. It is not the definitive, scholarly, annotated biography of the Denver Bronco Football Club that one may have hoped that Saccomano could have produced, given his knowledge and access to Bronco files. Oddly enough, while credit is given to Bronco photographers (like my fellow Golden High graduate, Eric Bakke), Saccomano gives little recognition to earlier Bronco historians or the legion of outstanding Bronco newspaper beat writers dating from the early days with Dick Connor and Chet Nelson to current Dave Krieger and Jeff Legwold. Some of the prior histories gave Jim Saccomano credit for his help on their books. Maybe the restrictions of the MVP book series, of which this is one team's part, prevented these acknowledgments or reflections, but I found their omission in a comprehensive Broncos history by its chief publicist disappointing.
Minor criticisms aside, Saccomano shows his professional, life long labor of love with the Broncos on every page of this book. It is somewhat unfair to expect him to write critically about the Broncos or its owner when he clearly loves the team and its current owner. This is a fun and very readable book. Every Broncos fan should buy and read it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
An Excellent read, May 21, 2010
This review is from: Denver Broncos: The Complete Illustrated History (Hardcover)
An excellent account of the Denver Broncos history by a wonderful man who was there!
From the vertical socks ( they look great now!) to the present day, this book is a must for all Bronco fans and football fans alike.
Follow the franchise from it's start in the AFL to the two time Super Bowl winners.
Very well written and hard to put down once you start. Keep it out as a reference book.
Also check out Mr. Saccomano's previous book; "Game of MY Life Denver Broncos: Memorable Stories of Broncos Football. Another great read in the words of the Bronco players from day one to present.
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