Customer Reviews

Floyd Little's Tales from the Broncos Sideline

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As a die-hard Denver Bronco fan since a kid. Floyd Little was my favorite player, so when I learned of his book I had to read it. The best thing is you don't have to be a hard core fan to enjoy it. It's a very honest, uplifting, sometimes gritty, funny, emotional and easy read on his life story with the Broncos and before. John Elway wrote the foreword and says Floyd is the greatest Bronco of all, so that should tell you something. Also the introduction by the all-time greatest Jim Brown speaks volumes about Floyd.

Just great story after great story, chapter after chapter. I read it straight through. He was the bright light on a losing franchise back then and many don't realize that he was a major part for keeping the Broncos in Denver in the early AFL days drawing fans keeping Mile High Stadium sold-out. Without Floyd there's no modern day Denver Broncos. He was an intense All-Pro most of his career and inspired his teammates to always go 100%. If Floyd didn't see you giving 100% on the field...look out, you might get body slammed. I didn't know he that intense as a player.

Believe me the old Mile High Stadium was the best, (it actually vibrated and rumbled when everyone cheered) and to have been to games in that era was special. He truly should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame but since he was on a small market losing team most of his career he is forgotten by the writers. The cover photo encompasses his whole career being carried off by fans, how cool is that?

There are priceless stories of Floyd coming up through the ranks and obstacles he faced. Tales from how he faced some racism to how he passed his college SAT scores to playing in college at Syracuse in the backfield with the great Larry Csonka and coach Tom Coughlin to playing against Dick Butkus in the pros. The Lou Saban years with the "Half Loaf" game. There's another tale of an amazing game Floyd actually got fired by Lou in a home game. The John Ralston years..great picture of him with Floyd on his last game. Stories about former teammates...Marlin Briscoe (wow! that dude was a trip), Lyle Alzado, Mike Current ("the brawl"-great story). Tom Jackson telling Raiders coach John Madden in a game, " Not this time, fat man"....Now I know why they never have Madden ever talk to TJ on the microphone during the ESPN Sunday or MNF pregame stuff they do.

Also Floyd gives you the low down on the NFL's darkside...the denial of health care benefits to players from his era 30 years ago who gave their heart and soul to the game like Johnny Unitas!
I wish there more pictures, but the ones included were right on. Great book. Well done. It makes me want to see some video footage from the Floyd Little era.

I became a Bronco fan because of Floyd Little. This is a plain-spoken simple book that is full of heart. Contemporary professional sports lacks the compassion and love of the game that Little and his peers had for not only the game, but also their town and their team. As a result I have totally lost interest. If professional sports returned to the values of Floyd Little I would probably become a born-again fan. But it sure is fun to read about those old days and get a glimpse into the life of the finest athlete ever to wear the orange.

I was disappointed in this book. It wasn't what I thought. I wanted to know about Floyd's life, instead, it was about football. He could have kept this.

One of the tried and true formats of the sports memoir is to assemble a collection of anecdotes about the player's life and career. But the real challenge is to make the book flow. All too often, as interesting as the stories are, the result is a choppy, uneven book.

Not in this case. Tom Mackie assembled a fantastic collection of stories and memories and deserves a lot of credit for creating the flow that is absent from many sports memoirs. More importantly, Mackie preserves Little's voice. I've heard many an interview with Floyd Little and reading this book is like sitting down with Little and listening to his stories in person.

And what stories they are! Let's face it, as the NFL has become the insanely huge business that it is today it has matured as well. Little played in those days in the league when the really big business was still on the horizon but the fanatical following by fans was fully realized. The classic picture on the cover, of fans carrying Little on their shoulders is proof enough of the changed times.

Little takes us through his pre-college and college years of the game and the who's who of inspirational people that marched in and out of his life. He candidly discusses the challenges of being an African-American. Later in the book Little tells us why he much preferred playing in Denver over anywhere in the South.

Denver Bronco fans, old and new should be familiar with the struggles the Broncos went through in those early years of the franchise.

Little talks about the bounties the Raiders put on Bronco players and Bronco stats too.

Little once told a reporter that he drank a half-glass of blood, ate raw meat and slept in a dark cage before game day!!!

The Broncos' QB troubles in his rookie year included the coach starting a punter at the QB position. The QB door was spinning faster than anything we've seen since the end of the Elway era.

Fans throwing half-loaves of bread during the game.

Training by running the steps of Mile High in combat boots.

Little's stories regularly made me laugh out loud. Some of this stuff is just the kind of thing that would get players in trouble today but things were a lot more easy-going back then, it makes for great reading now.

This book is not so much a full-on biography as it is a collection of interesting, insightful, and funny stories from all stages of Little's football career (mostly focusing on his years with the Broncos). The writing style is not groundbreaking or anything - the typical ghost written athlete's biography stuff here- but it's a really entertaining book with a lot of interesting behind the scenes stories. I was born in 1977 (just a week or two before they went to the Superbowl), so I really had no clue how important Little was to the Broncos until I read this, and I came away from it not just entertained, but also with a new-found appreciation for Little's contribution to the Broncos we know. If you were around when he played, you'd probably enjoy it even more. All in all, I'd definitely recommend it to any football fan and especially Broncos fans.

This is an easy read filled with great stories. Some are somewhat sad but most are humerous and all are passion filled. I highly recommend the book.

Bought this for myself and my Grandfather, who was a season ticket holder from '63 to '89, and we both loved it. If you love the Broncos, this is an excellent buy.

Nice review of Floyd Little's time with the Broncos. Gives insight into some of the Broncos history.

First, the good: this book is GREAT, it was a Christmas gift for my dad who has been a Broncos fan since Day One - 1960 (the first year the team played in the AFL.) He loves it, and loves remembering all of the old Broncos stories

Now the bad: I ordered the autographed, leather-bound, $50 version of this book in AUGUST of 2006!! It was originally scheduled to be delivered in November.....then that was pushed back to Janurary, which of course misses the whole point, which was to have it by Christmas, but whatever. Then, in Janurary I get an email saying it has been delayed AGAIN and won't arrive until March. Well, forget it. Cancel that order. Order a "regular" version. Two weeks later - STILL no book. I call Amazon. Order the book for the THIRD TIME, and they send it 2-day shipping.....the second book never arrived. Nice process, Amazon and whoever was responsible for the autographed, limited edition book!!!