Customer Reviews

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly San Francisco 49ers: Heart-pounding, Jaw-dropping, and Gut-wrenching Moments from San Francisco 49ers History (Good, ... & the Ugly) (The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly)

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If you are a football or sports fan do you're self a favor, read ANY book by Steve Travers. This guy is objective and he doesn't sugarcoat in his writing which I love. Any sports analyst or writer worth their salt is objective remember that. I just finished his Good Bad and Ugly book on the San Francisco 49ers history on Valentine's Day 2010 and I have to say that it was a page turner.

Travers mind you is a California sports enthusiast so most of his books are about that region of the United States. The 49ers book I read was a concise analysis of 49ers history and any Niners fan should read it. You may find books that are longer or more about the modern or 1980s Glory days of the Niners out there, but if you just want to be educated about the Niners to look good in front of your pals and get some good and objective writing this book is for you.

Thank you Steve Travers and I look forward to reading more of your books, especially Trojans Essential a book about my favorite college football team ever, USC.

A few quibbles with this book. It is short. Quite short, It jumps all over the place, with stories tossed about haphardously, even within the context of good, bad, and ugly stories, creating narrative problems from story to story, moving back and forth in time and ruining the emotional investment in which the events should have more meaning when read within the historical context that is the history of this team. Where is the 87 playoff game against Minnesota? That game alone almost ruined Joe Montana, creating the Montana/Young controversy and how Montana reacted to it and how he played the next few seasons.

Unless readers are already familiar with many of the games or seasons mentioned some of these stories are essentially a condensed version of what they should have been. So many deserving players and games go unmentioned, both successes and failures. There are also errors, such as placing Tim Krumrie on the Niners in Super Bowl 23.

As a huge Forty Niners fan, and the son of a huge Niners fan, I am well versed in team lore, and this book misses the mark by a fair bit.