I'll Tell You One Thing: The Untold Truth About Texas, America & College Football, With Pictures to Prove It [Hardcover]

Jenkins (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Through the years, the nonpareil Dan Jenkins has been accused of being one of the funniest and most astute chroniclers of our games. In both his fiction and reportage, being funny and being smart are mutually inclusive. In I'll Tell You One Thing, he reveals himself as wildly inventive, loyal, passionate, and outrageous on the subject of college football--and particularly college football in Texas and his beloved SWC.

A TCU graduate, Jenkins unabashedly wears both heart and prejudice on his sleeve throughout this contentious mixture of fact, fiction, and a whole lot of opinion. "A man of the college football persuasion is," he suggests, "capable of talking for hours on the subject of why his game is better--more exciting, more interesting, more important--than any other team game," and Jenkins indeed talks--and debates--throughout with Billy Clyde Puckett, Tommy Earl Brunner, and Coach T.J. Lambert, some of the most famous characters born of his pen. What they're debating is quite real, though: college football, players, games, statistics, biases. It's dead-solid sports history and wonderful fun. So are the old game stories--also quite real--that Jenkins resurrects from the typewriters of the likes of Grantland Rice to show what the game was like when the college, not professional, game was king. If that's not enough fun, Jenkins provides even more with outrageous lists from who should have won each Heisman and the best college fight songs to the 10 stages of drunkenness and why the '30s are his favorite decade. The real fun of I'll Tell You One Thing, though, is just how much Jenkins does tell and how entertainingly he tells it. --Jeff Silverman

Product Details

• Hardcover: 172 pages
• Publisher: Duane Press (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0942627563
• ISBN-13: 978-0942627565
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #735,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Love College Football, too, December 22, 1999

By 

Patrick McDonald (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'll Tell You One Thing: The Untold Truth About Texas, America & College Football, With Pictures to Prove It (Hardcover)

I found this book to be enjoyable and I agree with many of Mr. Jenkins observations. Being an avid arkansas razorback fan, i especially enjoyed his part of the book about the great arkansas-texas rivalry in the 60's and 70's. I remember my grandfather talking about the 1969 arkansas-texas shootout and his heartbreak at the hogs losing in the minutes of the game.

Mr. Jenkins talks about the end of the SWC and I can feel his sadness at the passing of what was once a great conference. i think that arkansas' leaving was the final death knell brought on by probation, poor attendance.

I especially liked his section about why college football is better than pro. I like pro football, but it is no contest at all. Despite some bad press from time to time, college football is greatest, most pure team sport. Just ask any diehard longhorn, aggie, razorback, crimson tide , volunteer, etc fan. The spirit and the emotion are unmatched. I feel sorry for people who don't get it.

Mr. Jenkins like myself knows how addictive and wonderful college football is with its traditions (hook em horns, woooo pig sooie,) and strange mascots (horned frogs?. Nothing else can touch it.

Thank you for a terrific book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PERFECT for my dad, December 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: I'll Tell You One Thing: The Untold Truth About Texas, America & College Football, With Pictures to Prove It (Hardcover)

In all honesty, I've only skimmed through and read bits and pieces of the book, but that's more than I had planned to read. It sounded like something my dad would like, but after I read the foreword by his daughter, I couldn't help but read more. It has neat color illustrations, old photos, lots of fun football lists, and very funny writing. This seems like a very different kind of book. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying reading something I had bought as a gift.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jenkins Review by a youngster, January 9, 2000

By 

J. D., Thirsty Ag (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I'll Tell You One Thing: The Untold Truth About Texas, America & College Football, With Pictures to Prove It (Hardcover)

Mr. Jenkins' lastest work delves into his love, passion, and fondness for the now defunct Southwest Conference in big-time college football.

His book starts with the birth of the Southwest Conference as a national powerhouse in the 1930's to its death in 1995.

This book also covers the fifty greatest games in all of college football history (note: authors preference), best college fight songs, "Poll Bowls", All-American lists, and other interesting tidbits from some of his familiar "fictional" cohorts in crime (Billy Clyde, T.J., Tommy Earl).

This book reminds the reader of when college football was played for school, city, and state pride instead of having the chance to do the cabbage-patch-dump-shuffle in the endzone with your helmet off so your four girlfriends and five kids could see you on national TV.