Customer Reviews

Long Bomb: How the XFL Became TV's Biggest Fiasco

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After reading the Rebel League, a great book about the WHA and Loose Balls, a decent book on the ABA, Long Bomb was a dud. I expected more of a league wide account. The author focuses in one team, the Las Vegas Outlaws and a little about the LA Maniax, the others are barely mentioned. I felt the book really lets the reader down in trying to get a good picture of the XFL. I wasn't a big fan of the WWF, maybe WWF fans will like this book better. It focuses more on Vince McMahon and Jessie Ventura than anything else.

The author writes in a very cheesey style, with dumb analogies and stupid statements. For instance he refers to security guards as rent-a-cops so many times it gets lame.

The book is organized poorly, Page 100 should be the start of the book, where it actually starts to tell you how the XFL came about. The book starts off just plopping in the middle, making the reader wonder constantly what is going on and who are these people the author is talking about.

The XFL is done an injustice by having this be one of the only accounts of its brief history.

Long Bomb is more an account of the greatest failure in sports television than about the sport itself. We learn some about the Las Vegas Outlaws, but this book is at the core about the drama within the executive ranks of the league.

Dick Ebersol, the NBC Sports chairman, saw the current regime of negotiating contracts with sports leagues as a slow death for the network. Finally, he couldn't bid at the record levels for the new NFL contract. Instead, he hungered for a cheaper proprietary product built permanently for NBC.

Elsewhere in the world, the nouveau riche Vince McMahon sought out his own revenge against the snobby blue bloods of the NFL. McMahon had been a part of the rejected 1998 ownership bid that included author Tom Clancy, and the deal largely fell through over McMahon's reputation as an unsavory character. Incensed, McMahon held a grudge against the elitist old boys club, and kicked around a concept for his eventual revenge. Then the WWF issued a wildly-successful initial public offering, and Vince had the cash to start his own eight-team league, which would be based in the spring, like the USFL.

Ebersol welcomed him in like a white knight. They set a schedule for Saturday nights, in hopes of lifting a barren spot in NBC's lineup.

Long Bomb describes how a misguided emphasis on raunchy hype-driven gimmicks alienated the true football fan, but did not bring in the wrestling fan. The projected beautiful hybrid turned out to be a grotesque dying chimera, and after one year, Ebersol and McMahon at last pulled it off life-support.

Brett Forrest employed plenty of sardonic purple prose to describe the dream gone rotten. Another reviewer described this as gonzo journalism. I think that's apt. I'm reminded of Tom Wolfe's New Journalism. It works extremely well with this topic. The one irritating nit in the work is the persistent riddling of careless typos from the middle to the end. If you can overlook those, you'll enjoy this especially if you're fascinated by what can go wrong with the most sure television productions.

(4.5 stars) In short, this is an extremely entertaining story that shows just how strong a grip hollywood has on sports, and just how much money corporates are willing to spend on smoke and mirrors, as long as the bikinis are skimpy enough.

Investigative work of Forrest is surprisingly thorough and likely has made him a candidate for some brand new cement shoes. Body guards might be in order. One asks the questions, "How does a guy so bright get in so close to guys so dense?"

For what its worth, my advice...buy and read this book if you are fed up with sappy fairy-tales of johnny-come-lately's saga with fame, drugs and women/men and the obligatory successful finale, with a "how-to" for the rest of us. And/or if you are fed up with media books by the likes of the Murdoch empire.

"Media-studies" readers will finally be entertained by a strong media book. Die-hard sports fans will have a chance to do a healthy re-think of their views on mass-media sports. I did.

Most of all...entertaining and sharp, bridges realms of sports/media. (4.5 stars)

Im a graduate student at New York University and I just picked up Mr. Forrests book for the sole purpose of researching a few pages related to Ted Turner. After reading the pages on Turner, I thought I might just check out the first few pages of Long Bomb...five hours later, I cant say Ive made much progress on my thesis, but I can say that Ive been taken on a fascinating and informative tour of the hubris-filled shell that was the XFL.

Let's get one thing clear up front: "Long Bomb" is not, repeat, NOT, the definitive history of the XFL. The XFL doesn't deserve a definitive history! "Long Bomb" instead is a neat little slice of gonzo journalism; an extended magazine piece showring Vince McMahon's year-long football hybrid with all the sardonic barbs it so richly merited.

What sold me on the book was author Brett Forrest's photo and author blurb, which talks about how he squandered his book advance on gambling and booze. He even looks like the kind of guy you'd expect would go undercover with minor-league quality football players for a year, just to get a book deal. There is no more perfect man to describe the XFL.

Actually, the XFL defies description. It sounded like a good concept at the time -- a stripped-down, bare-bones football league, without the attendant NFL media hype and over-management (like the gritty, muddy, audience-free football scenes in the movie version of "North Dallas Forty"). The problem is, XFL went right out and got everything wrong: it was all about the fireworks and McMahon-staged theatrics, and the players couldn't play. The league was "unscripted", but non-competitive -- all teams were owned by the league, an idea so awful that Major League Baseball went right out and copied it by purchasing the Montreal Expos. XFL couldn't lure talent away from the college campuses, so the teams were comprised of injured collegiates and retreads from the CFL or (even worse) NFL Europe. Their star attraction was a player who wore the phrase "HE HATE ME" on the back of his jersey. HE HATE ME was a running back who couldn't run. And now you know... the rest of the story.

Forrest's disdain for the entire misbegotten project pervades every page of the book. His recaps of the error-filled TV broadcasts are a hoot, and even by the final weeks of the season, when the ratings were gone and the Cheerleader Cam was shut off, he doesn't spare any bile. Forrest is more fair to the players and producers who granted him interviews or access, but even then we're allowed to see how empty HE HATES ME's home life is, or how sad it is when Las Vegas quarterback Ryan Clement retells the same tired college bowl triumph to the same disinterested crowd.

There are some hideous turns of phrase in the book: "In a season that lasted two fistfuls of games, the XFL was about to begin its second hand". A list of nasty adjectives used in the book would be longer than this review, although Forrest is neutral when it comes time to describe McMahon's near-shoving match with Bob Costas (he sneers at both sides!). He clearly admires Jesse Ventura, erstwhile XFL broadcaster and governor, but doesn't spare us Ventura's lack of ability to spin on-air phrases (see the title of this review for a great example).

Take "Long Bomb" for what it is: a bitterly funny and mercifully brief post-mortem of a spectacular TV failure. If you remember anything at all about the XFL (and I watched all of 45 seconds), this book is a great features-eye view of all the ways in which it went wrong.

I had high hopes for this book since I heard about it late last year (when it was originally going to be released in February 2002). I had hopes that this book would give readers a good analysis on why the XFL didn't work. I also was looking forward to reading an indepth background study of the league in a way that someone who wasn't into watching the program could get a clear picture of the history involved.

Unfortunately, such insight is missing for the most part of this book. The author has really written this book for people who were closely following the league from Day One, and if you weren't you'll feel lost pretty early on in the text. I also have a personal problem with the fairly new concept of some nonfiction writers of writing the "innermost thoughts" of participants out in the text as if they were writing fiction. It would be better to actually read the comments by the participants instead of what reads like the author having telepathic communications with the participants as events occurred in the book. In defense of the author, however, I should point out that he really had to write the book under some durress thanks to WWE/XFL/NBC's lawyers breathing down his and the interviewees' necks, so this may have been the only way to get some thoughts of the participants across in the book. Still, from this reader's standpoint, it ends up being very awkward phrasing and a demerit to the book.

The book also seems a bit sloppy in the editing department. The first three chapters each read like introductions to the book and could have been combined, while later chapters leave large holes in the narrative on the assumption people will know what the writer is referring to. I also wish an editor would have told the author to cut back on his metaphors, as they do nothing to advance the text and get very annoying after the first twenty pages. All this combines to a very jumpy style that is all over the place and makes following of the narrative a bit off frequently.

Saying all this, I do recommend the book, but with reservations. If you were following XFL at the time, then by all means, pick up the book. If you are filling in your history for the first time about the failed attempt at a new league, you may want to study up on the subject a bit first before giving the book a go.

An interesting book that doesn't skew TOO far into McMahon bashing. In fact, McMahon is actually presented in the most realistic fashion that I've read personally. That said, it is kind of obvious that the author didn't write the book until he knew what the outcome would be, and one can't help but wonder if most of the "skew" comes out of that fact.

Whether you watched the XFL or only heard about it, this book gives us some really intriguing behind the scenes viewpoints of the mini-drama that was the league's only season. Anyone else remember the dead air in one of the early weeks? Charles Puleri? The SNL/J-Lo fiasco? Rusty vs. Jesse? "He Hate Me?" Clement vs. Grieb? All of the stories, big and small, of the XFL are covered, with additional info from an insider point of view. Good stuff.

The XFL went under a little over a year ago, but seems like a far more distant memory. Long Bomb is Brett Forrest's take on why the league failed so dramatically-and the people who made it possible. Forrest followed the Las Vegas Outlaws for the season, and we learn about how players got ... into the league, how quickly the network head honchos lost faith after ratings dropped, and how Vince McMahon went down fighting till the end. He shines a light on how many people worked their ... off for the league, almost making you feel sorry for McMahon and his cohorts. With the XFL gone, football won't be as easy to make fun of anymore-well, at least there's still the Cincinnati Bengals. I love it, as Forrest is a very good writer who moves you along and doesn't miss a single detail.

The XFL started off with a bang! Combining WWF Smackdown with American football was a perfect fit. Unfortunately, the media (namely, the newspapers) across the nation had a chip on their shoulder against Vince McMahon. And instead of allowing the man and his crew to create then develop this brand new product, they chose to chew it up, spit it out then stomp on the XFL before it had a chance to get off the ground. After the first week's ratings, it was a hit. But, like humans tend to do, the public began to read and once they saw that the media was not going for it, acted like the sheep they are and followed the bouncing ball. I would have changed a few things about the XFL but only a few. Most of the innovations they had - the scramble, spy cam, cameras in the huddle, mics on the players - was stuff the public screams for in the NFL. EVen the extra point was not automatic. But the media didn't allow the XFL to develop. Did the NFL or NBA get to the top over night? HEll, no! It takes years to get it right. But, like I harped on before, the media wouldn't allow it to happen. Even Mr. Forrest, in this book, jumped on the bandwagon. Practically everything he writes is a negative factor. His snide remarks and putdowns showed me he's just another sheep in the herd. The XFL could have been, with a bit of trimming and adjusting, twice what the NFL is today. If it only had been given an opportunity. One season was not enough. I loved the XFL for the most part. The announcers were a bit wacky at times but that all came with the territory. I just wish someone would have taken the time to write something decent about this league. Perhaps the sheep would have read it and realized they had themselves a diamond in the rough. Cut it, polish it, and you've got yourself a gem. Instead, we get idiots like Brett Forrest and his narrow mindedness. Pity.

This book belonged in the business section of the library, not the football or sports section. Author Brett Forrest only gave basic and not that much I might add, information on the football aspect of the XFL. He talked so much about Jesse Ventura like he was something special. I never have and neither will I ever give a DAMN about Jesse Ventura, he talked more about him than the actual football aspect of the XFL.

Do yourself a favor and go to the old XFL websites and get your fix, I mean research on actual XFL football. Because this book is not the right place to look for much background information on the XFL. The dude who wrote this book actually is a good writer, but then again he isn't. He uses so much figurative or metaphorical language or the type of writing that hasn't a damn thing to do with the XFL, or anything for that matter. When I pick up a book in the football section of the library, I expect to read about my beloved sport of football. Not about how much education the author has or about some basic human beings like Ventura.