Customer Reviews

Longhorn Madness: Great Eras in Texas Football (Golden Ages of College Sports)

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Reviewed by David Olvera for Reader Views (5/07)

If ever there was a Bible of quotes on the subject of The University of Texas Longhorn's football, "Longhorn Madness" is it. You'll be hard pressed to acquire a more comprehensive group of quotations on UT football as Wilton Sharpe has managed to corral. Sharpe does a good job of avoiding a shotgun approach by arranging his cornucopia of quotes into relevant chapters and themes. Sharpe includes some ancient, old, and new school. From the 1890s (I'm not kidding...) to Darrell Royal on up to Vince Young, Sharpe leaves no stone unturned. He even reaches across the aisles to sworn enemies to get their take on the Burnt Orange phenomenon.

Sharpe could have left it at that and would have pieced together a decent sports book, but he takes it one step further. In between all the pigskin talk he includes short narratives of key historical and legendary events. So in case you're overwhelmed by the Longhorn quotes stampede you can rest your eyes on a quick story here and there. Sharpe also includes nifty rosters of all the UT Championship teams at the end of the book.

"Longhorn Madness" also includes some pictures along the way. Most of the portraits are pretty good for black and white paperback copy, but others leave something to be desired. All in all, the only downside of the book is couple of grainy pictures here and there. The cover is appropriately burnt orange with a great shot of Vince Young running through a pack of Mizzou Tigers.

Now I'd say that this book could be destined to any fan's Lavatory Readers Club, but it has more practical applications. "Longhorn Madness" presents the reader with a great tool for research. Any kid writing about the Longhorns for a school paper or a sports writer looking for some good copy can use the book to their advantage. Sharpe has done a lot of work and people can take advantage of his research. To sum it up, it's a great archive of all things Longhorns from the guys who walked the walked.

Received book free of charge.