Customer Reviews

The Steelers Reader

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I must preface this review by saying that I am not a Steelers fan or even a football fan. Never the less I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was given to me by a Pittsburgh based friend who thought I would appreciate the writing and ( as a Cubs fan ) the 'lovable losers' quality of the early Steelers. My friend was right.
This is indeed a terrific underdog story. With a founder/owner straight out of Damon Runyon and a record of only eight winning seasons between 1933 and 1971 this team was the doormat of the NFL. Then with Franco Harris's Immaculate Reception in 1972 everything turned around. The Steelers became the dominant pro football team for the rest of the '70s with eight future Hall of Famers and nine visits to the playoffs.
The writers assembled to tell this compelling story are first rate. This book is required reading for Steelers fans, but I would recommend this book to all football fans or fans of good writing.

Okay, now if you don't know much about Pittsburgh, but if you like football, this book will enlighten you. Whether you are a remaining native Burger or were born here and left, keeping your allegiance to the city(such as I), this book will open all your senses and you will recall the glory of walking duntown in a seemingly not too distant past where the Stillers were the lifeblood of the city. These were the days when the "legendary" performers were writing their part of history. If you want to read about mostly plays and scores, this may not be for you. If you have ties with either or both the city and the team, this may be the best thing out there. Do not miss it.

I was thirteen years old on December 23, 1972 when, on a small black-and-white television in our half-finished basement, my buddy and I watched Jack Tatum viciously pop Frenchy Fuqua on a play that should have ended the game and season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. What happened moments later and still burns in memory is just one of the many stories wonderfully captured in THE STEELERS READER, a must-read for any thinking sports fan with or without connections to the city and people of Pittsburgh. Although this collection covers the 70-year history of the team, for me it's the great Steelers teams of the 1970s which are most vividly brought to life from a series of cultural, historical -- even geographical -- perspectives. This collection includes some great sports writing from Frank Deford, Roy Blount, Jr., and others, but best of all there are the characters and the folklore: the Terrible Towel, Three Rivers Stadium, Gerela's Gorilla's, Terry Bradshaw, Art Rooney, Mean Joe Greene, Ernie "Fats" Holmes, Chuck Knoll, Rocky Bleir, and Franco's Italian Army. If only my local sports section were this well written and fun to read!