Customer Reviews

Tales from the Dallas Cowboys

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

 

 

I got this book as a Christmas gift since Brad Sham's book "Stadium Stories" had been sold out in the local stores--and I can highly recommend this book to all who want to hear the inside story of how Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters made the club, and some of the inside stories about the players and front office people. Among those are how Gil Brandt, director of player personnel, wheeled and dealed to help Harris and Waters...how Charlie got his tasseled aligator shoes, and how Brandt helped Cliff Harris work out playing for the Cowboys and taking nine weeks of basic training to work out his military obligations simultaneously.

Anyone who grew up with the Classic Cowboys of the Tom Landry era of the "Doomsday Defense" will find it a wonderful and entertaining nostalia trip. It is a great read for anyone who loves the Cowboys!

Before Darren Woodson and Roy Williams, there was another Pro Bowl safety duo in Dallas - Cliff Harris and Charlie Waters! The hard hitting free safety, Harris, and the talented strong safety ball hawk, Waters, both shared the field for many of the Cowboys Super Bowl runs in the 70's and were both selected to the Pro Bowl numerous times. Harris and Waters were best friends on and off the field and even started a mutual business out of football. This book might be the best Cowboys book I've ever read and it's recommended for any 70's football fan, regardless of how much you like or dislike the Cowboys, because it's a great look at football history. Both safeties take turns writing small stories about significant moments in their careers. Some of the funniest football stories I've ever read are in this book and you get a chance to see what it was like in the locker room during those 1970's glory days. Because both players worked together so well, there are some great insights on defensive strategy the Cowboys used, including a few mistakes that didn't quite turn out the way Waters and Harris expected. I wish more players would team up and write a book like this because it's one of my favorite football reads in many years.

This book brings back many memories, most fond, some not so fond, of a glorious period in the Cowboys' history. These stories give "insider insight" to many events that I remember watching or listening to on the radio. The book gives even more understanding on why these two safties are almost always both mentioned in the same breath; they remain a tandem.

Anyone who is remotely interested in Football will have to have this. The hey-day of the Cowboys was the seventies-early-eighties. I remember it well, and even met some of these guys. This was an era that inspired the movie "North Dallas 40" and for good reason--this was THE era for the Cowboys and maybe for football altogether. Maybe it was just becuase I was a certain age and attended every single game they played in Dallas, but for whatever reason I loved reliving the "glory days." There will never be anything like that again with the exception of Bear Bryant's Alabama days. Whether you're a Cowboy fan or not, you'll really get into this great look back at a time when football was all about the game and not the other things that have become attached to it.

Tales from the Dallas Cowboys is a great book as well. It is enjoyable reading.

Thought the book was entertaining. Of course I am a Dallas Cowboys fan. Don't know if a redskin or giant fan would have liked it as much. Thought the book was well written. There were a few mis-spelled words.

The great days of Charlie Waters and Cliff Harris are discussed first hand by these exceptional players. Each story brought back a smile as I relived each game. The memories of family Thanksgivings and the Cowboys. The 70's era when it was hard hitting, exciting football. These two Cowboys were so exciting to watch, and to read their stories just proved they were exactly what I thought they were.....great football players and friends......

If this book had a flavor, it would be pure vanilla. Cliff and Charlie were players who drank the purple kool-aid and totally bought into the Tom Landry system. As a result, this is not a tell-all book, and I found myself on the edge of boredom with insights like these.

1. How hard Cliff and Charlie practiced and got in shape. Yawn!
2. Earl Campbell was really tough and hard to tackle. Wow, what insight!
3. Walter Payton was really quick and hard to tackle. Didn't know that!
4. Those Super Bowls against the Steelers were really close. What a revelation!

This is a typical innocuous book similar to "The Johnny Bench Story" that I read at the library when I was 8 years old.