When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi (Paperback)

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• This item: When Pride Still Mattered : A Life Of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss

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• What It Takes to Be #1 : Vince Lombardi on Leadership by Vince Lombardi

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• The Lombardi Rules: 26 Lessons from Vince Lombardi--the World's Greatest Coach (Mighty Managers Series) by Vince Lombardi

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The Lombardi Rules: 26 Lessons from Vince Lombardi--the World's Greatest Coach (Mighty Managers Series) by Vince Lombardi 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  $10.36

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Amazon.com Review
As coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967, Vince Lombardi turned perennial losers into a juggernaut, winning back-to-back NFL titles in 1961 and 1962, and Superbowls I and II in 1966 and 1967. Stern, severe, sentimental, and paternal, he stood revered, reviled, respected, and mocked--a touchstone for the '60s all in one person. Which adds up to the myth we've been left with. But who was the man? That's the question Pulitzer Prize-winner David Maraniss tackles. It begins with Lombardi's looming father, a man as colorful as his son would be conservative. Still, from his father Vince Lombardi learned a sense of presence and authority that could impress itself with just a look. If a moment can sum up and embrace a man's life--and capture the breadth of Maraniss's thoroughness--it is one that takes place off the field when the Packers organization decides to redecorate their offices in advance of the new head coach's arrival: "During an earlier visit," Maraniss reports, "he had examined the quarters--peeling walls, creaky floor, old leather chairs with holes in them, discarded newspapers and magazines piled on chairs and in the corners--and pronounced the setting unworthy of a National Football League club. 'This is a disgrace!' he had remarked." In one moment, one comment, Lombardi announced his intentions, made his vision and professionalism clear, and began to shake up a stale organization. It reveals far more about the man than wins and losses, and is the kind of moment Maraniss uses again and again in this superb resurrection of a figure who so symbolized a sporting era and sensibility. --Jeff Silverman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly
In the history of American sports, no coach has been mythologized as much as the Green Bay Packers' Vince Lombardi (who has been immortalized with, among other tributes, a rest station on the New Jersey Turnpike). Yet this fine biography from a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Washington Post is a blast of cool air among the usually overheated roster of sports biographies. From Lombardi's formative years as a player and coach at Fordham University through assistantships with West Point and the Giants and, finally, to his tenure as head coach of the Packers, Maraniss presents a portrait of a complicated human being who was a great teacher but a mediocre listener, an effective psychologist despite being rife with flaws. Though he often got hurt as a college athlete, Lombardi, as a coach, scorned players who couldn't withstand injury. His relationship with his wife and children was less than ideal. But Maraniss doesn't succumb to any reductive assessments of Lombardi as "tragic" or "heroic." As legend suggests, Lombardi was indeed a great motivator, but his success also derived from a cerebral approach to the game. The book's true punch comes from its myriad subplots: a hero from one small town (early 20th-century Brooklyn) revitalizing another in the Upper Midwest, or professional football and Lombardi coming into their own at roughly the same time. Maraniss spends far too much time on people and events whose influence on Lombardi isn't made apparent, and he relies too much on other sportswriters' descriptions of games. Yet like its subject, the book, for all its flaws, is intricate, ambitious and satisfying. First serial to Vanity Fair.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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EVERYTHING BEGINS with the body of the father. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
when pride still, pride still mattered, tactical department, academic scandal, spring drills, left halfback Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Green Bay, New York, Vince Lombardi, Notre Dame, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Red Blaik, Sheepshead Bay, San Francisco, Jerry Kramer, Willie Wood, Polo Grounds, Sunset Circle, New Jersey, Colonel Blaik, Bob Skoronski, Tim Cohane, Red Smith, Wellington Mara, Yankee Stadium, Rose Hill, Los Angeles, Ron Kramer, Coach Lombardi, Grantland Rice New!
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149 Reviews 5 star:  (120) 4 star:  (22) 3 star:  (5) 2 star:  (2) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 4.7 out of 5 stars (149 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   68 of 71 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best biographies ever written., November 17, 1999 By  Stephen Skoronski (steveskoro@aol.com) "steve... (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews This review is from: WHEN PRIDE STILL MATTERED : A Life of Vince Lombardi (Hardcover) My dad was one of the eight men who played under Lombardi for his entire tenure in Green Bay. In fact he is a frequent contributor to Mr Maraniss's work. Now that my some of bias has been revealed I want to say that this is the finest biography I ever read. Mr. Maraniss filled out so much about a character I thought I knew well. I had heard my dad say the things about Lombardi that are quoted in the book, so in some ways the inclusion of his thoughts in the book were its least interesting parts to me. The author's research into Lombardi's early life and his conclusions from that research, not just names and dates, is a thread carefully woven through every chapter to a point that near the end the effect is nearly haunting. Lombardi was not really the myth he is often portrayed as, but rather a man acutely aware of his surroundings in nearly every circumstance who was able to absorb enough positive material from each that when his opportunity finally came he seized it and delivered all he had absorbed in a way no one ever had and maybe never will again. The true inspiration that comes from this book is not what Lombardi became but rather the revelation of the power of something so simple as paying attention to what makes great things great and staying dedicated to those values. I am forty years old and there is picture in my office that is one of my most prized possessions. The photo is of my dad, my brothers, Lombardi and me getting off the plane before the NFL Championship in 1960. It was always important to me because of its unique representaton of that part of my family. Though I never thought it possible, Mr. Maraniss made it more precious to me because of what he taught me about the only guy in the picture who was not a member of my family. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   29 of 30 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Rewarding Sports Biography and more, November 29, 1999 By A Customer This review is from: WHEN PRIDE STILL MATTERED : A Life of Vince Lombardi (Hardcover) Although I grew up in during Lombardi's rise to fame in the 1960's, I have never read any other sports book or biography that dealt with him, up to this time, motivated finally more by Mr. Maraniss's previous books on President Clinton, which I have read, than by any great desire to become knowledgeable about this football great. There is not much that I can add that hasn't already been said in all the other reader reviews that appear on this page. The author's biography presents a no-holds-bared look at this interesting sports coach and personality that fortunately, as another reader said, presents a man whose reality lives up to the myths that have been built up around him. What I would like to add is that this book also provides some very useful historical context around the Lombardi years that makes his life all the more vivid: life in the fifties and sixties, the rise of professional football to its prominence today and the rise and influence of the media in the sports world as well as in all other aspects of late 20th century life. This is a book ANYONE will enjoy, not only because of the subject matter it covers, but also due to the meticulous reporting, fluid writing style, and most of all, for the way the book sincerely tugs on the emotions of the reader, for Lombardi, his family and for a time period gone by. In sum, this is a book that rewards the reader all the way around. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   26 of 28 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Something for Everyone, September 23, 1999 By A Customer This review is from: WHEN PRIDE STILL MATTERED : A Life of Vince Lombardi (Hardcover) As he did in First In His Class, his wonderful biography of Bill Clinton, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss has packed so many details and so many colorful stories into When Pride Still Mattered that the book reads more like a novel than a biography. Football fans probably think they already know everything about Vince Lombardi; serious readers may think they have no use for a biography of a football coach. Both don't know what they're missing. There's plenty of football here: great chapters on Fordham's Seven Blocks of Granite, the New York Giants team with assistant coaches named Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry, the immortal Ice Bowl, Lombardi's final season in Washington. But Maraniss sets it all in its proper context, and the reader knows what it's like to live in the New York of the 1930s (even which subway routes to take from here to there), knows Lombardi's weekly routine in Green Bay (clean closets, watch Tom and Jerry cartoons), feels how cold it was at Lambeau Field or how difficult it could be for his family to live with "St. Vince." This is not merely a sports book or only a biography; like Lombardi himself, it's everything -- more than -- and yet nothing, like you'd expect it to be. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 149 customer reviews...		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Gift for the Sports Fanatic I bought this book for my husband as a Father's Day Gift and he loves it. He is a sports fan and loves to read/study anything about sports, so this was the perfect gift. Published 10 days ago by Jennifer Mallu 5.0 out of 5 stars When Pride Still Mattered I enjoyed the book immensely. By showing all the best that Vince Lombardi brought to life and the game of football, and not being hesitant to show some of the darker sides of this... Read more Published 1 month ago by Lee Foley 4.0 out of 5 stars Great Title Tremendous Book on a Great Coach. I live in Milwaukee and Coach Lombardi is still venerated up here. I especially enjoyed the sequence about the West Point Days. Read more Published 2 months ago by Bob Chorba 5.0 out of 5 stars Good, honest look at a great man Maraniss approaches Lombardi in an honest, nuanced way by presenting him as more complex and less mythological than is typical. Read more Published 3 months ago by Roberto H 3.0 out of 5 stars Average This is a fairly encompassing attempt at Lombardi in whole. On the positive side, the author breaks down the "innocent" or "golden" age of football to show that all periods have... Read more Published 3 months ago by M. Lutton 5.0 out of 5 stars RUN TO WIN!! I avoid sports biographies like the plague, but the subject of Vince Lombardi always kept popping up in conversations about sport and coaching methods, even here in Australia. Read more Published 7 months ago by Mauro V. Del Citto 4.0 out of 5 stars A Historical Legend Not To Be Forgotten Was Vince Lombardi the greatest NFL coach? Some might agree, while others might look at the wins and losses and championships to answer this question. Read more Published 8 months ago by L. Gagnon 5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Read I read Maraniss' Clemente book a few months ago, which was unbelievable. Looking for more I picked up this book and have yet to be disappointed. Published 9 months ago by J. Nuccio 4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, maybe a little long...... This is the complete Vince Lombardi book. The author has left no stone unturned it seems and goes into great depth in looking at what made Lombardi tick. Read more Published 13 months ago by Peter 5.0 out of 5 stars What It Takes To Be #1: You Have To Pay The Price Presidential biographer David Maraniss ("First in His Class") turned his attentions away from Washington, D.C., and towards Lambeau Field in this remarkable book. Read more Published 18 months ago by Borowy26 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews › See all 149 customer reviews...

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