Rozelle: Czar of the NFL | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeff Davis
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $1.01
You Save: $26.94 (96%)
New (43) Used (24) Collectible (1) from $0.01
Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 652644
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.7
ISBN: 0071471669
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332092
EAN: 9780071471664
ASIN: 0071471669
Publication Date: July 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New in new dust jacket. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 544 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade.
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The definitive biography of the powerful commissioner who masterminded the Super Bowl and changed professional sports forever Pete Rozelle built a sports empire. He invented the Super Bowl, tripled the size of the NFL, and turned football into a billion-dollar business. Before he came along, Monday was just another weeknight. Rozelle was the archetype of the modern sports commissioner and one of Time magazine’s 100 most important people of the 20th century. In Rozelle, critically acclaimed biographer Jeff Davis goes deep into the extraordinary life of this legendary figure. Showcasing exclusive interviews with more than a hundred of Rozelle’s family members, colleagues, admirers, and detractors, Davis weaves a compelling narrative fabric that masterfully spans Rozelle’s life from childhood through his days as an executive with the L. A. Rams, to his triumphs as commissioner of the NFL and his everlasting impact on the American way of sport.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Rozelle Or Everyone Ellze? June 11, 2008
When I first saw this book, I knew I had to buy it and read it immediately as Pete Rozelle was one of the icons of my young life. What a disappointment :( ! The book seems to be about everyone else but Pete Rozelle - he's like a guest star in his own story.
Starting from the time Rozelle was elected commissioner, we hear more about George Halas than Pete Rozelle. Why was he a compromise candidate? After his election the story meanders and deals with people, places and incidents only tangentially related to Pete and the growth of the NFL. Many times I was lost in the maze of names both personal and corporate that surround and protect the story of Rozelle from outsiders.
Some of the chapters are long and rambling and make one wonder why the story of the beginning of NFL Films requires 23 pages. Other chapters are the same.
I really thought I would get some more insights into the NFL I grew up with, as a baby boomer "I saw it all" from the rise of the packers to the merger, expansion and becoming the #1 spectator sport. After reading a biography about Wellington Mara and Ernie Accorsi's autobiography, I thought I'd learn more about the people who shaped the NFL. But after some 200 or so pages, I can't continue. It's too painful.
 Worthwhile book, but not good biography March 31, 2008
An excellent high level history of the NFL since 1950, but not so much as a biography of Pete Rozelle. There is little insight into the man. Lots of what's and when's, very little "how".
Example...many instances are offered about his ordered life, his ability to make people feel at ease. How did he do it? What made him unique?
Far too much reliance on Rozelle's daughter, Steve Rosenbloom, and Eddie Accorsi as sources. Too many lines of thought were opened, and then dropped. For instance, he goes on about how in the 1950's Redskins' owner George Marshall was a major player as an owner...then suddenly he disappears. Jack Kent Cooke is described as a Rozelle enemy because Rozelle married Cooke's former daughter in law...and then the point is dropped. Did Cooke every hamstring Rozelle because of the relationship?
To many ideas are brought up, then dropped without completing the circle. To little is told really flesh out the picture of Rozelle beyond a stick figure with a great tan and ready smile who drank Rusty Nails and smoked too much.
It is a good book...but it could have been great.
I wish I had read the first reviewer December 25, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This isnt a book...it's an awful run-on sentence. This is a worthy subject nonetheless....hopefully someone who knows how to write will take on the subject someday. This is nothing but as told to Jeff Davis "kerflooey"...a word that was actually used on page 24
Jeff Davis should have stayed dead with the confederacy....he devalues his Northwestern education with this...can the university give him an honorary defrocking for this. In sum...this book wa neither written nor edited......just bad journalism.
 History book more than biography December 12, 2007
Despite what other reviewers have said, this is an excellent book. No, it's not really a biography, so if you want to get more indepth into Rozelle's divorce or what he wore to the Senior Prom, then skip the book. But, if you are interested in a first hand look at the NFL through the eyes of those responsible for its ascent, this is a great book. It very much parallels the Mark Maccambridge book, "America's Game" which is terrific. The reader learns about the intricacies of the NFL/AFL merger, the labor strife of the 70s and 80s, and the "threats" from wannabe football leagues as well as little known facts regarding Joe Namath's almost early retirement due to indirect gambling associations and the infamous Heidi Game. The book is more about the NFL than it is about Rozelle, but it's a terrific book for anyone who enjoys modern NFL history.
Rozelle was a winner, but this book certainly isn't October 16, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Rozelle: Czar of the NFL alleges to be a biography of the former NFL Commissioner, but instead it is a meandering, disjointed, almost unreadably round-about tale of certain aspects of the NFL's history. It provides remarkably little, if any, true insight on the man who served as the league's Commissioner from 1960 to 1989, relying heavily on interviews with Ernie Accorsi and Rozelle's daughter for its material but oddly enough not providing any true insight from these sources.
What do I mean by meandering? Well for instance, after 250 pages of the book I've learned through the book's contents that Marlboro cigarettes were originally marketed as a "women's" brand... but I don't know what Rozelle's mindset was when the AFL came along, I don't know anything about his relationships with owners other than Dan Reeves of the Rams, and I know absolutely nothing as to what possessed the owners of the NFL to elect him as their Commissioner beyond the fact that he was a compromise candidate.
Simply and bluntly put, this book is worthless to anyone wanting to learn about its subject. Does anyone know how I can get in touch with Jeff Davis in an effort to get my money back?
|
|
|
