The Last Headbangers by Kevin Cook
Between the Immaculate Reception in 1972 and The Catch in 1982, pro football grew up. In 1972, Steelers star Franco Harris hitchhiked to practice. NFL teams roomed in skanky motels. They played on guts, painkillers, legal steroids, fury, and camaraderie. A decade later, Joe Montana’s gleamingly efficient 49ers ushered in a new era: the corporate, scripted, multibillion-dollar NFL we watch today. Kevin Cook’s rollicking chronicle of this pivotal decade draws on interviews with legendary players—Harris, Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach, Ken “Snake” Stabler—to re-create their heroics and off-field carousing. He shows coaches John Madden and Bill Walsh outsmarting rivals as Monday Night Football redefined sports’ place in American life. Celebrating the game while lamenting the physical toll it took on football’s greatest generation, Cook diagrams the NFL’s transformation from second-tier sport into national obsession.
"A head-slap of a bookWhap, yeah, that’s how it was." -- Roy Blount, Jr.
"Were we crazy? No—we loved the game, and this book shows why. Cook captures '70s football in all its glory." -- Roger Staubach, Hall of Fame quarterback, MVP of Super Bowl VI
"Were we crazy? No—we loved the game, and this book shows why. Cook captures '70s football in all its glory." -- Roger Staubach, Hall of Fame quarterback, MVP of Super Bowl VI
A former senior editor at Sports Illustrated, Kevin Cook is the author of Titanic Thompson, Tommy's Honor, Kitty Genovese and The Dad Report. He lives in New York City.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780393080162 |
| ISBN 10 | 0393080161 |
| Title | The Last Headbangers |
| Author | Kevin Cook |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding type | Hardback |
| Publisher | WW Norton & Co |
| Year published | 2012-08-22 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |