Let me first get the name of this book out of the way. The book is called Monday Morning Quarterback: A fully caffeinated guide to everything you need to know about the NFL.
Now, I know what you're thinking. You don't like Peter King. He spends too much time saying nothing and complaining about hotel coffee. Well, as it turns out, there's something else Peter doesn't do very well: describe his own book.
I was sent a copy of his book and asked to review it on the site. Truth be told, I was expecting to hate it and rip it to shreds. When Peter had referenced it in his MMQB column (which I read filtered through KSK), he described it as a collection of old MMQB columns. You mean I can see who his "Fine Fifteen" were in early 2000? Hot damn!
However, after deciding that I should probably read the book before reviewing it, I came away stunned. It's an awesome book. I'm only about half-way through it, but it's definitely one of the most interesting NFL books I've read.
Here's what the book really is. Every few weeks, Peter posts a real football story in his column. It's a journalistic experience, but with Peter's two cents added in. The most interesting part of the stories, for me, is not Peter's opinion but getting to peek behind the curtain with him to see what football is all about.
The stories are incredible. The book starts with the story of the Eli Manning/Philip Rivers trade, including all of the offers that were made before the one that was actually taken. It's quite possible that the Chargers could've ended up with Osi Umenyora instead of Shawne Merriman, but the Giants were not willing to give Osi away. Just another way in which that trade helped both teams.
There's a great story in there about the Patriots first Super Bowl win with Belichick. There's hundreds of stories about Belichick's insane knack for finding stuff on film that nobody else sees, but I particularly enjoyed this story about him putting in a new play during Super Bowl week (and never praticing it) and then having it called during the game (for an easy TD).
There's really no book like this that's out right now. I've looked. Not only do you get a bunch of short stories from around the league (each story is about 4-5 pages long), but it's current! I can't stress enough how much I'm enjoying reading stories, that I'd never know otherwise, about the teams, players and coaches that I watch on Sunday. If you're looking to add a little more football to your weekdays, I'd highly recommend this book.