When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.99 You Save: $7.01 (39%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.84 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of When Pride Still Mattered: A Life Of Vince Lombardi
Book Review: Read this Book with a Critical Eye
Summary: 3 Stars
READ THIS REVIEW!!! The author (Dave Maraniss) is a fabulous writer and does a super job of making Lombardi and the other people come to life. However, about half way through the book it dawned on me that the author has an agenda: tear down Lombardi and sell a lot of this book.
Just about all prior books and articles written on Lombardi have been overwhelmingly positive, so why write another? It would not sell. Most of the book is spent on tearing down the legend using subtle backhanded comments. Yet, there is the occasional begrudging acknowledgement of the greatness of Lombardi. By tearing down Lombardi, perhaps the author has achieved "enlightened" status amongst the literary community he aspires to be accepted by and those who lean far to the left politically that saw Lombardi as a symbol of the right.
The author perpetually refers to Lombardi as "the Pope". This is clearly meant as a derogatory swipe against Lombardi, Italians and the actual Pope. Lombardi never referred to himself in such a manner. No man as religious as Lombardi would ever do this. So why woudl the author? Does the author have a hidden prejudice against Italians? Perhaps. Maraniss grew up in Wisc and probably was not exposed to more than a handful of Italians since that is not a state where the Italians tended to settle.
The author spends an entire chapter discrediting the most famous quote attributed to Lombardi "Winning isn't everything, it is the only thing." He traces the lineage of the quote to prove Lombardi was not the originator. Did Lombardi ever claim to be the originator? He actually claims Lombardi never even uttered such a quote. Did the author ask any former players if he uttered such a quote?
Throughout the book Maraniss quotes dialogs of Lombardi when he was a child, high school student, college student, and on all the way through his life. These are quoted as if Maraniss was actually standing there and recording the conversations. So, with Maraniss's willingness to discredit Lombardi, I can't help but throw it back at Maraniss and wonder if 90% of his quotes were fictitious. Was he there? Is it preposterous to conclude that what Maraniss passes off as actual quotes are in reality merely manufactured/altered for dramatic effect? As a result, I have to wonder about anything he has ever written. Maraniss even claims this quote ("Winning isn't...") made famous by Lombardi is what lead to the Watergate break-in. I read his comment over and over. I could not believe he would try to stretch his tearing down of Lombardi that far.
In a few other instances, Maraniss claims Lombardi had received credit for certain innovations, yet Maraniss claims there is no evidence of Lombardi truly creating such innovations. Maraniss seems to think Lombardi needed to patent everything he did. Maraniss likes to trace all of Lombardi's innovations back to the head coach of Army, when he was on his staff. Maraniss writes as though there is something wrong with Lombardi taking what he learned and taking it to the next level. That is known as innovation and it goes across most inventions the world has seen.
At numerous points in the book the author does an effective job of showing the tyranical nature of Lombardi as a coach, yet this was the way most coaches were prior to the Lombardi era, during that era, and beyond that era and on into the 80s. He would like you to think Lombardi was the only coach who had this personality.
Is Maraniss using this book to send a message to his own father for perhaps failures in his own upbringing? Perhaps Maraniss was a child that never played sports and has had a long disdain for athletes and the culture that causes athletes to thrive on overcoming pain, fatigue and achieving the thrill of victory. Afterall, he grew up in Wisconsin and as a teenager lived through the Lombardi era. Maybe Maraniss was just the standard wimpy kid the jocks picked on and here was his chance to tear down a legend that he perceived was his tormentor because Lombardi represented the jock mentality that he did not fit into. These are just my own hypotheses on the author. Only Dave knows his own dark secrets and whatever he may have tried to overcome of his own shortcomings by trying to tear down a legend.
Book Review: The Pride of Green Bay, Wisconsin
Summary: 5 Stars
Maraniss writes this book in an entertaining way. The beginning is a little slow, but it keeps building and building as you read. The author details the important football games, with a play by play account, like the infamous "Ice Bowl" game against Dallas, on December 31, 1967. You feel like you are right there, taking part in football history.
Lombardi always said that God, family, and the Green Bay Packers were his top three priorities in life, in that order. He didn't like to admit it, but the order of these priorities was often shuffled around. He was a man obsessed with the game of football. He was fiercely competitive and he approached every game of football with an almost bellicose vigor; demanding perfection from his players in every game, even in the ones that didn't matter that much. He over- emphasized discipline and the importance of winning to his players. And his strategy paid off. The Packers went to the top of the NFL, winning the national championship on five separate occasions, including the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967. This book illustrates Lombardi's obsession with perfection well, explaining how Lombardi approached sports and life and why he felt so strongly about being the best.
The final chapter of this 500 page biography details Lombardi's final days, lying on his deathbed in a Washington D.C. hospital. I dreaded this part of the book. I knew it was coming, but I still didn't want it to happen. After reading so much about a man with such a colorful personality, I wanted the ending to be a happy one. Even though I knew that Lombardi could be a little hot- tempered and difficult to deal with, I still couldn't help but develop an admiration for the man from Brooklyn; the son of a butcher who grew up to become one of the most popular figures in coaching history.
One of Lombardi's religious heros was St. Paul, whom Lombardi deeply admired for many reasons, but mainly because of his tendency to describe things in terms of a contest where victory was rewarded. At his eulogy, the priest focused on the writings of St. Paul. And he made special mention of Lombardi's favorite quote of all from St. Paul, one that summed up Lombardi's own feelings on life and his love of sports: "Brethren, Don't you know that while all the runners in the stadium take part in the race, only one wins the prize....Run to Win!"
Book Review: This Books Matters...
Summary: 5 Stars
Maraniss opens his book with a thought provoking first line ("Everything begins with the body of the father") and he keeps the story flowing from there. Maraniss follows Lombardi from his youthful desire to be a priest, his high school days and his college football career and on to the pros. The book highlights the grit and determination of a tenacious man driven to succeed. The book is very well written and visually very descriptive. Maraniss tells a terrific story.Book Review: Did Lombardi's drive to win cut short his life?
Summary: 5 Stars
David Maraniss never overtly answers that question, but close readers find evidence that Vince Lombardi paid the ultimate price for his success. Oh, the irony. Dying just past his mid-50s, Maraniss uses anecdotes to show that Lombardi's drive to succeed was organic, excessive and frequently beyond his control.
Still, Lombardi's public fed those desires with praise for the results he achieved through the men who played for him. Count me guilty: I grew up in Green Bay during the Lombardi era and I loved this man at the time and I love his memory even more. With Lombardi's teams, you just knew that they were going to find a way to win when it mattered most. Maraniss spends time on the methods Lombardi used to handle his players, much of which was new to me. Maraniss also devotes writing energy to shed light on people who helped Lombardi become Lombardi: Jack Vainisi, a pliant Packers Executive Committee, his parents and his coaches.
Many of Lombardi's friends, associates and players in Green Bay and in his life are dying off. That Mariness culled the impressions and memories of Lombardi's contemporaries and included them gives this book depth that is not found in other Lombardi print pieces. The effort researching and creating this book showed me that when it came to Vince Lombardi, David Maraniss believed that great writing is the only thing.
I thought I knew most everything there was to know about Lombardi until I read this book. It's a keeper and one that you'll read more than once.
If I could recommend another book about Vince that's out of print, look for "Coach-A Season with Lombardi" by Tom Dowling. Dowling shadowed Lombardi during his year coaching the Washington Redskins.
Book Review: See the Man behind the Legend
Summary: 4 Stars
David Maraniss has done a nice job of introducing readers to the man Vince Lombardi rather than the legend with which we're all so familiar. As is so often the case when you read the biography of a person you respect for their accomplishments in one arena, you finish "When Pride Still Mattered" with an understanding of Vince Lombardi as a flawed individual.
The story of Lambardi's life moves along well, paced nicely by Maraniss's writing and you see the plenty of Lombardi's greatness along with his warts.