My newest book is finished, and it will be published this summer by Lyons Press. I've taken the analytical methods that formed the basis of my annual football preview books and applied them to past players. The result is an exhaustive look at the history of pro football.
It begins with a look at how the game has evolved over the years. I delve into the changes in playing styles, and the rules, and how other external events affected the game on the field.
The centerpiece is my rating and ranking of the top players at each position from 1920 to the present. I take a detailed look at nearly a thousand players, with new insight on their playing styles and their strengths and weaknesses on the field.
The book will be nearly 600 pages in hardcover. It's available for pre-order from Amazon now, and should be out by the time that training camps start in late July.
There hadn't been a pro football encyclopedia on the market since 1999, which is a little surprising when you consider the tremendous popularity of the game. Pete Palmer and I had been talking about producing a new one since the summer of 2000, and in 2006 we finally had our chance. Pete spent several years working with researcher Ken Pullis to develop a new statistical database, based on an exhaustive game-by-game reconstruction of the historical record. What we've ended up with is the most complete, accurate, and up-to-date football database ever compiled. There are several new features in this book, things that haven't been published anywhere before. The encylcopedia also incorporates some of my analytical work, based on my compilation of play-by-play accounts for games back to 1960. The biggest advance of all might be the
price -- Barnes & Noble is selling the book for as low as $17.96. Compare that to the $59.95 cover price for the last edition of Total Football, and you'll see why we were so excited about bringing this book to market.
The critics loved the book. Sports historian John Thorn called it "an all-time great book from an all-pro team of experts." Doug Drinen of pro-football-reference.com said "I have many football reference books on my shelf, but the ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia is the one I will reach for again and again."
The new and improved second edition hit stores in July 2007. It includes a number of new features, including a lengthy chapter I wrote on the evolution of football strategy. more...
My annual