New York Times Magazine Chief National Correspondent Mark Leibovich was looking for a distraction from his regular job covering politics so he decided to examine something far less controversial:  the National Football League.  (Wait, that doesn't sound right.)  Leibovich dove head-first into the saga that is the NFL over a period of four years and came out on the other end with his new book, Big Game:  The NFL in Dangerous Times.  (Release date: September 4, 2018.)  The author doesn't hide the fact that he's a lifelong New England Patriots fan.  In fact, he fully embraces it.  Whether you think that's fantastic (the right answer) or horrible (the wrong answer), if you are a NFL fan, you need to read this book.

Leibovich wanted to examine the conflicting views that many hold (often simultaneously) that the NFL's hold on the country couldn't be stronger, but somehow it also seems like it could end at any minute.  He lays out the challenge of adamantly following the drama on the field while acknowledging the heavy price the players pay for their often-fleeting moments of glory, while making their billionaire owners even richer along the way.  Leibovich looks at all elements of professional football from the draft, to how the league tries to dance around concussions and other dangers, to the bizarre world of the "Nugget Industrial Complex," where guys get paid immense amounts of money to provide the information that used to be on the back page of the sports section of the newspaper.   We go to the Super Bowl and Hall of Fame induction ceremony, and hell, he even manages to make "Deflategate" entertaining one last time.

There are fascinating interviews with Roger Goodell, Robert Kraft, Jerry Jones, and Tom Brady, among others.  (Note:  The fact that Leibvovich is a Patriots fan does not mean he holds back on Kraft and Brady.)  Leibovich brings out a Hunter S. Thompson vibe, as these conversations are laced with a heavy dose of cutting humor.  Big Game's take on NFL owners is hysterical, as Leibovich talks about their immense business successes matched up against their equally formidable insecurities as they all feverishly pursue every last dollar they can find.   Again, whoever you root for, you want to read what these men have to say for themselves (for better or worse.) 

In these divisive times, it's nice that the book also confirms one point that every football fan in the country can support:  Roger Goodell's strongest/only professional strength is his ability/eagerness to take abuse from everyone in defense of "the Shield," and the men who pay him $40 million each year to do it.  Give him credit, he found the one venue where he could maximize his skill-set, and he took full advantage of it.

Big Game is a blast, and Leibovich does a masterful job of combining fact and humor in a way that will keep the reader hooked until the very end.  The only question we have is, given how obsessed "the powers that be" are with protecting the image of the NFL, how on Earth did they give Leibovich such unfiltered access?  However he pulled it off, we are all the better for it.  Highly recommended.

A fun read for any football fan.  (pic via amazon.com)

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press (September 4, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399185429
• ISBN-13: 978-0399185427

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