The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL | 
 enlarge | Author: Mark Bowden
Creator: Phil Gigante
Publisher: Brilliance Audio Unabridged Lib Ed
Category: Book
List Price: $74.25
Buy New: $47.72
You Save: $26.53 (36%)
New (6) from $47.72
Avg. Customer Rating:  10 reviews
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Library
Number Of Items: 5
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5 x 1.2
ISBN: 142336791X
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9781423367918
ASIN: 142336791X
Publication Date: May 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
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| • | Hardcover - The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL | | • | Audio CD - The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL | | • | Audio CD - The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL | | • | Audio CD - The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL | | • | Audio CD - The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL |
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Product Description
On December 28, 1958, the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts met under the lights of Yankee Stadium for that season?s NFL Championship game. Football, growing in popularity amid America?s post-war economic boom, was still greatly over-shadowed by the country?s favored pastime ? baseball ? but the 1958 championship proved to be the turning point for pro football.
On the field and roaming the sidelines were seventeen future Hall of Famers, including Colts stars Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Gino Marchetti, and Giants greats Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, and assistant coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.
Played on a freezing Sunday evening in front of 64,000 fans and an estimated forty-five million television viewers around the country - at that time the largest crowd to have ever watched a football game - the championship would become the first sudden-death contest in NFL history. With two minutes left in regulation, Baltimore had possession deep in its own territory, and the ball in the hands of the still unproven quarterback Johnny Unitas.
The Best Game Ever is a brilliant portrait of how a single game changed the history of American sports. Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the championship, it is destined to be a sports classic.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 The Greatest book on The Greatest Game Ever Played June 22, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mark Bowden has written a brillant book on the Giants VS Colts,1958 Championship game. Bowden brings the game and the inpact it had on the sport into perfect harmony. His insight into the meaning of the game beyond the score brings greater understanding of today's billion dollar NFL brand. Whether your a football fan or a fan of American culture Bowden's work is a remarkable merging of the the two. Enjoy the read.
 Lightweight treatment of a great game June 16, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
December 28, 1958 marks one of the most classic moments in NFL history. That's the date the Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants in sudden death overtime to win the NFL title as 45 million fans watched on television. It marked the birth of the modern NFL as football began to step out of the shadows of baseball.
The match up featured the greatest concentration of football talent for one game as 17 future Hall of Famers were involved in the game. It pitted a team of self-made men and the league's best offense (Colts) versus a team of glamour boys and the best defense (Giants).
Author Mark Bowden tells the story of the 1958 championship game through a handful of players and coaches such as Raymond Berry, Weeb Ewbank, Sam Huff, Tom Landry (Giants' defensive coordinator) and Vince Lombardi (Giants' offensive coordinator). Bowden's exceptional study of Berry is the cornerstone of the book.
Bowden recounts how Johnny Unitas and Berry teamed up to take the Colts 86 yards in two minutes to tie the game. And, how Unitas engineered the 13-play drive in overtime to secure the thrilling victory. Unitas' greatness and leadership in the game elevated him to the highest echelon of NFL quarterbacks.
Interestingly, many of the players didn't realize that the game would continue into sudden death overtime after it was tied in regulation.
As a writer, Bowden makes the reader feel like he's in the middle of the game. He makes you wish you had been able to witness this great game. You envy those who did. NFL Commissioner Bert Bell called the Colts-Giants sudden death overtime game, "The greatest day in the history of professional football."
While I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it's definitely a lightweight treatment of the subject. The book is 239, easy-to-read pages. When I finished the book, I wanted to read more about the game and its impact. I suspect many other readers will feel the same way.
The Best Game Ever June 9, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Mr. Bowden does an excellent job.. I was growing up in Baltimore at the time. He accurately captures things I remember, and gives enormous (and fun) incite into the rest of the story.
The Beginning of the Modern NFL May 31, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
A great book! What an amazing group of players and coaches who went on to define the NFL. Truly as the Sports Illustrated cover stated. "How Raymond Berry and Johnny Unitas invented the modern NFL."
The Best Game Ever May 30, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Its a great book to read and to learn more about a game and football itself. The book takes you inside the huddle and puts you in the middle of the field and in the mind of the great Johnny Unitas.
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