| Title | : | Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0544454383 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780544454385 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 |
| Publication | : | First published September 11, 2018 |
The United States Football League―known fondly to millions of sports fans as the USFL―did not merely challenge the NFL, but cause its owners and executives to collectively shudder. In its three seasons from 1983-85, it secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans and launched the careers of legends such as Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, and Reggie White. But then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic team owner―a New York businessman named Donald J. Trump.
In Football for a Buck, Jeff Pearlman draws on more than four hundred interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America. From 1980s drug excess to airplane brawls and player-coach punch outs, to backroom business deals and some of the most enthralling and revolutionary football ever seen, Pearlman transports readers back in time to this crazy, boozy, audacious, unforgettable era of the game. He shows how fortunes were made and lost on the backs of professional athletes and how, forty years ago, Trump was already a scoundrel and a spoiler.
For fans of Terry Pluto’ s Loose Balls or Jim Bouton’s Ball Four and of course Pearlman’s own stranger-than-fiction narratives, Football for a Buck is sports as high entertainment―and a cautionary tale of the dangers of ego and excess.
Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL Reviews
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"[The NFL] called us 'a farm league.' We were no farm league. We were talent." -- Michigan Panthers / Oakland Invaders quarterback Bobby Hebert, a.k.a. the 'Cajun Cannon'
Reading Pearlman's Football for a Buck was a hilarious, profane and detailed retelling of the three-season wonder (1983-1985) but not quite upstart United States Football League. If I mention that Donald Trump is the villain of the piece will that get certain folks - who may not be sports fans, or normally have ANY interest in this subject matter - to otherwise pick up this excellent book? :-)
The USFL was the innovation of David Dixon, and his idea was that the games were played in the spring as to not complete with the NCAA and NFL (a.k.a No Fun League). It worked, for awhile . . . then New Jersey Generals owner Trump pushed for changes which in part led to an early downfall.
I have vague memories of the league - I was only ten years old at the time - but I know my dad was a fan of the Philadelphia Stars, which - I found out from this book - was consistently one of the better USFL teams. He was unhappy when they moved to Baltimore in their final season. Well, the team office and practice facilities stayed in Philadelphia, but the games were now played in College Park, Maryland. It's a two-hour drive between the locations. Did this seem a like a good idea at the time?!
The 'crazy' in the title is no hyperbole. Pearlman details the antics of the players, coaching staff, and owners as the USFL struggled to stay afloat and relevant - finances and fan attendance were routinely problems - in a crowded and competitive sports landscape. Even though it existed for a relatively brief moment in time it produced a lot of entertaining stories and anecdotes as a result. -
For a brief stretch in the 1980’s, there were two professional football leagues in the United States. There was the well-established National Football League (NFL), which by then was staking its claim to being the most popular league of the most popular sport in the country. But for three years, there was another league, the United States Football League (USFL) that played its games in the spring and saw wacky games and players, innovative rules such as instant replay challenges, both good and not-so-good football and one brash, bombastic owner who tried to take on the NFL and eventually lost, meaning the end of the league just three years after it started.
The history of the USFL, from the day that David Dixon’s idea for spring football was announced by the Associated Press in 1966 to the dispersing of USFL players into the NFL after the results and award from the anti-trust lawsuit were revealed, is captured in this highly entertaining, highly informative book by best selling author Jeff Pearlman. No matter what a reader wants to learn or read about regarding the USFL, they are sure to find it in this book.
Yes, that date announcing the idea of the USFL was correct. The idea of a professional spring football league was conceived by David Dixon in 1966, the league gaining that name simply because he liked the name of U.S. Steel for a company in which he held stock. The idea went into to hiding when the NFL soon thereafter awarded a team to New Orleans and merged with the American Football League. However, Dixon never let his dream completely die and in the early 1980’s, it was reborn. Thanks to a trip to the home of legendary coach George Allen and the growth of a new product called cable television, Dixon set out to sell the idea of spring football. When a group of wealthy businessmen with deep pockets and large egos all signed on, the USFL was born, complete with a schedule for 1983 with 12 teams and more importantly, a television contract.
The first season was considered, in the big picture, a success. The attendance and television ratings were considered reasonable for a new league. The quality of football ran from ugly to spectacular. For ugly, just watch any Washington Federals game as Pearlman regularly reminded readers just how bad this team was both on and off the field. Pearlman humorously wrote that the team “led the USFL in three unofficial categories: 1. Football players no one had ever heard of. 2. Cigarette smokers 3. Coke Addicts.” Not exactly the formula for a good team. However, for spectacular football, two good examples are the triple overtime playoff game that season between the Philadelphia Stars and the Chicago Blitz, still considered to be one of the best playoff games in football history; and the championship game the following week between the Philadelphia Stars and the Michigan Panthers, won by the Panthers on a thrilling touchdown.
However, the championship game wasn’t the biggest news for the league that season. Proving that that the league was for real and to get a “big name” player, the New Jersey Generals signed running back Herschel Walker from the University of Georgia before he was eligible to play in the NFL. The story of getting Walker to sign with the new league was very interesting, especially as the league wanted to keep everything a secret until it was official. Because of this, the scout for the Generals who did the work to get Walker to sign with New Jersey, Rick Buffington, was concerned when he received a call from the Boston Globe to inquire if it was indeed true that Walker signed with the USFL. Pearlman writes about this at his best, calling Buffington the “Herschel Walker Deep Throat.”
The Generals were not only the team in the biggest market, they later on had the most brash and outlandish owner in the league’s second season when a New York real estate tycoon named Donald J. Trump. If anything could take attention away from the strangeness of two franchises swapping players and locations, as the Chicago Blitz and Arizona Wranglers did , it was the loud and bombastic announcement of the league’s newest owner. While the league already had some eccentric owners, such as Bill Oldenburg, the oil tycoon who owned the Los Angeles Express and had some wacky stories of his own shared in the book (one Pearlman description of an Oldenburg meltdown said he “went from agreeable to obnoxious to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest psychotic”), he had nothing on Trump. More on the Generals’ owner a little later.
While the signing of Walker was a boon for the league’s publicity, there were reservations inside league headquarter and from USFL Commissioner Chet Simmons. He and some other owners, most notably Tampa Bay Bandits owner John Bassett, wanted the goal of the league to build slowly and keep salaries in check. Walker was the first signing to break that mold. However, the dam burst on salaries before that second season. Many future NFL stars were signed to huge contracts such as Jim Kelly (signed by the expansion Houston Gamblers) and Steve Young. Young’s contract, totaling over $40 million dollars when including annuity payments, was the butt end of a lot of jokes. His team, the Express, not only had an eccentric owner, but also was suffering from poor play on the field and very poor attendance, made all the more noticeable by playing home games in the massive Los Angeles Coliseum.
One other notable signing was Doug Flutie, the Boston College quarterback who made one of the most famous college football comebacks with a “Hail Mary” pass touchdown to beat Miami. Flutie was sought and signed by New Jersey. Trump wanted to sign the quarterback as he believed the popular quarterback would be good for the league – and he also wanted all of the league’s owners chip in toward paying Flutie’s salary instead of just the Generals. Regardless of political position or affiliation, any reader will realize that sounds very familiar to something that Trump stated later in his second career. This is another example of the brilliance Pearlman brings to this book is how he is able to make the reader connect the USFL to today’s events, whether or not they relate to football.
Despite the craziness, it seemed like the USFL was gaining its place for spring football. While not enjoying NFL numbers for attendance, TV ratings and quality of play, the product nonetheless was gaining respect in all those areas. For the latter of those qualities, the USFL never claimed to be on the same footing as the NFL. The players enlisted were described as “your tied, your poor, your huddled masses, your one-armed and chain-smoking and half blind and clinically insane..” by Pearlman – one of the funniest lines in a book filled with snippets that will make a reader laugh out loud.
Even though the league made a questionable decision to expand from 12 to 18 teams with some of these teams never getting on solid footing (example A is the San Antonio Gunslingers, whose woes are told in entertaining detail) there were new teams who were run well and played competitive football such as the Birmingham Stallions and Memphis Showboats. The ocean that was the USFL seemed to be settling down despite some choppiness.
However, there was some disturbance in this ocean churned up by Trump. The motives behind Trump’s purchase of the Generals were being questioned, and they became clear when he announced to his fellow owners that the USFL needed to move to a fall schedule and compete directly with the NFL as soon as possible. This would be his best way to be an NFL owner as many believed that was his goal all along.
This drama off the field was overshadowing the play on the field, which included a revolutionary offense by Gambler’s offensive coordinator Mouse Davis. Utilizing Kelly’s strong arm and a fleet of speedy receivers, the Gamblers became an offensive juggernaut, setting many professional football records for offense and becoming one of the elite teams. League officials were salivating at the thought of a Gamblers-Generals championship game for the league’s second season, but it was not to be. Instead, the Philadelphia Stars avenged their loss in the previous season by handily defeating the Arizona Wranglers to capture the 1984 USFL title.
The story of the next offseason was all about Trump. He kept on pushing his idea to his fellow owners that it would be in the best interest of the league to go head-to-head against the NFL. Just like with his businesses, he was one who got others to buy into his plan. Most of his fellow owners were on board with this plan, with the notable exception of one of the leagues more successful owners, Bassett. He was just as strong willed on his belief that the original goals of the league were to be followed as was Trump’s about playing in the fall. Sadly, Bassett developed brain cancer and as his health deteriorated, his influence on his colleagues dwindled until he passed away.
Without his biggest adversary, Trump pushed ahead with his agenda, filing an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL and also getting the league to announce that 1985 was going to be the last season of spring football and the league would begin fall play in 1986. This lead to confusion both on and off the field. What was going to become of the players during such a long downtime? How many teams would be willing to go against the NFL, as some stadiums would not allow the USFL team to play at the same time its primary tenant, the NFL team, would be using the facility? What about the college draft? Of course, these questions were small potatoes compared to the big question – what would become of the league should the trial end in favor of the NFL?
All of this overshadowed the entire third season of the league, as the dominant team of the USFL, the now-Baltimore Stars defended their league title with a win over the Oakland Invaders in the championship game. The moves and merges of the league’s franchises were numerous and often had interesting anecdotes that were shared in the book. These two teams were included, as the Stars had to play games in Baltimore after their lease to play in Philadelphia was not renewed and the Invaders had many players from the Michigan Panthers after that team merged with the new Oakland franchise rather than compete with the NFL’s Lions when the league would start fall play.
The last, sad chapter of the league was the anti-trust trial. This was to be Trump’s finest hour, even with a questionable strategy and the death of the lawyer originally hired to represent the USFL, a lawyer who gained fame in the McCarthy-era trials against alleged Communists. Even when writing about court proceedings, Pearlman is at his best. For the sake of those with weak stomachs, I will leave out Pearlman’s recap of an exchange between Trump and then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, but it is one that had me laughing so hard, I was in tears. The result is known to all interested in this league – the jury did find the NFL was guilty of violating anti-trust laws and awarded the USFL $1 – treble damages made the total amount $3. Of course, since the league was counting on this verdict for its future, it ceased operations soon thereafter and the players were free to sign with any NFL team.
Some made it, many didn’t and those whose one shot at pro football was through the USFL were saddened but look back upon those days fondly. The NFL’s product on the field, while they may not admit it, was influenced by the upstart league after its demise. The New Orleans Saints hired Stars coach Jim Mora and signed many of the players he coached and, not coincidently, went from league laughingstock to playoff team in two seasons. The most innovative rules in the USFL – the two point conversion and instant replay reviews – have both been adopted by the NFL. While the league may not exist any longer, its memories live on.
Any reader who is a fan of Pearlman’s previous work, a fan of the USFL or football history, or who just likes an entertaining book on the game, must add this to their library. An outstanding work that is one of the best books I have read on any sport.
I wish to thank Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing an advance review copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201... -
Very solid. Nothing but “what if” thoughts. Recommend for any NFL fan. 🏈
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I saw Jeff Pearlman speak on this, his new book at a nearby Barnes and Noble. He was concerned that nobody would read it. Pearlman has written books on such exciting sports subjects as Roger Clemens, the 90s Dallas Cowboys, and the 1980s Showtime Los Angeles Lakers. And yet, it was this subject, the relatively obscure minor league USFL that excited him more than anything else he’s worked on. But he knew it would be a tough sell, which is why, despite his relative success as a writer, it took so long to get published.
Pearlman’s excitement shines in the pages. He clearly has both a fascination with the league, mixed with a little reverence and a lot of levity. He covers its rise and fall through telling the important parts of the story while buttressing it with almost unbelievably comic tales of miserly owners, strange player, and weird fans. He also makes the case that with spring football and the moderate tv success the USFL was having, it could have been on to something if not for…
…sigh…
Donald Trump.
Discussions about Donald Trump leave me greatly fatigued. We’re coming up on the 2-year anniversary of his election and I still remember the feeling I had waking up on November 8th, 2016. It was one of relief that this obnoxious man would soon be out of my life. Alas, that was not to be. While I’ve read a few books on the Trump presidency, I look to reading as escapism so I wasn’t too excited that he had to be a main subject.
Fortunately, Pearlman deals with him well enough. There aren’t any wink nod references him being President some day. Just honest quotes and tales about how the guy was a moron who helped torpedo what was a really good idea. There is a small coda about USFL personnel reacting to him becoming President but it’s not treated at length and that’s good. Donald Trump makes everything about him and Pearlman is wise enough to make the story about the USFL, not just Trump.
The book has shortcomings. Pearlman will do a deep dive on a subject he finds fascinating but not go deep enough in other areas. Reading this is like visiting a beautiful home that’s not fully furnished: some rooms are great, others are empty. There’s an entire chapter on the wackiness of the San Antonio Gunslingers but other teams barely get a mention. The Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars, the league’s big dynasty, is referenced at convenience to the story but probably should have received more play.
This issue was the case with his (still enjoyable) 80s Lakers book. I think Pearlman works better with either single subjects: his Bonds book is my favorite of his and his Brett Favre one is good too. His Cowboys one is also good but I think that’s due in part to Dallas’ dynasty existing in such a short time frame as opposed to the Lakers.
Still, this is a fun read that you’ll enjoy as a sports fan even if you don’t have much interest on the subject itself. Pearlman is probably my favorite contemporary sports author. -
Every time I watch Rocky IV I secretly wish somehow they've changed the movie and Apollo Creed doesn't die. That's how I felt reading Jeff Pearlman's fantastic new book "Football For A Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL". I knew the fate of the league going into the book, but as I got near the end I somehow hoped Donald Trump hadn't ruined the league and it was still going today.
I had never heard of the USFL until ESPN started their amazing series of 30 for 30 documentaries in 2009 and I saw Mike Tollin's "Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL?" And then in 2010 saw another USFL related 30 For 30 in "The Best That Never Was", the story of Marcus Dupree(which is still my favorite in the series). At that point I was hooked, I wanted to learn how a football league with so much potential managed to fail. But at the time there was little information. Jim Byne's book "The $1 League", written shortly after the demise of the league goes for absurd prices online and other than bits and pieces, there was little info on the web.
Then Jeff announced his book and I literally counted down the days and preordered it(and I got a sticker, place card and autograph(thanks Jeff!). It was everything I hoped it would be and more. Tons of great crazy stories, from players, coaches and management. I took me a while to get though due to googling names I had never heard for more info. That was a plus for me. I can honestly say you don't have to be a football fan to enjoy this book.
I don't want to get into Trump talk, but this book does give you a pretty good idea of the kind of person Trump is and why he sticks on certain issues.
I haven't read everything Jeff has put out, but of what I have this is by far my favorite. I absolutley recommend this book! -
I loved this book because the reporting is once again exceptional, the writing very good and the stories are, well insane. I didn't know too much about the USFL, a spring football league from 1983-1985, but a ton of future NFL stars played in this league such as Reggie White, Hershel Walker, Steve Young, Anthony Carter, Keith Millard, Bobby Hebert and Jim Kelly to name a few. One time an entire team was traded for another team. Like the whole franchise. The stories on Keith Fields are also insane. And oh, yes, there are the stories on Donald Trump, who owned the New Jersey Generals and basically helped run the league into the ground when he got big-headed and thought about himself. (Sounds familar). Pearlman has written great books on the 1986 Mets, Walter Payton, the 1980s LA Lakers and Brett Favre to name a few. But I enjoyed this one basically because everything was so new to me. I felt I learned more in this book than the others. Good stuff, if you are a sports fan, or just hate Donald Trump, you'll love this book.
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Yes! So much more of this. I want this book distilled into an IV drip, laced with a fifth of vodka and a speedball, and injected right into my nuts. The flaming clown car that was the USFL was the epitome of sports in the 80's. Most importantly, Pearlman does the league and its players and coaches justice by telling the stories of the genuine creativity and skill that the USFL brought to professional football.
So so many good and terrible stories, but mostly good ones about men that cared about each other and the game and the bonds and memories they shared. And drugs and booze. Lots and lots of drugs and booze. It's like Mötley Crüe in cleats.
Read it and don't be sad the USFL no longer exists. Be happy that, for a short time, the sports world was just goofy enough to allow it to exist. -
I really liked this book. I am old enough to remember the USFL but I really didn’t know all the background and history of the Leauge. This book told the story of the USFL through anecdotes and stories from the players, coaches, owners and fans. Some of the stories involving the boozing and drug use of the players and the horrible conditions and wield owners were fascinating and hysterical. And of cours, looming over everything is Trump, who in his self aggrandizing way ruined the leauge(much like he is doing to the country in my opinion). A fascinating slice of Americana. Highly recommended.
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This is a great book...I remember the USFL and this book not only brings back the memories but adds some great stories. This book is filled with funny stories, unforgettable teams and players, and greedy owners. Makes you wonder what the USFL could have been. Great book and highly recommended. A must read for sports fans!
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Fun book
Jeff Pearlman tells us right up front how much he loved doing this book, but he didn’t need to spell it out. His passion for the stories and the people (except for one notorious owner) and the USFL in general jump off every page. I wasn’t a big USFL fan, but Jeff’s storytelling kept me going from start to finish. -
After ESPN's fantastic 30 for 30 documentary, I think the time is right for USFL nostalgia.
I grew up with it, but it always ran second to the NFL. Still, it was a big deal.
A spring football league is a plan that someone consistently tries to attempt. The Arena Football League had a 20 year run before folding. Various indoor and outdoor leagues- even ambitious one like the AAF and two versions of the XFL have fallen short.
I suspect the rosters of the NFL and Canadian Football League are just so large that you can't staff a third competitive league.
But the USFL came close.
I find Jeff Pearlman a bit on the sensationalist side, but he is the right choice for the book. Everything about the USFL is sensationalist.
How do you fill a third league rosters? Well, you have the troublemakers that the NFL and CFL don't want. This being the 80s, that's a lot of drug users.
You also have players that are 3-5 years past their prime.
Another possibility is to throw ridiculous amounts of money at good players.
The USFL did all of the above.
They also pulled a coup in that the NFL eligibility rules at the time required players to complete four years of college. The USFL was able to steal the very talented Herschel Walker as a junior.
The USFL would be able to sign three consecutive Heisman Trophy winners, along with a few disgruntled NFLers and talented Draft Picks.
In Steve Young, they got a future Hall of Famer, of course, the kind of money they paid him, he should be bulletproof.
Doug Flutie was too short to play in the NFL many said, but that didn't stop him from getting a huge USFL contract (for which he was going to play for Donald Trump's team, and Trump was going to make the USFL pay for him. Hmmmm...)
The story of the USFL has been distilled down to the battle between Tampa Bay Bandits owner John Bassett and New Jersey Generals owner Trump.
The truth is there were some really good owners and coaches and some really bad counterparts (LA Bandits owner J. William Oldenberg was a huckster who could probably not be trusted with running a high school team).
The initial plan to be Conservative and grow slow was a really good roadmap. Owners who kept their expenses down and ran their team like a minor league team- community involvement, fun fan friendly events- generally succeeded.
Of course, the instant success and potential of bigger success was too much temptation.
At the end of the day, Trump's motivation had been to get a NFL team in the New York area (something commissioner Pete Rozelle would never go for). He forced the owners into moving the League to the Fall despite Bassett's (and others) objections.
This matter-of-factly killed the league. It wasn't that the League wasn't successful. However, some of the very successful franchises were in places like Denver, Michigan, and Philadelphia, and quite frankly, were never going to be able to compete in the hearts of fans with the likes of the Broncos, Lions, and Eagles.
Trump played both sides to get things done. He would tell the media that the owners were interested in moving the league to the Fall (whether they were or not) and have them report that as fact, and then use this media coverage to persuade the owners that the momentum to move to a Fall League was there.
The last grasp of the USFL was the famous anti-Trust case against the NFL (and the evidence was there), which famously the USFL won, and were awarded settlement damages of $1 (actually $3 and court costs, but that's not nearly as funny).
The court case may have made a difference if it was David (USFL) vs Goliath (NFL) but even that couldn't go smoothly, as Trump and his legal team (including Roy Cohn) decided to make it the less empathetic Trump vs the NFL.
This is a real fun book. It's filled with sex and drugs and those kind of 1980s stories that your kids might not be ready for, but it's good. You don't necessarily have to be a sports fan to enjoy it.
There are so many outrageous stories that you can't help but think it would make a good movie, but it would be unbelievable.
Readers will probably come to it with all kinds of expectations, but this should fill most. It does a good job telling the story of the league and the stories on the field and off. It's a fairly breezy book, but it has a lot of meat to it as well. -
Pearlman details the rise and fall of the USFL in this engaging account of the history of the upstart league. With its cast of characters, including Donald Trump, and many future superstars, this funny and upbeat retelling is sure to be of interest with the NEW USFL starting its season this spring.
Check this book out at the Villa Park Public Library! -
https://www.themaineedge.com/sports/f...
In many ways, the NFL is one of the last vestiges of American monoculture. In a world where the zeitgeist moves exponentially faster and more unpredictably with each year that passes, there are few entities that are as familiar, as entrenched, as overwhelmingly present as the NFL. Football is America’s sport and the NFL IS football.
But pro football was almost very different.
Jeff Pearlman’s new book “Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL” tells the story of the last pro football league to pose a serious challenge to the NFL’s domination of the football landscape. For a brief moment in the mid-1980s, the USFL looked poised to assume a spot alongside the NFL in the American sporting landscape. The pieces were there to succeed, but unfortunately – thanks to some massive individual egos and more than a little hubris – the league flamed out.
It all started with a simple question – why was the NFL the only professional football league in a country mad for the sport? It was a question that had been asked numerous times in the past and had received widely varying answers. When the American Football League was founded in the early 1960s, it took essentially a decade for the NFL to decide to absorb the upstart league. However, when the World Football League tried to launch in the mid-1970s, it lasted less than two seasons before folding. A mixed bag, to say the least.
This was the world into which the United States Football League desired entry. But this league was different. They were going to be a springtime league, an offseason alternative to the entrenched legacy of the NFL. In mid-1982, following a plan formulated years earlier by an entrepreneur named David Dixon, the USFL announced that it would begin play in the spring of 1983.
A dozen teams – nine in NFL markets – hit the field in that inaugural season. The initial goal was to manage costs and take small, incremental steps in the early years. Ideally, slow, gradual growth would be the watchword. Build an audience, both in person and via broadcast deals, and manage financial expectations. Alas, the best laid plans …
It wasn’t long before egos started getting in the way. There was no cap, so different owners could spend differently. Some teams lavished riches on college players, resulting in elite talents like Herschel Walker, Steve Young and Jim Kelly joining the league, while others went bargain hunting. So there was competitive imbalance. Some teams were far more popular than others, drawing five times the crowds – and not necessarily in the places you’d expect. Expansion came far too fast and too haphazardly.
And of course, there were the ill-conceived and ultimately league-immolating plans of the owner of the New Jersey Generals franchise, one Donald J. Trump.
The majority of the USFL’s owners convinced themselves (or allowed themselves to be convinced) that direct competition with the NFL was the right thing to do. And so came the threats to move to the fall … as well as the antitrust lawsuit filed by the new league against the established one, a suit whose ramifications still echo today.
Over the scant three years of its existence, the USFL gave America a pro sports league unlike anything it had ever experienced. Veteran castoffs and never-weres lined up alongside future Hall of Famers, playing a style of football far more freewheeling and dynamic than that of the stodgier elder league. The NFL tried to ignore the upstart, but as more star players chose the new league (and as more fans started watching), it became more difficult not to acknowledge the elephant in the room.
The USFL was also utterly chaotic. Team rosters were packed with bizarre, colorful characters. Players were doing cocaine on team flights and getting drunk at airport bars. Fists flew between players and coaches; hell, even a few owners got involved in a melee or two along the way.
Jeff Pearlman’s affection for the USFL runs deep; his prologue makes that connection abundantly clear. But affection only goes so far. Pearlman is also a top-notch reporter and talented writer. He develops this fascinating story with meticulous research and an incredible eye for detail. Not just any detail, either – the most engaging, most significant detail. This could have easily been a book filled with minutiae; instead, Pearlman weds his journalistic instincts with a crackerjack sense of storytelling to create a rich and vivid portrait of a league that burned twice as bright and half as long.
Is this a niche story? It absolutely is. It’s a deep dive into a deep cut – it’s the definition of niche. However, it also deserves attention outside that niche. Anyone with even a passing interest in football should pick this book up – it’s a look back at a bygone era that shaped the sport as we now experience it. Oh, and it’s also hilarious, if you’re into that kind of thing.
“Football for a Buck” is a frantic, funny history of a football league that was ultimately, to paraphrase Hunter S. Thompson, too weird to live and not too rare to die. It was a glorious, flawed experiment, a football league whose renegade existence helped shape not just the sporting landscape, but the cultural landscape that followed. -
FOOTBALL FOR A BUCK, by Jeff Pearlman, chronicles the creation, rise, fall and eventual demise of the USFL in the early 1980's. Pearlman reached back the early inklings of thought of a spring professional football league. He describes moments of inspirational forethought as well as doomed-from-the-start ideas that were the heart and soul of the USFL. The theme of the book, aside from a wonderfully detailed history of the league, seems to be that everyone involved with the league had a slightly different opinion on how and what the league really was. To some it was a more fun and relaxed version of professional football, to others a chance to extend your career in the sport, and to others a viable business model destined to succeed either by become profitable or by a NFL buyout.
Pearlman does an excellent job of describing how the league began and there is a certain point in the book where the reader is thinking "this all seems great, why didn't the USFL survive?", which echoes what so many people felt as the league started to fall apart. More gimmicky, more human interest, more fun. As the book moves forward, the kinks on the armor become apparent as some franchises thrive as an almost NFL franchise, while others struggle just to fill a roster and get all their players to the games on time. The disparity, coupled with two team owners who had wild aspirations, seemed to culminate in a implosion of the league after the 1985 season. The book has so many great stories that keep the reader entertained through the entire book, half the time laughing and the other time jaw-droppingly shocked. Donald Trump, the owner of the New Jersey team, played and integral part in the growth and collapse of the league and Pearlman does and exceptional job of being as objective as possible about Trump's involvement. He does provide many quotes from other owners and league executives and most of them don't hold back in their blame and contempt towards Donald Trump's part in the collapse of the USFL.
FOOTBALL FOR A BUCK drove me to start looking up league stats, facts, and stories about the league as soon as I finished the book. Well researched and written with care, this book is one for the ages, even though the league it recounts lasted only three years.
Thank to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Jeff Pearlman, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! -
Deep in the third "act" of Football for a Buck, Jeff Pearlman's rollicking history of the United States Football League, there is a quote that comes from Bobby Hebert, star quarterback for the Michigan Panthers and Oakland Invaders, that sums up the feeling of the league's untimely, unduly-accelerated demise: "You didn't want the joy to stop, but it was dead."
Luckily, the same cannot be said for Pearlman's book. While there are some stylistic tics that bothered me while reading, and the occasional dry patch in spots, the book manages to capture the sort of feeling you get looking at a car wreck; part of you wants to look away, but the other can't resist continuing. This is perhaps best displayed in the chapter about the star-crossed San Antonio Gunslingers, the franchise for which Pearlman claims he could write a book at least "5,000 pages long," and it still probably wouldn't be enough to cover all the details and nuances of lunacy. And while there's a lot of laugh at, Pearlman also manages to achieve moments of genuine pathos, particularly when focusing on the decline and death, from brain cancer, of John Bassett, the noble owner of the Tampa Bay Bandits. This is the sort of story - improbable rise, even more improbable fall, with lots of lurid anecdotes to share on the way - that sorta tells itself (for further discussion, the ESPN documentary Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL? is a must), but Pearlman is a talented writer who manages to mix in his own flair and voice without overwhelming the story he's out to tell.
Given the history of the league and just how the end came around, it should go without saying that this is a Book About Donald Trump, as well. To his considerable credit, Pearlman is never overwhelming when writing about the owner of the New Jersey Generals, letting quotes from the time spell out how his ego and lack of foresight doomed the league. From his first appearance, a brief cameo in chapter one, his presence in the book is foreboding, and on his full arrival in the third act, it's all too clear what his involvement in the league will do.
All in all, while I have a few hangups, I quite enjoyed reading this book, and would recommend it to anyone interested in the esoterica of American sports. This portrait of the little league that could, then did, then collapsed in spectacular fashion is one of the best sports books I've read in quite some time. -
This book is a wonderful mix of bathos and nostalgia. I did not watch a lot of USFL games, but the names and logos and uniforms excited my young mind. It was fun to witness the birth of a new league. I was a parochial New Yorker who couldn't bring himself to root for a team from New Jersey, so I looked over the team names and decided that I was a Chicago Blitz fan. One year later, my favorte team got traded, yes traded for a completely diffferent team, the Arizona Wranglers. If that last sentence strikes you as ood or suprising, you will love this book.
I've been reading Jeff Pearlman since he was the sports editor of my college newspaper, the Delaware Review. He excels at both ends of the reporting process. He gathers facts doggedly and verifies details even whent the story is "too good to fact check." He also writes compelling narratives with prose that is neither too cute nor too dry. It's a combination of artistic talent and professional restraint that I envy.
There are some myths busted in this book, but there are plenty that survive the rigors of Mr. Pearlman's reportage. There were some damn good football players in that league and some truly absurd characters throughout the league's front offices, upper management and outer orbits. Jim Kelly, Steve Young and Reggie White were three of the best football players in the world, and their contributions are well documented her. But of course their excellence gets overshadowed by the one USFL character too weird to invent in a novel, the owner of the aforementioned New Jersey Generals and later the 45th president of the United States.
Donald Trump's role is covered thoroughly. The parallels to his political style and the absence of any moral compass are important parts of how the league came undone. But Pearlman resists the temptation to make this a book about Trump. The players of this league and their fleeting run as professional players provide the real human drama here. The league was beautiful and fun. It had potential to become an enduring part of the American sports world. But mistakes were made. This is a great read of how those mistakes were made and what the league still means for the men who made them. -
This is a thoroughly enjoyable account of a crazy league from the perspective of a lifelong fan who became a sportswriter. Pearlman did a deep dive into a league that only existed for three seasons, and the result is a book that is never boring and consistently entertaining and illuminating. I remembered very little about the USFL, and Pearlman was able to fill in the gaps in my recollections with lots of funny anecdotes.
Often sports books get too bogged down in play-by-play detail; this book does not suffer that fate. Pearlman describes a few key plays with a keen eye for X-and-O detail but never belabors that focus.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is the number of people in it (including the author) who blame Donald Trump as the sole reason for the demise of the USFL. Even ex-players who admit voting for Trump in 2016 nevertheless describe Trump as an egotistical blowhard who cares about nothing else other than himself. In typical Trumpian overreach, he bought a team in the USFL and quickly tried to use that league to get himself an NFL franchise. When he failed in his plan, he then (of course) sued the NFL, and in one of the most famous antitrust cases of the 20th century, the USFL "won" the case against the NFL and was awarded just $3 in damages.
It is strangely satisfying to read of Trump's reverse-Midas touch more than 30 years ago. Some things never change. -
A very enjoyable slice of pro sports history that reads like a 20-car pileup.....and you know you e got to just drive slowly by and watch it all.
I knew little of the USFL...probably the “big moment” items like Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Doug Flutie and of course Hershel Walker. Oh, and let’s not forget the incomparable Donal Trump. But the depths that author Jeff Pearlman goes in sharing the brief but crazy story of this league is what really makes it enjoyable.
Truly unbelievable stories and just an incredible demise of what could’ve been. Very well put together and kept me turning the pages. I really was left wanting more.
And really, that’s my only beef. It’s such a simple stories in many ways and I feel like the final act and the resulting effects could’ve been a little more explored. But it’s a pretty spectacular yarn as is.
I really enjoyed the way the book was written and I’m glad to now say I’ve read this one. Makes me want to go back and explore the WHA, ABA and other fringe leagues that paint the “what if” picture.
Oh.....and Donald Trump is a complete idiot. If half of what’s written in this book is true, it is incredible that he can be that self-centred to single-handedly destroy a league. Amazing. -
This was a VERY FUN read.
As a long time sports fan, I've come to enjoy the work of Jeff Pearlman. Initially the subject of the story (the USFL) didn't draw me to this book; it was the writer. This is my 3rd time reading his work and I look forward to digging into his other titles.
What struck me the most, overall, was how close the USFL was to actually creating a legitimate league that could have competed very well against the NFL. But as is usually the case, money and egos got in the way of a really good thing. In this particular story, a young ego-maniac named Donald Trump was instrumental in the demise of the USFL, mainly because he only cared about himself (sound familiar?).
I thought the chapters were organized well, mixing in crazy stories from the day to day life from players to coaches, to the pilots in charge of flying these rag-tag collection of players to and from games.
If you have even a small interest for American football, this is a good one to dive into.
I can't say it enough....Jeff Pearlman is a great writer. -
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
Two immediate takeaways from this book are that Jeff Pearlman loves the USFL, and is not rather fond of Donald Trump.
I live in one of the USFL cities, but the league was a bit before my sports maturity so I am vaguely aware of the stars and teams. This book does an excellent job of filling in the cracks and sharing the true character of the league and the entities throughout it. I was unaware of how detrimental Trump was to the league’s viability, or exactly how the league was able to secure some of the premium talent available from the collegiate ranks.
Beyond the current parallel of Trump’s ascension to power, the two leagues rising to challenge the NFL heavily relying on several of the tenets of the defunct USFL. It is going to be quite interesting to see if these new leagues will learn from the mistakes of the USFL or not. -
Previously I have read books Pearlman wrote about Walter Payton, Brett Favre and the Dallas Cowboys of the '90s. Those books are all outstanding. But I like this one a little more. The quality isn't any better -- it's the same research and presentation -- but I like the subject a little more.
The USFL was an interesting additional league, and they would have made it as a lower-tier spring league. Four cities in the Southeast were drawing big crowds -- Tampa, Jacksonville, Memphis and Birmingham.
But Donald Trump drove the league off the rails, and Pearlman explains how that all went down.
Fun read. -
Reading this great history, some of the characters of the league are undeniably unique (Greg Fields anyone), while some are hard to believe (Donald Trump?). The USFL, as a concept, as a business model and sports enterprise all made sense. The league was on the right track before the President got himself a team and a spot on the owner's counsel. What ensued was the destruction of what could have rivaled the NFL and what is really the only professional league to succeed since the league mergers.
Pearlman introduces some familiar names and some new "characters" in what is a great read.
