Namath: a Biography

He had a howitzer for an arm, a mind for the game, a sybaritic likestyle, a disregard for anything that interfered with his wants, including teammates and coaches, and one big accomplishment. Predicting that his upstart New York Jets would defeat the old guard Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, Joe Namath quarterbacked them to victory, although the win was rooted more in the Jets' running game and the creakiness of the aging Colts than in his passing.Most of all, he had star power. Signed out of college to a then-astounding $400,000.00 contract by Sonny Werblin, who before owning the team was a high-powered show business agent, Namath took every advantage of the times to become a symbol different from what professional football had seen before. At a time when the bleatings of youth about oppression were taken seriously by some of their elders and a good deal of the press, he appeared as something new and exciting, Broadway Joe, The Rebel of the Gridiron.He, unlike Unitas and Starr, let his hair hang over his forehead, wore a mink coat, and grew a Fu Manchu mustache. Although coming from a small town in Pennsylvania, he affected a strange accent, part steeltown and part southern, as if he had been raised in Alabama instead of just skipping class there while playing for Bear Bryant. There is nothing wrong with taking advantage of the moment. Celebrities are in the main concerned about their staying power, and their continuing ability to make money. The shelf life of fame can be a short one. Especially if you have nothing else to fall back on.And it is his image that earned him a place in the Hall of Fame. He lost more than he won. He threw more interceptions than touchdown passes. The man who led the equally upstart Kansas City Chiefs to victory in the next Super Bowl, Len Dawson was statistically a far superior quarteback. But Dawson, friendly, articulate, sober and whole, and also enshrined in Canton, never stood up and thanked "all the broads" in Kansas City for the championship win the way Namath thanked them in New York. Dawson just played football and didn't seem much different from a middle class businessman except for working in cleats rather than Florsheim's. But Namath played in America's media capital, put fannies in the seats, and in part, was a reason television networks began paying such large sums to broadcast games on Sunday afternoon, and eventually, Monday nights. He had flair and style, in addition to terribly damaged knees and a selfish asttitude.But Joe Namath, in Mark Kriegel's biography, doesn't seem quite real. Like a plethora of talented athletes, he attracted many to do his bidding, anxious to latch onto his name and fame for their own purposes. But there is in Namath a plastic quality, as if reality never set in, that responsibility was for somebody ele.It ended on a damp field in Chicago for Broadway Joe, a wrecked statue in a mid-season rain, fearing the rush behind his offensive line, the last two-thirds of his career in decline because of injuries and boozing night and day. He did some acting, and made an effort to learn the craft, but the occasional parts never amounted to much. He was awkward on camera, both in movies and on television, and wound up doing regional theatre, the producers using him to attract a few more patrons than usual. Roone Arledge thought that he could analyze football games, and he became part of the worst pro football broadcast team in history, making it necessary for fans to reach for the Monday Night Mute Button.Marrying a tightly-wound, confused and strangely self-conscious younger woman as he reached middle age, he tried mightily to please Deborah Namath. Suspicious of those who participated in his wilder times, she essentially ordered that they all be put out of his life. He complied to the extent that they never heard from him again. He took fatherhood seriously, becoming, it seems, the better parent. The marriage failed. Deborah, who considered herself a serious actress, produced a Chekov play in a basement theatre, and much to her discomfort, the limited actor who played alongside her, in white beard this time rather than green jersey, received the better reviews. Changing her first name a couple of times, she left him for a plastic surgeon whom she considered an "artist" who "wears his hair long." Perhaps Deborah-turned May-turned-Tatiana would have found marital bliss if she had been wed to Salvador Dali.Like DiMaggio, Namath, because he was always treated differently and expected nothing less, ccould never be one of the guys, even decades after he took his last snap. A former Jet teammate and recovering alcoholic,Sonny Grantham, runs a yearly golf outing in support of a charity aimed at helping addicts on the way to sobriety. Many who played the game appear gratis, a nice day to whack the little white ball around the course for a good cause. Never having participated, Namath, who had himself gone into treatment for alcoholism after making a fool of himself on television, expressed delight one year in being invited. And told Grantham to call his agent, a lawyer who hooked onto Namath at Alabama and never let go. He demanded more for Namath's appearance than the charity would have taken in for staging the event. Joe Namath it seems, never has had a mind of his own when it comes to doing the right thing. Image is everything.

Great book.

Author Mark Kreigel paints a thorough portrait of Joe Namath, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, in this interesting and well-written biography.Namath, who signed for an unheard of $400,000 with the AFL New York Jets after playing for the University of Alabama, was both talented and flamboyant. He is credited with saving the New York Jets franchise, the AFL and eventually forcing the NFL and AFL to merge.Namath was the rare athlete who was equally talented and flamboyant. Known for favoring blondes, consuming lots of booze and partying nightly, Namath blazed many trails, on and off the field. His "Broadway Joe" image wasn't a lie; it was the "amplification of his virtues, faults and peacock personality," according to author Kreigel. Namath was brash and refused to be regimented. He wasn't apologetic for his lifestyle, after all he was a bachelor.Alabama coach Bear Bryant called Namath, "the best athlete I ever saw." Bryant, however, had to suspend Namath for the last three games of the regular season during his junior year for drinking. Namath didn't complain.Kreigel does an excellent job of chronicling Namath's boyhood in western Pennsylvania and explaining the events and interviewing the people who shaped his personality and approach to the game.The Jets always had two sets of rules--one for Joe and one for the rest of the team. Teammates, however, generally liked Namath and realized his value to the team and the league. The linemen protected him at all costs. Kreigel writes about how often lineman targeted Namath, hoping to hurt him and put him out of the game. Despite some brutal beatings, Namath never complained, and he never missed a game his first five-plus seasons with the Jets. He played in constant pain.Namath will always be remembered for leading the Jets to an upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Most sportswriters (49 of 55 picked the Colts) thought the game was going to be a folly. The Colts were favored by 18 points. Namath, however, refused to believe the Colts were better. The 23-year-old quarterback called most of his plays at the line of scrimmage and dissected the Colts and Matt Snell battered their defense all day. While, Namath didn't throw a touchdown, he was voted the Super Bowl MVP.Namath, known for his "gun-like arm, quick release and uncanny composure" was often underestimated for his intelligence on the field. He was a student of the game and a football genius.If Namath's knees had been as sound as his throwing arm, there's no telling what he might have accomplished. He had the first of four knee operations when he was 21, prior to his NFL rookie season. At 21, he was described as having knees of a 70-year-old.Namath played his final game for the Jets in 1977, and then finished his career with the Los Angeles Rams, mainly as a benchwarmer.Kreigel spends considerable time writing about Namath's post-football life, which included a failed stint on Monday Night Football, acting, a marriage and a divorce, and being a devoted father to his two daughters.If you're any kind of football fan, this excellent biography should be on your reading li

Great book found it interesting to read not only about Namith himself but what it was like to be a quarter back in that era and having read alot of NFl history books such as Americas game I still found it a valuable account of the game in that era

it was an interesting read, however there was a lack of photos to keep u in tact with the different subjects.