4th and Fixed: When the Mob Tackles Football, It's No Longer Just a Game

Rating:
Summary: What a read!
Review: '4th and Fixed' was an excellently written book. Rivers kept me guessing from start to end and I could not put the book down. He goes deep within the NFL and it made me wonder if fixed games are going on in real life! Rivers used so much detail in describing all of the characters, events, and places that I had the picture painted perfectly into my head. He also threw in a little bit of comedy here and there especially when describing Roscoe getting in and out of his car. It had me laughing everytime. Overall, this is my favorite fiction sports book and I would recommend this book to any sports fan.

Rating:
Summary: Great fun!
Review: On August 3, Reggie Rivers made an appearance at a local book store to sign and discuss his new book Fourth And Fixed. Given that I was a fan of Reggie and the Denver Broncos back in the day and his new book sounded intriguing, I wasn't going to miss this. I last met Reggie nine years ago as a ten-year-old autograph seeker at the Denver Broncos training camp in Greeley, Colorado. When I approached Reggie to sign my book, I told him so, prodding Reggie to inscribe: "To Adam- you've changed a lot since age 10. Keep it up!"

A true page turner filled with suspense and excitement, Fourth And Fixed takes the reader inside the world of NFL betting, illegal gambling, and the incredible circumstances of the fixing of a year's worth of NFL games to favor the San Antonio Stallions. The operation is arranged primarily through the notorious Michael Gasca, a skinny Italian, and Roscoe Evans, a larger than life black man, close buddies and partners in crime -literally speaking- since their youth. Given the author's own six years of NFL experience, degree in journalism, and research using a former FBI agent and NFL security officer, it is no wonder that the football scenes and betting scenarios are described with such detail and plausibility.

Moreover, I don't ever recall laughing as hard -and as frequently- in reading a novel as I did in Fourth And Fixed. Every time Stallions' quick tongued player Robo opened his mouth, I found myself cracking up. The arrogant character of the Stallion's owner had a similar effect, as did the good humored and often perverted tongue of Trevor Deale's Uncle Jim. Every description of Roscoe's immense size, and his frustrating struggles to exit his small Lincoln Town Car, had me laughing every time. The 320 pound black man conjured up one image in my mind- the character played by Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile. (The resemblance ends at the physical realm, not extending to their morality.)

All in all, this was a hugely entertaining read with many twists and surprises.

Rating:
Summary: Good fun
Review: This was a fun, light book to read, even if the prose is a little stilted at times. It gives a good snapshot of the sports gambling world as it relates to the NFL and draws some interesting characters, particularly Michael Garsca, the bookie prodigy.

None of the gambling insights will be revalations to anyone who has wagered on the football with any regularity, but for the uninitiated it outlines how bookies run their business, how a point spread works, and why bookies actually don't want the games to be fixed. Of more interest may be how the NFL tries to assure that its games remain "clean".