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Total Football II : The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League

Total Football II : The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League

List Price: $59.95
Your Price: $37.77
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Left Out A Few Things
Review: I am a huge pro football fan and have compiled my own information over the years. I use books like this to cross check my own research.

Two huge things missing:
1. Game summaries; and,
2. Player uniform numbers, and;
3. Assistant coaches.

With all these pages, cut out some of the opinion and commentary and include these things.

Liked it a lot though.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: No Way
Review: I have all of the 4 major sports books of the Total package.These stats were increddibally incomplete like they show no tackles stats. I know tackles are not an official stat but there are sources like with the Negro leagues in baseball that show the stats. I liked the part about the Top 300 players to 1998. The Draft had all of the picks but I wish they would have who the top players were in each draft like the hockey one.
I thought this book was okay it had some good stats but is no where near Hockey-Baseball-Basketball versions.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Total ... Steelers?
Review: I recently noticed at bookstores a book called Total Steelers in which Total Football is condensed down to just the stuff about the Steelers. It is a great reference of Steelers stuff and much smaller. It makes it easier to find information. I wish Total Football would put together "Totals" for other teams, too.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This is the ultimate in reference guides
Review: I recently purchased this book (unfortunately, not through amazon.com - I'd have saved $ 18!), and it is amazing. Everything I ever wanted to know about NFL, AFL, and AAFC players - from the hall of famers to the obscure - was easily found and easily read.

The only drawback? Virtually no statistical information on the "other" leagues (WFL, USFL, and the 1930's versions of the AFL). But as it is, Total Football II is a phenomenal resource.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's OK
Review: If you're expecting the football equivalent of Total Baseball, you'll be disappointed. The text articles are superficial and unimpressive. For example, while Total Baseball has articles on Japanese baseball, Total Football does not discuss Canadian football. Total Baseball discusses the history of black baseball players, but Total Football does not do the same for black football players.

But perhaps I am being harsh in comparing Total Football to something as canonical as Total Baseball. Total Football has been an invaluable reference. It has statistics on every NFL, AFL and AAFC player (no comprehensive playoff stats, though); team statistics dating to 1920; and scores and attendence (where available) for every game played. The book even lists players' high schools, although unfortunately it does not have an index of high schools. For stats junkies like me, the book is a lot of fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Outstanding research source.
Review: Since I am writing a book about my brother, George Connor who played for the Bears (1948-1955), I was resigned to spending many hours in the archives of various newspapers to attain the facts I needed. I fortunately, heard of Total Football and sent for it. The statistics I needed are all contained in this book. It is an amazing compilation of facts presented in a very easy way to follow. For any writer or pro football fan who wants the facts, I highly recommend this book. My thanks to the editors and publisher for putting out this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Impressive collection of NFL history and information
Review: Superb reference for the NFL. It fails, however, to make any mention of the pre-existing CFL. This, in my opinion is an oversight, given the recent expansion and withdraw of the CFL in the United States. The CFL deserves at least 1 page (out of the 1600+ pages in this book) in the "Other Leagues" Section. If the World Football League, USFL, and World League are worthy of a chapter here, the CFL deserves one too. The CFL is, afterall, now a part of American football history. Other than that, the authors require a spell chcker, oops, I mean spell checker. Content is superb, but the presentation style could have been thought out a little bit more. All in all, an impressive collection of information.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Book is an Outstanding source for Students of the NFL.
Review: The book is extremely well organized into interesting categories such as: 1. The 300 Best Players 2. The 100 best Games - outside of the playoffs 3. The details of every draft for every team since the draft was initiated. This feature is my personal favorite since it allows one to objectively analyze the process of building or not building a winner and who did it. 4. The history of every player whoever played - teams - position - performance. Mandatory as a source for all serious discussions on the performance of a player - How we remembered it versus what they really did - very helpful and interesting. Overall this is a MUST book for any serious fan of the NFL.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Must Have for Football Fans
Review: This book is a must have for all serious football fans. It is the most complete one volume source of information about professional football.

My favorite sections include:

History of the game: The introductory essays on the history of pro football and the complete histories of each team is fascinating and an important context for many of the conventions and the culture of today's game.

History of players: Not only is there a complete roster of every player who has ever played in the National Football
League and it's antecedents, there are more detailed biographies of the "500 greatest players" as determined by the panel of writers responsible for this encyclopedia.

Complete game summaries of and statistics for all the playoffs, Super Bowls, and most important games in league history: I personally found this the most nostalgic reading, as I could remember where I was and who I was watching the playoffs and Super Bowls with.

And much, much more -- some more mundane (essays on player equipment) and some more interesting (history of defunct leagues like the United States Football League (USFL)).

I do have two complaints about the encyclopedia -- one minor and one a glaring omission.

My minor complaint is that they need a better copy editor. I found many typos, especially the detailed information about playoffs and Super Bowls.

My major complaint is that is has a woefully incomplete section detailing the individual records (most rushing yards in a game, etc.) which is a terrible omission. I can find a more complete listing of individual and team records in a sports almanac. A book purporting to be TOTAL FOOTBALL shouldn't need a companion book to round it out and have all the facts one might want at hand. I strongly recommend they improve on this in the next volume.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Must Have for Football Fans
Review: This book is a must have for all serious football fans. It is the most complete one volume source of information about professional football.

My favorite sections include:

History of the game: The introductory essays on the history of pro football and the complete histories of each team is fascinating and an important context for many of the conventions and the culture of today's game.

History of players: Not only is there a complete roster of every player who has ever played in the National Football
League and it's antecedents, there are more detailed biographies of the "500 greatest players" as determined by the panel of writers responsible for this encyclopedia.

Complete game summaries of and statistics for all the playoffs, Super Bowls, and most important games in league history: I personally found this the most nostalgic reading, as I could remember where I was and who I was watching the playoffs and Super Bowls with.

And much, much more -- some more mundane (essays on player equipment) and some more interesting (history of defunct leagues like the United States Football League (USFL)).

I do have two complaints about the encyclopedia -- one minor and one a glaring omission.

My minor complaint is that they need a better copy editor. I found many typos, especially the detailed information about playoffs and Super Bowls.

My major complaint is that is has a woefully incomplete section detailing the individual records (most rushing yards in a game, etc.) which is a terrible omission. I can find a more complete listing of individual and team records in a sports almanac. A book purporting to be TOTAL FOOTBALL shouldn't need a companion book to round it out and have all the facts one might want at hand. I strongly recommend they improve on this in the next volume.


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