2004 NFL Record & Fact Book (Official National Football League Record and Fact Book)

Rating:
Summary: Not only Facts and Stats, but the NFL rules!
Review: 2004 NFL Record & Fact Book

I have never felt a need to purchase a statistic book. When I received one for my birthday I was obligated to open it. Well, to my surprise I was fascinated with the records that the NFL has kept. I am an avid NFL fan. (Green Bay Packers) When I scanned some of the records, the who's who of football greats started popping up. Walter Payton, Jim Brown and Vince Lombardi to name a few. I knew I had great book for my collection.

The book is broken down quite well into easy access information. The 2004 events are listed first. Schedule, Post season and nationally televised games, Scheduling formula, NFL active statistical leaders, coaches records, What to look for in 2004, 2004 Draft list, Tie breaking procedures and then each individual team is broken down in detail.

Each team is deciphered by:
* Club officials-owner on down to front office personal with
historical background of each person
* Coaches-Head coach and assistant coaches' history.
* Stadium-Capacity, playing surface and training camp location.
* Individual stats in 2003.
* Rosters

The next notable chapter is the 2003 year in review: Trades, week by week results, players of the week and month, team and individual stats, best performance and attendances.

The next chapter is for the betting public looking for any edge to lay the line. Inside the Numbers includes records of teams on the road from 1970 to 2003, bye weeks-team record after and monthly record win percentage per team from 1994 to 2003. These are just the numbers no predictions here.

Other chapters include: Pro Football Hall of Fame, Chronology of Professional Football, All time team vs. team results, Super Bowl summaries, Monday night records, Thursday-Sunday night, First round selection history and Records-all time and team/individual. Here you will find names like Rock Island Independents, Columbus Pan Handles, Tonawanda Kardex and Cleveland Indians. (Yes, Cleveland was an NFL team for those MLB baseball fans.) Of notable quiz show highlights: Jim Thorpe was the first NFL Commissioner for one year. (1920)

And last and most subject to interpretation are the Rules of the game. The roster of officials (Includes day job), Official Signals with illustrations and the Digest of Rules.
Notable highlights are the jurisdiction, positions and duties of each official. Definitions of official's words like impetus, muff and chucking.

Since we are on the subject of NFL rules, the most controversial rule pass interference is dissected like no other. Underlined words are for stressing to the public what to look for while watching games I think. The pass interference rule has five additional notes. These notes break down certain incidents that could occur on each play and what to look for. After reading the pass interference rules a couple times through I am still confused! What is true of most written rules applies here "what is written and how it is interpreted by each individual is always different."

This book should be in all NFL fan's collection. It is a NFL official publication, so you can rely on the facts. All that is left is to sit back and enjoy the best game on the planet.

And don't forget the referee is the final authority for rule interpretations.

Rating:
Summary: The ultimate NFL reference book
Review: I found the National Football League's annual Record and Fact Book to be a lot more than just the league's media guide. Sure, the book is the official source for NFL statistics and minutia; however, I also find the book is actually a good read.

Of particular interest is the History section, which gives you a short, year-by-year summary of pro football from Pudge Heffelfinger, the first pro football player, all the way to last year's Super Bowl-winning firld goal by Adam Vinitieri of the New England Patriots.

You won't find a detailed, mind-nimbing socio-economic analysis of the effects if the NFL on the nation's GDP; nor will you find a lot of negativity abouy the league's problems - after all, this is an NFL publication. However, the league takes great pains to give you a reader-friendly set of the rules (thank God for that alone, it's won me a few wagers) and the records, including separate pages detailing the careers of some of the greatest players who played the game.

There's also a very good outline of the members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and also historical data on the league's competitors over the years (did you know that there have been upwards of a half-dozen versions of the American Football League?).

Overall, there are some sections that you might look through only once in a year; but there are also sections where you can lose yourself in the game simply by taking what's there on the pafe and using your imagination to make the numbers leap off the page. Yeah, maybe I wax a little poetic about the stats in the book, but any true football fanatic knoes that the numbers all tell a story; it's up to the reader to make that story come to life. This book is comprehensive enough to be considered complete, yet spacious enough to allow you to tell yourself the story of the NFL in your own words.


Rating:
Summary: A Great Resource
Review: Published yearly this book is a great resource for every NFL fan. I can't tell you how many times a season I pull this book out while watching an NFL game. It contains information on all 32 teams, almost EVERY single game, regular season, post season, Super Bowl, and career NFL record you could think of. Also included is an overview of the rules and regulations of the league. It is a very handy guide for all NFL fans.

One small piece of advice: If you have last year's book, you may not feel the need to buy another, there isn't much new material added from year to year (though at such a cheap price it may be worth it). I would definitely recommend the book though if you don't know any previous versions, or if your version is more than 2 or 3 years old.