Bloody Sundays: Inside the Dazzling, Rough-and-Tumble World of the NFL

FROM THE PUBLISHER

With fascinating insights, Freeman goes beyond day-to-day newspaper journalism and ESPN highlights to take us deep inside the game and reveal the NFL in ways that will surprise even the most avid football fans. He travels to the sidelines and into the locker rooms to interview hundreds of players and coaches on their expertise. Breaking the game down to its three essential elements - coaching, offense, and defense - Freeman profiles in depth three of today's football elite: Jon Gruden, head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; Michael Strahan, defensive end for the New York Giants; and Emmitt Smith, the legendary running back.

Packed with football history and anecdotes, Bloody Sundays goes behind the scenes of the "secret society" of gay players who play in fear of their lives and careers. Freeman offers an exclusive and disturbing look at the life of a current player, the first time an active player addresses homosexuality and the warrior culture NFL.

Freeman also studies how the violence of the game ravages the bodies of players only too willing to suit up and endure extraordinary pain every Sunday, damn the consequences. There is also the matter of how teams are only too willing to look the other way if a player's off-the-field violence doesn't affect his on-the-field performance.

FROM THE CRITICS

The New York Times

Although pro football can make a legitimate claim to be our national sport, it seems to lose its hold on fans when the television set is switched off; there are more incisive books about golf than pro football. In Bloody Sundays, Mike Freeman, a sports reporter for The Times, gives you so much to think about that you might find yourself switching off a game to read. He describes a football factory owned by Wilson in Ada, Ohio, population 5,582 (where N.F.L. balls ''are handmade by people named Peggy, Charlie and Aunt Maudie''), provides a revealing portrait of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' coach, Jon Gruden, and includes a startling interview with an unnamed gay player who claims that 5 percent to 10 percent of N.F.L. players are homosexual. — Allen Barra

Publishers Weekly

Using a structure similar to George Will's Men at Work, Freeman dedicates sections of his new book to coaches, players and executives, employing their stories as jumping off points to discuss the inner working of the NFL. Employing his insider connections and investigative journalism skills, Freeman, who covers football for the New York Times, doesn't shy away from the critical issues facing the league, such as a financial system that can leave players with little money and tenuous job security or the high-profile domestic abuse cases that have become all too common among the league's players in recent years. He explores not only the health risks to players who use their bodies as battering rams but also the health issues facing workaholic NFL coaches. Given America's obsession with celebrities' personal lives, the book's most stunning revelation comes from Steven Thompson (an alias), a gay NFL player who claims there are currently "100 to 200 gay and bisexual" players in the league. Freeman reports on all these issues with passion and compassion, almost always giving thoughtful consideration to both sides of the story while also suggesting viable solutions to the league's problems. Freeman's only fumble is his "99 Reasons Why Football Is Better Than Baseball," an indication that ubiquitous list journalism has made the jump from magazines to books. Still, Freeman's courage to tackle the sport's biggest issues and his insider's expertise make this a must read for football fanatics coast to coast. (Oct.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

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