Bringing the Heat

Mark caputures a team I remember in my youth with remarkable detail. Awesome insights. Remarkable profiles of players and coaches. You grow up with them, go on the field with them, and go home with them. I highly recommend this book. Only critism is sometimes the in game detail is overbearing and detailed. This book made me realize one thing that is often overlooked: athletes are humans.

Mark Bowden provides his readers with a glimpse into the chess match that is played out on any given Sunday in the NFL. Bowden lets us into the lives of the very elite athletes who have the ability to reach the ultimate level of pro sports; their endless preparation from grade school through college and onto the pros. Weekly film study, practice, game planning and analysis of opponents tendencies is religiously embraced by those in the "pigskin temple" just to gain the extra step needed to obtain victory. After you read this book you will never watch a pro football game the same again. A must read for Eagles fans.

I am 17 years old and haven't picked up a book for many years (like 7). I saw this book on the stool in the kitchen, that my Dad had brought back from the library. I read the first chapter and was hooked, I finished by the end of the week. Gripping, thrilling are only a couple of words to describe it. He takes u there, u can even feel what he feels, it's like your there with him, and it blew my mind totally. I haven't been able to put him down since and I have started to read other authors (Mark Bowden.)This man is a great writer and very hard. Thanks for the great trip Andy!!

As a diehard Eagles fan, I absolutely loved this book. The Eagles of this era may have had the most talent and personality of any recent team. Incredible insight into the players and coaches - their personalities, their infighting, everything. Definitely a gossipy work, but that's what makes it awesome. Any NFL fan would love this book. It definitely helps the reader appreciate the absolute zoo of playing in the National Football League.

Mark Bowden's account of the events leading up to and including the Philadelphia Eagles 1992 season provides a behind-the-scenes look at NFL football. Bowden details what the sports page does not--extramarital affairs, bitter feuds between teammates, and player resentment towards a seemingly "greedy" owner. It is not all gossip though. Bowden offers a detailed look at the (often challenging) childhood of players, the "sluice" which filters out players through the numerous levels of organized football, and the repercussions of the death of star defensive tackle Jerome Brown. Mixed in between the colorful stories is a detailed look at the 1992 season: a season that began with realistic Super Bowl predictions yet ended with another playoff defeat to the dreaded Cowboys. This is not just a book for Eagles fans. It is a book for fans that want to know what life in the NFL is "really" like.