Hero of the Underground: A Memoir

Being a Carolinas panther fan, I always wondered about the background of Jason Peter and what happened post NFL. This book was the cure. A very insightful story.

This book definately grabs your attention from the get-go! I am not that big of a book reader but this book tells the story of how drugs almost completely destroyed a life of a human being. Very intense..Would recommend it for anyone to read.

Rarely do I pick up a book that refuses to be put down. Hero of the Underground is this kind of book. If page one doesn't suck you in, you might want to check your pulse. From the beginning, this book takes you on the ultimate roller coaster ride, touching the highest of highs (figuratively and literally) and the lowest of lows (literally). I'm struggling to find the appropriate words to describe this book, but only because it is so powerful. Raw, unabashed, in your face, pedal to the metal, and inspiring all come to mind. The bottom line is that any Husker football fan, any pro football fan, any sports fan in general, or any current/recovering drug addict and their family/friends should read this book. I bought the book on a Thursday after work and had it finished the following night. I'm telling you...this book is so well written that it's impossible to put down for more than a short time (i.e. to sleep). Jason Peter wrote this book like he played football...all out, all the time. No holds barred. I read a lot of books and it's the best I've read this year...easy!

Firstly, it's worth mentioning that not only do I have no interest in sport, but I specifically have no interest in American football (I'm a sluggish Australian cartoonist, not a sporting type at all). Despite this I found Hero of The Underground utterly compelling. I read the whole thing in one sitting - I couldn't put it down. It's honest without being cloying. It's shocking without being sensational. Jason Peter's story reads like a man planning a train wreck and then climbing on board for the ride. I couldn't recommend this enough.

Watching from outside the lines, Jason Peter had it all. An incredible talent on some of the greatest Nebraska Cornhusker teams ever, Peter was a top draft-pick of the Carolina Panthers. No doubt, Peter was on the fast-track to multiple all-pro years in what ultimately would become a Hall of Fame career. Well, fairy tales make great bed-time stories for young children and wonderful endings to Hollywood movies. Peter and co-author Tony O'Neill enter the deep trenches in this compelling look into the pop culture of sports stardom and the depths that one can quickly plummet in a game that features too much, too soon. From the prescriptions for pain killers available in an underground business by unsavory physicians - pills for signing autographs on football gear - to the heroin & crack cocaine addiction and the two suicide attempts, Peter honestly delves into his personal pain and tough times he put his family through in the biggest battle of his life, after the cheering stopped. Though Peter discusses the pressure to deliver in the business of the NFL - which fuels a player to do everything possible to stay on the field, no matter what - he also reflects upon unrealistic expectations and the depression & anger associated with the feeling that the sport abandoned him before he was done with pursuing his professional career. And it was a simple act in what may have been his final desperate moments that ultimately turned his life around. The brutal opponents nearly won, but Peter somehow scrambled from the clutches of death before that scoreboard clock read 00:00.