Necessary Roughness

Mike Trope was an agent for NFL players back when it truly was a game of who you know. His initial clients were simply based on college classmates who needed representation and Trope had the studies and - importantly - the smarts to pick up the ball and run with it. He chronicles the days when agents were not licensed in an anything goes battle with team management and a lineup of personalities offering players almost anything to sign contracts. In this hard-hitting book, Trope talks about how players got black-listed from the league due to a variety of issues and the sleaziness of one team owner to bring his daughter into contract negotiations that needed a little extra push to get completed. Depending on who you believe, the NFL cracked down on agents due to renegades like Trope or he was ultimately a victim of a corrupt system that he used to benefit his clients. No matter what you conclude, Necessary Roughness is a wild ride.