Green Bay Replay - Hardcover

Schaap, Dick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380975955 ISBN 13: 9780380975952

Publisher: William Morrow, 1997

Synopsis

Thirty years after Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers dominated the National Football League by winning five championships in seven years, the Pack is back, world championships once again. GREEN BAY REPLAY is the intimate story of the Packers' heroic revival, and two highly emotional relationships.

The first is between the people of a modest northeast Wisconsin town and what is literally the town's team, the only civically owned non-profit franchise in major professional sports. The second id between the men who lifted Green Bay to the top n the 1960's, and the players who scaled that peak again three decades later: Bart Starr and Brett Favre, Willie Davis and Reggie White, Max McGee and Desmond Howard, Paul Hornung and Edgar Bennett, Wille Wood and Eugene Robinson, Herb Adderley and LeRoy Butler--heroes of the past and leaders for the future.

The older men created the dynasty, but through the nest twenty-five years after Lombardi stepped down, the Packers enjoyed only five winning seasons and won only one post-season game. This agonizing slump frustrated the team and five different head coaches, all of whom departed with losing records, all haunted by Lombardi's intimidating legacy.

But in 1992 head coach Mike Holmgren, general manager Ron Wolf, and quarterback Brett Favre landed in Green Bay, and explosive combination that immediately reversed the Packers' fortune. They became winners first, then champions, heading toward the Super Bowl eager to return to a joyful Green Bay the coveted champions' trophy that is named after the team's legendary head coach.

Thirty years after Vince Lombardis Green Bay Packers dominated the National Football League by winning five championships in seven years, the Pack is back, world championships once again. GREEN BAY REPLAY is the intimate story of the Packers heroic revival, and two highly emotional relationships.

The first is between the people of a modest northeast Wisconsin town and what is literally the towns team, the only civically owned non-profit franchise in major professional sports. The second id between the men who lifted Green Bay to the top n the 1960s, and the players who scaled that peak again three decades later: Bart Starr and Brett Favre, Willie Davis and Reggie White, Max McGee and Desmond Howard, Paul Hornung and Edgar Bennett, Wille Wood and Eugene Robinson, Herb Adderley and LeRoy Butler--heroes of the past and leaders for the future.

The older men created the dynasty, but through the nest twenty-five years after Lombardi stepped down, the Packers enjoyed only five winning seasons and won only one post-season game. This agonizing slump frustrated the team and five different head coaches, all of whom departed with losing records, all haunted by Lombardis intimidating legacy.

But in 1992 head coach Mike Holmgren, general manager Ron Wolf, and quarterback Brett Favre landed in Green Bay, and explosive combination that immediately reversed the Packers fortune. They became winners first, then champions, heading toward the Super Bowl eager to return to a joyful Green Bay the coveted champions trophy that is named after the teams legendary head coach.

About this title

Review

There is something refreshing about Dick Schaap's ready admission that he's had a long-standing romance with Green Bay and its football team. "I do not come to this book with clean journalistic hands," he cops. And so much the better. In an era of cold, corporate sports and cold, cynical sportswriters, the Packers are the nation's only civically owned major franchise, and Schaap, one of the best observers of the sporting scene, adores them for it. His chronicle of the 1997 Super Bowl championship campaign warmly examines the town's special relationship with its team, and the team's special relationship with its past as it affectionately links current stars such as Brett Favre and Reggie White with their spiritual ancestors--Bart Starr and Willie Davis--from the dynasties of the Vince Lombardi-led '60s. A little soppy? Sure. But so what? There's no law that says baseball's the only sport allowed to split the uprights of emotion.

About the Author

Dick Schaap is the author of more than thirty books, including the New York Times bestsellers Instant Replay (with Jerry Kramer) and Bo Knows Bo (with Bo Jackson). Host of ESPN's The Sports Reporters and ESPN Classic's One on One and theater critic for ABC's World News Now, he has won six Emmy Awards. He is the only man who votes for both the Heisman Trophy and the Tony Awards.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0380975955
• ISBN 13: 9780380975952
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 289