Football for a Buck

The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

By: Jeff Pearlman

Narrated by: Joel Richards

Length: 14 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

The United States Football League was the last football league to not merely challenge the mighty NFL but also to cause it to collectively shudder. It spanned three seasons, featured as many as 18 teams, secured multiple television deals, drew millions of fans, and launched the careers of legends - but then it died beneath the weight of a particularly egotistical and bombastic owner, a New York businessman named Donald Trump.

In Football for a Buck, Jeff Pearlman draws on more than 400 interviews to unearth all the salty, untold stories of one of the craziest sports entities to have ever captivated America. From 1980s drug excess to some of the most enthralling and revolutionary football ever seen, Pearlman transports listeners back in time to this crazy, boozy, audacious era of the game. He shows how fortunes were made and lost and how, 30 years ago, Trump was a scoundrel and a spoiler. This is sports as high entertainment - and a cautionary tale of the dangers of ego and excess.

©2018 Jeff Pearlman (P)2018 Dreamscape Media, LLC

I love the usfl

I love this book and the stories of the old league. Fun read thanks for the memories

Another winner by Pearlman

He's a great writer, and tells these stories well. I was amazed no one told the narrator a teams record being 7-11 is read aloud "seven and eleven," because he repeatedly would say "a record of seven TO eleven." Weak editing to miss that. Otherwise, he did fine and I enjoyed the listen.

Keep Politics Out

I'm a big USFL fan and a big fan of the Stars. Went to a few games. While I enjoyed this story, the constant Trump bashing became tiring. While he is certainly not blameless to imply he is solely responsible for the death of the league is ridiculous. The league failed because of poor management and a poor grip on reality. They expanded too many too soon and brought in owners who couldn't manage a lemonade stand. Poor ownership in places like Denver, Arizona/Chicago, San Antonio, L.A., Washington among others. The author's consternation is politically motivated. The last chapter of the book shows that as he bashes Trump's presidency which if he were honest he would admit that Trump didn't do badly and bringing up the Russian Collusion matter, something that the special council debunked, only shows the author's bias. Also, the narrator constantly mispronouncing players names was laughable at best. I mean calling Nick Mike-Meyer "Myke Meyer"(like the actor) instead of the correct "Mick-a-Meyer" was hilarious. If the author just kept to the story of this great league would have been fine but he chose to sling mud.

Great book about The USFL

Great account of the USFL. The narrator could have done a better job knowing the pronunciation of certain player names, like Bobby Hebert and knowing wins and losses (13-3 record) are read 13 and 3, instead of 13 to 3. Otherwise, great historical account recommended for football fans and anyone that wants to get a glimpse of how Donald Trump conducts his affairs. He’s the same person now as he was in the 80s.

You'll Never Guess the Villain

This is all you want from a sports book. It's funny and informative; witty and occasionally poignant; well-researched with a dash of conjecture and a pinch of speculation. Pearlman does slander our lord and savior, Donald Trump, by relaying the many blasphemies of his fellow USFL owners, while chronicling Trump's role in the league's demise (which is why I'll be giving this book 1-star, obviously) but otherwise it's pretty good.

A note for non-football fans: like a good, self-contained movie or book sequel, an encyclopedic knowledge of its antecedents (in this case, the sport of football) isn't necessary to enjoy the book. This isn't an esoteric, "X" and "O" football book, it's a story of ambition and entrepreneurship; of heroes and villains (you'll never guess who the villain is. Kidding. You'll totally guess.) and of eventual greed and idiocy and ultimate pathos. It's also really funny.

And I'd be remise not to put in a good word for Joel Richards. I thought the narration was fantastic. I thought he nailed Pearlman's tone and dry humor. There's a couple spots where Richards' delivery even coaxed a laugh from the text that may have otherwise passed under the radar of a reader.

I'm an audiobook junkie who has strong opinions about readers. I can understand not liking a narrator, but objectively, Joel Richards is not a 1-star narrator. At no point was I distracted by his pronunciation of names (of the the names I knew, Richards pronunciation was consistent with what I've heard) and speaking a team record like 10 - 2 as, "ten to two," rather than "ten and two," struck me as more novel than annoying.

great football history!

loved it, this story has been lost in football history and need to be revisited on a regular basis.

Fond memories of USFL

Great stories within stories. It a shame Trump was involved. The USFL should have stayed in the spring.

You have to hear it to believe it. Incredible!

I heard an NPR interview about this book and it was incredibly interesting. I knew nothing of this league but was pulled in immediately. I was surprised how many of the coaches and players I had heard of before and continued to be surprised as the outlandish stories kept coming in. Such a great voice performance and story, I listened to the whole thing in a few days straight. If you like football in any capacity I think you will enjoy this book.

Great Story, Poor Narration

This is a very interesting history of the fascinating but ultimately doomed United States Football League. Jeff Pearlman captures so many excellent stories, and definitely adds new information to the canon beyond that found in previous books on the league and the ESPN 30 for 30 video. The narration, though, is really distracting due to numerous pronunciation errors (Mike "RO-zher" rather than "ro-ZEER", coach Jack "PAR-dee" rather than "par-DEE", QB Bobby "HEE-bert" rather then "AY-bair" etc, etc, etc). And, if you are reading a sports book, you should know that when you see a team's record written as 8-10, that is read "8 and 10" rather than "8 to 10." I know, little things, but they are distracting and detract from an excellent story.

Better title: 'How Trump Killed the USFL'

Love Pearland books as he is very good at research and telling the tale, but this one, while informative, spent a little too much time on Trump and invoking the authors personal views on the former President. otherwise an engaging read.