Top five: Super Bowl books

Don Weiss was the right-hand man of NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and took charge of every Super Bowl until XXXVI, in 2002. In this book he tells the story of how the game was created, the development of now-vital elements such as the halftime show and how the NFL became a prime-time TV fixture. The book closes with a look at some of the key figures – owners, coaches and executives – who played important roles in shaping the Super Bowl. Weiss died, aged 77, shortly after the book was published.

Probably the definitive guide to the history of the games themselves, this weighty coffee table book collects Sports Illustrated’s reporting on the first 50 Super Bowls. That means you get the view of the game from greats like Tex Maule, Dan Jenkins and Paul Zimmerman, which makes the writing as essential as the photography – and there is some great photography. The layout is well-designed for browsing, with stats from each game, reminiscences from key players and little details like pictures of the game ticket and the winners’ rings.

Super Bowl III was one of the most important ever played. The Packers had won the first two and, for many, that emphasised the dominance of the NFL over the upstart AFL. The quality of the football was simply better in the older league, they said. The viability of the merged league would depend on AFL teams showing that they could compete, which they did in Super Bowl III, when the New York Jets won a shock upset over the Baltimore Colts. Dave Anderson’s book unfolds the story of the 10 days before the big game including, on the Thursday before the Super Bowl, Jets QB Joe Namath guaranteeing victory. An anniversary edition was published in 2018.
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Super Bowl III was played with America at war in Vietnam. Super Bowl XXV was overshadowed by another war, this one in the Persian Gulf. Adam Lazarus looks back at a Super Bowl played under heightened security, and which some argued should not have been played at all. It was, of course, and the game – a narrow win for the New York Giants over the Buffalo Bills – became known as a classic. For soldiers watching it in the Gulf, the time difference meant that they were celebrating Super Bowl Monday.

This book is an exercise in fantasy football. Tom Danyluk, author of The Super 70s, imagines that the NFL and AFL had merged in 1961, when the AFL first tried to initiate merger talks with its larger rival. That would have created five more Super Bowls. Danyluk tells the story of those imaginary games through a series of fictional newspaper reports. The book even includes artwork for the “Official Program” for each game. It’s a fun read.
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Photo: Michael Dorausch