You may have heard that Super Bowl Sunday is approaching. In his 1973 novel North Dallas Forty, Peter Gent described football this way: "There's no greater display of everything that's magnificent about sport in America and everything that's wrong with culture in America." Last year's Super Bowl drew more than 114 million viewers. On Sunday, Americans will consume 1.25 billion chicken wings, 8 million pounds of guacamole and 8.2 million tortilla chips. If you're a Baby Boomer, there's at least a chance that you've seen all 49 Super Bowls (I know, it's a scary thought).
As you might expect, there have been several books published to celebrate the Big Game's golden anniversary, including When It Was Just a Game: Remembering the First Super Bowl by Harvey Frommer; 50 Years, 50 Moments: The Most Unforgettable Plays in Super Bowl History by Jerry Rice and Randy O. Williams; The Super Bowl: The First Fifty Years of America's Greatest Game by David Fischer; Super Bowl 50: Celebrating Fifty Years of America's Greatest Game by Bethany Bradsher and Sports Illustrated's Super Bowl Gold: 50 Years of the Big Game.
Cautionary tales are also an option, like League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions & the Battle for Truth by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru; and Concussion by Jeanne Marie Laskas. Or you can read a point-counterpoint exchange between Steve Almond's Football: One Fan's Reluctant Manifesto and Gregg Easterbrook's The Game's Not Over: In Defense of Football.
I always keep a book handy during the telecast because there's a lot of quiet time, despite the hoopla. What am I reading this weekend? Maybe a little Walker Percy, who once said: "The fact that American writers in residence and poets in residence often behave worse than football players does not necessarily imply that they are more stoned than the latter. There is more than one way to assault the cortex." What are you reading on Super Bowl Sunday? --Robert Gray, contributing editor
