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Best book about the Buffalo Bills

bflo83

By bflo83
in The Stadium Wall Archives

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Which book about the Bills did you enjoy the most?  

46 members have voted

  1. 1. Which book about the Bills did you enjoy the most?

    • The Buffalo Bills and the Almost Dream Season - Vic Carucci
      6
    • Where Else Would You Rather Be? - Marv Levy
      9
    • Armed and Dangerous - Jim Kelly
      2
    • Relentless - The History of The Buffalo Bills - Sal Maiorana
      20
    • Relentless Volume 2 - Sal Maiorana
      1
    • Other
      1
    • None Of the Above - I just read the Stadium Wall
      7

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bflo83 Rookie

bflo83

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I really enjoyed the Marv book and thought that the first Relentless book was just a great history of the Bills (Sal should have waited a few more years before putting out the second volume) but I'd have to say that the book by Vic Carucci on the first SB season was a great read.

 

Anyone have any other recommendations?

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BillsFanNC Hall of Famer

BillsFanNC

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Relentless (#1)

Is the best Bills History book evah.

 

As far as player bio....Fred Smerlas book...(can't remember the title) was very entertaining.

"By a Nose" maybe?

320838[/snapback]

 

Yes. By A Nose. Great book. My favorite story from that book is Chuck Knox giving a pre-game pep talk to the team and ending it with:

 

"Ok, let's go out there and !@#$ them where they breathe!!!!"

 

The whole team is fired up as Freddie and a few guys are looking at each other thinking "Where they breathe?" :(

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RJsackedagain RFA

RJsackedagain

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Relentless (#1)

Is the best Bills History book evah.

 

As far as player bio....Fred Smerlas book...(can't remember the title) was very entertaining.

"By a Nose" maybe?

320838[/snapback]

Freddie's locker room stories were funny ---Kelly puking in urnals ----- but I got sick of his humor by the end of the book

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CajunBillsBacker Veteran

CajunBillsBacker

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I never heard of this Relentless book until now. Apparently it's pretty good. What's a good price for it nowadays? It seems hard to find.

321211[/snapback]

 

 

You might be able to find it locally around WNY for cheaper, but here it is at Amazon.com

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/188...6216988-9214465

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bflo83 Rookie

bflo83

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You might be able to find it locally around WNY for cheaper, but here it is at Amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/188...6216988-9214465

321396[/snapback]

That's the average going price for it and it's well worth it. It is a coffee table quality book on the Bills, an encyclopedia of everything about the Bills from their inception through the Super Bowl years.

 

Has anyone read "Tale of the tape: A history of the Buffalo Bills from the inside" by Eddie Abramoski? I forgot about this one when I put the poll up and have never read it myself - it sounds like a good read.

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Buftex Hall of Famer

Buftex

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"Relentless" is by far the best. I wish the guy who wrote it would put Volume I, Volume II and the last few years all into one big, new book.

321004[/snapback]

 

 

I emailed Sal Moriana a few months back, and asked him if he had any plans on doing a third volume of "Relentless" and he said "no", but that he had a few books slated for the future, didn't specify if they were Bills related or not.

 

"Relentless" is the most useful book of all. Things like the Vic Carruci book ("Almost Dream Season") are nice, but are kind of dull reads. Carucci really, just essentially, recaps every game, with very little insight. Jimbo's book is not much better, but not a bad read for a sports book.

 

Other than "Relentless", the Smerlas and Levy books are good reads. When Kelly wrote his book, he was at his peak as a player (1991 or 1992 I think), while Smerlas and Levy wrote theirs after the fact. Smerlas, if I remember correct, wrote his when he was playing with the '49ers and was less than complimentary toward Marv and Jeff Wright. He has since retracted his statements, saying they were heat of the moment things, bitter about being cut by Levy, in favor of Wright.

 

I have a particular fondness for the Chuck Knox era Bills, and Smerlas offers lots of good stories from behind the scenes. My favorite was Smerlas recalling the Bills locker room, after their season ending loss to the Bengals, in the 1981 playoffs. It would end up being Knox's last game as Bills head coach. Smerlas writes that all the guys were cleaning out their lockers, wishing eachother the best in the offseason. Smerlas, having the feeling that Knox might resign (he and Ralph were butting heads a lot), goes to Knoxs' office to say goodbye. When he gets there, he opens up the door a crack, and sees Chuck drinkning a beer, watching a game film of the loss. He is apparently stuck on a game loss clinching Joe Ferguson interception. He is muttering, "you stupid m.f." Smerlas thinks better of saying anything, and leaves, unnoticed.

 

Smerlas also offers lots of insight into the genesis of the "bickering Bills" and recalls the locker room, pre-glory years, being divided along racial lines. One story I remember (and I read this thing like 15 years ago, so forgive me if I get some details skewered), is Ronnie Harmon going around the locker room and asking all of his black teammates to sign a football. When he gets to the rookie WR (#83- Andre Reed), he pulls the ball out of Reeds hands, and says something like "is your mamma or daddy white? You ain't black!" and declines to have Reed sign it. What a fool Harman was (not to mention a choke, and likely a game thrower in college), Reeds auto would have added some value to that ball...he could probably use it just about now....

 

Anyway, great book! Didn't intend to write a book my self...oh yeah, Abe Abramoski's book "Tale of the Tape" is a fun, short read. He loved everyone, and apparently was loved by everyone, so not lots of juicy stuff, but some funny anectdotes. I like the stories about the 1960's players, who I am not quite old enough to remember. Although I am 40, my earliest Bills memories are of Dennis Shaw. We share a common first name, so I just latched on to the Bills the year he was our starting QB.

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