The Little League That Could

November 29, 2010
Rappoport (Miracles, Shockers, and Long Shots) examines the American Football League's debut in 1960 and its unlikely decade-long rise to challenge the National Football League's monopoly, but struggles to form a cohesive narrative around his David and Goliath tale. Within a decade, the combined league, which now included the Dallas Texans, Denver Broncos, and Oakland Raiders, had won two Super Bowls and forced a merger, in 1966, leading to the creation of the NFL's current two-conference system. As Rappoport (Gridiron Glory, with Barry Wilner) recounts, the AFL was a pioneer of the modern game, introducing the use of film study, and possessed a colorful cast of characters, like Billy Cannon, and owners (dubbed the "Foolish Club"). Rappoport clearly reveres his subject, but fan-boy tangents ("Dawson was the AFL's player of the year in 1962... and, by the way, took the Texans to the championship"), a tendency toward hyperbole and conversational language, and an embrace of clichés detract from a genuinely interesting (particularly to sports fans) historical tale.

August 1, 2010

Fifty years ago, eight wealthy businessmen started the American Football League (AFL) as a rival to the established NFL, setting off an explosive decade of growth for both leagues that ended with an immensely popular merged league of 26 teams governing the game. Sportswriter Rappoport covered the AFL and has conducted interviews with scores of original participants to relay the history of a vibrant, exciting league that was very much a part of the flair of the 1960s. Although the interviews emphasize Buffalo and Boston players, Rappoport covers the entire league: Lamar Hunt's founding of the league; the Oilers' signing of Heisman winner Billy Cannon out from under the Rams in 1960; the importance of television to the new league's survival; the AFL's expansion of the job market for players, particularly African Americans; the fan-friendly, pass-happy style of AFL play; the funky stadiums; the merger; and the first four Super Bowls. While not as good as Jeff Miller's oral history Going Long or Dave Steidel's encyclopedic Remember the AFL, this is a vivid retelling of the upstart league's story.

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