The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL

As a huge Colts fan, I was extremely excited to finally get my copy of one of the greatest games the NFL has ever seen. However, just a few pages into the book, I realize that this book is just a poor compilation of a bunch of other books, and was poorly written at that. I was very disappointed to see such a shotty interpretation of this amazing story from someone as acclaimed as Mark Bowden.

Don't get me wrong, it had a ton of good information and laugh out loud points, but the story had little flow, often jumping around and pages would pass before getting back to the story. It reminded me of a stream of thought, or a high school essay paper just trying to put out as much information as possible, just hoping to pass the class.

Next on my list is either "The Greatest Football Game Ever Played" or "The Glory Game" to see if I can get a cleaner picture of this historical game.

Bowden is a tremendous non-fiction writer, and I enjoyed this book tremendously, but it is a quick, light treatment of a subject loaded with nuance and historical context. The subtitle is Giants vs. Colts, 1958 and the Birth of the Modern NFL, but other than an epilog chapter, it does not really cover much ground after 1958.

This is the work of a terrific author churning out a quick book between his more serious efforts. There are strong portraits of several players, particularly Unitas (one of my boyhood idols) the Giant linebacker Sam Huff, and the methodical Raymond Berry, whose meticulous preparation altered the future of the wide receiver position, as well as the outcome of this championship game.

In light of a recent story about Donovan McNab, the Eagles quarterback being unfamiliar with the rules of overtime football during a regular season game, it was amusing to note how many of these now iconic NFL players actually thought the 1958 championship game could have ended in a tie. Sam Huff was walking off the field and mentally figuring out how the playoff shares would be divided when he first learned about the concept of sudden death.

The book misses many opportunities. The Giants had Tom Landry and Vince Lombardi on the same coaching staff, which strikes me worth a story line or two, but is not developed here. And Bowden makes some really odd choices I felt, perhaps reaching for a new angle on a frequently covered subject. For example, at the moment of the clinching touchdown the focus suddenly shifts to the amateur photographer who caught the moment Alan Ameche broke into the end zone.

Bowden acknowledges he spent some time reviewing the game film with Eagles coach Andy Reid, and while the background information gained there was probably helpful, I feel that experience could have been brought into the book more. What does a current NFL coach think of the level of play in the 50s? How did a mistake filled first half change into a beautifully played second half and overtime, as field conditions worsened?

If you are a football fan, you will not doubt enjoy the book, but it is certainly not in the same league with the author's own remarkable Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

My husband Norman was at the game 50 years ago. It was brought to life by the author. I can still remember Raymond Berry making catch after catch to set up Alan ameche with the winning score.
Thanks for the memories.

The 1958 NFL Championship Game is and always will be the starting point for any discussion about the birth of modern pro football. While some consider it the greatest game ever played, I think an argument can be made against that. Bowden recalls a list of the sloppy play that were part of this game. However, what is undoubtedly true is that this was the most important game in NFL history. Pro football was not the dominant sport and money making machine of today. Baseball still ruled the roost of professional sport. Bowden nicely weaves the elements that converged to give this game its importance -- growth of television in post-WWII America, a game that ran into prime time viewing hours so millions more than die-hard fans were tuning in to catch the end of the game, the first sudden death championship game in the NFL and the backdrop of the most important American city and the pantheon of sports, Yankee Stadium.

Bowden does a solid job, especially as he zeroes in on Raymond Berry and Johnny Unitas, the most unlikely of stars to emerge. However, I couldn't help feel that something was missing. I was left wanting more -- more detail, more context, more perspective. I felt like Bowden delivered the facts but a game of this magnitude and importance deserved more.

This is a solid book, certainly a quick read and well worth the investment. It certainly does match the magnitude of the game which it is covering, but is a great starting point for any fan of the NFL.

I really never knew much about pre-Super Bowl era football except for what I've read on the Vince Lombardi coached the Packers (and his bio is fantastic BTW). This account really gives a nice history of the NFL leading up to this game and sketches brief but accurate bios of many of the games key participants. In particualr Raymond Berry gets a LOT of coverage, so does Johhny Unitas, to lesser extent so do Gifford, Ameche, Donovan, Big Daddy Lipscomb, Conerly, and Moore. He does an excellent job summarizing the game including excerpting radio broadcasts in key spots (the TV record is gone, much the way Larsen's '56 perfect game is gone, what were these execs thinking destroying this stuff?!). I don't have a complaint because this was a lot of new info to me, the reason I give it 4 stars is because those who are Giant's fans may find it Colts heavy. Those expecting a lot about the birth of the NFL will find it really ends with this game save a quick, Joe Namath signed for a lot, and soon everyone made money (except those like Bert Bell who dies shortly afterwards)which is really just a few pages at the end. Overall if you are interested in this and don't know the story yet, it's a great read. If you are wel versed in this story already it may not be for you.