In recent years, Sports Illustrated has published these magnificent coffee table books on baseball, football, basketball, hockey and golf. Terrific writing, and pictures, unforgettable pictures.
Yet SI barely scratched the surface of its vast inventory. So naturally the magazine decided it was time to do more.
Its latest book is Sports Illustrated: Football’s Greatest. The premise is a select panel of SI’s NFL experts (including Peter King, Jim Trotter, and Don Banks) ranking the top 10 in various categories.
In the no-surprise department, Joe Montana is No. 1 for quarterback, and Jim Brown is the best running back. However, Terrell Owens at No. 6 for receivers? And Hines Ward 10th? Do you think that Arrowhead in KC is the second best stadium in the league?
Of course, you won’t agree with the choices, and that’s the point. Debate is a big part of it.
The foundation of the book is the writing and pictures. You’ll read classic excerpts from Paul Zimmerman, Dan Jenkins, Frank Deford, Roy Blount Jr. and John Schulian, among others.
The real stars, though, are the pictures, especially the vintage shots from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. I loved the photos of players in the mud. In one of the opening pictures, you couldn’t even make out the No. 32 on Brown’s uniform.
The game looked so much grittier back then. There’s a terrific shot of Jack Lambert’s pants, stained with blood. Says it all about that era of football.
I had a chance to talk with Bill Syken, who edited the book for SI. Here’s my Q/A.
What’s behind doing another book, besides a terrific excuse to roll out more of those pictures?
We go back to 1954. The magazine and the league rose at the same time. This is a way for us to take of that great writing and pictures. Coming up with top 10 lists allows us to organize it and to take advantage of our depth of knowledge.
Talk about the pictures. Why are those old pictures so striking?
In picking out the photos for the book, we tried to figure out why the ones from the 50s, 60s and 70s all looked so great and capitivated us. Is it something about the fabric of those uniforms and the way the light hit them? There’s a picture of the ’62 Packers. The colors just pop out. It’s really pleasing to look at.
You also had some great shots of players’ eyes. The intensity of Dick Butkus; Jerry Rice’s concentration while catching a pass.
When we look at a picture in the dark room, one of the great things you see is a player’s eyes. If we can’t see his eyes, the photo is disqualified.
Talk about the writing in the book. What was it like to sort through all those stories?
If there was one category that was interesting, it was picking excerpts for best franchise. I knew we had all the big games covered, and players. But franchise is a bit more abstract. So it was great to find this description of the Packers (from Bud Shrake) from a man in a sauna in Green Bay going to his first game. Or Frank Deford, talking to Richard Nixon about the Redskins.
Terrell Owens sixth best receiver?
We have Cris Carter eighth, and he can’t get into the Hall of Fame. It’s an interesting category. It is the one where the statistics have changed the most.
The great thing about going through the lists is trying to see which guys are going to be slotted in the middle. Who’s coming in 9th or 10th? Who isn’t going to make the top 10? When you consider the credibility of the people voting on these list, it’s hard not to get caught up in it.
What’s next in the series?
If we do another one, the forerunner will be baseball.