cover image NFL Confidential: True Confessions From The Gutter Of Football

NFL Confidential: True Confessions From The Gutter Of Football

Johnny Anonymous. Dey Street, $26.99 (308p) ISBN 978-0-0624-2241-5

Unlike the glossy, self-promotional tell-all memoirs of former gridiron star players and coaches of the National Football League, this hard-hitting sports confessional by a current pro-baller, who has decided not to come out from the shadows, will stick in the craw of the NFL front office. Coming from a small town in Ohio, the author, speaking in bold terms about his desire to become "the Best Back-up of All Time," wants to remain a nameless player: not risking injury, doing just enough to remain on the payroll while standing on the sidelines. The anonymous player enjoys that status on his second team in three years, as a pitiful third-stringer, until the injury of a lineman puts him in as a starting center. He sees hobbled veteran linemen, the victims of the most physical abuse in football, feeling the fans don't think of the gladiators as humans, but "commodities, entertainment." Football fans will be stunned by his candor about the stiff resistance against gays in the league, the widespread use of painkillers, the racial slurs, the caste system of starters versus backups, the win-at-all cost team attitude, the illegal drugs, and the off-the-field criminal infractions. This wicked football expose, written by an active player who "hates" the sport, is a ticking time bomb. (Jan.)