Product Description

This book is chock-full of touching, funny, and often down-right exciting stories from the Falcons sideline. Every die-hard Falcons fan will love the tales of past glories and bitter defeats. And for new Falcons fans watching Michael Vick bring the franchise to the brink of Super Bowl Glory, this book provides the perfect history lesson to get you up to speed on the franchise and allow you to go anecdote-for-anecdote with even the most devoted Falcons "super-fan."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #512509 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-15
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 200 pages

About the Author
A sports fan since given a Cowboys uniform for Christmas in 1970 (blue jersey, Walt Garrison's No. 32), Matt Winkeljohn grew up in Columbus, Ohio, loving the Buckeyes, Reds, Cowboys, Lakers and Bruins. He's still passionate about Ohio State. The Falcons haven't been around as long as Winkeljohn, who'll turn 42 before the 2005 season. His history is comparatively simple. With the helmet, shoulder pads and pants from that uniform, he first played football for the Indian Springs Packers. Baseball, basketball, soccer and track followed. By high school he was down to football and baseball, adding wrestling on the advice of a twisted friend. His claims to fame were few, catching balls off the bat of prep tempest Paul O'Neill, later of the Reds and Yankees, and stealing home for Whetstone High in a district championship game against Worthington pitcher (and eventual Yankees AAA farm hand) Casey Close. Close now makes big bucks as an agent representing the likes of Derek Jeter. Winkeljohn has covered the Falcons since '98 for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, joining the paper in '87 after a storied stay (and five majors) at Bowling Green State University. He's won many awards, but is most proud of the accolades he won for a '96 story about the murder of Olympic and world champion Dave Schultz by wrestling benefactor John DuPont. Winkeljohn lives with his wife, son and twin daughters.

Customer Reviews

Quick Read With Some Interesting Stories
"Tales of the Atlanta Falcons Sidelines" was just that, a collection of quick stories about the team, most of which take place in recent history. The city of Atlanta was awarded an NFL expansion team in 1965 and play began in 1966. Since the franchise's inception, the Falcons have never posted back-to-back winning seasons. However, there has always been a lot of drama surrounding the team and I was looking forward to learning much more about the team's history.

Matt Winkeljohn, the Falcons beat writer for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution from 1985 to 2008 did relay some interesting stories throughout the book. However, Winklejohn jumped around the team's history throughout the book, creating some confusion as to what time period was being discussed. Furthermore, some of the more interesting characters like Jerry Glanville, Deon Sanders, and Andre Rison were briefly discussed. Instead, pages were devoted to light-hearted stories about random front office executives breaking their leg at the senior bowl. I understand that Winkeljohn was still serving as the beat writer when this was published (2005), however, I felt there weren't many stories that were that critical of the franchise or its players. For example, the infamous Jeff George/June Jones blow-up, one of the lowest points of the franchise, was only mentioned in passing.

Winkeljohn did do a great job of recreating the 1998 season and it was a joy to re-live those moments as well as re-visiting the hype that engulfed the city of Atlanta during Vick's first few seasons. Furthermore, I never realized that until Dan Reeves was hired in 1997, there was no real General Manager for the franchise - more than explaining why the team was so horrid during the end of the 1980s and most of the 1990s. I was just hoping for more of a behind the scenes look at some of the more crucial points of the franchise as well as a more comprehensive account of the franchise's history. Winklejohn even points out at one point during the book that no authors have ever attempted to even write about this franchise. The book was a great read and for a Falcons fan such as myself, very appreciated.