Product Description

This is it: the unbelievable true story of how a team that barely qualified to be part of the original AFL became the first NFL dynasty of the 21st century. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: New England Patriots presents a fast-paced, entertaining look at 48 years of Patriots history. There are heroes and villains, the expert and the inept, moments of glory and moments of agony, triumphs, tragedies, and terrible trip-ups. The details you always wanted to know, the moments you hope you'll remember forever, the players, coaches, and owners you know you'll never forget (for better or for worse). This is the New England Patriots at their best, their worst, and their weirdest.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64026 in Books
• Published on: 2008-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 192 pages

From the Publisher
"The Patriots? We were sort of the red-headed stepchild. We had some great fans...but a lot of people didn't know about the Patriots, and a lot more didn't care about the Patriots." --John Hannah, from the foreword "Hannah would run into somebody--and a big somebody--and his feet wouldn't stop; they'd just keep going. It doesn't sound like such a big deal to someone who hasn't done it, but just being able to do that is truly special."

--Randy Cross, CBS TV analyst/former San Francisco 49ers lineman "It is what it is."

--Bill Belichick, always

From the Inside Flap
There has never been a better time to be a Boston sports fan. The Red Sox are two-time World Series champions. The Celtics are again one of the NBA's elite teams. And most impressive of all, the Patriots, once little more than a bad joke in the NFL and an afterthought for sports fans in the region, have become professional football's most dominant and most feared team. With four Super Bowl appearances and three championships to their credit since the turn of the century, the former sad-sack franchise has become one of the great dynasties of American professional sports.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: New England Patriots takes readers on a fast-paced, fun, and entertaining trip through the team's 48-year history. In compact, stand-alone sections, this book covers the highs and lows of the Patriots' evolution from the AFL team considered least likely to succeed to the perennial favorite to bring home the Lombardi Trophy. This is the story of horrible mistakes, heartbreaking near-misses, and miserable luck. It's also the story of exhilarating successes, inspiring personal and collective triumphs, and some of the greatest finishes in all of sports history.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: New England Patriots offers it all, from Clive Rush to Bill Belichick, from the Snowplow Game to the Snow Bowl. The humiliation of Super Bowl XX. The jubilation of Super Bowl XXXVI. Babe Parilli, Steve Grogan, Drew Bledsoe, and Tom Brady. The heartbreaking tragedy of Darryl Stingley. The inspiring comeback of Tedy Bruschi. The self-destruction of Irving Fryar. The dedication, perseverance, and breakout success of Troy Brown.

For die-hard, veteran Pats fans, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: New England Patriots provides a chance to wince and curse and smile along, recalling the best and worst moments, coaches, players, and owners. For those who climbed aboard the bandwagon after 2002, it's an opportunity to catch up with a wild backstory and to revisit the great moments of the Belichick era.

About the Author
Sean Glennon lives in Florence, Massachusetts. Glennon's writing, which focuses on music and sports, has appeared in such publications as The Boston Globe and the Boston Phoenix. Glennon is the author of This Pats Year: A Trek Through a Season as a Football Fan, which follows Patriots fans through the 2002 NFL season.

Customer Reviews

great little book for pats fans.
I agree with the other reviewer here. this book isn't really saying much that tales from the patriots sidelines or Stadium Stories:The New England Patriots, doesn't already say. It's a brief history of the New England Franchise. However, the difference comes because Sean Glennon writes it. I bought his other book, This Pats Year, which was an excellent and highly entertaining read. I recommend this book to anyone who doesn't own the other two books i mentioned. This book is a brisk, funny and light read, that hits the spot. Like Wes Welker, it's just a bit short, but an able performer for the red white and blue. A great intro especially for new patriots fans (of which there are many over the last few years).

If Mr Glennon is reading this somehow, I'd like to say this. I am pretty shocked and dismayed by the general lack of thorough and in-depth reporting on the patriots 2007 season in the media. I am thinking of writing a book on this subject myself one day. I think the undefeated regular season was an incredible year and deserves a full book written on the subject. I enjoyed reading the sections of this book relating to the patriots in 2007, but wished somebody out there would go further with the subject. To me, the loss in the super bowl was almost too incredible to be true, and forever will be. I sometimes wonder what, if anything the spygate/walsh tapes had to do with it. It may sound outlandish and ridiculous, but did the pats cheat their way through 07? were they told to throw the game in Arizona after being found out by the league and Arlen Specter etc? I have watched that game over and over and still can't believe how the giants won that game. It was an unprecedented aberration. Whether this was accident or design, i feel that a landmark year such as this deserves some in-depth reportage worthy of such a standout year in the annals of pro-football history. I'm not asking anyone to discover a conspiracy, that's not what i mean. But i feel this year was so incredible and unprecedented a book should be written revealing the mechanics of the season in fuller detail. Was there more to the "perfect" patriots than we know? It's shrouded in mystery as far as i'm concerned. Just how did the patriots blow it so spectacularly at the final hurdle? Folks saying simply "well, they didn't bring their A game into the playoffs, they were nervous, David Tyree made a circus catch" etc just doesn't cut it for me.

Anyway, The good the bad and the ugly is a great book, light, fun and entertaining. a great present for pats fans coming up to Christmas.

Decent but not exceptional history of the Patriots
Well the title kind of sums up my feelings towards this book. In one respect it is a cheerleading tome for Bill Bellichick and all that he has accomplished. Not to diminish Bill's exceptional work but the Patriots are one of the most colorful franchises in sports history and deserve more than just a superficial treatment.

I agree with one of the other reviewers who mentioned all that was missing in this book including great players like John Smith and Stanley Morgan as well as a history of the really terrible drafts the Pats made before drafting Drew Bledsoe. Actually there are a few after Bledsoe. I would have also like to see more than a passing mention of Pete Carroll and his failure to win with the Pats while winning national titles at USC. It wasn't because Carroll was soft that we know now.

Still, despite being superficial, the book is enjoyable enough for Patriot fans to read and get some sense that life did exist and there was an NFL franchise in Boston before Tom Brady and company. I would recommend it as a good read.

Good, Bad, Ugly and Incomplete
The book does provide a glimpse into the chaos that is Patriots history. For folks who do not know much of the pre-Brady team, you get a hint of what went on before his arrival. However, there are many overlooked episodes from Patriots history which deserved more coverage or at least a mention. For example in the incident and game department there was:

1. The playoff game when the Foxboro Stadium lights went out
2. The 1985 game against the Bengals when the fans tore down the goal posts. A few of which were electrocuted when the posts hit a high-tension wire on route 1.
3. The blizzard game against Buffalo in the 60's
4. Drew Bledsoe's amazing comeback game against the Vikings
5. The Monday Night Game against the Jets, which ended in several fans being arrested. This put a ban on Patriots hosting Monday night football for many years.
6. When the NFL strike hit in the 80's, it was Doug Flutie who crossed the picket line and consequently the Patriots had the highest attendance during the strike season
7. A detailed account of the AFL championship game between the Chargers and the Patriots
8. They were one of the few, if only, team to disband a cheerleading squad

As for the players: How can any Patriots history book not mention:

John Smith the iron man soccer style kicker?
Stanley Morgan, who for years held many of the team receiving records?
Dr. Bill Lenkitis who worked as a dentist in the off-season?

As for the writing style, the book tends to jump around a lot and in many instances repeats itself. The writer also shares his opinion constantly through the book. A good example is there is call-out on Upton Bell who was the GM for a season. The author states how bad he was, but offered no details. The call-out was in the middle of a spygate chapter, which had nothing to do with Upton. He also states that whenever the Sullivan family did a negotiation, they were cheap. when the Kraft's do it, it's called business.

Also, the author has you believe the Patriots had no fan-base prior to the Bledsoe era. For example, he mentions most folks who saw Jack Tatum's hit on Daryl Stingley, saw it in the evening news. or the folks who Steve Grogan celebrated Grogan day at Gillette, never saw him take a snap. The Patriots have always had a loyal fanbase and many chose to stay away from the stadium. A quick check of the Sunday Nielsen ratings during the lean years would reveal the Patriots not only won their time-slot, the crushed all the other sports shows on any given Sunday.

The book offers a nice introduction to the Pats unique history. However, if you remember the events of the last decade, you'll recall almost everything in this book.