Product Description

"This book will change the way you think about professional football--in much the same way that Bill James revolutionized the analysis of Major League Baseball. The research is impeccable. The approach is irreverent. You will be 'blindsided' by what you think you know about the NFL, but don't. Warning to fantasy football lovers: You won't be able to put this book down."
—Sal Paolantonio, ESPN reporter and author of The Paolantonio Report: The Most Overrated and Underrated Players, Teams, Coaches, and Moments in NFL History

"KC Joyner's theories will completely revolutionize football, cure baldness, save the whales, and bring total peace and harmony to all nations. That's why you must read Blindsided!"
—Gregg Easterbrook, ESPN's Tuesday Morning Quarterback

"Too much of football literature is just tedious hagiography, but Blindsided is a book for those of us who enjoy the complex game on the field and football conversation that goes past 'my team rules.' "
—Aaron Schatz, lead author and editor of Pro Football Prospectus

Pro football’s statistical iconoclast, K.C. Joyner, challenges conventional wisdom with fact-based and film-based responses in Blindsided: Why the Left Tackle is Overrated and Other Contrarian Football Thoughts. If you love sports statistics or find excitement in fantasy football, you will enjoy the detailed insights and carefully researched information in this book. Scrap the typical media hype and hoopla for the real, straight-from-the-fields-and-films scoop, including information on free agents, parity, NFL business practice, Hall of Fame standards, coaching practices, historical iconoclasm, and a thorough statistical review.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #318752 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780470124093
• Condition: USED - LIKE NEW
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Joyner, a columnist for ESPN the Magazine, uses statistics, game footage and his own formulas to settle pro-football arguments ranging from whether it takes an elite running back to win the Super Bowl to whether the storied 1985 Chicago Bears defense is the best ever. Zealous football fans will appreciate the theories and extensively researched, sometimes surprising, conclusions. Joyner peppers his analysis and opinions with football history and a sense of humor. The league-owned NFL Films, Joyner writes, is the propaganda arm of an effective socialist regime. Though he clearly loves the game, Joyner isn't awed by the macho, myth-making empire that is the NFL, taking the league to task over its blackout system and shabby customer treatment. In the end, this is a rich mix of statistical insight and thoughtful, clear-headed criticism. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review
Statistical analysis has become a popular sports category. Joyner cites pioneering baseball statistical guru Bill James as the muse for his own gridiron research. Known as the "Football Scientist" for his self-published statistical annuals and his work on the subscriber-side of ESPN's web site, Joyner here makes a play for a broader audience. His iconoclastic essays address questions such as the true value of the left tackle position, whether coaches have a ten-year shelf life, and who the best Hall of Fame candidates are. The results are a vigorous and novel look at the game and its history. While his arguments here are supported by data, he offers fewer hard-core figures than in his annuals. Recommended for all libraries. (Library Journal, September 1, 2008)

Joyner, a columnist for ESPN the Magazine, uses statistics, game footage and his own formulas to settle pro-football arguments ranging from whether it takes an elite running back to win the Super Bowl to whether the storied 1985 Chicago Bears defense is the best ever. Zealous football fans will appreciate the theories and extensively researched, sometimes surprising, conclusions. Joyner peppers his analysis and opinions with football history and a sense of humor. The league-owned NFL Films, Joyner writes, is “the propaganda arm of an effective socialist regime.” Though he clearly loves the game, Joyner isn't awed by the macho, myth-making empire that is the NFL, taking the league to task over its blackout system and shabby customer treatment. In the end, this is a rich mix of statistical insight and thoughtful, clear-headed criticism. (Aug.) (Publishers Weekly, June 2008)

From the Inside Flap

"When I found that the research proved that a significant portion of the big-name players weren't nearly as good as they were touted as being by many members of the media and NFL coaches, I knew that I was onto something."
—KC Joyner

When sportswriters and commentators toss around superlatives as easily as quarterbacks toss short passes, how do you distinguish the hype from the facts? How can you get beyond the publicity and propaganda to objectively assess actual on-field performance? How do you refute conventional football wisdom?

You run the numbers. But wait; time-out. As this book laments, you can't get access to game footage, which is one of the reasons so many myths and misconceptions about pro football persist. Fortunately, KC Joyner (a.k.a. ESPN's "Football Scientist") does have the films—and the numbers. Joyner is pro football's premier game-tape analyst, using game film to track, tabulate, and analyze nearly every measurable statistic in an NFL game. Now he shares it all with you in Blindsided, as he examines and debunks some of the game's biggest myths and legends. He analyzes stats for various positions, players, and teams as well as offering surprising insights into key football issues and concerns that range from the true value of the left tackle to who should or shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame.

He discusses coaching and coaches at length. He delves into their background demographics, classifies them into four strategic/philosophical alignments, and explores their impact on the past and future of the game. He also takes a revealing look at current NFL business policies, including the current DirectTV and NFL Network deals, the financial disincentive of salary capping, and why the NFL's blackout rules make no economic sense.

Equipping you with both hard facts and an insider's insight, Joyner's in-depth, statistics-based analyses will help you understand and appreciate NFL football as never before.

Customer Reviews

Interesting but Shallow
Let me preface this review with a warning; I am pretty into stats and the like, and this review is written from that point of view.

This is a book that is designed to answer rhetorical questions: is the left tackle as important as people say, what was the best defense ever, and so on. There are two kinds of books with this goal: books that attempt to solve these problems with statistical reasoning, and books that attempt to tease the problems out simply by talking about them and applying their perspective. The first I am very interested in, the second I care very little about. The book masquerades as the first, but ends up being far more the second, with the author bringing up stats initially, but always abandoning them for self-indulgent rambles.

For example, there is a chapter inquiring which is the best defense ever. It is clear from the phrasing used that the author has long believed that the best defense is not the 85 Bears, but instead the mid-70s Steelers, and has written the chapter to make that case. He admits at the beginning of the chapter that he loved the Steelers as a child. His initial point is that the Steelers allowed fewer points than the Bears. And that concludes his statistical analysis. No reference to the fact that the 70s had fewer points scored generally than the 80s (thus skewing the numbers), no inquiry as to whether or not Chicago played a schedule with better offenses. He then goes on to compare the teams position by position in a subjective 'who is better' style, and predictably, the Steelers come out far ahead by his reckoning. No mention is made of the 46 defense, the fact that the Bears defense was anchored by a system, not by a player, which would adjust such evaluations somewhat. This chapter is representative of the book as a whole, because it opens with stats, applies far too little rigor with them, and then ends with opinionated pontification, reasoned though it may be.

This book is not worth reading for a stat-head because of its cursory reasoning and sloppy deduction. For a more general football fan who merely wants to read opinions... you could do worse. This book in many ways reads less like a book and more like several blog entries, driveby opinions that never fully delve into the heart of the matter. From a wit like Bill Simmons such reading is a pleasure, but KC Joyner lacks the chops to sustain his readers purely with his force of personality.

This is a mediocre work, lacking in any real originality or value. If you enjoy reading about football, you may well enjoy this book. If you're looking for something more, look elsewhere.

Interesting Overall, But Also Some Worthless Junk
KC Joyner provides some interesting information through this book, but then has 22 pages of utter garbage. In one part he creates categories to put coaches in, which enabled me to better understand coaches' philosophies. In another he showed how teams that compile good records through playing bad teams generally fail in the playoffs-The Arizona Cardinals were a wild exception. In yet one more, he shows that the majority of the time teams that win Super Bowls don't have elite running backs. However, the first 200 pages of information were ruined by a 22 page rant at the end of the book where he attempts to claim that the NFL is socialist.

Apparently, KC Joyner does not know the definition of socialism that is given by dictionaries, encyclopedias, or socialists themselves, which is "a social system or theory where the means of production is owned or controlled by the workers." Although the author doesn't use the common definition for socialism, he never bothers to explain which definition he uses. KC Joyner, who is a libertarian, makes a list of things he doesn't like about the NFL and then proceeds to label these things socialist. For instance, he describes the fact that the NFL Players Association doesn't act in the best interest of its players as socialist, a social theory which is based on treating workers fairly. In another example, KC uses the term Big Brother to describe the NFL commissioner as if the term was invented to describe something socialist-The term was invented by a socialist, George Orwell, to describe the worst type of fascist regime he could think up.

So, if you want to read an interesting book, pick it up, but don't forget that there are a very ignorant 22 pages that should have been left out. At least you can currently find the book on Amazon for eleven cents.

Another Way to Look at the NFL
This is a wide-ranging collection of football information and analysis by one of the leaders in football statistical analysis. The topics covered include a very intriguing study of left tackles and their effectiveness in relationship to other offensive linemen. I am not going to be giving anything away when I tell you he concludes that they are both overrated and overpaid. The analysis though is interesting as to the causes for this phenomena and effect this has on teams in general.
The book also looks at football dynasties, various aspects of the Hall of Fame, and the history and business case of the NFL. The difference though is that KC backs up most of his work with some actual value-based analysis. You may not always like his conclusions but he can actually produce calculable values as a basis for what he has to say. There is plenty of room to debate the measures he has chosen but that is one of the fascinations of the book; it is thought provoking. This is also ostensibly the purpose of the book, which carries the subtitle ...Contrarian Football Thoughts.

Joyner is one of several football writers trying to develop a more comprehensive statistical analysis framework for football, similar to what Bill James did for baseball. Improvement of football analysis is certainly desirable but it rates to be a much more complex matter in football than almost any other sport. The complexity of a play in football is amazing and breaking it down is almost impossible since a play has component plays within it, e.g. route options, blocking adjustments. This book though starts the process of applying analysis against some long held tenets of the game to prove or disprove so-called conventional wisdom. It is a worthwhile start in that direction.