The Ice Bowl: The Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers Season
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The Ice Bowl: The Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers Season description
Some games simply live forever. The 1967 NFL championship game, played in minus-37-degree wind chill, between the Packers and the Cowboys is certainly one of them. It was a grudge match between the teams that had played for the title the year before, a game between two teams that hated each other, two teams as different as their field generals--flashy Dallas quarterback Don Meredith and blue- collar Packer signal-caller Bart Starr. Ice Bowl recounts these teams' dramatic march toward the inevitable showdown with stunning detail and lively analysis, culminating in a vivid replay of the championship game, where Starr scored the winning touchdown with just 13 seconds left. It is a football moment that, 30 years later, can still take fans' condensing breath away. |
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The Ice Bowl: The Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers Season Customer Reviews
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♥♥♥♥♥ |
By a Cheesehead, for Cheeseheads; Dallas fans can forget it!
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Review: "The Ice Bowl"
"The Ice Bowl" by Mike Shropshire. New York: Donald I. Fine Books, 1997. 218 pages with illustrations. Lists for $24.95
Make no mistake, Cowboy fans: this book was written by a Packer-fan (Mike Shropshire) about the Packers, and for Packer-fans. When Shropshire does mention Dallas or the Cowboys, it is almost always in a disparaging way.
E.g., the first 14 pages of the book are a paen to the '96 NFL Championship Packer team (just what exactly that has to do with the Ice Bowl I never quite figured out -- but it certainly helps sell books to today's Cheeseheads [many of whom haven't a clue of football history prior to 1991] to mention Favre a few times).
In his prologue, the author goes to great lengths to contrast the good-guy-in-white-hat Packers to the bad-guy-in-black-hat Cowboys. Throughout the book, he disses the city of Dallas at every opportunity, and even manages to trash the state of Texas a few times as well (this coming from a guy who worked as a reporter for the Fort Worth Star Telegram!).
Of course, while extolling the virtues of today's Packers, he completely ignores Favre's vicodin problems, Tyrone Williams, Wayne Simmons, etc. Yet he finds space to opine on Michael Irvin's appearance at a grand-jury hearing!
Of course, this has nothing to do with the '67 season and the Ice Bowl, other than to fan the flames of the current Packer-Cowboy rivalry, which has been decidedly one-sided since 1989 (another fact that escapes mention in his book). Well, it *is* Shropshire's book, and he can darn well write whatever he pleases, as can I in reviewing it.
When he finally gets into the topic, his writing style is very irritating: he constantly overuses metaphor and simile taken straight out of 50s sports pages. E.g., referring to a RB thrown for a loss (p. 132), he describes the RB as "trapped in his own backfield like a bug in a matchbox".
On p. 98 he describes the Saints field as "better suited for alligator poachers than football players". And those are some of the *better* examples. But after the fourth or fifth one, the literary device gets tiresome.
Also, either Shropshire doesn't remember some of his "facts" or the editors at Donald Fine Books didn't care enough to check them out (probably thinking Cheeseheads will buy the book regardless of the number of inaccuracies).
Just a sample: on p. 15, he says the 1966 NFL Championship Game was played on December 30, 1966, when it was actually played on Janury 1, 1967. On p. 18, he lists the score of Super Bowl I as 34-10, when it was actually 35-10.
On p. 74, he refers to LA Ram Ed Meador as "Meaders". On p. 84, he writes of Richie "Pettiebone" which s/b Petitbon. He alleges on p. 95 that Don Meredith retired after the '69 season, when in fact Meredith retired after the '68 season.
In the space of five paragraphs in pp. 132-133, seven times he writes "Osburn" in reference to Minnesota Viking RB Dave Osborn. At p. 157, he changes the position of Cleveland QB Frank Ryan to a cornerback!
And at p. 161 he refers to a specific piece of equipment as a "tight" pad, when he obviously meant to write thigh pad.
I point out these errors not simply to criticize the man's inability to spell or to check simple, published facts. But since his editors apparently don't care enough about the reader to check them, one is left to wonder about the credibility and believability of the rest of Shropshire's story.
The author takes 14 chapters to build up to the fateful event, the fourth-and-goal from the Dallas one yard line. Yet for the all the build up, the author's description of the fateful play, and it's consequences in the fortunes of both teams, was sadly lacking.
After reading the climactic chapter 15 and the afterword, I had the feeling "Is that all there is?" After an emotional investment of fourteen lead-in chapters, I certainly expected (and had the right to, even knowing the outcome) much more.
Interesting note about the bookcover: the dominant color theme of the dust-jacket is green and gold (understandably), yet the actual hard cover is in blue and silver (OK, light grey)!! The publisher is clearly trying to appeal to both sets of fans.
Bottom line: Cheeseheads will love the book and will overlook its many creative faults and errors of fact. Cowboy fans can better spend their money on "Cotton Bowl Days" by John Eisenberg.
Copyright 1997 Fred Goodwin (originally submitted in 1997) |
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