The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL

Jonathan Yardley

Publishers Weekly

Bowden (Black Hawk Down; Guests of the Ayatollah) tells the story of the 1958 National Football League championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants, a legendary game that proved to be a harbinger of the enormous popularity of pro football over the next 50 years. Bowden writes that the game featured the greatest assemblage of talent ever on one field, including 17 future Hall of Fame inductees. He frames the picture with a wide lens, but then focuses on the roles and lives of a few key players, particularly the Colts' obsessive and methodical wide receiver Raymond Berry and the iconic quarterback Johnny Unitas, as well as the Giants' powerful linebacker Sam Huff. The game, played in frigid Yankee Stadium three days after Christmas, stretched into the evening, garnering the largest television audience in the history of the sport to that time. Bowden begins his entertaining and informative narration in the third quarter, and then delves into backstory on the league, players and the buildup, before returning to the gridiron to conclude with a detailed account of the final plays and an epilogue. (June)

Library Journal

Bowden (Atlantic Monthly) won the National Book Award for the searing war story Black Hawk Down, but this former sportswriter has also written about professional football. He returns to the gridiron here to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1958 Colts-Giants NFL championship game, the first ever to go into sudden death overtime to determine a winner. The game is often said to mark the very beginning of pro football's dominance in American culture. So naturally, it has been written about before, e.g., Dave Klein's The Game of Their Lives(coming in its own 50th anniversary updated edition) and John Steadman's The Greatest Football Game Ever Played. Seventeen future Hall of Fame players and coaches were involved in the epic contest. Befitting a skilled reporter, Bowden uncovers new material to enliven his retelling. His interviews with several of the Colts and Giants players, as well as with Colts' then-assistant coach Charley Winner, yield new insights. In particular, receiver Raymond Berry's detailed game notes from the day itself are invaluable, as are excerpts from the transcript of the NBC radio broadcast by Joe Boland. Bowden makes a handful of minor errors regarding player positioning, but this book is a fine account of one of the most significant games in sports history. Recommended for all public and academic libraries.
—John Maxymuk

Kirkus Reviews