Dry reading

[Guiness]

Has anyone read "The League: The Rise and Decline of the NFL" by David Harris?

Pretty (ok, VERY) dry, details the time period surrounding Al Davis's lawsuit against the NFL over the ability to move his franchise. It starts around the time of the AFL-NFL merger, through the seventies, the USFL, the 1982 strike and the conclusion of the suit in 1984.

It talks about the personalities of many of the owners during that period, who they allied with, etc. It also gives some brief detail on the TV fallout after the '82 strike, when the networks were losing money.

[Guiness]

The chapter about Robert Irsay was good.

He was quite a drunk, and wandered around the league meetings in a stupor, everyone waiting to see what idiotic thing he would say next. The general thinking among the owners was that Rosenbloom fleeced him with the Rams for Colts franchise swap, and he bore a grudge a long time because he, like all owners, hated losing.

The Colts were the reigning SB champs at the time of the swap, and Rosenbloom considered it his trophy. When leaving he packed up the SB trophy and took it with him to LA. No one knew where it disappeared to (it was in Rosenbloom's private office) and the Colts had to get a new one made!