Blindsided
by KC Joyner
Is the left tackle position overrated? Are the ’85 Bears the best defense ever? Is the NFL a capitalist democracy or a socialist state? Who is the best wide receiver ever? What Hall of Fame nominees that have been denied multiple times should have been inducted by now? Is a superstar running back a prerequisite for winning the Super Bowl? Does having a creampuff schedule make it easier to win the Super Bowl? To be sure, these are not the types of questions that will keep the heads of the G8 up all night but they are nonetheless interesting because there is an element of convention-defying in merely asking them. And KC Joyner, a “football scientist,” breaks down these and many other conventions in Blindsided.
As a rule, I do not really like that sabermetrics has become a mainstream force that has creeped into other sports and that fantasy leagues have blurred the lines of the real game being played (i.e.-yes, LaDanian Tomlinson and Tony Romo are good but the fact that they have disappeared in playoff games says more to me than any rushing/passing records they may break). It seems crazy to me that accounting practices have merged with sports and that new acronyms are being cooked up on a weekly basis. Remember when you merely watched a sporting event and enjoyed it for what it was? I do not mean to get all Andy Rooney on you but between the hyper-driven excitement of fantasy leagues and the detached, CEO-looking-at-a-payroll-like glibness of numbers crunching (“I don’t like our chances against A.J. Burnett tomorrow. His road WHIP is 1.03″), watching sports now has become a little more unbearable.
At the risk of sounding like I am setting up this review of Blindsided to be backhanded in nature, I will stop my rant on current sports outlooks and say that this book is a very good read. It is concise, the numbers make sense, and it contains more than enough fuel to fire up workplace or bar discussions. Joyner uses Dungeons & Dragons as a basis for mapping out different coaching styles; explains that, if the NFL continues using a sixteen-game schedule, we should see another undefeated team in approximately thirty years; devotes an entire chapter to whether Marty Schottenheimer is Hall of Fame-worthy; dissects Art Rooney’s awful decisions that prevented the Steelers from being competitive for so long.
On the back cover, there is a quote from Gregg Easterbrook’s review that reads:
“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.”
I don’t know if it will cure baldness but it made me put aside my reservations and prejudices towards the rampant over-thinking and over-analyzing that is permeating NFL coverage. And that is about as high a praise I can bestow on Blindsided. From page one it was palpable that I was reading something from someone who genuinely loves the NFL and is not masquerading as someone looking to cash in on Bill James’ coattails.
