Jack Lambert: Tough As Steel

Rating:
Summary: Lambert deserves better
Review: ....Many people were interviewed for this book but very few of them were close to Lambert. Lambert is a private man and most of his friends respected his privacy by not giving interviews. While reading this book, one could not help but think that this book is not what Lambert would have wanted. Despite the amateur job, the author did provide some interesting stories and accounts about Lambert's younger days.

Rating:
Summary: Bless Me, Howard Cosell, for I Have Sinned...
Review: Let me start off by saying that, whatever else you may think of Howie baby, he was right when he railed against what he called the "Jock-ocracy." Suffice it to say that the closest I will ever get to playing team sports is singing in my church choir...but I was a Steelers fan back in the day, and I thought this book would probably be a good light, entertaining read. And it basically is, within the parameters of the kind of book it is. Ron Rotunno is limited as a writer, and he approaches his subject with a gee-whiz kind of reverence that will break up anybody who ever read *Ball Four,* but still this book would be a good gift for a die-hard Lambert fan as it would give them some insight into his background.

Having said that, though, I find the whole idea that Jack Lambert is so sacramentally private to be pretty uproarious. Living in PA, I have center seats to the drama, or should I say melodrama? If you can picture a skinny male Greta Garbo, you've got the goods on him--"I want to be alone, but only if everybody notices." Jack, honey, the flight has left the tarmac. You have to either admit you're a media ho and go with it, or stop vamping yourself and respect your own privacy. I mean, if we could all have it both ways, wouldn't we all be both rich AND beautiful?

But I digress. Back to the subject at hand. In all seriousness, this is a decent read for a Steelers fan, within its limits. And to be honest, I actually think Jack Lambert is worth writing a book on. Who cares if he wants one or not? Just hire Frank Deford to write it! Frank's unflinchingly honest and fair, humorous, and he can put together a hell of a paragraph. That's my opinion, and you damn well better believe I'm stickin' to it.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent biography of America's No. 1 Middle-linebacker.
Review: Ron Rotunno interviewed scores of Lambert's school mates, ex-coaches, relatives, & sports writers who know Lambert personally. Provides insight into how & why Lambert became the outstanding athlete he did. Complimentary, offering Lambert as a role model for today's youth, Rotunno concludes that Jack has probably accomplished the "American Dream" by single-minded determination & belief that, if he did the best he could, he could succeed--regardless of earlier appraisals. An inspiring book for athletes and sports fans. Would recommend that it be picked up by a major publisher and distributed nationally.