****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Michigan has won more college football games than any team in America, and has such a rich history that it takes a strong journalistic effort to do the program justice. Derek and Steve Kornacki have exceeded that high standard in this book. This is a work of top-notch journalism, the kind of storytelling you can trust. I love this book. It not only drills down on the sort of detail necessary to capture the history of such an epic program, it also gives readers a sense of place, putting us there with the Wolverines at home in the Big House and in stadiums across the nation. There's the brutally-cold Snow Bowl game between Michigan and Ohio State in Columbus in 1950, Desmond Howard's magical 25-yard touchdown catch on fourth down against Notre Dame in 1991, and Charles Woodson's dominating performance against Ohio State in 1997 en route to the Heisman Trophy and a national championship — just to name three examples among an almost countless number of great games and plays that are legendary in college football history.There are many enlightening details in this well-written book. The authors, for instance, mention that Tom Brady, starting out fifth on the Michigan quarterback depth chart, sought advice on his mental approach to the game from Greg Harden, an athletic department counselor. "So Tom shows up and says, 'I'm struggling, and I refuse to fall apart,'" Harden said in the book. "'And I want to talk to you. I want to be the starting quarterback at Michigan.'" Brady, of course, went on to win the starting job, and, as the authors write, finished his college career with "his greatest moment at Michigan," throwing for 369 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-34 overtime win over Alabama in the Orange Bowl.For the sake of transparency in this review, I have to mention that I've also written two books (including one coming out this fall) for Skyhorse/Sports Publishing, the publisher of this book. Nevertheless, I have no connection to this project. I just appreciate outstanding reporting and writing, and you'll most certainly find it here in the Kornackis' work. You'll also enjoy the excellent archival photography. I highly recommend this book, not only to Michigan fans, but to anyone who enjoys college football.
