The Ones Who Hit The Hardest The Steelers The Cowboys The 70s And The Fight For Americas Soul

Posted In: Chad

Madelaine Arocha says...

Sports fans will find the historical significance of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys rivalry and the Steelworkers struggle for their existence during the 70's an interesting, fun filled read. The pride of the Pittsburgh community for their sports abilities and their work ethic is skillfully interwoven with personal stories of the players and the leaders of the Steelworker struggle.The characters are colorful and humorous, their experiences emotional and serious.This book is a look at the game of football plus an inside look at what was happening in the work day world of sports.Being an avid fan of football and history, I found this format exceptional and unique.I recommend this read for all!Kudos to the authors, Shawn Coyne and Chad Millman.

Posted on November 7, 2010

Nanette Shive says...

I am not sure who wrote up the original review, but it was not researched as well as it says. As a Cowboys Fan and Historian, the Cowboys did NOT name themselves America's Team. I remember that era well. It was NFL Films that titled the Cowboys 1978 yearbook film America's Team, and it stuck since everywhere they went around the county, Dallas had more fans sometimes than the home team.



What great games SB X and SB XIII were. Although the Steelers were a great team, they got lucky in SBXIII, but mistakes cost Dallas and a good team capitalizes on them as Lynn Swann said it best. Pittburgh should have lost that game. SB XIII had Hall of Famers on both teams on both sides of the ball. Still the best Super Bowl game yet. With a score of 35-31, it had to be exciting. Both games came down to the last play of the game.

Posted on November 8, 2010

Ailene Glines says...

This is a good read for any Steelers fan, but particularly those of us who grew up in the 70's and watched this team grow to dominate the NFL.



The authors do a good job of explaining how Chuck Noll's unique personality and drive were instrumental in building the Steelers dynasty.The football narrative smoothly interweaves with the decline of the steel industry and its impact on Pittsburgh.The chapters contrasting the origins and development of the Cowboys provide enough detail to reinforce my dislike of "America's Team".Landry was uptight and unable to connect with his players, and the Cowboys had some jerks like Cliff Harris and Thomas Henderson.The good guys definitely did win in Super Bowls 10 and 13.



The only issue I had with the book was that there were times when I felt like I was reading transcripts from NFL Films and the "America's Game" series in particular.Some of the quotes and anecdotes were direct lifts from those shows.Which is ironic since the authors actually manage to get their facts wrong in places (for instance, Cliff Harris didn't give Terry Bradshaw the concussion in SB10, nor did Roger Staubach's final pass that game fall incomplete - it was intercepted by Glenn Edwards).A little more original research, some new interviews and better fact-checking would have made this good book really great.



The 70's Steelers were a once-in-a-lifetime team, where the good guys (Rooneys, Noll) managed to assemble a tremendous group of athletes who beat some fine but flawed teams - especially the self-promoting Cowboys.

Posted on November 9, 2010

Kasey Andrae says...

I'm a Steelers freak, and I thought I knew a lot about Bradshaw, Franco, Swan, Jack L and the rest of the crew.But I didn't--not until I read TOWHTH.The background on the coaching and ownership side was fascinating.I also loved the Pittsburgh history, especially the stuff about the growth and collapse of the steel industry, and the corresponding demise of the union.It really gave me a sense of the desperation with which these guys played ball--not just to feed their families but also to honor the underdog who was getting his head kicked in during the 70's: the working man.When you're a kid, you see these gladiators on tv, and you think they're all millionaires, but many had second jobs.And as somebody who loved to hate Dallas, I found that side of the story remarkable as well.My worst fears were confirmed--The Cowboys were a money machine--but I found a new appreciation for them, especially in Tom Landry.I'd thought he was a cold-blooded pragmatist, but he was much more nuanced than I'd imagined.And again, not every Cowboy was a millionaire, I learned.Many came from Steelers-type backgrounds.I think my favorite parts were when Shawn Coyne's family history ties into the major events going on at the time.It gave the book a "you are there" feel.Seriously great read--and a fast one too.

Posted on November 9, 2010

Darrick Brackeen says...

This is the first sports related book I've ever read, so I can't compare it to others, but I loved The Ones Who Hit the Hardest. I grew up in the Midwest, but my family's all from Pittsburgh and I don't remember a time when I didn't root for all things Pittsburgh, especially the Steelers. Unfortunately, since I was just a kid in the 70s, I don't remember much of going to Latrobe for training camp or of the Steelers and the games played during that era, and I knew next to nothing about the history of the NFL. This book was great at filling in a lot of blanks.



It begins with the flashy new era being ushered in by Joe Namath and moves to a brief history of football and of the fledgling attempts to start a national football league. This includes the bad old days when the only thing consistent about the Steelers was that they were consistently at the bottom of the barrel. We learn about those who tried, and failed, to acquire teams, leading to the upstart AFL and the resulting merger of the two leagues into the NFL we know today.



There are chapters devoted to the Cowboys, their players, style of play and leadership (Yes, it made me hate them even more.). However, most of the book is about the Steelers, from the Rooney family to Chuck Noll and the players; where they came from, why they were the type of players they were and how they went from a team no one expected anything from to Super Bowl champions. Interspersed with the chapters about football are ones about Pittsburgh and how steel shaped the city and the blue collar ethic of the people that rooted for the Steelers.



While I agree with another reviewer that some of the in depth coverage of the steel workers' union races wasn't really necessary, I still found the history interesting; a number of NFL players came from steel mill families and not ending up in the mills was part of their motivation to excel in football. I also agree with others that no mention of the fourth Super Bowl win was a little disappointing and a "Where are they now?" chapter would've been icing on the cake. The topic of the chapters did jump around a bit, but that didn't really bother me, and I really liked the authors' writing style.



Overall, this was a really entertaining book that, while any fan of football should like, will appeal most to Steeler fans. It was great to learn about the history of the NFL and Pittsburgh, but especially about the guys whose names are in my autograph book from so many years ago.

Posted on November 9, 2010

Jacinta Seaburn says...

"The Ones Who Hit The Hardest" is a mediocre book that probably will be enjoyed by Steelers fans.

The Steelers of the 1970s remain, in my opinion, the greatest team in NFL history, so praising the athletic greatness of that team is understandable. In that regard the authors could have offered more detail that they did about how great the 70's Steelers were instead of their unsuccessful attempt to turn the book into some sort of morality play involving the Steelers and the Cowboys in a "fight for America's Soul" featuring the Cowboys being the designated villain. How is Roger Staubach a villain?

In their quest to make the Steelers into the heroes the authors also omit certain topics and make other factual errors. For example, in the section on the "Immaculate Reception" that decided the 1972 playoff game between the Steelers and the Raiders there is no discussion of the controversy as to who the football hit off of and whether Franco Harris's grab of the football was a legitimate reception.

The authors further attempt to give the Steelers an excuse for losing the 1976 AFC championship game to the Raiders 24-7 by falsely stating the Steelers were forced to start a rookie quarterback, referring to Mike Kruczek. Actually, while Kruczek did start some games that season while Terry Bradshaw was injured, in the AFC championship game a healthy Bradshaw was the Steelers QB, completing 14 of 35 passes for 176 yards.

Posted on November 10, 2010

Bobbie Schnorbus says...

The Good:

1) Broadly entertaining read. I learned a lot about an amazing Steelers team, and got to know more about the star players (even if not all original research).



2) Additional background on the Dallas Cowboys, and the AFL founding was interesting



The Bad:

1) 50 pages on the history of the steelworkers union?I understand the link between the team and the city (and their name), but do we need 50 pages on the tiniest details of every union leaders' election?Would a book about the Saints also have included 50 pages of Bible verses?



2) The book is organized horribly: 10p on the Steelers, 10p on AFL History or the Cowboys, 10p on a Steelworkers union election. Then repeat.So there is no natural flow, the book keeps changing subjects, and by the time you return to the same subject, you've forgotten what was happening previously.



3) The book ends totally abruptly at the end of the 3rd Super Bowl title.Nothing on the following year's title.No "where are they today."Not even a summary conclusion.They win SB XIII, and boom the book is done, right in the middle of the dynasty.



Overall:

An entertaining read, but you may end up wanting to skip the steelworkers chapters, or even read the chapters in a more rational order. Good, but could have been better.

Posted on November 13, 2010

Sandee Broody says...

Great book if you like the steelers.Good history, although maybe a bit less on the politics of the steel industry would have made this a bit more interesting.

Posted on November 13, 2010

Stephany Bazelais says...

The Seventies were so thoroughly and unrelievedly awful that many or most of the memories one treasures of them are of sporting events: the literally incredible Ali-Foreman rumble in the jungle, Reggie Jackson's three home runs in one game against the Dodgers in the World Series ... and most of all, for me, Super Bowl XIII between the Steelers and the Cowboys on January 21, 1979.It was and remains the best Super Bowl in history.(The good news: I watched it with a houseful of our friends and neighbors in our new home in Brooklyn Heights, dandling on my lap my four-month-old son--the baby they told us we couldn't have--and I had the Steelers.The bad news, as every red-blooded American male of a certain age cannot forget: the Steelers didn't cover the spread.)



Imagine, then, my inexpressible joy at discovering Chad Millman's and Shawn Coyne's genuinely great new book, "The Ones Who Hit The Hardest: The Steelers, the Cowboys, the '70s, and the Fight for America's Soul."The Seventies, you'll remember, was the decade of the great decline in heavily-unionized commodity manufacturing--nowhere more dramatically than in the steel mills of Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.And those years saw the coming of the Sunbelt: the middle class, corporate ascendancy most perfectly symbolized by Dallas.Thus, the rise of the Steelers and the Cowboys to face each other as the decade ended is not just a great football story; it is something in the nature of a sociological study, with one way of life passing and the other coming into its own.



Millman and Coyne follow the development of pro football as it came to the forefront of American life, through the rise of the AFL and its eventual merger with the NFL; they then home in on the starkly different styles and personalities of the Steelers and the Cowboys against the background of the contrasting fortunes of the cities they fought for.(Shawn Coyne is a native of Pittsburgh, and his dad, Steelworkers' union official Pay Coyne, Sr., is as much a character in this story as are Art Rooney, Terry Bradshaw and Joe Greene--to marvelous effect.)This is a simply beautiful book, a must-read for everyone who remembers the times, as well as for those who ought to know more about them.It's not just for the football fan--though it is certainly for him or her--nor for Pittsburghers or Texans.It's for everyone who treasures good sportswriting--and even good writing, period.



[This review was written by Nick Murray and published in the current 9/27/10 edition of his Newsletter, NMI.It's only credited to Steven Pressfield at the top because SP did the posting from his computer and that's how Amazon's software works.Nick, I ain't trying to steal no credit from you, baby!(And I love "The Ones Who Hit The Hardest" too.)

Posted on November 14, 2010

Marlys Gillenwater says...

I picked this book up after reading some excerpts here and there, and while I enjoyed parts, there are several huge glaring issues.



For one, and this is a biggie, the book ends after the Pittsburgh third Super Bowl win....no mention of the fourth one, no thoughts on the lingering careers of Noll, Bradshaw, etc....



Second, there are large gaps on players....Bradshaw is a rookie with issues, then the next chapter he is the starter leading them, then gap, back to not doing well, then starter.....



Third, every other chapter discussing Pittsburgh union issues never tied in well.They followed the career of several union workers, but to what end?They were Pittsburgh fans?



Kinda disappointed.



In saying that, the first few chapters focusing on the history of the Steelers and the creation of the AFL were very good.The book falls off after that point.

Posted on November 16, 2010