Booklist came out with its latest batch of reviews today, including one of Boys Will Be Boys. I know it’s waaay self-indulgent to post positive reviews, but, well, hey, I am trying to make a living here. 🙂
The review:
In February 1989, Jerry Jones bought the Dallas Cowboys, immediately fired the iconic Tom Landry, and hired Jimmy Johnson from the collegiate ranks. The team would end the 1989 season with the worst record in the league. In a city that lives and breathes the Cowboys, the natives were restless. But in short order all was right in Big D as the team, led by future Hall of Famers Michael Irvin, Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith, won three Super Bowls in four years. The on-field success was paralleled by off-field excess. Drugs, strip clubs, orgies, fights, marital infidelities, and, finally, one player stabbing another in the neck with scissots. Pearlman, who seems to revel in the seamy side of sports—his The Bad Guys Won! (2004) was an account of the equally lecherous 1986 New York Mets—interviewed players, coaches, and others while also plumbing print sources. Yes, he dishes the dirt, but also catches the team dynamic that fostered success as well as the infighting that led to disaster. Informative as well as titillating.
— Wes Lukowsky
