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Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL

by Jeff Pearlman
Houghton Harcourt. Sept. 2018. 384p. notes. bibliog. index. ISBN 9780544454385. $28; ebk. ISBN 9780544453685. SPORTS
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The U.S. Football League (USFL) began in 1983 as a springtime league with modest ambitions of filling a niche for football fans unhappy that the season ended with the Super Bowl. That modesty didn't last long once Donald Trump and other ego-driven owners got involved and pushed to move the league to the fall to compete directly with the NFL. The result was that the USFL won a lawsuit against the NFL but was awarded just $1 in damages and went out of business after three seasons. During its brief existence in the 1980s, the USFL was awash with drugs and alcohol. Pearlman (The Bad Guys Won!) covers it all with verve and relish in an approach that differs from that of Paul Reeths in The United States Football League: 1982–1986, which offers a much more all-encompassing view of the league.
VERDICT Pearlman is known for presenting an unvarnished look at sports heroes with lively prose. This should be popular with a wide audience.
Reviewed by John Maxymuk , Aug 01, 2018
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