"Pearlman's enthusiasm for his subject is infectious . He has channeled his youthful affection into a raucous, well-reported, supremely entertaining ripsaw of a story."-- New York Times Book Review "Endlessly fascinating . Pearlman proves to be the perfect person to write [the USFL's] history . Football for a Buck is a hilarious, engrossing roller coaster of a book." --NPR.org "Pro football is ripe for revolution. Luckily, Jeff Pearlman's Football for a Buck offers a blueprint for change .
The book will also please readers who sip bad ink about Donald Trump as if it were the finest wine." -- Wall Street Journal "Engrossing, eerily relevant." --Time.com "Every bit as fantastic as you'd expect a Pearlman book to be, and you honestly don't need to have spent time as a devoted USFL fan (as Jeff and I both were) to enjoy."--Mike Vaccaro, New York Post "A wonderful, thorough, insightful look at a deeply weird moment in American football history. And it's also a primer of sorts for this current deeply weird moment in American political history." -- Yahoo! Sports "Every bit as fantastic as you'd expect a Pearlman book to be, and you honestly don't need to have spent time as a devoted USFL fan (as Jeff and I both were) to enjoy."--Mike Vaccaro, New York Post "Tells in delightful detail the story of a long-gone pro football league.
To call it just a sports book, though, sells it way short. Football for a Buck far transcends other sports books, making it contemporary and fun for anybody to read . The book is nothing less than painstakingly thorough, with dozens of zany and colorful stories about players and executives in a renegade league that quickly made its mark, frightening the mighty NFL . It is a thorough, funny, fascinating, and entertaining sports book."--Forbes.com "As we've come to expect from Jeff Pearlman's books, Football for a Buck is deeply reported, deftly told, smart, hilarious, sad, riveting -- and prescient. Through the stories of USFL businessmen, coaches, benchwarmers, and stars who later became household names -- Steve Young, Jim Kelly, Herschel Walker, and yes, Donald Trump -- Pearlman captures the troubled lavishness of mid-80s America and foreshadows so many of the issues that professional football -- and the country -- are experiencing today. Oh, and there's a lot of sex and drugs.
" --Seth Wickersham, ESPN The Magazine senior writer "If foreshadowing was passing yards this book would be Jim Kelly. A definitive history of a wild and wooly football league fondly remembered three decades after its demise; but also a definitive preview to the 45th president." --L. Jon Wertheim, Sports Illustrated "When I started this book, I wasn't interested in the USFL. By the time I fished it, I wanted a sequel, a USFL movie, and Tampa Bay Bandits action figures. Jeff Pearlman's joy for this wild old league is contagious as hell. Great read. I'm in.
GO MAULERS!!" --Kyle Brandt, cohost of NFL Network's Good Morning Football "Wonderful anecdotes . Fascinating and hilarious reading on a half-dozen levels. Just great for football fans who like to laugh."-- Booklist , starred review.