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Has anyone else read Dan Rooney: My 75 years with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the NFL?... Man, I'm only half-way thru the 300+ pages, and must say that it's one of the absolute BEST reads on the Steelers I've come across, and I've read quite a few...
My dad read the book and passed it on to me... I actually put it by the side for a while thinking it would be possibly boring, but it is full of stories about Art Sr. and the team in general... Also plenty of facts for those of you that thought you knew your team (like me...). ... I always thought I knew most of the history, and maybe I did, but this book has brought to light many facts I didn't recall....
- Did you know that the first ever pro football game was played in Pittsburgh?
- Dan Rooney was the one to inform Roger Goodell of his election to the commissioners' office.
- Art Sr. actually liked baseball more than football, and had a broadcast removed from KDKA when the Pirates were playing a make-up game back in the late '60s.
- Bert Bell, who was a co-owner of the Steelers back in the '40s, relinquished his stake in the team to become the Commissioner of the league. He is also credited with creating the current draft system where the worst team picks first and best last, so as to keep the league competitive.
- Dan Rooney helped form the initial tv contracts and blackout rules... The more "well-off" organizations wanted a bigger share, but he threatened to blackout thier games in Pittsburgh unless the contract was fair.
- The Steelers got a 3 million dollar bonus to switch to the AFC from the NFL during the AFL/NFL merger. And the only way it happened was due to tough demands to keep our rivals (Cle, Cincy) in place... With the addition of Hou due to the new Superdome... Dan Rooney and Al Davis argued over the new division, and Vince Lombardi threw Davis against the wall for making it difficult.
....Now, maybe I did know alot of this kind of stuff, but I forgot... But I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys the history of our team.... I'm only up to the point where they hired Chuck Noll (they actually were looking at Joe Paterno initially...), so I haven't gotten to the "modern" stuff yet... It's truly a good read. ... It may not change your opinion of his business practices if you don't like them, but it will definitely give you an appreciation of the history of this team.
Steeler store at:
[url="http://news.steelers.com/catalog/product/79407/"]http://news.steelers.com/catalog/product/79407/[/url]
My dad read the book and passed it on to me... I actually put it by the side for a while thinking it would be possibly boring, but it is full of stories about Art Sr. and the team in general... Also plenty of facts for those of you that thought you knew your team (like me...). ... I always thought I knew most of the history, and maybe I did, but this book has brought to light many facts I didn't recall....
- Did you know that the first ever pro football game was played in Pittsburgh?
- Dan Rooney was the one to inform Roger Goodell of his election to the commissioners' office.
- Art Sr. actually liked baseball more than football, and had a broadcast removed from KDKA when the Pirates were playing a make-up game back in the late '60s.
- Bert Bell, who was a co-owner of the Steelers back in the '40s, relinquished his stake in the team to become the Commissioner of the league. He is also credited with creating the current draft system where the worst team picks first and best last, so as to keep the league competitive.
- Dan Rooney helped form the initial tv contracts and blackout rules... The more "well-off" organizations wanted a bigger share, but he threatened to blackout thier games in Pittsburgh unless the contract was fair.
- The Steelers got a 3 million dollar bonus to switch to the AFC from the NFL during the AFL/NFL merger. And the only way it happened was due to tough demands to keep our rivals (Cle, Cincy) in place... With the addition of Hou due to the new Superdome... Dan Rooney and Al Davis argued over the new division, and Vince Lombardi threw Davis against the wall for making it difficult.
....Now, maybe I did know alot of this kind of stuff, but I forgot... But I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys the history of our team.... I'm only up to the point where they hired Chuck Noll (they actually were looking at Joe Paterno initially...), so I haven't gotten to the "modern" stuff yet... It's truly a good read. ... It may not change your opinion of his business practices if you don't like them, but it will definitely give you an appreciation of the history of this team.
Steeler store at:
[url="http://news.steelers.com/catalog/product/79407/"]http://news.steelers.com/catalog/product/79407/[/url]
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