The Best Game Ever

Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL

By: Mark Bowden

Narrated by: Phil Gigante

On December 28, 1958, the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts met under the lights of Yankee Stadium for that season's NFL Championship game. Football, growing in popularity amid America's post-war economic boom, was still greatly over-shadowed by the country's favored pastime - baseball - but the 1958 championship proved to be the turning point for pro football.

On the field and roaming the sidelines were 17 future Hall of Famers, including Colts stars Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Gino Marchetti, and Giants greats Frank Gifford, Sam Huff, and assistant coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry.

Played on a freezing Sunday evening in front of 64,000 fans and an estimated 45 million television viewers around the country - at that time the largest crowd to have ever watched a football game - the championship would become the first sudden-death contest in NFL history. With two minutes left in regulation, Baltimore had possession deep in its own territory, and the ball in the hands of the still unproven quarterback Johnny Unitas.

The Best Game Ever is a brilliant portrait of how a single game changed the history of American sports. Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the championship, it is destined to be a sports classic.

©2008 Mark Bowden (P)2008 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Bowden ( Black Hawk Down, Guests of the Ayatollah) succeeds in making a contest from a half-century ago seem fresh, in part because he has a keen sense for the anecdotal. Mr. Bowden's best trick, though, is that he gets out of the way of a great story and a great game." ( The Wall Street Journal)

A great retelling of a great game

The book was written by a true football fan. But as a life long Giants fan I was hoping Giff got that first down and Connorly made the TD pass. The performance was equal to the writing. It brought back some wonderful memories.

Great Find

This is a great book even if you know nothing about football or outright hate the game. The author does a wonderful job of telling the story of a history-making contest. He liberally sprinkles the story with tidbits that surprise the listener -- little things that stay with you. I never heard of Raymond Barry before but the fact that he only had one fumble in 13 years of pro-play is extraordinary. I didn't realize Landry and Lombardi were coaches for the same team! Who knew? Two legendary men working for the same team --- and they LOST ?!?!? In a sudden death overtime??? And the TV broadcast almost lost the last play??? What are the odds?
I hope the Mr. Bowden has more sports stories to tell.

A game of legends

One thing that believes this book is all of the legends of the NFL that participated in this game one way or the other. There was Sam Huff, Raymond Berry, Johnny Unitas, Tom Landry, Vince Lombardi, Frank Gifford, Pat Summerall, Alan Ameche and other NFL greats. It hit some really interesting points like Raymond Berry only fumbled one time as an NFL receiver. They also talked about how earlier in the NFL that offenses were more rugby drums than what we know today. The advent of the passing game theme in the NFL. And how up to close to the 1958 championship game if the receiver didn’t kick the football, it was considered a turnover. The 1958 championship game was the first ever overtime game. And it was interesting to hear some of the salaries like Johnny Unitas. It’s only made like $17,000 a year. He talked about how Tom Landry just added the 43 defense to the New York Giants. And Vince Lombardi was the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants. How did Frank Gifford wind and cried about a fourth down in inches that he didn’t pick up claiming that it was a bad spot even though when they went back into the films and looked at it over and over it was a good spot. A pet somewhere was considered one of the best build pickers for his era. Overall, this was a very interesting book that kind of faces a lot of things that are common in place in NFL today that week for granted. It did highlight the fact that this was the first NFL game that really had a broadcast network and had assured in television for the NFL. And how NFL overcooked Major league baseball as the favorite sport in the United States. It was definitely interesting book and well worth the rate for anybody that likes to hit three of the NFL.

Great story -- well told

If this title sounds remotely interesting to you, you're gonna love the book. Bowden has a great story to tell and does a terrific job, with lots of background information that adds considerably to the experience. Just one complaint keeps me from giving the audiobook 5 stars: the narrator, who otherwise does a good job, mispronounces many of the key participants' names, over and over and over again! How hard would it have been to get them right -- one call to the NFL office? Hey, he did get Jim Brown and Tom Landry right, and if you're young enough you'll never know the difference. Still and all, Bowden has you right there with some of the game's greatest in a truly historic and dramatic game. This is a treat not to be missed by real football fans.

The Best Game Ever

Wonderful. I am old enough to remember the game. But I did not all of the personal stories of the participants and their management. Well done.