Living

<< Previous   of   Next >> Associated Press  (click to enlarge)   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Melanie Munk, Features Editor munk@heraldnet.com   Published: Sunday, November 8, 2009 'That First Season' recounts the year Lombardi built a dynasty By Dinesh Ramde Associated Press You don’t need to be a football fan to know Vince Lombardi’s immortal line: “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” The legendary coach relied on that philosophy 50 years ago to turn the Green Bay Packers from a raw, undisciplined squad into the near-flawless team that went on to win the first two Super Bowls. Plenty of books have been written about Lombardi and his career, but author John Eisenberg was interested in just one year — 1959, the year the coach first came to Green Bay. Hence, Eisenberg’s book, “That First Season: How Vince Lombardi Took the Worst Team in the NFL and Set It on the Path to Glory” ($25). Even with seven future Hall of Famers on the roster, the team was coming off a 1-10-1 record that included a humiliating 56-0 drubbing by the Indianapolis Colts. Under Lombardi’s iron-fisted rule, the Packers posted a stunning turnaround the next season to finish 7-5. To document what happened that year, Eisenberg interviewed dozens of former players, pored over newspaper records and studied more than a dozen biographies and autobiographies. The result is often engrossing. He provides detailed play-by-play highlights of all 12 games, and he gives us keen nuggets about what the players were thinking and feeling. That information would be great for a book subtitled “A Detailed Look at the Packers’ 1959 Season.” But the subtitle Eisenberg chose creates a different set of expectations, and readers may be disappointed when those expectations go unfulfilled. The subtitle suggests that we’ll learn Lombardi’s secrets — what did he do that no one before him could do? What is it that made him so tremendously effective that the NFL eventually named its Super Bowl trophy in his honor? Certainly, Lombardi was a no-nonsense coach who dictated a my-way-or-the-highway philosophy from Day 1. He demanded perfection, he enforced discipline like a drill sergeant and he motivated through fear. But deeper questions remain. If all it takes to produce a winning team is to constantly berate players, insult them in front of the team and force them to repeat drills for hours, surely every coach would do exactly that. There must have been something else, some additional intangible. But we don’t get a whiff of what that elusive secret was. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

1. Some stores, malls to get a jump on ‘Black Friday' 2. $6.5 million lottery ticket purchased in Lake Stevens 3. Fire displaces Arlington family 4. Everett man will take his do-it-yourself ethic to the grave 5. Inmates with mental illness bring extra costs to Monroe prison 6. When the customer is wrong and a jerk 7. Mayor-elect won over Granite Falls 8. Economy may silence Everett Symphony's season 9. Soldier who had lived in Marysville killed in Afghanistan 10. Ongoing road work near schools worries parents 2 - Top 10 Stories Most Talked about 3 - Top 10 Stories Most Emailed

• Eat local this Thanksgiving • Mavericks moving on • Canada's Great Big Sea rolls into Edmonds • A. Murphy finishes 2nd in volleyball • Art Walk features music, demonstrations • EAT LOCAL: Getting the goods • Lynnwood HS history teacher Vic Bennet dies • Wildcats head to semis • CSO Chamber annual show slated Nov. 23 • Boeing will build, flight test and deliver 787s in South Carolina to spe ... • Snohomish County EDC promoting job growth in key industry clusters • $4 million grant to advance brain tumor research has Everett links • Providence medical center construction tops off its 12-story steel frame ... • Tulalip affordable housing project to be financed by KeyBank, Raymond Ja ... • Arlington's Lak of Ink has a growing following for Luke Kooyman's creati ... • Bank of the Northwest formed • Cascade Bank earns $1.6 million