Beyond Broadway Joe audiobook

This has got to be the most ambitious, well-researched, interesting sports book I've read in quite a while. Mr. Lederer has done an amazing job of getting stories on ALL of the New York Jets who played in the 1968 Super Bowl, upsetting the 18-point favorite Baltimore Colts.I was 7 when the Jets won; I wasn't really aware of the significance of the game at the time, but was a football fan. I probably rooted for the Colts only because they were in the NFL, the same division as my favorite team the Minnesota Vikings. Mr. Lederer notes that this game was important because, after the Green Bay Packers dominated the first two Super Bowls, wiping Kansas City and Oakland - two AFL teams - there was talk of doing away with the contest between the two leagues. The Jets' victory changed all that. And a year later, the Chiefs beat the Vikings and the validity of the AFL was set. Mr. Lederer also looks further into the game. Whenever most think of the Jets' Super Bowl win, they automatically think of Joe Namath and his guaranteed victory. Sure, it made headlines and Namath was a flashy character, drawing loads of attention on himself. But the Jets were much more than Namath (in fact, I question if Namath should be a Hall of Fame quarterback. He threw more interceptions than touchdowns in his career and he only really had that one big year). The Jets' defense, built by draft picks, dominated that season, holding teams to about 15 points a game in average.There are stories for every player and their roles in the Super Bowl game. How can you hold a reader's rapt attention with tales of offensive linemen? Lederer did. Although some of the game recounts could have become repetitive... discussing the same game 36 times may have been difficult, but Mr. Lederer offers fresh takes from different players' perspectives. There are at least three or four different accounts of Tom Matte's bootleg play that the Jets broke up. All are fascinating.There's also tidbits.. trades, info on players I'd never known about (for example Verlon Biggs was a huge trash talker ala players of this era). Jim Hudson was hit so hard in a game that his heart was moved from its cavity. Later, after recovering, Hudson got bit by a black widow spider.Like I said, I was never really an AFL fan back in those days. I'm sure it had a lot to do with rooting for the league the Vikings were in and probably my father's own fandom of the Giants over the Jets. But, I really enjoyed this book. Mr. Lederer covers that team and era better than any thing else I've read. Amazing! The Jets' win was a moment in sports history that's overshadowed by Namath and his guarantee, but if you look deeper, as Lederer did, there's so much more to learn about. This book is a must read on several levels: History, research, sports, culture. I'd give it six stars if Goodreads let me.

Every Jets fan needs to own this book. For the current generation, it’s the scripture of the ancient roots of the franchise and the team that achieved the holy grail. For fans who remember Super Bowl III, it’s a marvelous trip down memory lane combined with a treasure trove of insight and information we never knew and can now be forever grateful to Bob Lederer for giving to us. It’s a gift – the greatest gift any long-suffering Jets fan can get. It belongs on the bookshelf of every green-and-white mancave.The author provides the obvious and well-known history of the team, the transformation from the Titans to the Jets, the efforts of the original owner, Sonny Werblin, the hiring of Weeb Ewbank and his five-year plan for success, and a detailed account of the drafting and wooing of a franchise quarterback named Namath. He gives us the lead-up to the ’68 season along with the AFL championship game, Namath’s “guarantee” of victory (including some elements of that story that I’d never read before), and the game itself. This alone is an enjoyable remembrance. (At the end of the book, the author gives a play-by-play recounting of Super Bowl III including notes from the involved players.) But that’s just the introduction.Two things makes this book special – and unique. First, the author puts that Jets team in perspective within the history of the NFL (and the AFL) and how that game and that team changed football. The behind-the-scenes business elements of the league are fascinating and the contextual understanding is mesmerizing. Second – and this is the real meat of the book – the author gives us an up-close and personal look at each member of the team. Not just the stars, but the entire roster. He interviewed thirty-five members of the squad and each player from the offensive linemen to the special teams grunts gets his place in the sun here. It’s not a biography of each person, but it’s a lovingly told biopic of each player’s contribution to the team and to the Super Bowl win. Never before (and certainly never again) will a book about the Jets give us this kind of deep look into everyone involved and show us how each small cog contributed to the ultimate victory.This is not a book that you sit down and read in one night. You know the outcome. It’s a reference guide – a book you go back to again and again. It’s an inspiration for every player who toiled in obscurity as part of a winning team. It’s a master class in the full scope of teamwork needed to succeed. You can read one story every week for a year and then repeat the cycle again with the expectation that it will be just as meaningful the second time.Bob Lederer has given us all a gift. Pass it on to the next generation of Jets fans while we all wait for the next Super Bowl victory.

An impressively researched and conceived piece of oral sporting history, Lederer's (sometimes too) comprehensive look at the entire 1968 Jets team achieves what it sets out to do - brings them out of Joe Namath's long, long shadow. Still, the structure of the book is a bit off. Lederer briefly goes over the events of Super Bowl III before telling the story of that game and (inconsistently and disjointedly) the rest of their 1968 season through the experiences of everyone on the roster and key front office and coaching staff.Along the way, Lederer covers the Jets' origins as the New York Titans, the hiring of head coach Weeb Ewbank, the acquisition of Namath (whose star power and ticket-selling potential were viewed as far more important than the state of his already-knackered knees) and how each Super Bowl Jet joined the team, what they did in '68 and for the rest of their career in green and white.This all leads to some fascinating personal and sporting stories (like the Jets and Colts having essentially the same playbooks/calls and no one realising until game day), often told by the players themselves but sometimes told by their teammates and families. But there's a lot of repetition and some eye-watering hyperbole, including the claim that Namath's backup 'Babe' Parilli belongs in the NFL's Hall of Fame. He doesn't. Lederer also goes overboard with how much the Jets' win changed professional football. The NFL-AFL merger was already agreed on long before their upset win. The Jets' win was a historic one, and it improved the standing and bargaining position of the AFL in general but there's no need to go overboard.Still, this is a fascinating, enjoyable look at one team, at America in the 1960s and at a very, very different sport than the one played today.

Bob Lederer writes an excellent account of the New York Jets, nee Titans. Written with a different twist his story reflects on the whole team not just Joe Namath. What is enjoyed in reading this marvelous read is Bob's entire focus is on the entire team. Shockingly, many of these players have passed on to the big stadium in the sky. This is a fluid read in which one gets to know not only the players but the coaches and owners. Sonny Werblin was an owner much like many that followed, an interesting man with his ideas and penchant of bringing a winner to New York. The only Coach to win titles in the NFC and AFC, Weeb Ewbank, comes to life in not only in coaching but configuring the team which finally led to the shocking upset of the Colts. After reading this marvel, it was not shocking or "the canary ate the cat," "the minnow chased the shark," as written by the gifted columnist, Jim Murray. The story of each player, their strengths and weaknesses, their desire, the many frustrations. One thing holds true throughout they were a special group of athletes that changed the face of professional football. Yes! Broadway Joe nailed it not only stating his guaranteed victory, but the way he led and the friendships across racial barriers in a time that was very uncommon.

I was a big fan of the AFL right from the beginning, and then with all the bad-mouthing from old-time NFL people, I was even more vociferous in my defense of the newer league. It hurt to see the Green Bay Packers easily beat the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders in the first two Super Bowls. As the third Super Bowl rolled around, I was even more motivated to see an AFL team win, since the Colts beat badly my beloved Cleveland Browns two weeks previously in the NFL Championship game. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when the Jets won, so I was very eager to read this book. It didn't disappoint me in the least, as the author gives the reader a warm, personal look at the team and players. This group of men met the definition of a team, and it was this pulling together for a common cause, as well as hard work and dedication that led them to defeat not only an excellent team, but to assert the quality of a team and a league that would be here to stay. Top notch in every way, touching and riveting, this is a first-rate book.

Interesting story. I was like many kids- a huge Joe Namath fan. George Sauer, in the 80's showed up where I worked to play in a beach volleyball tournament that our Park put on. No one figured out who he was but me. He was so nice. Volleyball was very competitive and his team that showed up in a beat up van from Charlotte won. Those receiving hands were pretty good on a volleyball court as you could well imagine.Hard to believe it has been 50 years and my biggest childhood sports memory remains Joe walking near the end with that finger jabbed in the air. Good job Bob..

A Very Insightful Read about the Super Bowl JetsThis book reveals insights on every player of the JETS SUPER BOWL TEAM. It contains candid, revealing accounts of players regarding themselves as well as their thoughts and anecdotal comments regarding their teammates, coaches, owners, players from other teams and more. This is a "must read" for JETS FANS!

Great book for Jets fanatics!!! I found that the author included details never read in any Jets book I‘be read.

A must read for New York Jet fans! It contains background info on so many of the players and coaches behind the Super Bowl III win. Very concise, a good read.

Bob Lederer brings to life the 1968 New York Jets and the men who changed the landscape of Professional Football with their iconic victory in Super Bowl III. Fifty years have passed since that glorious season and the men who authored it are back in a way never before presented to take you along on their journey as if it happened yesterday.Lederer's meticulously research and storytelling make this a book you won't want to put down! Come along for the ride to 1968, The American Football League, and the World Champion New York Jets.