Super Bowl Monday: From the Persian Gulf to the Shores of West Florida--The New York Giants, the Buffalo Bills, and Super Bowl XXV

by Adam Lazarus

Super Bowl Monday is a thorough retelling of Super Bowl XXV, the epic January 1991 showdown between the New York Giants and the Buffalo Bills. Great characters and a gripping finish to the closest episode in Super Bowl history made for a wonderful conclusion to the game's Silver Anniversary. But what establishes that day as a special moment in American sports history was the cloud of war hanging over the game and the nation. Ten days before the Giants defeated the Bills 20-19 in Tampa Stadium, the United States had authorized Operation Desert Storm and begun the Persian Gulf War. The book is entitled Super Bowl Monday because the hundreds of thousands of American soldiers who were able to watch the Giants vs. the Bills did so on Arabic Standard Time, several hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. For those men and women on duty in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, Super Bowl XXV took place early Monday morning. Super Bowl Monday features original research from newspaper and video archives in addition to lengthy interviews with many of the game's stars.

Genres: Football, Sports

325 pages, Hardcover

First published August 16, 2011

Reviews

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 3 out of 5]

It offered a few side stories into the Persian Gulf War that was starting at the time - very effectively through the television networks perspective, I felt less so through the players’s perspectives. Author took pains to bring the key characters of the book - Hostetler and Kelly especially- in full circle story chronicle starting out in Pennsylvania HS football. Great stuff on the ‘90 Bills and Giants. The Super Bowl flashbacks I thought at first were random and unnecessary but actually effective in the way they tied to SB 25. A good quick read on a great SB.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

An absolutely thoroughly researched book, but for me, it did not accomplish tying together this Super Bowl with Operation Desert Storm. Considering the title and the premise, I expected more development of the political circumstances alongside the detailed games. Other than a few chapters, including an especially interesting one regarding safety considerations surrounding the Super Bowl itself, the war "just happens" to be occurring at the same time. If you are a fan of either team or watched this Super Bowl, you may enjoy reliving it through this book. It was fine, but not what I expected.

[Joe Seliske · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched book on Super Bowl XXV where the Buffalo Bills came as close as they would ever come (until now) to winning a Super Bowl. Whether it is my personal feelings as a Bills fan, but Lazarus seems to "favour" the Giants in this book rather than it being completely objective. It is much more about Jeff Hostetler than it is about Jim Kelly. I had forgotten that this game coincided with the beginning of the Gulf War. Despite the bias, it was a good refresher on that fateful game.

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even as a diehard Bills fan, I just couldn't keep my interest while reading this book

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A walk down memory lane for Giants and Bills fans

[Tom Gase · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well-written, well-researched book on possibly the greatest Super Bowl of all time, Super Bowl 25, in which the Giants (spoiler alert from game 25 years ago) won 20-19 when Scott Norwood missed a field goal wide right for the Bills in the finals seconds. The game took place during the Gulf War in 1991. The author, Adam Lazarus, who also wrote a good book on Joe Montana and Steve Young called "Team of Rivals" does a good job of taking the reader back to the 1990 season and 1991 playoffs. I felt like I was in seventh grade again. Very detailed, but Lazarus does a good job of talking about the personal stories of players from the game, without alienating the game in the book too much. Here you will find stories on Jim Kelly, Jeff Hostetler, O.J. Anderson, Everson Walls, Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Bill Parcells, Stephen Baker (the touchdown-maker), Bruce Smith, Matt Bahr, Lawerence Taylor and of course, Scott Norwood. I highly recommend this book to fans of the NFL, and fans of the Giants and Bills will both enjoy this one. Well done and can't wait to read the next one by Lazarus.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

i made it through about 15% of this book. and it was really in depth. which would have been great if i really cared at all about 1991, the buffalo bills, jeff hostetler (and his family) or jim kelly.

write this same book about the 2001 superbowl and i would be way more into it...probably.

[Merrick Hosford · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I say this because i love football it is one of my favorite sports and I love seeing or reading anything about the sport football. This super bowl was one of my favorite super bowls of all time behind last year's of course, I mean who can forget that game!

[Bethany]

Can I get through this without angry crying? Only time will tell...

[Elliot Chalom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Adam. Well done.

Check out my full review over at http://2bitmonkey.wordpress.com/2013/...