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Calling the Shots: Mike Singletary

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Book by Mike Singletary, Armen Keteyian

231 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

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Mike Singletary

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2 reviews
November 3, 2019
Calling the Shots by Mike Singletary

Calling the Shots is about a football player named Mike Singletary, he played for the Chicago Bears from 1981-1992. A little backstory on Mike’s childhood, he had one brother and both parents that were married most of his childhood. This book starts out talking about his childhood struggles. It talked about how often he was sick as a child but it doesn’t mention any particular sickness. Once he started getting healthier around the age of 10 he would try to play sports. Mike's dad and Mike’s mom wouldn’t let him play football because they thought he would get hurt. But one day Mike’s dad had a change of heart and negotiated with Mike's mom and that is he would be allowed to play football. When the first game came up his dad would go to watch him and If he didn’t think he played well or gave 100% then he wouldn’t let him continue to play. Well his dad didn’t show but his older brother did go. Michael didn’t do that well and barely got any playing time. Mike's brother Grady lied to his parents and said he did good. Mike and his brother were very close, and his brother Grady took the role of a father figure because their father started drifting away from the family. At 22yrs old Grady died in a six car traffic accident that was caused by a drunk driver. Mike continued playing football and once Mike got into high school he started getting some offers from major colleges. He chose Baylor and had an amazing college career and got drafted in the 2nd round by the Chicago Bears where he won a Super Bowl with the Bears.

My opinion on this book is that it's a very interesting story. Mike went through a lot of adversity as a child, and he made it through it all and was a successful football player. There were many discussions about contracts,and contract negotiations when he was with the Bears. It’s still amazing what he had to go through. It seems like he was also a leader on and off the field. The Bears had an amazing season in 1985 when they won their only SuperBowl. Mike Singletary was in MVP contention, even though he did not win it. It was a proud moment for him. Undoubtedly the best defense or one of the best defenses ever. Personally I believe they had the best defense ever. All the records and teamwork paid off. When Mike signed his contract he received some incentives. Incase you don’t know what that means, that is when there are little bonuses in his contract for example; winning MVP or the Super Bowl is one of the incentives. His goal was to get those incentives so he worked hard and I admire his determination. That meant he was doing extra work to provide extra money for his family. My opinion on what his actions in the book was that he seemed like he was a leader and quite a nice guy. He was also a fierce guy on the field that wouldn’t give up. This book was great and it kept my interest throughout the entire book. It gave you someone to look up to as a role model, and the way Mike was described in the book he seemed like he was a good person.

In my opinion this book has been one of the most interesting books I’ve read. It gave me a lot of information on the 1985 Chicago Bears and Mike Singletary. Mike overcame the many obstacles in his life and he was a great player and he was described as a great person in the book. I would highly recommend this book, not only to sports fans but to someone who wants to read a great book about someone’s life. A cool fact about Mike is that his teammates, fans and opponents would call him Samurai Mike because of his crazy eyes when he was on the field.
506 reviews
December 5, 2014
It's a good book. Loved reliving the '85 season through Singletary's eyes. I bought it for my brother (a huge Chicago Bears' fan)! Picked up this autographed copy for his 50th birthday. Singletary's number was 50, get it? Also, my brother played defense on his high school football team. Should be a fun surprise! :)
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