No sport demands toughness more than professional
football, and no sport celebrates it with as much joy,
excitement, and pride. John Madden annually offers his
picks of the top tough guys, and sick hits are shown
repeatedly on jumbotrons nationwide and ESPN's
"Sportscenter". Anyone who's ever watched an NFL Films
production can surely hear "the voice" - that
distinctive narrator - lauding the warriors of the
gridiron who lay it all out there. Imagine his voice as
you say: "These tough men came to do battle today, and
only the fiercest will win." Into this atmosphere comes
Neil Reynolds, public relations manager for the NFL in
Europe, and his new book "Pain Gang: Pro Football's
Fifty Toughest Players". From early day heroes, such as
Bronko Nagurski, Clark Hinkle, and Frank "Bruiser"
Kinard, to Hall of Famers like Ronnie Lott, Walter
Payton, and Dick Butkus, to such modern-day iron men as
Emmitt Smith, Brett Favre, and Rodney Harrison, Reynolds
lauds some of the toughest, meanest, most inspirational,
and hardest-working men in the roughest sport. He
includes interviews with teammates, coaches, opponents,
and the players themselves on what it means to be tough,
how they characterize toughness, and even who was the
toughest of them all. Some players fought through broken
bones and tired bodies. Others laid out opponents with
the hardest of hits. Still others proved themselves on
the battlefields of World War II before joining this
secondary field of battle. And some played hard and fast
- mostly within the rules - in order to intimidate their
opponents through sheer fear. Whatever their means,
these guys were tough and knew it - and they made sure
everyone else did as well. Meet the Pain Gang, and
you'll know it too.
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