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'The GM' Gives Clear Job Description

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By BOB D'ANGELO, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 10, 2007

It's easy to be a general manager in the NFL.

Isn't it?

It's one thing to be a fantasy league GM, but quite another to deal with flesh-and-blood issues that impact players and coaches. That's what Tom Callahan reveals with such clarity in his latest book, 'The GM: The Inside Story of a Dream Job and the Nightmares That Go With It' (Crown Publishing Group, $25.95).

Callahan was granted season-long, unlimited access to the inner workings of the front office by New York Giants GM Ernie Accorsi in 2006. The result is a portrait of a general manager in the final season of a long and distinguished career, and a peek at the pressures every GM faces.

Callahan, who wrote a well-balanced biography about Baltimore Colts legend Johnny Unitas ('Johnny U' in 2006), presents the same even-keeled reporting in 'The GM.' He lets Accorsi do a lot of the talking, and Ernie has seen it all, from the Mara family to the Mannings. Callahan delves into the salary cap and team chemistry, and reveals how a GM must juggle roles: kindly uncle, stern taskmaster, talent judge, canny negotiator.

The book's biggest surprise portrays the human side of Tom Coughlin. Callahan does not paint the irascible Giants coach as a lovable guy, but he softens the edges - a little.

It's all part of an entertaining, informative read.

SEMINOLE MEMORIES: Veteran college football writer Mark Schlabach rekindles the past for Florida State fans in 'What It Means to Be A Seminole' (Triumph Books, $27.95). Coach Bobby Bowden and the players he coached since 1976 command most of the attention, but interviews with players from the 1940s and '50s also offer some entertaining anecdotes. Bowden, of course, remains the most quotable. Asked to name his greatest achievement as a coach, Bowden doesn't flinch: 'My biggest feat is that I've never been fired.'

FOOTBALL FICTION: 'Sometimes, guys love the game even if it doesn't love them back.'

That's the lament of lead character Scott Parry in Mike Lupica's latest book geared toward young readers, 'Two-Minute Drill' (Philomel Books, $9.99). As a columnist for the New York Daily News and talking head on ESPN, Lupica is opininated, abrasive and argumentative.

But he writes good fiction.

Parry, smart in school, is clumsy in athletics. He befriends the football team's quarterback, and both boys learn lessons about the will to succeed.

Lupica doesn't talk down to his young readers. His dialogue is edgy and street smart, and his plot is fast-paced. It's a good combination.

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