When the Tuna Went Down to Texas: How Bill Parcells Led the Cowboys Back to the Promised Land

When the Tuna Went Down to Texas: How Bill Parcells Led the Cowboys Back to the Promised Land
Average customer rating:

A fumble

Very Entertaining

Interesting Subject, Horrible Writing

Humorous look at the building and rebuilding of a franchise

Funny and Revealing--"The Jock Whisperer" and the Cowboys

When the Tuna Went Down to Texas: How Bill Parcells Led the Cowboys Back to the Promised Land
Mike Shropshire
Manufacturer: William Morrow
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Talkin' Tuna: The Wit and Wisdom of Coach Bill Parcells

The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL

Parcells: Autobiography of the Biggest Giant of Them All

Finding a Way to Win: The Principles of Leadership, Teamwork, and Motivation

Parcells: A Biography

ASIN: 0060572116
Release Date: 2004-08-31

Book Description

Bill Parcells was living in self-imposed exile from the National Football League sidelines. The Tuna had earned living-legend status after coaching the Giants, Patriots, and Jets from the skid-row district of the NFL and transforming those teams into champions. The final weeks of the 2002 season found Parcells working as an analyst at the ESPN studios. His heart aching, Parcells was like a televangelist with no cripples to heal. The Tuna urgently yearned for another lost cause.

In Dallas, Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones -- described by author Mike Shropshire as "a man involved in a heroic struggle to overcome what had been diagnosed as a terminal face-lift" -- was suffering through sleepless nights. Although his once-proud pro football powerhouse traveled beneath a banner that read "America's Team," it had suffered three straight 5#150;11 seasons. This team was so sick, it had bedsores.

After a clandestine meeting aboard Jones's private jet, parked at a New Jersey airport, Parcells agreed to abandon his East Coast roots and travel south to restore life to the Cowboys. The Tuna and Jones needed each other in the worst kind of way, so a shotgun wedding was performed. The pundits of the national media joined hands and shouted, "Parcells and Jones can't stand each other! They're too set in their ways! It'll never work!"

As usual, the pundits were wrong. With Parcells the ultimate motivator and so-called Jock Whisperer applying his craft, Dallas rolled to a 10#150;6 regular-season record and shocked the NFL by making the playoffs. When the Tuna Went Down to Texas details the saga of how this unlikely partnership of men "too brittle for tango lessons, but not yet blind enough for assisted living" amazed the sports world and serves as absolute proof that while the truth is not always stranger than fiction, it's usually a lot funnier.

Download Description

"E-Book Extra: Parcells in a Nutshell

In Dallas, Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones -- described by author Mike Shropshire as ""a man involved in a heroic struggle to overcome what had been diagnosed as a terminal face-lift"" -- was suffering through sleepless nights. Although his once-proud pro football powerhouse traveled beneath a banner that read ""America's Team,"" it had suffered three straight 5-11 seasons. This team was so sick, it had bedsores.

After a clandestine meeting aboard Jones's private jet, parked at a New Jersey airport, Parcells agreed to abandon his East Coast roots and travel south to restore life to the Cowboys. The Tuna and Jones needed each other in the worst kind of way, so a shotgun wedding was performed. The pundits of the national media joined hands and shouted, ""Parcells and Jones can't stand each other! They're too set in their ways! It'll never work!""

As usual, the pundits were wrong. With Parcells the ultimate motivator and so-called Jock Whisperer applying his craft, Dallas rolled to a 10-6 regular-season record and shocked the NFL by making the playoffs. When the Tuna Went Down to Texas details the saga of how this unlikely partnership of men ""too brittle for tango lessons, but not yet blind enough for assisted living"" amazed the sports world and serves as absolute proof that while the truth is not always stranger than fiction, it's usually a lot funnier.

Customer Reviews:

A fumble.......2005-06-25

This book has too many problems to be inducted into the Ring of Honor. Here are just a few. First, this book has unacceptable factual errors(see A. Keller's review). Second the author believes the season opener will make or break the season. The 1993 Dallas Cowboys(one of the top three teams of all time) lost their first two games of the season. Equally as great, the 1981 San Francisco 49ers lost their opener. The author must believe that Jerry Jones died at the Alamo. I don't see what he had to gain by criticizing Randy Galloway's(a frequent Jones critic) choice in the 1972 presidential election. Horrible foul.

Very Entertaining.......2005-01-15

Being from New York and now living in Dallas I was glad when the Cowboys hired Bill Parcells. I knew he was a good coach and it made following the Cowboys, after three 5-11 seasons, a little bit more compelling. I had read and enjoyed Shropshire's Seasons in Hell (about the original Texas Rangers) and when this book came out I decided to give it a try. I hoped this book would be as good and I wasn't disappointed.

I think it is possibly the most entertaining sports book I have read. Parts of it are laugh out load hilarious. It is not "ground breaking" as Moneyball or Ball Four but it makes no pretensions to be. If you are a purist looking for an in depth scholarly study of the nuances of football coaching strategy, or a play by play recap of the 2003-2004 season there are probably better, more boring, books out there.

Read this book if you are a fan of football, Bill Parcells, the Cowboys or you want to have a good laugh. There are a lot of good behind the scenes stories about players, coaches, and owners here that you didn't read in the newspaper. The writing style is unique and if you read Seasons in Hell you know what I mean. I think it's a better read than Seasons because the subject matter is more topical.

Interesting Subject, Horrible Writing.......2004-11-19

Let me preface this review by stating that I'm as die-hard a Dallas Cowboys fan as you'll ever meet on this Earth. I have read just about everything ever written about the Cowboys and their various coaches over the years. So naturally, I was very excited when I saw this book in the bookstore and immediately bought it. By the time I finished reading it three days later, I was very disappointed.

The author seems to be trying way too hard to sound like a good writer. His sentences are way too flowery, and he always goes for the 38-word description rather than the 3-word description. For example, in the chapter discussing the Cowboys' exciting overtime win against the Giants on Monday Night Football, rather than giving us a one-paragraph introduction briefly describing the emergence of MNF and then immediately segueing into a description of this particular MNF game, the author rambles on for 8 pages giving us way more detail on the early days of MNF than we could ever want. I was reading the book because I wanted to read about the 2003 Dallas Cowboys and Bill Parcells, not because I wanted a history lesson regarding how MNF came to be.

The author also makes a great deal of factual mistakes in the book that any die-hard fan (or maybe just one as obsessive about the Cowboys as I am) would pick up. For example, the writer informs his readers that the Cowboys of the 1990s won Super Bowls 29, 30, and 32, when in fact they won Super Bowls 27, 28, and 30. Also, he describes how Terrell Owens danced on the star at Texas Stadium, then came back the very next year to torch Dwayne Goodrich for the game-winning touchdown, when in fact Dallas got revenge on Owens the year after he danced on the star, beating the 49ers handily and holding Owens scoreless. The now-infamous "Campo-Coslet decide to punt, Dwayne Goodrich and Tony Dixon get torched" game was TWO year after the star incident, NOT the very next year. The Dallas Cowboys and all their fans took great pride in getting their revenge on Terrell Owens the year after the star incident, and this author denies that it even happened.

In general, the book is a collection of some "behind-the-scenes" stories that anyone who closely follows the Cowboys would already know, excerpts lifted from a MUCH better Bill Parcells book ("The Final Season"), and some all-too-brief recaps of the games played last year buried amongst pages and pages of trivial crap that the author threw in to make his writing sound more flowery.

Overall, this book is about two things that interest me greatly (the Dallas Cowboys and Bill Parcells), but this author manages to sap all the life out of it and write a book that is tedious for even the most die-hard fan. Where is the insider information? The information in this book could be obtained simply by going to the Cowboys' website. Where are all the witty Parcells coach-speak quips? Parcells is FAMOUS for hilarious remarks. Where are they? The only thing saving this book from a one-star or ZERO-star rating is that it's about the Dallas Cowboys. A better author would have produced a MUCH better book. I got the feeling that this author wrote this book without ever having an actual conversation with Bill Parcells. If you're a Bill Parcells fan, you'll prefer to read "The Final Season." It is actually written BY Bill Parcells and contains more of his wit and his wealth of football knowledge than this book does.

This book deserved a better author.

Humorous look at the building and rebuilding of a franchise.......2004-09-17

Reading is often a solitary and silent pastime. Occasionally the solitude may be interrupted by a desire to share a humorous line with someone within earshot. Sometimes, the reader laughing out loud can break the silence generally present when reading. While reading WHEN THE TUNA WENT DOWN TO TEXAS: How Bill Parcells Led the Cowboys Back to the Promised Land, by Mike Shropshire, this reader had numerous moments of laughing out loud and savoring classic comments by the author in hopes of remembering those lines for future use.

In the mid-90s the Dallas Cowboys were a football juggernaut, destroying opponents on a weekly basis. Dynasties end for many reasons. To some degree the Cowboys' reign ended because new rules were put in place that limited the ability of franchises to string championship seasons together. Salary caps and free agency, now an essential part of the NFL player agreement, make it far more difficult for a team to build and maintain the foundation of players that allow a team to continually repeat winning seasons. But free agency and salary caps were not the only reasons for the downfall of the Cowboys. Several cracks in the foundation of the empire were self-inflicted. The story of the Cowboys' road to mediocrity began with a star player and two precious little hookers.

The star player was wide receiver Michael Irvin, whose liaison with working girls led to a felony drug possession charge. Even a celebrity such as Irvin faced danger in the Texas criminal justice system. As a former prosecutor in Dallas observed to Shropshire, "I don't really know the facts of this particular case, but if the prosecution can get a couple of Lutherans on the jury, then Irvin will get a maximum sentence." The criminal prosecution destroyed the franchise. Former Green Bay Packer star Jerry Kramer observed, "Whenever I see the Cowboys on TV, I don't know who to root for --- the defense or the prosecution. No, this will never be America's Team, if it is then woe for America."

The man in charge of the Cowboys during their trip from the top of the heap to the bottom was Jerry Jones, an Arkansas businessman described by many as coming across "like the banjo picker in Deliverance." Shropshire interviewed Jones for Sports Illustrated immediately after the purchase of the franchise and the two men shared grudging respect. Jones was actively involved in every aspect of running the Cowboys. If allowed by the NFL he would have considered coaching the team, but that wish was not to be approved. Instead, he hired coaches that he could control. As long as the Cowboys had great talent, total control was successful. But as the talent level of America's team declined, the need for an outstanding coach grew. Before the Parcells era would commence, Jones hired Dave Campo. As Shropshire observes, "the Dave Campo regime shortly became a living-color illustration of what happens when the Peter Principle collides head-on with Murphy's Law. Since Campo was universally hailed as a 'nice guy,' he could also serve as exhibit A to the Leo Durocher doctrine --- the one that mandates where nice guys will inevitably finish." After a losing season in 2002, Dave Campo was fired.

Enter Bill Parcells. Football fans were stunned. Sports Illustrated voiced the opinion of the country: "Are You Kidding Me?" But it was no joke. Jones gave Parcells full and free reign to run the team, and the future Hall of Fame inductee did not disappoint his owner. WHEN THE TUNA WENT DOWN TO TEXAS gives the football fanatic an outline for building or rebuilding a franchise. Start with a head coach who remembers every crucial play that cost him a game during his coaching career as well as the assistant coach who designed and called the play. When the opportunity presents itself, hire that innovative assistant coach for your new team. Next, find a few quality players as a foundation for the team. Parcells believed strongly in the "80-20" theory that goes with any successful organization. Under that rule, the 20 percent of the workforce that's the most talented always generates 80 percent of the positive results. For the woeful Cowboys, even that 20 percent was a difficult task.

Parcells persevered. Somehow he led the Cowboys to the playoffs in that first year. Shropshire chronicles the season, some games in detail, others in passing. Fanatical fans may find WHEN THE TUNA WENT DOWN TO TEXAS light on statistics and fantasy football minutiae. Most fans will enjoy this book for what it is: an irreverent and humorous look at the game of football and three of its icons --- a franchise, an owner and the Tuna.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

Funny and Revealing--"The Jock Whisperer" and the Cowboys.......2004-09-10

I live in Dallas, and I've followed the Cowboys for many, many years. I'm a big fan--and I loved reading this book. Why? Because it tells the truth, and even though the truth sometimes hurts, in this book it only hurts when your sides are aching from laughing so much. Shropshire, who is just about the funniest sports writer around--Don Imus called his earlier book Seasons in Hell "the single funniest sports book I have ever read"--doesn't pull any punches here. He lives in Dallas too, and he knows these guys. He gives us juicy behind-the-scenes anecdotes (how he got these I'll never know--must have had a mole in the Cowboys' locker room) as well as all the standard stuff, and Shropshire's style makes it a great read. AND FUNNY--if you can read the last sentence in this book (it's X-rated) and not smile and want to read the rest, you're a stronger man than I.

Average customer rating:

I enjoyed the book
Gutman's doesn't land "Tuna"-- a major disappointment!
Gutman Rip Off

Parcells: A Biography
Bill Gutman
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Talkin' Tuna: The Wit and Wisdom of Coach Bill Parcells
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Turning the Thing Around: Pulling America's Team Out of the Dumps-And Myself Out of the Doghouse
LT: Over the Edge: Tackling Quarterbacks, Drugs, and a World Beyond Football

ASIN: 0786707313

Book Description

Both intimidating and disarming, at once a regular-Joe Jersey kind of guy and the hard-nosed, hard-driving NFL winner of a coach with a tongue like a whip and the temperament of a tyrant, Bill Parcells has already made football history. And he's done it three times. Taking the reins of the desperately failing New York Giants in 1983, Parcells not only turned the team around but took it to the Super Bowl -- twice (in 1986 and 1990), and twice the Giants won. Then, with the downtrodden New England Patriots he again managed to work some of the same gridiron magic by propelling them to the Super Bowl in his fourth season at the helm. Returning to New York in 1997, this time to rally the Jets, he faced perhaps his greatest coaching challenge yet, but in two seasons the team with a lamentable 1-15 record had won a division title at 12-4 and missed the Super Bowl by only a game. While this no-holds-barred biography of Parcells examines and assesses the career of this consummate coach, it also explores the force that defines the public personality and drives the private man. Call that force ambition, a dream, bulldog spirit, or perfectionism, it took hold of Bill Parcells early and never let him go, as he strives still to achieve his vision of the perfect game.

Customer Reviews:

I enjoyed the book.......2007-02-26

Unlike the previous reviewer who wrote his opinion twice, I enjoyed the book (I read the hardcover edition 2000). I've read 2 or 3 books on Parcells and this is the best. Yes, there's too much review of games, but I skipped over that.

The book tells a lot of interesting things about Parcells that I didn't know, and I've followed his career very closely the last 16 years because I lived in the NE when he coached the Pats & Jets. The books tells how he got his nickname the "Tuna" and his name Bill (not his birthname). It tells a lot about his early years in HS, college, and as a vagabond assistant coach. I never knew that he took a year off from coaching at 38 to sell real estate for a land development company and actually made more money that being the head coach at the Air Force Academy the previous year. The book tells how BP never liked college coaching.

Gutman's doesn't land "Tuna"-- a major disappointment!.......2001-05-15

The same for the paperback edition of "Parcells"...This book, by and large, is nothing more then a rehash of old football games coached by Parcells. Gutman should be ashamed of himself for delivering yesterday's cup of coffee to football fans. Giving ad nasuem blow-by-blow accounts of games that took place 5-10 years ago is not my idea of a biography. About 25% represents Parcels' philosophies on life, football, family, and friends, etc., and I would rate that at best a C-. Overall the book is a major flop. Don't waste your money on this one. Of course, I shouldn't complain, I picked it up for a buck at a used bookstore...I paid 99 cents too much!

Gutman Rip Off.......2001-05-14

This book, by and large, is nothing more then a rehash of old football games coached by Parcells. Gutman should be ashamed of himself for delivering yesterday's cup of coffee--especially so to knowledgeable football fans. Giving ad nauseam blow-by-blow accounts of games that took place 5-10 years ago is not my idea of biography. About 25% represents Parcels' philosophies on life, football, family, and friends, etc., and I would rate that at best a C-. Overall the book is a major flop. Don't waste your money on this one. Of course, I shouldn't complain, I picked it up for a buck at a used bookstore...I paid 99 cents too much!

The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL

Average customer rating:

Wanna be an NFL Coach?
Final season?
The Football Czar spekas
A half-hearted effort
Egomaniac, phony, and nasty person

The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL
Bill Parcells , and Will McDonough
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Parcells: Autobiography of the Biggest Giant of Them All
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When the Tuna Went Down to Texas : How Bill Parcells Led the Cowboys Back to the Promised Land
Talkin' Tuna: The Wit and Wisdom of Coach Bill Parcells
Parcells: A Biography

ASIN: 0688174914
Release Date: 2000-09-05

Amazon.com

Football genius Bill Parcells isn't one to mince words. "I'm 56 years old," he says at the beginning of The Final Season, "and I don't intend to be coaching when I'm 60." Unless something changes radically, he's already honored that intention with three years to spare.

The coach who led the Giants to two Super Bowl victories and turned the New England Patriots into AFC champions came back to New York in 1997 to tackle the rebuilding of the woeful 1-15 Jets. Within a year they were legitimate contenders, playing for the AFC Championship. When the 1999-2000 season kicked off, hopes were soaring at the Meadowlands. But there was new ownership to contend with. Keyshawn Johnson demanded a renegotiation. Injuries sidelined Wayne Chrebet, and quarterback Vinnie Testaverde went down in the season opener, lost for the year. Suddenly, the Jets were 1-6. Then came the turnaround. Sparked by the inspired--and unexpected--play of third-string QB Ray Lucas, the Jets wound up winning seven of their last nine, and then, equally unexpected, Parcells retired as head coach. In perhaps the season's most bizarre fiasco, his designated heir, Bill Belichick, resigned immediately.

The Final Season is Parcells's week-by-week account of the campaign. If you love football, the chronicle is good inside football. Parcells provides detailed analysis of every win and loss and uncensored assessments of his players, himself--"Our general manager (that would be me) didn't have a great year," he admits--and the flap-turned-farce that attended his exit. But it's more than that, too. Final Season is a story of ups and downs, of strong emotions, of coping with frustration and disappointment, and of unifying a team when the chips are down. Parcells is savvy, complex, never shy, and never boring. With The Final Season, he cannily marches readers down the field just as he did his teams. --Jeff Silverman

Book Description

As unflinching, candid, and tough as the man himself, The Final Season is Bill Parcell's swan song as head coach in the NFL. During 1999, a grueling, difficult season, Parcell's found his resolve and coaching ability tested at every turn.

It wasn't supposed to be like that, though.

The two-time champion coach who had guided two different teams to the Super Bowl was expected by fans and pundits to drive the New York jets all the way. After all, they had reached the AFC Championship the year before. But fate would not allow it. In the preseason, respected and longtime owner Leon Hess died, casting a season-long pall of uncertainty over the organization. During training camp, two players were arrested after a bar fight. In the final game of the preseason, Wayne Chrebet one of their top receivers, was injured. Then a huge blow-in the season opener Vinny Testaverde, the Pro Bowl quarterback, ruptured his Achilles tendon and was out for the year. Things grew progressively worse-at one point Parcells had lost nine starters. He also endured personal suffering when his dear friend and agent Robert Fraley died in the same plane crash that killed Payne Stewart.

Parcells struggled to keep his team on track, trying to maintain their confidence in the face of enormous odds. "When you're losing, you coach better. You're on top of every detail. You scrutinize yourself, your coaches, your players, and the system you're using." He became his own fiercest critic: "No matter how long you have coached, no matter how many games you have won, no matter how many playoff games, conference championships, Super Bowls you've won, it's all irrelevant. You are not winning now and that's what counts. You think you suck. You are a loser as a coach."

Things hit rock bottom when the team went 1-6. But
Parcells the coaches, and the players would not lie down. "If you don't play to win, then you shouldn't play at all." Parcells called up every strategic and motivational ploy he could dream up, and through sheer force of will and a great amount of pride, the jets won seven of their last nine games.

In The Final Season, readers will not only get an unsparing look inside one of football's greatest minds and a champion's philosophy but also Parcells frank take on good owners; his battles with "owner-operators"; the greatest "warriors" he's coached for and against; the players who are "dogs"; the game's most challenging coaches; and his seasons with the Giants and the Patriots. Parcells also provides the reasons for retiring from coaching as well as his perspective on Bill Belichick's controversial resignation and eventual departure for New England.

A rare, behind-the-scenes football memoir, The Final Season brims with insights and revelations, a testament to a great competitor and future Hall of Famer.

Customer Reviews:

Wanna be an NFL Coach?.......2003-02-23

For those of you who fantasized about what it would be like coaching an NFL team, Bill Parcells aided by Will McDonough offer the opportunity to find out what it is like.

Parcells takes readers through his entire final season with the New York Jets in 1999, when he ultimately concluded that this would be his final coaching responsibility. Jerry Jones has since hastened Parcells out of retirement at a hefty salary to jumpstart the formerly mighty Dallas Cowboys as he had earlier altered the fortunes of the New York Giants, New England Patriots and Jets respectively.

You cannot help coming away with an admiration for Parcells due to his rock-ribbed honesty. Here is a man who will criticize his players if he believes they are giving less than 100% or playing less than intelligent football. He blames himself for losing a game in the closing stages by "getting cute" and calling for a pass which was intercepted and ultimately cost his team the game when it would have been wiser retrospectively to keep the ball on the ground. When assistant coach Dan Henning tells him that his insistence on keeping Rick Mirer in the lineup as starting quarterback in the face of less than awesome performances stemmed from a stubbornness to face the facts since Parcells made the trade in his general manager's capacity, the coach, rather than blowing up over having his ego assaulted in the manner that a smaller man would, ends up agreeing with Henning. Accepting genuinely felt constructive criticism in a positive manner is the hallmark of a mature and honest man.

In addition to telling us plenty about strategy, how games were won and lost, and providing his opinions on players he reveres, such as his own sterling running back Curtis Martin and respected opposing quarterback Dan Marino of the Dolphins, Parcells tells about the deeply rooted pressures in NFL coaching. He reveals about his bypass operation and expresses dismay over his inability to sleep and nervous eating anxieties when the season is in full swing, leading to weight gain. He also weighs in on his view of the poor performance of certain NFL officials, especially in key situations, a problem which has magnified since this book appeared. Parcells expresses his concern as well over the rise of fan hooliganism, fearing that perhaps America may follow the example ultimately of the European soccer rioters.

If you love pro football, this is a can't miss read. The coach is an intelligent man of candor with plenty of interesting things to say.

Final season?.......2002-02-05

i doubt Parcells is DONE with football as a coach.. I'm sure there will be PART 2 because this guy will coach somewhere sOON.

As for the story it was easy ready and it was pretty cheesy. Nothing really BIG or personal described in the book. For a man as criticial as he is, I expected more DEEP thoughts in this book, but it never happen.

The Football Czar spekas.......2001-12-07

A perfect illustartion of the greatest football coach ever !! Yes, even better than Me Lombardi himself. First of all, it was a wonder Bill continued to write this book when his team was 1-8. Almost every story has a happy ending right ?? Well not exactly. Being a Parcells fan (followed him fron NY, to NE and back to NY) I followed this season closely. For a team to go 1-8 and win ther next 7 in a row with nothing to play for, is amazing. Parcells is the greatest motivator ever. The book talks about his relatrionship with the players. Yes, he actually got along with his players, well some of them. But the one relationship he'll never forget will be the one with The Boy Wonder. You'll have to read the book to understand.

A half-hearted effort.......2001-07-13

I looked forward to this book with great anticipation. Bill Parcells and his legacy here in New England and how he left the team were front page news here. His personality is larger than life. His press conferences were must-see TV.

That said, this book was disappointing. It started out well, the first portion of this book is riveting, and gives you real insight into his thoughts, and how he puts a team together. Where it goes downhill is after the Jets very first game of the '99 season where they lose multiple starters for the season, including the starting QB. Going into the season the Jets were considered by many people a favorite for the SuperBowl. If it were to follow the team through a season like that, it would've been a great read throughout. Instead, after those injuries, Parcells basically mails it in for the rest of the book, in my opinion. What could've been a great book instead becomes a mediocre effort.

Egomaniac, phony, and nasty person.......2001-02-13

As to be expected of Bill Parcells, this book is carelessly written. It provides no insights, nothing new, and is basically just a place for him to pound his chest. Parcells is an egomanica and a very nasty person. How may franchises has he left hanging. He will coach again, his ego will not let him not. Do not waste your money on this "egogrophy", its not worth the paper its printed on. I'g give it zero starts if i could.

When the Tuna Went Down to Texas: The Story of Bill Parcells and the Dallas Cowboys

Average customer rating:

A BETTER TITLE IS WHEN I FELL ASLEEP READING THIS
Well-written and insightful
Arghhhhhhhhhh!

When the Tuna Went Down to Texas: The Story of Bill Parcells and the Dallas Cowboys
Mike Shropshire
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Tales from the Dallas Cowboys

ASIN: 0060572124
Release Date: 2005-11-01

Book Description

Bill Parcells had earned living-legend status after transforming the Giants, Patriots, and Jets into champions. But in the final weeks of the 2002 season, he found himself living in a self-imposed exile from the National Football League. His heart aching, the Tuna yearned for another lost cause. Enter Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Deep in the heart of Texas, Jones's once-proud pro football powerhouse had suffered through three straight disastrous seasons. The Tuna and Jones needed each other in the worst kind of way.

After a clandestine meeting, Parcells agreed to travel south to restore life to the Cowboys. Football pundits shouted, "Parcells and Jones can't stand each other! It'll never work!"

As usual, the pundits were wrong. With Parcells applying his witchcraft, Dallas rolled to a 10-6 regular season record and shocked the NFL by making the playoffs. When the Tuna Went Down to Texas details the saga of how this unlikely partnership of men would amaze the sports world and serves as absolute proof that although truth is not always stranger than fiction, it's usually a lot funnier.

Customer Reviews:

A BETTER TITLE IS WHEN I FELL ASLEEP READING THIS.......2007-01-14

THIS BOOK IS ABOUT BILL PARCELLS TAKING OVER AS HEAD COACH OF THE DALLAS COWBOYS. ALONG THE WAY WE GET TO READ ABOUT JERRY JONES'S FACE LIFT, JERRY JONES QUITTING DRINKING AND A BUNCH OF OTHER UNRELATED JUNK TO FILL THIS BORING BOOK. AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED, THE ONLY INTEREST IN THIS BOOK CAME IN THE SECOND HALF OF THIS WHEN WE TAKE A RIDE GAME BY GAME THRU THE SEASON AND ENDS WITH THE COWBOYS MAKING THE PLAYOFFS BUT LOSING THEIR ONLY PLAYOFF GAME. OTHER THAN THAT, THIS BOOK IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR THOSE WHO SUFFER FROM INSOMNIA AND WANT AN INSTANT CURE.

Well-written and insightful.......2006-07-23

As someone that knows Mike Shropshire personally, I can assure you that he does not love Jerry Jones (quite to the contrary actually). Armadillo, doing what he accused the author of doing, wrote a review in pure ingorance, taking ambiguous pieces of humor and taking them directly into technicality, a problem that many readers today seem to have with works of literature. The book is well-written and bases itself solely on what it is supposed to do: get into depth with Bill Parcells in his first year as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys and related material, which it does.

The book is still a great read for, if nothing else, a retrospect of the 2003 Dallas Cowboys season, putting inspiration into a story and a team that is now, with the changes the team has gone through in the last three years, insignificant.

Arghhhhhhhhhh!.......2006-06-01

The author is biased(he loves Jerry Jones), misinformed(lot of incorrect information), and just plain mean(blasting Jimmy Johnson, Houston, and Dave Campo). If this book is legitimate to you, you probably have the same traits. Probably the worst Dallas Cowboy book out there. Check out this book at the library and ask yourself, "How did this book ever get published?"

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Dorothy Denton's Diary
Cedric Parcell
Manufacturer: Highgate Publications (Beverley) Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0948929626

The life and work of Malcolm Parcell: A catalogue raisonné

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The life and work of Malcolm Parcell: A catalogue raisonneÌ
Paul Burgess Edwards
Manufacturer: Washington County Historical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006S4IV8

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Parcells
New York Daily News
Manufacturer: Sports Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Football | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1582611467
Release Date: 2000-09-15

Book Description

Whatever a person may think about Bill Parcells, there is no argument about one thing -- the man got results. He took three different NFL franchises from the scrap heap to championship games. After winning a pair of Super Bowls as the boss of the Giants, Parcells further demonstrated his skill as a coach by taking the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl and getting the New York Jets to first place and the AFC championship game just two years after the Jets finished the 1996 season with a 1-15 record.

Parcells chronicles Bill Parcells' career, from his New Jersey roots to his vagabond life as an assistant coach for hire and on to his first stint in the NFL -- which he walked away from. Parcells' story is told from the archives of the New York Daily News.

Parcells: Autobiography of the Biggest Giant of Them All
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Parcells: Autobiography of the Biggest Giant of Them All
Bill Parcells , and Mike Lupica
Manufacturer: Bonus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Final Season: My Last Year as Head Coach in the NFL

Finding a Way to Win: The Principles of Leadership, Teamwork, and Motivation

When the Tuna Went Down to Texas : How Bill Parcells Led the Cowboys Back to the Promised Land

Talkin' Tuna: The Wit and Wisdom of Coach Bill Parcells

The Education of a Coach

ASIN: 093389340X

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