Snake: The Legendary Life of Ken Stabler

Freeman (ESPN: The Uncensored History) admits that this less than satisfying book about NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Ken “Snake” Stabler is part biography and part appreciation, and writer and quarterback were friends—as evinced by Freeman’s overuse of Stabler’s nickname. Stabler didn’t want to play football when he was a teen; he thought the sport was too violent. But then his father bought him a black 1954 Ford in what Freeman calls “the bribe that changed football.” Stabler soon became one of pro football’s heartiest partiers in a carefree era before social media and 24-hour news cycles. He played for Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama and led the Oakland Raiders to a Super Bowl XI victory. But he might have been right about the game’s violence; following Stabler’s 2015 death from colon cancer at age 69, researchers examining his brain discovered significant levels of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative disease likely caused by repeated blows to the head. Freeman relishes sharing Stabler’s tales of debauchery, but he gives scant detail about the “Immaculate Reception,” which occurred during a Raiders playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1972 and is “one of the most famous [plays] in sports history.” Other key details are missing, too, such as the final scores of games that Freeman recaps. Unlike many of Stabler’s precision passes, this bio of the man falls incomplete. (Nov.)