Of Mikes and Men: From Ray Scott to Curt Gowdy: Tales from the Pro Football Booth

Just about everyone who has broadcast even a single pro-football play is included in this wide-ranging volume, which consists largely of quotes from the announcers assembled by Smith (Voices of the Game). The days of radio coverage and early telecasting are explored only briefly, but the participants of the 1960s and beyond offer a treasure trove of anecdotes. There's the TV executive who rushed onto the field at a critical juncture pretending to be drunk because mechanical failure had turned the screens dark; accounts of the Giants-Colts 1958 contest, called by many ""the greatest game ever played""; the Green Bay Ice Bowl victory of 1967, when the wind-chill temperature was -40 F; the evening in 1968 when the movie Heidi preempted the Jets-Raiders game and the Californians scored two touchdowns in the last minute to win. The great moments are vividly recaptured here. Photos. (Jan.)