Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.332
EAN num: 9780942627565
ISBN number: 0942627563
Label: Duane Press
Manufacturer: Duane Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 192
Printing Date: September 01, 1999
Publishing house: Duane Press
Sale Popularity Level: 1151923
Studio: Duane Press
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Amazon.com Review:
Through the years, the nonpareil Dan Jenkins has been accused of being one of the funniest and most astute chroniclers of our games. In both his fiction and reportage, being funny and being smart are mutually inclusive. In I'll Tell You One Thing, he reveals himself as wildly inventive, loyal, passionate, and outrageous on the subject of college football--and particularly college football in Texas and his beloved SWC.
A TCU graduate, Jenkins unabashedly wears both heart and prejudice on his sleeve throughout this contentious mixture of fact, fiction, and a whole lot of opinion. 'A man of the college football persuasion is,' he suggests, 'capable of talking for hours on the subject of why his game is better--more exciting, more interesting, more important--than any other team game,' and Jenkins indeed talks--and debates--throughout with Billy Clyde Puckett, Tommy Earl Brunner, and Coach T.J. Lambert, some of the most famous characters born of his pen. What they're debating is quite real, though: college football, players, games, statistics, biases. It's dead-solid sports history and wonderful fun. So are the old game stories--also quite real--that Jenkins resurrects from the typewriters of the likes of Grantland Rice to show what the game was like when the college, not professional, game was king. If that's not enough fun, Jenkins provides even more with outrageous lists from who should have won each Heisman and the best college fight songs to the 10 stages of drunkenness and why the '30s are his favorite decade. The real fun of I'll Tell You One Thing, though, is just how much Jenkins does tell and how entertainingly he tells it. --Jeff Silverman
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Rated by buyers 
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I was surprised at how little narrative was in this book. I'm not a big Dan Jenkins fan but was expecting him to give us a fairly comprehensive history of SWC college football. Instead, we get a lot of press articles of the big games compiled at the time (by legendary sportswriters, admittedly, but written for a different purpose) intertwined with fictional conversations in a very non-PC bar (I don't find Jenkins' use of phrases like "chinks" and "towel-heads" to describe people who don't look like he does particularly endearing). There's not a lot of nostalgia, no real insight, and quite a lot of filler (the ten greatest games, who should have won the Heisman, etc.). And the book itself isn't very long.
For me, the only thing which redeems the book are the photographs, most of which I'd never seen before. I think I'll give Jenkins' subsequent book (whatever it is) a miss.
Rated by buyers 
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Get ready to have some fun! This great book is a love song to 1930s football, filled with outstanding photos and a superb text. In addition, it's a riot! This book is about as politically incorrect as it's possible to be, yet hardly anyone could be truly offended because it's all done in such high spirits. It's a wonderful reference book for football fanatics, an insightful look at what's "wrong" with today's world and a tremendous read. It may be the best football book of all time. As Jenkins himself would say: "I could be wrong. But I'm not."
Rated by buyers -
Anyone who cares about the old Southwest Conference and its legendary sports heroes---or, for that matter, cares anything about the game of football, will love this wise, funny look atthe past, told by hangabouts at the He's Not Here bar---a place only Jenkins would think of....
Rated by buyers -
Mr. Jenkins' lastest work delves into his love, passion, and fondness for the now defunct Southwest Conference in big-time college football.
His book starts with the birth of the Southwest Conference as a national powerhouse in the 1930's to its death in 1995.
This book also covers the fifty greatest games in all of college football history (note: authors preference), best college fight songs, "Poll Bowls", All-American lists, and other interesting tidbits from some of his familiar "fictional" cohorts in crime (Billy Clyde, T.J., Tommy Earl).
This book reminds the reader of when college football was played for school, city, and state pride instead of having the chance to do the cabbage-patch-dump-shuffle in the endzone with your helmet off so your four girlfriends and five kids could see you on national TV.
Rated by buyers -
I found this book to be enjoyable and I agree with many of Mr. Jenkins observations. Being an avid arkansas razorback fan, i especially enjoyed his part of the book about the great arkansas-texas rivalry in the 60's and 70's. I remember my grandfather talking about the 1969 arkansas-texas shootout and his heartbreak at the hogs losing in the minutes of the game.
Mr. Jenkins talks about the end of the SWC and I can feel his sadness at the passing of what was once a great conference. i think that arkansas' leaving was the final death knell brought on by probation, poor attendance.
I especially liked his section about why college football is better than pro. I like pro football, but it is no contest at all. Despite some bad press from time to time, college football is greatest, most pure team sport. Just ask any diehard longhorn, aggie, razorback, crimson tide , volunteer, etc fan. The spirit and the emotion are unmatched. I feel sorry for people who don't get it.
Mr. Jenkins like myself knows how addictive and wonderful college football is with its traditions (hook em horns, woooo pig sooie,) and strange mascots (horned frogs?. Nothing else can touch it.
Thank you for a terrific book.
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