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4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
As a Pittsburgh native, I felt the need to learn more about this important chapter in sports history. As the authors rightly point out, Pittsburgh best supports the argument that teams need to be supported even when they are not profitable in the short-run.
However, as is clear from the title, institutional and cultural support did not allow the league to survive.
This history is well-written, well-researched, and engaging. It is not an interview-driven piece, but the quotes the authors choose to include are poignant and add the much needed human element to this story. It's almost immediately clear that they are journalists: the writing is tight and accessible.
They also excel at the perspective of the women's success. When playing in a near empty stadium in Dallas, the authors remind us readers that the team still sold 3,000 tickets. When they write about the financial burden of the league, they remind us that the players themselves had clear losses and stakes (one player contributed $8,000 of her own money!).
At time when the world was still adapting to Title IX, the women of the NWFL built a legacy. I highly recommend this for any football fan — and quite frankly for everyone. Learning about women's unsung contributions should be essential and puts so much into perspective.
However, as is clear from the title, institutional and cultural support did not allow the league to survive.
This history is well-written, well-researched, and engaging. It is not an interview-driven piece, but the quotes the authors choose to include are poignant and add the much needed human element to this story. It's almost immediately clear that they are journalists: the writing is tight and accessible.
They also excel at the perspective of the women's success. When playing in a near empty stadium in Dallas, the authors remind us readers that the team still sold 3,000 tickets. When they write about the financial burden of the league, they remind us that the players themselves had clear losses and stakes (one player contributed $8,000 of her own money!).
At time when the world was still adapting to Title IX, the women of the NWFL built a legacy. I highly recommend this for any football fan — and quite frankly for everyone. Learning about women's unsung contributions should be essential and puts so much into perspective.
funny
informative
medium-paced
I really enjoyed this book about the National Women's Football League. It's the stories of the women and the teams that make this book an enjoyable read. There's a bunch of repetition and I felt like certain sentences and topics were being repeated word for word throughout the book. But it's a fascinating history about the NWFL, the lives of the women and teams, and what could have been. I highly recommend reading this book.
Sports can empower female athletes and subvert popular expectations around what women can do. For example, the notion that women aren’t tough enough to play football. In “Hail Mary: The Rise and Fall of the National Women’s Football League,” sportswriters Britni de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D’Arcangelo delve into the history of the largely forgotten women’s football league.
Click here to read the rest of my review in the Christian Science Monitor!
Click here to read the rest of my review in the Christian Science Monitor!
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
A historical retelling and analysis of the origins and endings of the National Women's Football League during the 1960's-80's. I've followed Britni de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D'Arcangelo's writing over the years, and they bring their signature style combining X's and O's with humanizing profiles with sharp feminist critique to Hail Mary as well. Despite being a fan of both the NFL and women's sports in general (though soccer and basketball primarily), I wasn't aware of the NWFL prior to hearing about this book in 2021. It was a fun read, balancing interviews and conversations with game play-by-play and other media coverage. I was fascinated by the intersectional race, class, and gender lens they brought to their examination of the league, though wish there had been a deeper dive into the mentioned parallel history between the NWFL's rise and fall and the impacts of globalization on the heavily industrial Rust Belt (and beyond) team locations in Western New York, Ohio, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Texas. Recommended for readers of longform sports writing, fans of women's and/or lqueer and/or working class histories, or anyone who's watched the dramatized game footage of Friday Night Lights and thought "clear eyes, full hearts, more lesbians".
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
A well-researched look at a piece of sports history that’s sadly underreported. It was great to get a peak into the lives of the players and learn about how they played with the tide of change in the States, yet only cared about playing. Both writers do a fantastic job bringing the league to life.