Snake
by Mike Freeman
The NFL in the 1970s was ruthless—rife with concussions, broken bones, towering egos, and frequent racial discord. In the midst of this madness was Oakland Raiders' quarterback Ken Stabler—aka Snake—the cool, confident general leading the NFL's baddest badass team. While Stabler was noted for his consummate professionalism on the field, his post-game antics were just as legendary. A notorious woman chaser and babe magnet, his wild, larger-than-life persona defied the performance-drenched focus that characterized the rest of the NFL. Yet no quarterback was tougher or more uniquely talented than Stabler; his accuracy, particularly tossing the long bomb, was as good as any QB's the league had ever seen. Leading the Black and Silver to a Super Bowl championship, he helped redefine the Raiders from losers to champions.
Snake is a rich, full portrait of Stabler's life and achievements, from his childhood in racially segregated Alabama to his raucous days at 'Bama under the iconic Bear Bryant to his famed NFL days. It is also an intimate look at the private man—a warm affectionate husband, father, and grandfather, and a Hall of Famer whose death paved the way for greater brain health awareness because of the discovery of his own CTE. Poignant, blunt, and eye-opening, Snake brings into focus a man who forever left his mark on football, the quarterback who studied his playbook by the light of a jukebox.
Paperback
English
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Back Cover
He was a giant among men, a symbol of a different era in sports . . . The NFL in the 1970s was a ruthless league, rife with concussions, broken bones, unmatched egos, and frequent racial strife. In the midst of this madness, commanding the Oakland Raiders (perhaps the baddest team of them all) was quarterback Ken Stabler--aka Snake--an unassuming and lethal threat as a player. On the field, he was cool and con-fident, but off of it he was a legendary woman chaser and babe magnet, carrying a larger-than-life persona at odds with the performance-drenched focus that characterized the rest of the NFL. Yet the Stabler that would eventually emerge was more than a playboy. No quarterback was tougher or more uniquely talented; his accuracy, particularly with deep throws, was as good as any quarterback's the league had ever seen; he'd won 100 games faster than any quarterback in history, as well as a Super Bowl, and most of all, he helped redefine the Raiders from losers to champions. In Snake, Bleacher Report columnist Mike Freeman details Stabler's childhood in racially segregated Alabama, his emergence as a rare high school talent, his raucous college days under the legendary Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama, and his famed career as a quarterback for the Raiders and, later, the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. Freeman expands his story by offering a rare, personal look at Stabler after his football days--including his warm affection as a husband, father, and grandfather--and even describes how Stabler's death, and subsequent Hall of Fame induction, paved the way for greater CTE awareness, as a 2016 autopsy revealed Stabler had been suffering from the disease. This work examines the complete Stabler portrait: the good, the bad, and the unbelievable. Poignant, blunt, and eye-opening, Snake is a towering biography about a man who forever left his mark on football, the quarterback who studied his playbook by the light of a jukebox.
Author Biography
Mike Freeman is a national columnist for CBS SportsLine.com. Previously, he covered the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and college sports and was an investigative and enterprise reporter for the New York Times and a columnist for the Florida Times-Union. He has also previously been a sports reporter, features writer, and investigative writer for the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and the Dallas Morning News. Freeman is also the author of three critically acclaimed books: ESPN: The Uncensored History; Bloody Sundays: Inside the Rough-and-Tumble World of the NFL; and Jim Brown: The Fierce Life of an American Hero.
Review
Previous Praise for Mike Freeman "Mike Freeman is one of the nation's best sports writers, and he proves it once again here." -- Jef Pearlman, author of Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton and
Review Quote
Previous Praise for Mike Freeman "Mike Freeman is one of the nation's best sports writers, and he proves it once again here." -- Jef Pearlman, author of Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton and
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