{"product_id":"9781555848187","title":"The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe NFL \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003echampionship game that changed football forever: a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e–bestselling sports history classic by the author of \u003ci\u003eBlack Hawk Down\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Yankee Stadium, December 28, 1958. What was about to go down on this Sunday evening in front of sixty-four thousand fans and forty-five million home viewers—the largest viewership ever assembled for a live televised event—was the first sudden death overtime in NFL history. This one battle between the league’s best offense, the Baltimore Colts, and the best defense, the New York Giants, would propel professional football from a moderately popular pastime into America’s favorite sport.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e On the field and roaming the sidelines were seventeen future Hall of Famers, including Colts stars Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Gino Marchetti; and Giants greats Frank Gifford, Sam Huff; and assistant coaches Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry. But they were opposing teams in more ways than one. It was a contest between Baltimore blue-collars, many of whom worked off-season taking shifts at Bethlehem Steel, and the trendy, New York glamour boys of splashy magazine ads and TV commercials who mingled with politicians, Broadway stars, and even Ernest Hemingway.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Mark Bowden “dives into the trenches of the 1958 NFL Championship game” for a riveting play-by-play account, the stories behind the key players, the effect it had on the league, the sport, and the country (\u003ci\u003eEntertainment Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Bring[s] the contest so alive that you find yourself almost wondering . . . years later, how it will turn out in the end.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eThe Best Game Ever\u003c\/i\u003e is sure to become an instant Sacred Text.” —Jonathan Yardley, \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Grove\/Atlantic, Inc.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47133442703600,"sku":"9781555848187","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781555848187_p0.jpg?v=1763757205","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781555848187","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}