Review ~ Home Team: Coaching the Saints and New Orleans back to life

 

 Rating: 

 Pub. Date: June 2010
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Format: Hardcover, 304pp

Synopsis (from Barnes and Noble):

The inspirational true story of how one man led a football team-and a city- to triumph in Super Bowl XLIV.


In the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Superdome became a national symbol of misery and hopelessness, where the truly desperate rode out the storm.

Four years later, in that very stadium, the New Orleans Saints won the NFC championship and earned their first-ever trip to the Super Bowl.

Two weeks later, the Saints soundly defeated the heavily favored Indianapolis Colts 31-17 in what would become the most-watched television event in history.

This is the inspirational story of a city recovering from disaster and a team with a history of heartbreak, seen through the eyes of the coach who taught them both how to win.

Review:

I downloaded this book as well as Drew Brees' book onto my Barnes and Noble Nook shortly before my July book ban.  I devoured them both with in a couple days...But since I've been in sort of a "funk" about posting reviews lately I hadn't posted the review for this great book yet.  Thank goodness I wrote it out long hand so I would know what to say when I finally got my "stuff" together and started posting reviews again!

As I said in the review of Drew's book I'm not really a Saints fan...I'm a Steelers fan really.  But the "Who Dat Nation" is kind of a Cinderella story.  I mean we are talking about a team and a city that came back from one of the worst natural disasters yet (oh yeah, remember how everyone BUT the government was there right away?!) to become Super Bowl Champions!

This book is VERY inspiring.  Coach Payton talks about coming from to the NFL from the College ranks to work with some of the best coaches in the NFL (Bill Parcells to name 1) to going out looking for his first Head Coaching position (I don't want to burst any bubbles here but he does mention that he REALLY wanted the Packers Head Coaching position...I'm from WI and about 1% Packer fan).  He didn't really want to come to New Orleans but once he saw that the organization had his back if he had theirs that's how this Cinderella story begins.

Coach Payton also talks about trying to rebuild a complete coaching staff too.  Some of the coaching staff hadn't been working in the NFL until Coach Payton called them up.  Then once they got the staff figured out...it was time to work on the team itself....To become winners again...who knew that in a few short years they'd be going to the Super Bowl? Did you know that Reggie Bush had his "people" tell the Saints "No" the year they drafted him....The Saints told his "people" screw you and drafted him anyway.  Now he's a Super Bowl Champion.

There is also a lot of mention of the devastation and the re-building process mentioned in the book too.  What really surprised me was how involved the team got with the re-building efforts.  And also how "accessible" the team is to the rest of the population of New Orleans.

Overall, this book is a emotional book full of the Highest high's and the Lowest lows.  I would recommend this book to anyone really. Read IT!  You don't even need to be a Saints fan to enjoy it!