About Three Bricks Shy

And The Load Filled Up

The biggest news about football writing this fall [2014] is that it's the 40th anniversary of About Three Bricks Shy of a Load, Mr. Blount's book about the Steelers. It's my long-held contention that this book isn't just a classic of American football writing but the classic of American football writing, and a book that deserves a place on the short shelf of the cracked masterpieces of New Journalism.

New York Times

Thirtieth Anniversary Edition

Any number of writers could spend an entire season with an NFL team, from the first day of training camp until the last pick of the draft, and come up with an interesting book. But only Roy Blount Jr. could capture the pain, the joy, the fears, the humor—in short, the heart—of a championship team.

In 1973, the Pittsburgh Steelers were super, but missed the bowl. Blount’s portrait of a team poised to dominate the NFL for more than a decade recounts the gridiron accomplishments and off-the-field lives of players, coaches, wives, fans, and owners. About Three Bricks Shy . . . is considered a classic; Sports Illustrated recently named it one of the Top 100 Sports Books of All Time. This thirtieth-anniversary edition includes additional chapters on the Steelers’ Super Bowl wins, written for the 1989 paperback, as well as a new introduction by the author.

More Praise

Not merely is 'Three Bricks' funny, smart, perceptive and winning, there's also a lovely quality about it that, for all the ferocity of the gridiron and the profanity of some of its language, I'd call gentleness. It's a book about men in groups, this particular group being one that plays a very rough game, and it's actually far less about football than about people.

Washington Post

A terrific book. . . . I have never read anything else on pro football, fiction or nonfiction, as good as this.

New York Times Book Review

Both a literary and journalistic masterpiece. . . . At last, a superb and superbly hilarious writer has gone deep beneath the surface of the sport and wrenched the truth from it.

Dan Jenkins, author of Semi-Tough

Richly worded, highly affectionate, frequently reflective, sometimes indiscreet. . . . One of the best sports books of its kind.

Library Journal

about the author

Roy Blount Jr., humorist, sportswriter, poet, performer, lecturer, dramatist, and the author of twelve books, has written for the Atlantic Monthly since 1981. Raised in Decatur, Georgia, he now resides in New York City.

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About Three Bricks Shy

And The Load Filled Up

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376 Pages, 6.1 x 9.2 in.

July, 2004

isbn : 9780822958345

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