Johnny Anonymous

Last week, I read another quick read. 
I am into SO into quick reads at this time!

NFL Confidential

by Johnny Anonymous

From Barnes an Nobel:
A current pro player takes fans on a pseudonymous trip through one of the most infamous years of football—the very long, sometimes funny, often controversial 2013-2014 season—sharing raucous, behind-the-scenes, on-the-field, and in-the-locker-room truth about life in the National Football League.
“Well, to hell with being safe. I’m going to be honest.”
Johnny Anonymous' life goal was to be nothing greater or less than the Best NFL Back-Up of All Time™. For two years, he was content earning hundreds of thousands of dollars to stand on the sidelines doing absolutely nothing. But early in his third year, a starting lineman is injured, and he suddenly finds himself on the field.
For most players, this moment is a dream come true. But not so for our author, one of the incredibly rare birds in football who reach the highest echelons, but who actually hate America’s favorite game. That’s right. Johnny Anonymous hates football. He hates what it does to his body, his brain, his life. Luckily, he can see the humor in his own situation, but also in the machinations of the NFL.
Part truth-telling narrative, part whip-smart commentary that only a true insider could bring, part hilarious, NFL Confidential gives football fans a look at a world most would give anything to see, and gives non-fans a wild ride through the strange, and sometimes disturbing customs and realities of football today. Here is a truly unaffiliated look at the nation’s biggest, most lucrative pastime over the course of one of its most transformative seasons.
From hard-to-stomach diets, showdowns in the weight room, shenanigans in the locker room, the looming dread of being cut from the team, the racial issues that still exist in modern-day football, the rock-star lifestyle that players find themselves able to afford and sometimes enjoy a little too much, the notion of being lauded in a league plagued by controversy and the sharp contrast between the love/hate of the game and the reality of the job, Johnny reveals a never-before-seen side of the NFL.

First, I like football. I like to watch football, but like the background stories of the game and players even more, so that is why I picked up this book. 

As I was reading, I kept thinking how the author is anonymous and can basically say anything with no accountability. So, honestly, I took everything with a grain of salt. In the book the author spoke on how many players were smoking pot due to the league not drug testing the players during the season. He also shared how he would take three Toradols before the game so he (and many other players) could not feel the excruciating pain. And then after the game, when they can't even take off their jerseys due to being in such incredible pain, they wait for the pain to return, which is living hell. So, pot helps relieve the pain.  

Then the other day I was watching Real Sports on HBO (click here to watch the trailer) and they had a piece on how football players smoke pot to help with the severe pain in their bodies. It helps with the pain and is NOT addictive like the prescribed pain killers the league okays! I guess anonymous was telling the truth!

There are many other points that the author shares and gives a little insight to the egos of the coaches as well as how untouchable the starters are and how everyone who is not a starter can be easily replaced at a moments notice. 

I enjoyed the book and can't believe how it is a game of egos and the players aren't people, but viewed as pure commodities and entertainment. Not much else.