Seventeen and Oh: Miami, 1972, and the NFL's Only Perfect Season

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Description

The 1972 Miami Dolphins had something to prove. Losers in the previous Super Bowl, a ragtag bunch of overlooked, underappreciated, or just plain old players, they were led by Don Shula, a genius young coach obsessed with obliterating the reputation that he couldn't win the big game. And as the Dolphins headed into only their seventh season, all eyes were on Miami. For the last time, a city was hosting both national political conventions, and the backdrop to this season of redemption would be turbulent: the culture wars, the Nixon reelection campaign, the strange, unfolding saga of Watergate, and the war in Vietnam.

Generational and cultural divides abounded on the team as well. There were long-haired, bell-bottomed party animals such as Jim "Mad Dog" Mandich, as well as the stylish Marv Fleming and Curtis Johnson, with his supernova afro, playing alongside conservative, straight-laced men like the quarterbacks: Bob Griese and the crew-cut savior, 38-year-old backup Earl Morrall. Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick, nicknamed "Butch and Sundance," had to make way for a third running back, the outspoken and flamboyant Mercury Morris. But unlike the fractious society around them, this racially and culturally diverse group found a way to meld seamlessly into a team. The perfect team. Marshall Jon Fisher's Seventeen and Oh is a compelling, fast-paced account of a season unlike any other.

Reviews

This is the perfect book for that perfect football season, filled with imperfect playerscastoffs and has-beensunder a perfectionist coach against the background of a perfect historical storm of Jim Crow, Watergate, and the Vietnam War. A terrific read. * Robert Lipsyte *
Terrific. * Mike Vaccaro, New York Post *
This book is tremendous. * Chris "Mad Dog" Russo *
Maybe the best football book Ive read. Certainly the most distinctive subject matter, the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Fisher has a smooth narrative style, both in describing 17 football games and providing backgrounds of the men who helped win all 17 of them. The Dolphins story is also placed in context, both South Florida in the early Seventies, and the weight of Watergate and Vietnam growing across the country. I enjoyed every page. * Frank Murtaugh, longtime managing editor, Memphis magazine; sportswriter for the Memphis Flyer. *

Author Bio

Marshall Jon Fishers work has appeared in the Atlantic, Harpers, and other magazines, and has been collected in Best American Essays. His 2009 book A Terrible Splendor was published to great acclaim, winning the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. Fisher grew up in Miami and lives in the Berkshires.