As a lifelong eagles fan who is too young to remember this team, the book provides excellent insight into the coaches, players and sports media of Philadelphia

Before Black Hawk down Mark Bowden was a Philadelphia Eagle beat writer for the Inquirer during the the crazy, but exciting, Buddy Ryan era in the late Eighties.
Bringing the Heat is a hidden gem in the field of football writing.
It is a great read for Eagle fans and fans of the NFL in the late Eighties.

Great book, even non Philadelphia Eagles fans could love it, very interesting, great read.

I have always been a Mark Bowden fan, and in my opinion he is one of the best investigative reporters of our time. I had never realized he started his career as a sports reporter in Philadelphia. This book is a look at the Philadelphia Eagles during the early 1990's.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* I don't know if they were typical of an NFL team at the time, but the Eagles certainly had their share of characters. Bowden captures the life and times of these guys, and their families, as they navigate life as football stars. The material covered in the book is probably 80% about the players, coaches and owners lives, and only 20% about actual football. This is good because the personal lives are far more interesting.

* In the book, we meet an ordained reverend running a ministry from the defensive line, a star quarterback as interested in GQ as Sports Illustrated, a coach with some unorthodox ideas on motivation, and an owner who expects to be loved by the fans. The personalities and the stories are fascinating. Bowden devotes a good portion of the narrative to capturing the antics of 20 year-old men, treated as football heroes through most of their lives, suddenly having 6-figure paydays. The results are about what you would expect. I don't want to spoil the book, but one brief example. One player built a new house for himself, a large "starter" mansion, and moved into it without taking his live-in girlfriend of several years.

* There is some interesting detail on actually playing football, and for the most part this was interesting. But the highlight of the book are the characters playing and managing the team.

=== The Not-So-Good Stuff ===

* A few of the stories get a bit repetitive. Just about all of the major players seem to have a wife, girlfriend, mistress and a team of "hangers on" in various cities.

=== Summary ===

I enjoyed this book, and had trouble putting it down. I must admit I was born in Pennsylvania, so I have been an Eagles fan for a long time, (at least until the current felon-Quarterback showed up). Still, I think the book is interesting enough that non-Eagles fans will enjoy it...and maybe even non-football fans. The book is a marvelous study of the mix of testosterone, money and fame, and how different people react to that environment.

I could have done without the author profiling each of the stars of the team all the way back to their births. Personally I don't care what Jerome Brown or Reggie White were like as 4 year-olds, just get to the point already.