- Hardcover: 304 pages
- Publisher: Wiley; First Printing edition (Sep 20 2007)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0470153458
- ISBN-13: 978-0470153451
- Product Dimensions: 16.3 x 2.7 x 23.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 567 g
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#227,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #89 in Books > Sports > Miscellaneous > Essays
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
Praise for The Water Boy
"From league to league, from country to country, from small towns to big cities, Bob has seen it all! His football tales and football travels are fascinating. Bob Ackles has literally gone all the way!"
—Chris Berman, ESPN
"I have known Bobby Ackles since he was the Water Boy. Now he is the Wonder Boy! Bobby Ackles didn’t put the BC Lions on the map once. He put them on the map twice! Bobby has done more for the game of football than anyone I know. And he isn’t stopping yet. Go, Bobby, go!"
—Allan Fotheringham, Author
"Bob Ackles is in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He is also a charter member of the ‘Nice Guys Hall of Fame.’ I’m honored to call Bob a friend. He is one of the most accomplished executives in all of sports and his story will be must reading for any sports fan."
—Bill Pollian, President of the Indianapolis Colts
"Bob and Kay Ackles have experienced ultimate highs and lows in every level of professional football in two countries. In the years Bob worked for me both with the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins he was a loyal, tireless worker. He was always upbeat and positive. Bob and Kay are wonderful people who have some great stories about their experiences."
—Jimmy Johnson, Former Head Coach of the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys
"Bobby Ackles is truly a living legend in British Columbia. He proves that nice guys can win! They don’t make ’em any better than Bobby!"
—Jim Pattison, President, the Pattison Group
Product Description
Praise for The Water Boy
"From league to league, from country to country, from small towns to big cities, Bob has seen it all! His football tales and football travels are fascinating. Bob Ackles has literally gone all the way!"
—Chris Berman, ESPN
"I have known Bobby Ackles since he was the Water Boy. Now he is the Wonder Boy! Bobby Ackles didn’t put the BC Lions on the map once. He put them on the map twice! Bobby has done more for the game of football than anyone I know. And he isn’t stopping yet. Go, Bobby, go!"
—Allan Fotheringham, Author
"Bob Ackles is in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He is also a charter member of the ‘Nice Guys Hall of Fame.’ I’m honored to call Bob a friend. He is one of the most accomplished executives in all of sports and his story will be must reading for any sports fan."
—Bill Pollian, President of the Indianapolis Colts
"Bob and Kay Ackles have experienced ultimate highs and lows in every level of professional football in two countries. In the years Bob worked for me both with the Dallas Cowboys and the Miami Dolphins he was a loyal, tireless worker. He was always upbeat and positive. Bob and Kay are wonderful people who have some great stories about their experiences."
—Jimmy Johnson, Former Head Coach of the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys
"Bobby Ackles is truly a living legend in British Columbia. He proves that nice guys can win! They don’t make ’em any better than Bobby!"
—Jim Pattison, President, the Pattison Group
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Football Treasure, May 25 2009
By Badger75 - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Water Boy: From the Sidelines to the Owner's Box: Inside the CFL, the XFL, and the NFL (Hardcover)
Being an avid collector of books on pro football and a bit of a football historian, I found "The Waterboy" to be a rare read. Having never heard of Bob Ackles, I was intrigued by the premise of his book. He was the GM of the BC Lions of the CFL for over 30 years. He devoted 16 years as an executive with the NFL Dallas Cowboys, Phoenix Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins. He was in on the ground floor of the zany XFL to top it off. Forty years as a top football executive in both Canada and the U.S. gave him a unique vantage point to observe and comment on the state of the game.He was never acerbic but always pointed in his observations. He arrived with the Cowboys just before the transition from the Tom Landry era to the Jerry Jones-Jimmy Johnson regime. He left just before the first Cowboys Super Bowl, having helped to obtain some of the key talent. Moving to the Phoenix Cardinals, the contrast from the Jones-Johnson Cowboys to the Bidwell family was an eye openner. His observations on why teams thrive or fail is fascinating. In Jerry Jones Cowboys organization, scouts and front office personnel didn't get playoff shares yet in Vince McMahon's XFL everyone got paid.
If you enjoy pro football and wonder how it really works this book is a gem.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Poorly written, but very entertaining, Oct 8 2009
By Jeremy Crowhurst - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Water Boy: From the Sidelines to the Owner's Box: Inside the CFL, the XFL, and the NFL (Paperback)
This is a very engaging and entertaining read, that is essential reading for CFL fans. Ackles' career path (nicely summarized in the subtitle) is unique, and he shows a side to many aspects of professional football that you won't find anywhere else. He is candid in his praise, which isn't unusual in these sorts of books, and candid in his criticism, which I've found to be rare.What I found most interesting were his experiences in the NFL, in particular the contrasts he found between the Cowboys and Cardinals organizations. In a few short pages, Ackles gets straight to the heart of why the Cardinals have been such a dismal failure under the ownership of the Bidwell family.
Even die-hard NFL fans will find things here that they didn't know. For example, the Herschel Walker trade has become the stuff of legend at this point. What isn't generally known is that the trade came about because of the Cleveland Browns, and an injury to their RB Kevin Mack. That got the ball rolling, and led to the Cowboys seeing if they could get a better offer from the Vikings. Obviously, they did.
The big weakness of the book is in the writing. The choice of local newspaper columnist Ian Mulgrew as a co-writer is particularly mystifying. Mulgrew isn't the writer that he was even ten years ago. He lacks of focus and organization, and usually resulting in a piece that is fairly rambling. That's bad in a column, and a disaster in a book. Mulgrew's great strength used to be in pushing for answers to the tough questions that go to the heart of what he was writing about. But these days he just asks the questions without looking for the answers.
There was a lot of great material that was there to be had, if Mulgrew had taken the time to press Ackles harder, and get him to go deeper on some aspects of his story. Indeed, Ackles provides great insight into several situations, like the rapid decline of the 1964 B.C. Lions, and provides anecdotes that speak volumes about Buddy Ryan, Bill Bidwell, Adam Rita, and others. But other times he'll simply say something like, "I knew Cal Murphy just didn't have what it takes to get us to the next level." Well... what didn't he have? That sort of thing happens over and over throughout the book. I can't help but think that there was the potential here for something truly great, a football equivalent of Dryden's "The Game".
Ignoring what could have been and looking at what is, in the end, the result is a book that is all over the place in terms of the writing, but engaging and informative in terms of the content. I can't give it more than three stars, but I do recommend it highly.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great entertaining read!, Sep 28 2009
By Mark Stratocaster "Green Nova" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Water Boy: From the Sidelines to the Owner's Box: Inside the CFL, the XFL, and the NFL (Hardcover)
I'm just finishing this book as I write this. a must read for any football fan, especially those who follow the CFL or NFL.I live in Vancouver where the BC Lions and Bobby Ackles got their start in 1954. Even NFL fans less familiar with the Canadian League will appreciate the many great memories and hilarious stories Bobby has to tell about our storied leagues history, and there is still a lot of NFL in the book as well. I was at many of the games he mentions, some of the best, worst, and funniest momments from the great era of BC Lion and CFL football from the early 70's through to the present. The vintage stuff from 1954 through the 60's is great as well. Sadly Bobby Ackles passed away from a heart attack suddenly on Bowen Island BC in the summer of 2008 just as the football season had began.He was doing what he loved as President and CEO of the team he started with, responsible for its re-birth, and out on a weekend boating trip. Football in Canada will never be the same with out him but the BC Lions will continue to play many more games in their history thanks to Bobby Ackles passion and commitment to this great game of football.
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