Matthew Shepatin - Then Madden Said to Summerall. . .: The Best NFL Stories Ever Told

Acknowledgments

I would like, first of all, to thank Tom Bast, editorial director at Triumph Books, for having the faith to start me in the big game. A heartfelt thanks is due to my friend and colleague, Allen St. John, for his generous support. I wish to express my gratitude to my editor, Adam Motin, for his invaluable help and encouragement. Everyone at Triumph has displayed All-Pro talent; their dedication is greatly appreciated. Im also deeply indebted to Fred Koster of Koster Films; it was a sincere pleasure working with you.

I have a lot of friends and family who in some odd, cosmic way helped get this book written, and I give special thanks to them all. To my amazing, funky mom for supplying large quantities of love, laughter, Motown music, and Klondike bars. To Larry Sr., its been a joy being your son and watching Giants games with you on Sundays since I was a wee tyke. Thank you for making the worlds best tuna fish sandwich and helpfully reenacting L.T.s sacks, despite a decided weight advantage. The question is, now that Ive written a football book, are you willing to finally relinquish control of the clicker to me?

I want to thank my sister, Courtney, a bright shooting star. Youre my friendwinter, spring, summer, or fall. Bonnie, for the gift of you. You are as strong as you are loving and kind.

My gratitude extends to Bill Hofheimer, Dan Masonson, Robin Brendle, Leslie Anne Wade, Mark Mandel, Frank Gifford, Phil Simms, Jerry Rice, Mike Haynes, Tony Kornheiser, Sal Paolantonio, and Greg Cosell. Special thanks to Eric Levin at New Jersey Monthly , Eric Gillin and Matt Sullivan at Esquire , Chris Mad Dog Russo, Mark Reiter, Richard Sandomir, Alex Balk, and Elizabeth Spiers. Much gratitude to Kyle Smith; Manon Roux; Tom Cuddihy; Jane and Lee Zanger; John Brooks and Courtney OBrien; Roger Ziegler; Gabby Yung and little Jaslyn; Paul Lucas; Lilit Marcus; Dashiell Bennett; Dan Maccarone; Chris Rasmussen; Jeff Kurzon; Katie Baker; Larissa Phillips; Carl Bialik and Hunter Walker; Chris, Merel, Max, and Molly Monaco; Perry, Lisa, and Monika Julien; Bert and Adrienne Kestler; Pam Kestler and Emily and Jason Sagalow; and the rest of my extended family: Steve, Marilyn, Dana, and Jen Monsein; Jamey and Randi Hamm; and the gang at Roots Caf, Professor Thoms, and Destination. And, finally, thanks to you for reading this book. So say we all!

About the author

Matthew Shepatin is a New York Citybased author and journalist. His stories on American culture, entertainment, and sports have appeared in Esquire , Slate , the Los Angeles Times , Playboy , Radar , Time Out New York , and the Village Voice . A regular columnist for New Jersey Monthly , he is also a contributing writer on The Enlightened Bracketologist: The Final Four of Everything by Mark Reiter and Richard Sandomir, and The Mad Dog Hall of Fame: The Ultimate Top-Ten Rankings of the Best in Sports by Chris Russo and Allen St. John.