Pride of Detroit Offseason Book Club review: “Blood, Sweat and Chalk”

We have finally done it. A mere two-and-a-half months after we assigned the latest Pride of Detroit Offseason Book Club book, we have finally gathered to discuss it.

“Blood, Sweat and Chalk” was a series of collective stories about the emergence of over twenty different football schemes, ranging from the Wildcat to the misnomered West Coast Offense to the Tampa-Two.

It’s a fascinating read about not only how football schemes are invented, but how they are popularized and appropriated by coaches ranging from the high school level to the NFL.

So this week our own Andrew Kato joined me to discuss our thoughts on the book, our favorite stories provided by author Tim Layden, and we finish our discussion by tying it back into the Detroit Lions, seeing as the team now has a coach whose defensive system has created six straight seasons of top-10 scoring defenses.

Give it a listen to below (if you can’t see it click here). Be sure to share your thoughts on our inaugural spin-off podcast, and if you read the book yourself, feel free to discuss it in the comment section below. Andrew and I will be around to talk about it more.

And stay tuned for later in the week when we announce June’s Offseason Book Club assignment.

Previous Book Club editions: Football Scouting Methods by Steve Belichick