The Great NFL Fun Book- Where the Football Love Started

The 1970s kids NFL Bible

As I said in an earlier post about the magic of Scholastic book fairs and the NFL, my love for the game began in school. Why is that besides it was just a magical time where there was no Internet, social media, 4K streaming, etc? I credit (and blame) the ones who marketed the game and figured out that in order for the NFL and pro football (take notes CFL Commissioner) to prosper, you needed to feed gridiron crack to the kids, and for kids, Scholastic book fairs were academic crack fairs where kids discovered what truly interested them. I am not saying sports books are bad, because without them I never would have paid attention to geography, poetry (thank you Steve Sabol and John Facenda) or taken such an avid interest in reading.   Among the best books of that late 70s era besides All-Pro Football Stars was The Great NFL Fun Book I & II, which if you had them, I don't need to remind you of just how awesome it was a ten year old to read and get lost in.  They just don't make books for child sports fans like this these days.  Don't believe me? Give it a read here for free courtesy of the Internet Archive....