"No, Coach, I don't," the player said. "But I'm not done chasing."
Feinstein was there when coaches yelled at players, coaches screamed at referees and coaches sniped at coaches. He memorably recounts an explosive confrontation between the defensive coordinator, Mike Nolan, and the offensive coordinator, Matt Cavanaugh, who were both in the press box at the time. "Pass, pass, pass!" Nolan shouted unreservedly at Cavanaugh, whose tenuous status with the team is a continuing theme in the book. "What the hell are you doing!"
This is a very serious book, with few flashes of humor. The team's former clown prince, Tony Siragusa, retired in 2002 to patrol the sidelines for Fox's network telecasts. The Ravens of 2004 are, like all other teams, on a weekly march toward physical ruin, as Feinstein amply illustrates, as well as a model of the NFL's financial Darwinism. Salaries are not guaranteed from year to year, and sleep-deprived coaches can dispense with players if they've lost a step or are scheduled to earn too much in the coming season.
Feinstein compellingly tells of the slide of Chris McAlister, a defensive back who seems to lose his desire soon after signing a huge new contract; he watches as the team's brain trust plans an athletic intervention for McAlister, a loner with a penchant for partying. "He's not doing anything in practice," says one coach. "He's not competing."
Without their knowing, another player, Corey Fuller, himself on shaky ground, confronts McAlister and rights his listing teammate in terms he wouldn't accept from the coaches.
"For the money they're paying you, they don't expect you to play well some of the time, they expect you to play well all the time," he tells him.
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