I’m three chapters into this book, and I can’t stop reading it.  I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes from the book so far.

I watch the 49ers on TV all year with a new appreciation of the machine.  For the first time I’m seeing the big picture through the small screen.   I listen to the announcers and read the papers.  The media narratives are sensational and simplistic, and when compared to what I know about the team, sound like drivel.

-Nate Jackson, “Slow Getting Up” , Page 22

I’d also describe most statistical analysis of sports that is done by the general media as “sensational and simplistic”.  I just don’t think the public has any desire for unremarkable nuanced statistical analysis or narratives.  And the two are not unrelated.  I’ve seen so many examples of sports writers who overly simplify statistics in order to support their sensationalistic narratives.  And if you want to read that stuff, feel free.  It’s just not what I’m interested in reading or writing about.

Every morning when I jump onto the soft leather seat and turn over the sweet engine, I tell myself that I better have a great day at practice or I won’t be making the payments.  I’l be “workin’ a nine-to-five with a thirty minute”, just like our special teams coach Ronnie Bradford says will happen to us if we keep fucking up plays.

-Nate Jackson, “Slow Getting Up” , Page 33

I absolutely LOVE the phrase “a nine-to-five with a thirty minute.”

Cheers.