Jim Tressel

A Fire to Win: The Life and Times of Woody Hayes
$15.99
John Lombardo's A FIRE TO WIN is a good, not great biography of Woody Hayes.
Where Lombardo excells is looking at Hayes's Ohio roots growing up in Newcomerstown, his college days at Denison University in Granville, and his time coaching New Philadelphia. Where he stumbles is his picking and choosing of the narrative describing Hayes OSU seasons post-1950s. It is as if Lombardo had a book that naturally ended with the controversy surrounding the faculty vote in 1961 to keep OSU from playing in the Rose Bowl.

Still, any book centering on a character such as Hayes is always interesting reading.

100 Things Buckeyes Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die (100 Things 100 Things) (100 Things .... Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die)
$14.95
If you are a fan you likely know much, but not nearly all, of the stuff in this book. As a kid I had special access and used to play ball in the Horseshoe after every home game and know a lot of trivia but still learned a lot from this book. Seems like a good gift. If you are a fan buying this for another, consider buying two as you might find yourself keeping the book and scrambling to replace it.

Then Tress Said to Troy: The Best Ohio State Football Stories Ever Told with CD (Best Sports Stories Ever Told)
$22.95
As a devout Buckeye fan, I was very excited to read this book. Sadly, of the nearly 300 pages, about 20 contained stories I haven't heard a dozen times over. Not saying that's a bad thing but only fans new to the Buckeyes can get much from that.

The worst thing about the book though has to be the editing, or lack thereof. The massive amounts of typos and incorrect stats and stories were troubling, to say the least. Overall, a disappointment.

12-0: An Insider's Account of Ohio State's 2006 Championship Season
$14.95
Contrary to another reviewer's assertion, this book is not an "oops," nor is it "less relevant" because OSU went on to lose the title game to Florida. Such thinking ignores what an extraordinary feat (strength, discipline, fortitude) it is for any team to even make it to an NCAA national championship game, let alone to go into that game undefeated after a grueling Big Ten and out-of-conference schedule (including a win over a top-ranked University of Texas team). The fact that OSU has made it to three national championship games in six years, two national championship games in a row, and walked away with a victory over a seemingly unbeatable University of Miami team in 2002 is a testament to the fundamental relevance of the ideals espoused by the OSU coaching staff and embodied by the OSU players.