Celebrating 50 years of America’s Team

Posted Sep 12, 2010 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Sep 12, 2010 at 08:13 PM

Marty Strasen always has had the ability to take loads of facts and compress them into something very readable.

The former tbo.com sportswriter and producer had plenty of experience doing that for The Tampa Tribune’s website. He also wrote those brief bios you see on the back of sports cards, so he’s no stranger to brevity and clarity.

And if you’re a Dallas Cowboys fan, you will benefit from those talents.

Strasen’s latest book says it all for fans of America’s Team: “Cowboys Chronicles: A Complete History of the Dallas Cowboys” (Triumph Books, $27.95). This book breaks down every regular-season and postseason game played by the Cowboys since 1960, and does it in capsule form.

If you are looking for depth, forget it. It would be impossible to go into a great deal of detail about every game — unless you wanted to plow through a 1,000-page book (or more), and Strasen’s effort spans 406 pages. And certainly, you get the feeling that some games — the Ice Bowl loss to the Packers in 1967 or the “Hail Mary” playoff win against the Vikings in 1975 — should have gotten larger play.

But by giving equal weight, Strasen makes this book a nice, quick read. Super Bowl games get special treatment, and the book is sprinkled with small features about Tom Landry, Troy Aikman, Jimmy Johnson (unfortunately, his name is spelled “Jimmie” in a caption), Tex Schramm, Chuck Howley, Don Meredith, Bob Lilly, Jerry Jones and Calvin Hill, to name just a few.

The Cowboys have had a colorful 50-year history. Strasen’s work pulls it all together into a compact, entertaining source.