Autumn Thunder Book Club: What It Takes To Be Number One.

More like Vince LomBOREdi.

I know the Autumn Thunder book club has been dormant for a while, and I apologize for that. Anyway, the latest installment of the ATBC is "How To Be Number One" by Vince Lombardi, Jr., a book about the values and mottos of his father, Vince Lombardi, Sr. As most of us know, Lombardi was one of the most successful coaches in NFL history, and he had amazing success in Green Bay as he turned around one of the NFL's most hopeless programs into a yearly juggernaut.

He may have been an outstanding coach - but this book suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

Compared to "Bo's Lasting Lessons," the Lombardi book is long-winded, dry, and preachy. It is somewhat impersonal, which is an iceberg which can quickly sink any leadership/motivational book. After reading it, I felt like I just got out of one of those company meetings where the boss tries to pep us up, we all clap at the end, but under our breath we all say "what a load of empty fluff."

Mikey knows "what it takes to take a number one" on my floor quite often.

Buy or skip? Definitely skip. If you want, you can avoid Lombardi Jr.'s cardboard writing and read the speech which made Lombardi famous as a corporate speaker (see thoughts above). If you really want a good leadership/motivational with football anecdotes, my number one choice is still "Bo's Lasting Lessons." I'm not shilling for Bo, John U. Bacon, or Michigan - it's just better in all aspects.