About Three Bricks Shy Of A Load
by Roy Blount, Jr.
Adam Gopnick praised this memorable and witty tale of a season with the 1973 Pittsburgh Steelers, a team that would shortly become a dynasty but that was, in 1973, about three bricks shy of a load. I've always enjoyed Blount on Wait Wait! Don’t Tell Me! and I needed some sort of break from Iraq.
What’s especially interesting about Blount's season is that he winds up feeling about football like a player. It’s a job. A lot hangs in the balance, but it’s a dirty, messy, uncomfortable chore. It turns out it was a dangerous job as well; just thirty years later, a shocking number of these young athletes are dead.
Asked how he feels after a loss, coach Noll replies:
"It hasn't changed. I still feel with my hands." Sometimes, you had to hand it to Noll.