Bigger than the game : Bo, Boz, the punky QB, and the making of the modern athlete in the eighties

the long version

Greed and excess defined the 1980s, and the sports world was no exception. Shifting from the love of the game to the love of money, athletes made the transition from representing honor and humility to becoming brash and branded. Capturing the stories of headliners who capitalized on this trend, sportswriter Michael Weinreb charts the rise and (sometimes spectacular) fall of four athletes in one of the most dramatic eras in sports: Jim McMahon, who took the Chicago Bears to Super Bowl glory despite his penchant for partying and his aversion to following the game plan; Brian Bosworth, the University of Oklahoma linebacker who mugged for the cameras while calling the NCAA a communist organization; Bo Jackson, who pursued promising careers in both pro football and baseball; and Len Bias, poised to ensure the Boston Celtics' dominance but who died of a cocaine overdose just one day after the draft.--From publisher description.