A Deep Dive into the USFL Experiment and Failure

New York Times best-selling author Jeff Pearlman has never been paid so little to write a book. Those are his words, not mine, but nothing could better illustrate what a labor of love Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL is for Pearlman.

The USFL is almost a forgotten league, but it's where some of the NFL's greatest players started their professional football careers in the 1980s. The USFL not only offered highly-competitive pay compared to the NFL, its games took place during the NFL offseason. Most owners knew better than to create a head-to-head scenario. All, but one owner that is.

Pearlman has written extensively about football, from his Sports Illustrated days to his many books on the sport including Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton, Gunslinger: The Remarkable, Improbable, Iconic Life of Brett Favre and Boys Will be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty.

In his interview on Big Board Sports, Pearlman explains why this book was so important for him to write and why it's such an entertaining and educational read: