"We started out together in 1970 as the worst team in the league -- a ragtag crew of literal no-names who fell under the domain of a dogmatic coach. 'No one's guaranteed a spot on this team,' he told us. And then he proceeded to chip away at every trait, every characteristic that kept us from greatness."
A memoir from perhaps the greatest all-around fullback to ever play the game, “Head On” features a collection of memories from various moments in Larry Csonka’s life. From growing up in rural Ohio to an unreal life schedule at Syracuse to his halcyon days with the Miami Dolphins, “Zonk” is a mix of Paul Bunyan and one of the Festrunk Brothers ("two wild and crazy guys").
The chronological jumps can make it difficult to follow the narrative, and there are significant stretches of his life that seem to be almost completely skipped over. There is a pervasive melancholy throughout the book as well, as lost potential, lost friends, and lost opportunities abound.
In the acknowledgements, Csonka recognizes how quickly the book had to come together to align with the 50th anniversary of Miami’s 1972 “Perfect Season,” and that haste is sadly evident in “Head On.” Longtime Dolphins fans will appreciate the insights, but there is very little new here that hasn’t been shared in other, better books, and one finishes this account wishing there was a little more transparency and even vulnerability from the author.
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