Spies on the sidelines The high-stakes world of NFL espionage

Books on specific athletic cheating scandals or cheating in sports more generally abound, illustrated by examples such as Fran Zimniuch's Crooked: A History of Cheating in Sports (2009). Considering the many scandals seen within the NFL during the past decade, the book under review is timely. After spending more than two decades working in the Department of Defense and possessing a degree in sports management as well, Bryant is uniquely situated to research and analyze espionage in the NFL. The book examines the whys and hows of high-stakes spying across teams and decades. With players' and coaches' livelihoods, reputations, and egos on the line with every win or loss, the whys become obvious. The hows include craft as varied as gaining access to playbooks, surreptitious spying on practices and workout routines, and collecting competitive intelligence information on prospects. In execution, the anecdotes are worthy of a Cold War spy novel. The author also takes a deep dive into the well-documented New England Patriots' Spygate and Deflategate scandals of recent memory. Although Bryant does cite sources, overall this work is rather breezy and not particularly academic in its approach. Considering the nature of its subject matter, though, the book is likely better off for its somewhat casual approach to sourcing. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Brent D. Singleton, California State University--San Bernardino