Pearlman begins his book with a blaze: the drama that ensued in the Cowboys locker room between Michael Irvin and Everett McIver. 

Pearlman doesn’t really solve the mystery of the incident, but he does provide some insight. It is no secret that to be the Playmaker, Irvin had to work hard at it. Pearlman explains that Irvin would run routes until he vomitted on himself. He worked so hard that he demanded respect. He didn’t like McIver, a young guy who played at a Division II college. He was big, but some beleived he appeared lazy, including the Playmaker. 

On this day in July 1998, the Cowboys were already seeing the decline of the dynasty, an obviously painful experience for Irvin. Irvin was on edge.

Players were getting haircuts and Irvin told McIver to get out of the chair. McIver ingored the demand. Pearlman perfectly seizes on the drama of the event, offering a very tense play-by-play of how Irvin took a pair of scissors and slashed McIver’s throat.  

It is a perfect opening to a book that is 355 pages. You get through the first chapter and you don’t want to put the book down. 

Chapter 2 is on Tom Landry’s unfortunate ending in Dallas and the Jerry Jones-Jimmy Johnson era.