About Three Bricks Shy...and the Load Filled Up

�Imitation is the purest form of flattery,� or something to that effect.� I liked Triv�s book review of Lost Sundays, which I read some years ago, so much, that I�m continuing our literary bent and offering a review of About Three Bricks Shy�And the Load Filled Up, �by Roy Blount, Jr.

This book, which I apparently bought in paperback about 14 years ago for $9.95 is my favorite book of all time.� I�ve read, reread, and examined segments time and again.� It combines Blount�s 1974 book, About Three Bricks Shy of a Load, �a ongoing saga of the 1973 season, a season tremendous hope but �shy� in results, with a series of additional articles, �And the Load Filled Up, which brings the reader through all four Super Bowl seasons.

Blount spent the entire �73 season in Pittsburgh, and skillfully, weaves together a number of descriptive chapters with a chronological account of the season.� One of these chapters is �About the Title:

���� �..Craig Hanneman, a reserve defensive end from Oregon �.(said) �You picked the right ��

���������� team! Oh, a great bunch of guys! And a bunch of crazy fuckers!� I�m crazy, too!� We�re all

���������� about three bricks shy of a load.�

Incidentally, the Immaculate Reception likely would not have taken place without Hanneman.� He rushed hard inside from his right defensive end spot with one minute left on Dec. 23, 1972, allowing Ken Stabler to loop outside and run for a 30-yard TD with 1 minute left.

Another great chapter is Why Pittsburgh:

���� ��Pittsburgh has always been one of the drinkingest towns in the nations�.it is a good town for

������ walking past a bar and having somebody sitting outside it offer to whip your ass for you.�

Other great segments are on Fandom, Noll, Terry and Terry and Joe, and Race.� One of the best lines in the book is in Money, and Supe (referring to Mel Blount, no relation to the author):

���� ��As for pay, the Steelers� average salary was around $25,000 or a little higher��Of course,

������ as one Pittsburgh bartender put it, concerning even $25,000, �I�d have to suck 90 dicks a day

������ to make that kind of money.� �In Pittsburgh,� someone else said, �180.� �You know what I

������ mean?� said the bartender.�

�And the Load Filled Up, only 88 pages, provides the happy ending to this book.� I can�t offer a clue on where to purchase this book, but if� you can find, snap it up.� You�ll be immensely entertained.