About this Event
Join us at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore on Thursday, September 26th at 7:00m PM when famed sports journalist and television analyst Michael Silver comes to the store for the West Coast Launch of his new book The Why Is Everything: A Story of Football, Rivalry, and Revolution. Michael will read from and disuss his book and will sign copies after the presentation.
to preorder a copy of The Why Is Everything
THE WHY IS EVERYTHING: A Story of Football, Rivalry, and Revolution, by award-winning journalist Michael Silver, is the story of a cadre of cutting-edge coaches who rejected the prevailing paradigm, battled for supremacy, and created their own magic to fundamentally remake America’s most popular sport.
When Kyle Shanahan became the NFL’s youngest offensive coordinator in 2008, he had one prevailing rule: Tell me the why. If a colleague couldn’t justify his position by providing the unassailable reasoning behind it, he was told to get the hell out of Shanahan’s office. Shanahan and the members of his coaching tree—including Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Raheem Morris, and Matt LaFleur—came up in a sport where innovation was the exception, not the rule. There had been brilliant football minds before, from Paul Brown to Bill Walsh to Bill Belichick. But for the most part, coaches learned a particular system and stuck to it no matter what—no matter the players on their team, no matter what the opponent might do.
This group of young coaches would change all that. The Why Is Everything is the story of old dogmas falling before astonishingly creative new strategies and game plans. Drawing on unmatched access across the league, longtime NFL reporter Mike Silver takes us into the key moments in this still-unfolding revolution, from the education of Mike Shanahan, Kyle’s father and a two-time Super Bowl champion, in the 1980s; to the Washington Redskins’ football laboratory in the early 2010s, where the coaches first worked together, shocking the league with their cutting-edge scheme for rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III; to McVay’s Super Bowl victory in 2022 and Kyle Shanahan’s Super Bowl agony in 2019 and 2024.
Less than a decade after their emergence, these men are the stars of their profession and have helped propel the NFL to new heights of viewership and drama. With The Why Is Everything, Silver reveals how it all happened, and in the process gives us a timeless account of friendship, rivalry, and the never-ending pursuit of perfection.
MICHAEL SILVER is an award-winning sports journalist and television analyst. Previously a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, a columnist for Yahoo! Sports, and analyst for the NFL Network, he's currently a San Fransisco Chronicle columnist. His books include All Things Possible, Walk on the Wild Side, Golden Girl, The Why is Everything, and Rice.
THIS EVENT is free but pre-registration is requested. Registration ends at 5:30 pm on September 26th.
BECAUSE SEATING is limited, please register only if you plan to attend.
DUE TO SPACE limitations, we may not be able to accommodate every person at an event, so early registration is encouraged.
WALK-INS will be accommodated only if space allows.
WE ASK that attendees arrive between 6:45 and 7:00 PM for the event.
PLEASE leave your non-support companion animals at home.
OUR shared restrooms are not accessible after 6:30 PM, please plan accordingly.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Mrs Dalloway's, 2904 College Avenue, Berkeley, United States
USD 0.00
