MEAN JOE GREENE AND THE STEELERS' FRONT FOUR

Pittsburgh's awesome defensive line is a solid yet mobile half-ton of muscle appropriately dubbed ""The Steel Curtain."" It's composed of tackles Charles Edward ""Mean Joe"" Greene (6'4"", 275) and Ernie ""Fats"" Holmes (6'2"", 275) and defensive ends Dwight ""Mad Dog"" White (6'4"", 250) and L. C. ""Hollywood Bags"" Greenwood (6'6"", 240). Sportswriter Fox traces the careers of the four ""soul brothers"" from their similar southern backgrounds to their emergence as ""the most influential and cohesive unit"" of the 1975 NFL Champion Steelers. One isn't likely to forget that they thrashed Buffalo in the playoffs, then limited Oakland and Minnesota to an amazingly low total of forty-six yards rushing. The front four's Super Bowl achievements are even more impressive in light of White's sub-par physical condition (stricken with pleurisy and viral pneumonia) and Greenwood's lame-duck free agent status (since rectified by the WFL's financial collapse). This gridiron portrait can't compare with Roy Blount's prophetic About Three Bricks Shy of a Load (1974) even though it is quite competent in its own right.