One of my favorite books from 2006 was Johnny U, a biography of my boyhood idol and favorite football player ever, now out in paperback).

The writer of the book is Tom Callahan, who returns this month with a new book called The GM, an account of a season (last season, to be exact), spent at the elbow of Ernie Accorsi, who was then in his last season as the general manager of the New York Giants. Accorsi is a lovable character—funny, sarcastic, perceptive, down-to-earth—and to enjoy this prolonged close-up is to learn something of the NFL game from a very privileged position—from that of the man who is the team’s chief architect, chief critic, and chief fan. Fans of the Giants will especially enjoy this view of the team’s personalities, and of a promising season that turned sour. Accorsi’s critique of coach Tom Coughlin’s performance in a loss to the Bears at a pivotal point in the season is especially memorable.

Tom Callahan took some of our questions.

PLAYBOY: You've been a sportswriter for a long time, but for this book, you had complete access to Ernie Accorsi. What did you learn, or what surprised you, about the job of GM that this unique perspective accorded you?
CALLAHAN: I’d been around pro football teams before. When I was a newspaper columnist first in Cincinnati and then in Washington, I traveled with the Bengals and Redskins, covering all of the games. But this was the first time I ever walked the corridors of the front office on the morning after a big victory or a hard loss. From the president of the team down to the youngest secretary, the depth of emotion—high and low—was stunning. The GM hasn’t time to mope or celebrate. He’s too busy fixing the roster, fencing with the coach, encouraging the quarterback.

PLAYBOY: As your book shows, the win-loss record seems like a crude measurement of whether an NFL GM is doing a good job. How should a fan evaluate the performance of a GM?
CALLAHAN: Accorsi’s complicated pursuit of Bernie Kosar for the Cleveland Browns, his uncomplicated choice of Eli Manning for the Giants, are ways Ernie can be measured. He influenced Art Modell to hire Coach Marty Schottenheimer (later Bill Bellichick), and John Mara to hire Tom Coughlin. The fans are certainly entitled to have an opinion about that. But general managing is a big-picture job, and the picture takes a while to develop.

PLAYBOY: Your book is full of sketches of personalities on the team. How much a role does the management of personalities, as opposed to the management of football issues, by a coach or GM, play in the success or failure of a modern NFL team?
CALLAHAN: Listening to Eli Manning as he talked gently about Plaxico Burress, Michael Strahan as he talked honestly about Tom Coughlin, LeVar Arrington as he talked heartbreakingly about public expectations and private failures, underlined for me what Accorsi meant when he said: “When we select players, we are selecting people. Will this guy be a good teammate?”

PLAYBOY: Accorsi obviously had a long and successful career, but was never the GM of a team that won the Super Bowl. Did writing this book give you any insight into that ineffable quality which makes an ultimate champion?
CALLAHAN: Ernie participated in a winning Super Bowl as a scout with the Baltimore Colts (Super Bowl V). His only Giants team that reached a Super Bowl lost emphatically to the Ravens. In his farewell address to the 2006 Giants, Accorsi told the players, “I had something to do with acquiring every one of you. You’re good kids. Stay together. Trust each other and be good teammates to one another.” He hasn’t given up on that ultimate championship.

PLAYBOY: Is there something about the game that even most ardent fans just don't get unless they've had the chance to be around a team?
CALLAHAN: You have to stand right next to professional football players to realize how large they are. You have to put the notebook away and just talk to them to realize how fragile they are. The way writers like to give the impression that they’re never really working, pro athletes like to pretend that they’re playing mostly for the money. “To make your living, your life, at a game,” punter Sean Landeta said. “It’s a little boy’s dream, isn’t it?” There’s still a little boy in there somewhere. “You can see it, can’t you?” Landeta said. “In their eyes?”