What was the greatest game ever? Finally, a sports book legitimately answers this classic question. Sports fans will thrill to re-live The Games That Rate.

And, they will not have to accept a list of the greatest games on faith. When asked what was the greatest game ever, many will answer with a question of their own: How do you decide? The Games That Rate answers that question, too

For the first time, a sports book shares its ratings system with the readers. The Criteria that determine The Games That Rate are novel and intriguing. Yet, the Criteria make sense because they are intuitive and easy for the sports fan to apply. No supercomputers or secret access to an athlete are needed to rate The Games That Rate.

Most games, of course, do not rate. Knowledgeable sports fans are certain to ask, "What about the such-and-such game?" The Eliminated Events chapter summarizes dozens of memorable games that fail at least one of the Criteria.

The Games That Rate are well-known even to casual sports fans. All have impacted sports measurably. And, the greatest of The Games That Rate challenges us to recognize what we should value in sports, including athletes and sports that deserve our fervent support.

Gary Eisenberg is, like most of you reading this book, a sports fan. From memory he can tell you: (1) who won and lost every World Series; (2) who won and lost each Super Bowl, the score, the site and which team wore white jerseys; (3) every NBA champion and finalist; (4) every Stanley Cup champion since World War II; and (5) every winner and loser of each World Cup soccer final, the score and the order in which the teams scored the goals.

Like most of you reading this book, he does not write sports for a living. He is not employed by any sports organization or team. He is not an agent for athletes or a spokesman for teams or sports organizations.

By day, Eisenberg is a commercial law attorney. He, his wife, and their four children live in West Orange, New Jersey.

Eisenberg’s background has prepared him to write this book. He played basketball and soccer in high school. He did not play particularly well, but he played, at the junior varsity and high school club level. He knows what it means to run sprints for two hours, to get yelled at by the coach, and to be given one chance to sink a free throw and spare his teammates extra sprints. His 100% free-throw percentage in those situations far exceeded his 55% game-situation free-throw shooting.

He has experienced both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. He once turned a late-game interception into a game-winning touchdown in an intramural college co-ed touch football game. He also once let a ground ball through his legs in a teenage baseball league championship game with the score tied in the bottom of the last inning, with a runner on third and two outs.

On the journalistic side of sports, over a decade ago he was a sports editor for a college newspaper. He covered college football games with crowds of over 50,000, baseball, soccer, and women’s fencing.

In addition to the idea for this book, Eisenberg has developed one other original thought. He has figured out a way to tell you in five seconds or less after you tell him your birth date the day of the week on which you were born. He’ll gladly do this for anyone who buys The Games That Rate.

I suppose some of you are pulling your hair out now trying to figure out what events are The Games That Rate. If I were in your position, that would not be a problem for me. I have no hair to pull out (I exclude my beard).

The Games That Rate consist of Reserves, Starters and Co-Captains. All of these events are well-known. Reserves satisfy all of the Criteria, in my opinion – but I can point to one Criteria for each Reserve that I expect you to say is lacking. The Starters meet all of the Criteria. One Co-Captain is an event that many of you feverishly will want to believe meets all of the Criteria. The other indisputably does more so than any other event in team sports from WWII to MM and thus garners the MAE (the Most Awe-Inspiring Event).

The format for the rest of the book is straightforward. Each chapter covers one of The Games That Rate. First, I show how each satisfies the Criteria. Then, the game is retold. You will see some things that surprise you. This book highlights certain points about each of these contests that may have faded from general public memory. Often, it is precisely those points that solidify each’s designation as one of The Games That Rate. Those points may result in those contests’ descriptions being slightly different from what you remember. Trust me; you can look it up (nobody ever bothers to, but I'm prepared if you do).

You will probably disagree with one or more of the choices anyway. That is the sports fan's birthright.

The Games That Rate are: