A consumer’s guide to the best and worst of sports media and merchandise. Ground rules: If it can be read, played, heard, observed, worn, viewed, dialed or downloaded, it’s in play here.

Where: Bookstores everywhere.

Somewhere in my parents’ garage sits an electric football set with the Miami Dolphins and the Minnesota Vikings.

(I can still hear the buzzing).

Somewhere next to it are mint-condition cards of Paul Warfield, Larry Csonka, Mercury Morris and Bob Griese, among others. There’s also a No. 12 Griese jersey which is so authentic it has been retired just like Bob’s.

Such is my legacy as a Dolphin fan.

After reading “Shark Among Dolphins,” I’ll keep that box of Dolphin memories. Those players had much more fun than these Fish.

Part of the reason is inherent in a book that is about current people and events. Today’s events give a different perspective to yesterday’s happenings.

Author Steve Hubbard has covered the NFL for a long time, and his inside access provides interesting anecdotes, insight to being an NFL coach and the many sides of Jimmy Johnson.

But I think Hubbard, a fine writer, is a bit too enamored with Johnson’s ascension. He seems to easily dismiss Don Shula’s coaching ability, which took a team with David Woodley at quarterback to the Super Bowl.

The book absolutely glows about Johnson’s ability to judge talent or get the most out of talent on hand. But when Johnson couldn’t coax his players into the playoffs, it was their fault.

In the second season of his three-year plan to get the Dolphins back in the Super Bowl, Johnson is making Shula look pretty good by getting the most out of the talent on hand.

But it is simply too early to treat Johnson like a genius, as he is in this book. It’s only his second stint in the NFL, and his first one wasn’t as long as it was successful.

That’s not to say Johnson isn’t deserving of respect, but “Shark Among Dolphins” seems like it’s rushing the coronation.

Too bad, because Hubbard’s greatest success in his endeavor is his access-all-areas story-telling.