Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. These two will go down in the annuals of not just basketball history, but sports history, tied hand in hand. They revitalized the National Basketball Association with their fierce rivalry. But it started in an NCAA Division I college basketball championship game in 1979.
In When March Went Mad, Seth Davis recounts how the irrepressible and talented Ervin Magic Johnson of the Michigan State Spartans squared off against the small school hero Larry Bird of the Indiana State University Sycamores in what will always be a storied NCAA Championship Game.
In these pages Davis recounts the early lives of both of these young men, whose personalities and court styles were polar opposites. Bird, an introverted, hard working player who would have been just as happy cutting grass for the local Parks and Recreation Department as he was playing professional basketball, and the larger than life, happy go lucky, Ervin Johnson, with his huge smile and phenomenal basketball skills.
Headed toward a collision course, these two would remake the NCAA and it’s now wildly successful tournament. They were such great talents and good stories, they made the NCAA Championship Game must see TV before 24-hour news coverage and the over exposure of college basketball. In fact, outside die hard fans, few knew much of anything about Larry Bird, and not a great deal about Magic Johnson. Today of course we’d know what they ate for breakfast (and maybe even something about their bowel movements) during the tournament. In 1979, they created hoopla with their talent, as newspaper and magazine articles touted their exploits during the regular season.
Davis does an outstanding job of delving into the personality of both of these athletes and their route to that 1979 championship game where Earvin Johnson will forever have one up on Larry Bird. He provides stories behind each player’s team and teammates, how they interacted with the press, their peers, and their coaches, and how each lead their team to the showdown that changed the face of college basketball.
Beyond the obvious, detailing the first collision between two of the greatest basketball players of all time, this book has a theme. How this rivalry, which saved even the NBA from the doldrums, revitalized college basketball and made it relevant, and launched the careers of two superstars.
Highly recommended.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Tom Brady on the Couch
Moving the Chains: Tom Brady and the Pursuit of Everything by Charles P. Pierce
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0374214449
This is undoubtedly one of the oddest biographies I have ever read. And one of the most intriguing.
Author Charles Pierce tries to uncover what makes Tom Brady tic. What makes him such a consummate team player and leader on the field? What made a player drafted in the sixth round, whom nobody but maybe Bill Belichick and Scott Piloli, thought would ever amount to much in the pros, become a Hall of Fame bound quarterback, one of the best to have ever played?
There are a lot of things.
First, Brady was never the most gifted athlete and he had to work for everything through high school and college. In fact, he was barely recruited and his father put together a video package and he ultimately ended up at the University of Michigan. He persevered despite not even being a full time starter, even as a senior, despite that he was a winner.
Second, in the pros his work ethic is infectious to his teammates. He is the first to arrive and the last to leave. His hard work put him in a position to take over for Drew Bledsoe when he was hurt during the 2001 regular season and progress. He became the team leader that despite his talents Beldsoe never really was.
Third, he is a team first player. He truly buys in to the Patriots' modern day credo, there is no "I" in team. He doesn't care about stats, he cares about wins. But that has propelled him to put up unbelievable stats.
Elsa/Getty Images
And he his simply a nice person. He gives credit where credit is due. He doesn't do a lot of endorsements. And when he had the opportunity to do one for a credit card company he refused to do it unless his offensive linemen, his protectors, were involved. He wanted them to shine to.
Don't believe Tom Brady is a really good guy in a sport fraught with me first, selfish, athletes with an undertone of criminality? Read Charlie Weiss's book about his near death experience and how Brady helped him and his wife out in their time of greatest need. Read Tedy Bruschi's book that has a few anecdotes about what Brady's friendship means. Or simply read this book about to hear what his family, friends, and teammates have all said about his leadership skills. There is a reason his teammates and coaches have the utmost confidence in him.
The oddest aspect of this book is Brady himself did not participate in it and it really takes somewhat of a psychologist's approach at times in examining its subject. From the influence of his Catholic upbringing, the impact of his athletic older sisters who sometimes outshined him in his youth, to his perseverance in the face of sports adversity, you learn the inner workings of one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
This is a recommended read.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007
ISBN-13: 978-0374214449
This is undoubtedly one of the oddest biographies I have ever read. And one of the most intriguing.
Author Charles Pierce tries to uncover what makes Tom Brady tic. What makes him such a consummate team player and leader on the field? What made a player drafted in the sixth round, whom nobody but maybe Bill Belichick and Scott Piloli, thought would ever amount to much in the pros, become a Hall of Fame bound quarterback, one of the best to have ever played?
There are a lot of things.
First, Brady was never the most gifted athlete and he had to work for everything through high school and college. In fact, he was barely recruited and his father put together a video package and he ultimately ended up at the University of Michigan. He persevered despite not even being a full time starter, even as a senior, despite that he was a winner.
Second, in the pros his work ethic is infectious to his teammates. He is the first to arrive and the last to leave. His hard work put him in a position to take over for Drew Bledsoe when he was hurt during the 2001 regular season and progress. He became the team leader that despite his talents Beldsoe never really was.
Third, he is a team first player. He truly buys in to the Patriots' modern day credo, there is no "I" in team. He doesn't care about stats, he cares about wins. But that has propelled him to put up unbelievable stats.
Elsa/Getty Images And he his simply a nice person. He gives credit where credit is due. He doesn't do a lot of endorsements. And when he had the opportunity to do one for a credit card company he refused to do it unless his offensive linemen, his protectors, were involved. He wanted them to shine to.
Don't believe Tom Brady is a really good guy in a sport fraught with me first, selfish, athletes with an undertone of criminality? Read Charlie Weiss's book about his near death experience and how Brady helped him and his wife out in their time of greatest need. Read Tedy Bruschi's book that has a few anecdotes about what Brady's friendship means. Or simply read this book about to hear what his family, friends, and teammates have all said about his leadership skills. There is a reason his teammates and coaches have the utmost confidence in him.
The oddest aspect of this book is Brady himself did not participate in it and it really takes somewhat of a psychologist's approach at times in examining its subject. From the influence of his Catholic upbringing, the impact of his athletic older sisters who sometimes outshined him in his youth, to his perseverance in the face of sports adversity, you learn the inner workings of one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
This is a recommended read.
The 1970's Oakland Raiders
Love them or hate them, the 1970’s Oakland Raiders under John Madden were certainly an entertaining cast of misfits in the guise of one the best professional football teams of their era. Here, Peter Richmond tells the story of this cast of characters, and characters they were.
The distinctive personality of this team that set it apart from all others of the 1970’s was the perception that this was a group of outlaws and rebels who thumbed their noses at convention. Add to this the fact many were castoffs from other teams for behavioral or other issues, and you had a truly volatile band of misfits. But somehow the affable John Madden, who was the perfect coach for this team, was able to take this group of irrepressible “adults” and mold them into a feared, championship football team. Having read this account of the 1970’s Raiders, I almost liken John Madden to Santa Clause trapped on the island for misfit toys trying to using his magic to make them whole.
Many of the players on these teams are ones most football fans will remember in perpetuity. You had Jack “The Assassin” Tatum, Gene Atkinson, Skip “Dr. Death” Thomas, and Willie Brown, aka The Soul Patrol, one of the most feared set of defensive backs in the league who relished huge hits, clothesline tackles, and knocking their opponents out of games. They also had characters like quarterback Ken Stabler, the bad southern Alabama boy, carouser and partier extraordinaire, linebackers Phil Villapiano and Ted Hendricks, and the truly crazy John Matuszak, along with the rest of the team full of similar head cases, creating a volatile mix of testosterone, craziness, and child like desire to have fun, on the field and off.
This was a hard partying team and not an insignificant part of the book talks about Raiders’ training camps that were part hard partying and hard practicing and all the pranks the players pulled while preparing for the season. It was a fun loving and wild group of men who John Madden somehow molded into winners.
Partially he did it by letting them have their fun and treating them like men, but making sure that they practiced and played hard. While they might have been a wild, fun loving bunch, they also loved football and wanted to win.
This book is clearly told from an unabashed Oakland Raiders fan’s perspective, which really worked well in this case. The author revels in the outlaw persona of this team, which went all the way up to the owner Al Davis, who also flouted convention and thumbed his nose at the powers that be in the National Football League.
And while they only won one Super Bowl in this era, a 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI after the 1976 season, they were always in the mix. They built up a strong rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who the author draws a clear contrast with. Had they not had one of the greatest football teams of all time as their nemesis, the Oakland Raiders may have been the team of the 1970’s.
The author starts the book with the “Immaculate Reception,” one of the most famous plays in NFL history. With the Steelers desperately trying to stage a comeback in the 1972 playoffs against Oakland, down 7-6 with 22 seconds left in the game and hardly a prayer, Bradshaw threw a pass that careened off a receiver and was picked up off his shoe tops by running back Franco Harris who ran it in for the go ahead score. At that time, if an offensive player touched the ball while it was in the air, another offensive player could not catch it. Argument ensues to this day whether they ball bounced off “Frenchy” Fuqua, the Pittsburgh running back, or Jack Tatum, who nailed him just as the ball arrived.
The author marks this as the beginning of the rise the Oakland Raiders whose “rebel image, their defiant owner, had stamped them as an enemy of civilized football.” He contrasts the “staid, old-world NFL Rooney’s franchise” with the “rebels of Al Davis, a man who bowed to no higher power.” He also throws words around like “benevolent” versus “demonic” and the “dark side.” That was the Oakland Raiders image, and they came to revel in it.
While this book chronicles the Oakland Raider’s seasons of the 1970’s, it as much about the unusual character of the team as it is their exploits on the field. The author conducted extensive interviews with players from that era and has crafted a well done and very interesting read, really a must read for Oakland Raiders fans, but one that all football fans can enjoy. The only real drawback to the book is the author only had a very short and not very illuminating interview with Al Davis, who did seem very cooperative. But his perspective can be rather easily gleaned from his own actions and public pronouncements, so this has little impact on the completeness of this work.
The distinctive personality of this team that set it apart from all others of the 1970’s was the perception that this was a group of outlaws and rebels who thumbed their noses at convention. Add to this the fact many were castoffs from other teams for behavioral or other issues, and you had a truly volatile band of misfits. But somehow the affable John Madden, who was the perfect coach for this team, was able to take this group of irrepressible “adults” and mold them into a feared, championship football team. Having read this account of the 1970’s Raiders, I almost liken John Madden to Santa Clause trapped on the island for misfit toys trying to using his magic to make them whole.
Many of the players on these teams are ones most football fans will remember in perpetuity. You had Jack “The Assassin” Tatum, Gene Atkinson, Skip “Dr. Death” Thomas, and Willie Brown, aka The Soul Patrol, one of the most feared set of defensive backs in the league who relished huge hits, clothesline tackles, and knocking their opponents out of games. They also had characters like quarterback Ken Stabler, the bad southern Alabama boy, carouser and partier extraordinaire, linebackers Phil Villapiano and Ted Hendricks, and the truly crazy John Matuszak, along with the rest of the team full of similar head cases, creating a volatile mix of testosterone, craziness, and child like desire to have fun, on the field and off.
This was a hard partying team and not an insignificant part of the book talks about Raiders’ training camps that were part hard partying and hard practicing and all the pranks the players pulled while preparing for the season. It was a fun loving and wild group of men who John Madden somehow molded into winners.
Partially he did it by letting them have their fun and treating them like men, but making sure that they practiced and played hard. While they might have been a wild, fun loving bunch, they also loved football and wanted to win.
This book is clearly told from an unabashed Oakland Raiders fan’s perspective, which really worked well in this case. The author revels in the outlaw persona of this team, which went all the way up to the owner Al Davis, who also flouted convention and thumbed his nose at the powers that be in the National Football League.
And while they only won one Super Bowl in this era, a 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI after the 1976 season, they were always in the mix. They built up a strong rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who the author draws a clear contrast with. Had they not had one of the greatest football teams of all time as their nemesis, the Oakland Raiders may have been the team of the 1970’s.
The author starts the book with the “Immaculate Reception,” one of the most famous plays in NFL history. With the Steelers desperately trying to stage a comeback in the 1972 playoffs against Oakland, down 7-6 with 22 seconds left in the game and hardly a prayer, Bradshaw threw a pass that careened off a receiver and was picked up off his shoe tops by running back Franco Harris who ran it in for the go ahead score. At that time, if an offensive player touched the ball while it was in the air, another offensive player could not catch it. Argument ensues to this day whether they ball bounced off “Frenchy” Fuqua, the Pittsburgh running back, or Jack Tatum, who nailed him just as the ball arrived.
The author marks this as the beginning of the rise the Oakland Raiders whose “rebel image, their defiant owner, had stamped them as an enemy of civilized football.” He contrasts the “staid, old-world NFL Rooney’s franchise” with the “rebels of Al Davis, a man who bowed to no higher power.” He also throws words around like “benevolent” versus “demonic” and the “dark side.” That was the Oakland Raiders image, and they came to revel in it.
While this book chronicles the Oakland Raider’s seasons of the 1970’s, it as much about the unusual character of the team as it is their exploits on the field. The author conducted extensive interviews with players from that era and has crafted a well done and very interesting read, really a must read for Oakland Raiders fans, but one that all football fans can enjoy. The only real drawback to the book is the author only had a very short and not very illuminating interview with Al Davis, who did seem very cooperative. But his perspective can be rather easily gleaned from his own actions and public pronouncements, so this has little impact on the completeness of this work.
Ridiculous Plots are Ruining Jack Reacher
I really like the Jack Reacher character that Lee Child has created but his plotlines are starting to become a bit inane and annoying.
In this novel Jack Reacher is once again in a small town, sticks his nose in other people’s business and finds himself neck deep in another battle against evil doers. As Reacher is ambling through an out of the way small Nebraska town he becomes involved in a dispute with the Duncan’s, a family that is involved in some kind of illegal trafficking that stems from them and on up to more organized and evil criminals.
The Duncan’s are an abusive group of men who not only dominate and run the town, but abuse its residents, holding them in subjugation with the threat of violence. As the novel progresses, Reacher starts to unravel the dastardly acts of these men when he seeks to find out what happened to a missing eight year old girl who disappeared decades ago.
After a great deal of violence and using tricks of the trade he used in the military, Reacher battles the Duncan’s to the bitter end.
While this novel is a rather fun read, as most Reacher novels are, it also stretches credulity and has as stale plotline. I mean really, how many small towns are there in American dominated by a corrupt and evil criminal oligarchy using extreme violence to suppress the town’s residents? This plot device is starting to get a little ridiculous.
And for the real kicker, the last Reacher novel, 61 Hours, seemed to have ended on a cliffhanger. Other than seeing that Reacher survived, we really never find out exactly how. That makes 61 Hours a rather tepid and unsatisfying work itself.
I hope Child comes up with a more clever storyline for Reacher in the future.
In this novel Jack Reacher is once again in a small town, sticks his nose in other people’s business and finds himself neck deep in another battle against evil doers. As Reacher is ambling through an out of the way small Nebraska town he becomes involved in a dispute with the Duncan’s, a family that is involved in some kind of illegal trafficking that stems from them and on up to more organized and evil criminals.
The Duncan’s are an abusive group of men who not only dominate and run the town, but abuse its residents, holding them in subjugation with the threat of violence. As the novel progresses, Reacher starts to unravel the dastardly acts of these men when he seeks to find out what happened to a missing eight year old girl who disappeared decades ago.
After a great deal of violence and using tricks of the trade he used in the military, Reacher battles the Duncan’s to the bitter end.
While this novel is a rather fun read, as most Reacher novels are, it also stretches credulity and has as stale plotline. I mean really, how many small towns are there in American dominated by a corrupt and evil criminal oligarchy using extreme violence to suppress the town’s residents? This plot device is starting to get a little ridiculous.
And for the real kicker, the last Reacher novel, 61 Hours, seemed to have ended on a cliffhanger. Other than seeing that Reacher survived, we really never find out exactly how. That makes 61 Hours a rather tepid and unsatisfying work itself.
I hope Child comes up with a more clever storyline for Reacher in the future.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Michael Oher in His Own Words
Michael Oher has had so many other people tell his story that he must have felt he finally had to tell his own story in his own words.
Michael Oher may be the most well known offensive lineman in the history of the National Football League after the movie, The Blind Side, based on the best selling book of the same name by Michael Lewis. The Blind Side tells of an inner city Memphis kid who grew up virtually homeless but rose to become the first round pick of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League.
Anyone who read or saw The Blind Side knows the basics of Oher's story. He grew up in drug infested neighborhoods in Memphis with an indifferent mother addicted to crack cocaine, who often left her many kids to fend for themselves and was at times homeless.
Oher grew up often not knowing where his next meal was coming from or even where he would sleep. In an out of foster care, sometimes homeless, always destitute in if not the basics, direction and care, his character and work ethic, along with a lot of help from some very generous people, eventually landed him at a private school in well to do part of Memphis.
The amazing aspect of Oher's success beyond people like the Tuohy family who took him into their home and made him part of their family, is his work ethic and perseverance through severe disadvantages.
Yes, Oher got lucky that there were enough people to help him along the way achieve his dreams. But it takes more than being huge and athletic to take those opportunities and turn them into success. While there are many, many, better off, less disadvantaged athletes that never graduate from college or achieve any level true success in professional sports, Oher graduated and had had success as a pro. Regardless of talent and background, that takes a lot of hard work. And despite the unbelievable disadvantages, Oher took the opportunities in front of him and made a success of his life.
In this book Michael talks about his life growing up, his love for his siblings and his adopted family, the Tuohys, but he also has a message. And that message is to those in similar circumstances not to give up, work hard, and take the opportunities afford and make the best of them. While not all kids in Oher's situation will be quite as lucky, and probably not have quite the perseverance, Oher's success creates a model and gives hope to others.
And another amazing thing about Oher is how self aware he is. He notes that the life of a professional football player is short, so he doesn't live lavishly and plans to save and have a plan for the future. He understands that he doesn't know everything about football and the professional game and understands he has to continue to learn and improve. It's a rather refreshing perspective.
This book is readable, interesting, and while it will not really tell much that is not basically known about Oher's life and success, it is his message of hope and perseverance that makes it a worthwhile read.
Michael Oher may be the most well known offensive lineman in the history of the National Football League after the movie, The Blind Side, based on the best selling book of the same name by Michael Lewis. The Blind Side tells of an inner city Memphis kid who grew up virtually homeless but rose to become the first round pick of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League.
Anyone who read or saw The Blind Side knows the basics of Oher's story. He grew up in drug infested neighborhoods in Memphis with an indifferent mother addicted to crack cocaine, who often left her many kids to fend for themselves and was at times homeless.
Oher grew up often not knowing where his next meal was coming from or even where he would sleep. In an out of foster care, sometimes homeless, always destitute in if not the basics, direction and care, his character and work ethic, along with a lot of help from some very generous people, eventually landed him at a private school in well to do part of Memphis.
The amazing aspect of Oher's success beyond people like the Tuohy family who took him into their home and made him part of their family, is his work ethic and perseverance through severe disadvantages.
Yes, Oher got lucky that there were enough people to help him along the way achieve his dreams. But it takes more than being huge and athletic to take those opportunities and turn them into success. While there are many, many, better off, less disadvantaged athletes that never graduate from college or achieve any level true success in professional sports, Oher graduated and had had success as a pro. Regardless of talent and background, that takes a lot of hard work. And despite the unbelievable disadvantages, Oher took the opportunities in front of him and made a success of his life.
In this book Michael talks about his life growing up, his love for his siblings and his adopted family, the Tuohys, but he also has a message. And that message is to those in similar circumstances not to give up, work hard, and take the opportunities afford and make the best of them. While not all kids in Oher's situation will be quite as lucky, and probably not have quite the perseverance, Oher's success creates a model and gives hope to others.
And another amazing thing about Oher is how self aware he is. He notes that the life of a professional football player is short, so he doesn't live lavishly and plans to save and have a plan for the future. He understands that he doesn't know everything about football and the professional game and understands he has to continue to learn and improve. It's a rather refreshing perspective.
This book is readable, interesting, and while it will not really tell much that is not basically known about Oher's life and success, it is his message of hope and perseverance that makes it a worthwhile read.
Bigger than the Game: The Self-Aggrandizement of the Modern Athlete
Bigger than the Game is an outstanding treatise on the self-aggrandizement of the modern athlete. The author chose the year 1986 as somewhat of a watershed year. 1986 saw: Bo Jackson play two professional sports, a steroid laden and overrated linebacker at the University of Oklahoma, Brian Bozworth, become the face of the college football, the cocaine induced death of University of Maryland basketball star Len Bias, and the crowning of the Chicago Bears as NFL champions behind the brash quarterback Jim McMahon, the outspoken coach Mike Ditka, and everyone's darling 330 plus pounder William "The Refrigerator" Perry.
The theme of this book is how the modern athlete in the media age has become bigger than the sports they play. It's about narcissist self promotion, the breakdown of the team concept where there is only "I" not "we." Or, as the dust jacket says, it was "the era when athletes evolved from humble and honest to brash and branded." There is certainly a little hyperbole to this description as there are scores of athletes in all eras that fit this mold, but there was not a 24 hour news cycle and the Internet for any but the greatest superstars to rise to such fame (or infamy).
After reading this book we should have predicted the steroid scandals that have wracked baseball, track and field, and cycling, the despicable display of self adulation in the Lebron James reality TV hype surrounding his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers, the sniping between superstars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, the Allen Iverson type athletes with great talent that can't seem to find a way to play for anything other than themselves thus never fulfilling championship potential, the criminality of college athletes with the University o f Miami football team being exhibit A and B, and even the tiresome will he, won't he perennial retirement saga of Brett Favre. Maybe it didn't all start in 1986, but the stories the author tells are a prelude of what came after.
The book centers mainly on four athletes with ESPN and the advent of 24 hour sports coverage in the foreground of the revolution. First, Jim McMahon, the "punky QB" in the clunky title, is a fascinating case of self promotion and thumbing his nose at authority, especially because he readily admits he did and does care. He went to Brigham Young University for one thing and one thing only, to start at quarterback for the football team. He didn't go to get an education or graduate, and he certainly didn't go for any religious purposes. In fact, he almost openly flaunted the rules, drinking and carousing his way through a solid college career. And then with the Bears he was the unorthodox quarterback who defied and fought with his coach, thumbed his nose at NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, but was winner. And that's all that mattered.
Brian Bozworth, the self-admitted steroid laden Oklahoma Sooners linebacker spent much of his college career trying to gain attention. His Mohawk and constantly taking his helmet off to play to the cameras and his brash mouth made him one of the faces of college football. Of course, he was a high draft pick in the NFL and was a complete bust. Bozworth built an image that had little substance, other than steroids, behind it. I will never forget the game where Bo Jackson ran over "The Boz" on national television.
And perhaps the saddest story is the untimely cocaine induced death of Len Bias. Weinreb completely dispatches all the myths surround Bias's death. It was clear from who he hung out with and those who knew and talked about him that he was not a first time cocaine user, but appears to have at least been an occasional, recreational user of the drug. After being drafted by the Boston Celtics he went on a little cocaine binge that killed him. Len Bias may have been a great player, but a certain myth built up around his innocence, suggesting even naivety, that doesn't stand up to reality.
Bo Jackson is mostly a foil to all this. Jackson was a quiet, mostly unassuming personality who chose baseball over football but ultimately decided he wanted to play both, and did. His rise to fame from a poor, rural childhood was marked by a shyness and lack of desire for the spotlight. But he parlayed his fame into endorsement opportunities long after his untimely retirement from sports because of an unfortunate, freaky hip injury. The ability to be a relevant marketing personality long after his career was over could have only happened in burgeoning electronic era.
Despite the unfortunate choice of title, this book is very readable and bring backs memories for those whose formative years were the mid-1980s. While ultimately the theme of the book is darker one, for better or worse we live in the era that might not have started exactly in 1986, but certainly that year is as good as any to point to the beginning of the aggrandizement of the modern athlete.
The theme of this book is how the modern athlete in the media age has become bigger than the sports they play. It's about narcissist self promotion, the breakdown of the team concept where there is only "I" not "we." Or, as the dust jacket says, it was "the era when athletes evolved from humble and honest to brash and branded." There is certainly a little hyperbole to this description as there are scores of athletes in all eras that fit this mold, but there was not a 24 hour news cycle and the Internet for any but the greatest superstars to rise to such fame (or infamy).
After reading this book we should have predicted the steroid scandals that have wracked baseball, track and field, and cycling, the despicable display of self adulation in the Lebron James reality TV hype surrounding his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers, the sniping between superstars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, the Allen Iverson type athletes with great talent that can't seem to find a way to play for anything other than themselves thus never fulfilling championship potential, the criminality of college athletes with the University o f Miami football team being exhibit A and B, and even the tiresome will he, won't he perennial retirement saga of Brett Favre. Maybe it didn't all start in 1986, but the stories the author tells are a prelude of what came after.
The book centers mainly on four athletes with ESPN and the advent of 24 hour sports coverage in the foreground of the revolution. First, Jim McMahon, the "punky QB" in the clunky title, is a fascinating case of self promotion and thumbing his nose at authority, especially because he readily admits he did and does care. He went to Brigham Young University for one thing and one thing only, to start at quarterback for the football team. He didn't go to get an education or graduate, and he certainly didn't go for any religious purposes. In fact, he almost openly flaunted the rules, drinking and carousing his way through a solid college career. And then with the Bears he was the unorthodox quarterback who defied and fought with his coach, thumbed his nose at NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, but was winner. And that's all that mattered.
Brian Bozworth, the self-admitted steroid laden Oklahoma Sooners linebacker spent much of his college career trying to gain attention. His Mohawk and constantly taking his helmet off to play to the cameras and his brash mouth made him one of the faces of college football. Of course, he was a high draft pick in the NFL and was a complete bust. Bozworth built an image that had little substance, other than steroids, behind it. I will never forget the game where Bo Jackson ran over "The Boz" on national television.
And perhaps the saddest story is the untimely cocaine induced death of Len Bias. Weinreb completely dispatches all the myths surround Bias's death. It was clear from who he hung out with and those who knew and talked about him that he was not a first time cocaine user, but appears to have at least been an occasional, recreational user of the drug. After being drafted by the Boston Celtics he went on a little cocaine binge that killed him. Len Bias may have been a great player, but a certain myth built up around his innocence, suggesting even naivety, that doesn't stand up to reality.
Bo Jackson is mostly a foil to all this. Jackson was a quiet, mostly unassuming personality who chose baseball over football but ultimately decided he wanted to play both, and did. His rise to fame from a poor, rural childhood was marked by a shyness and lack of desire for the spotlight. But he parlayed his fame into endorsement opportunities long after his untimely retirement from sports because of an unfortunate, freaky hip injury. The ability to be a relevant marketing personality long after his career was over could have only happened in burgeoning electronic era.
Despite the unfortunate choice of title, this book is very readable and bring backs memories for those whose formative years were the mid-1980s. While ultimately the theme of the book is darker one, for better or worse we live in the era that might not have started exactly in 1986, but certainly that year is as good as any to point to the beginning of the aggrandizement of the modern athlete.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Archie Sheidan Chases another Weird Serial Killer
In The Night Season Chelsea Cain's continues her promising series of thrillers featuring detective Archie Sheridan and a fascinating cast of characters, with the free spirited reporter Susan Ward being at the epicenter of this adventure.
In this new novel, the Beauty Killer Gretchen Lowell is finally in the background, but she will never be out of the picture as Archie will be forever damaged and sickeningly drawn to this dastardly beautiful female serial killer. But it is time that we all get on with our lives without her.
The Night Season is set around a flooding Portland, Oregon with a weird serial killer on the loose. First, a woman's body is discovered on carousel in small amusement park that appears to be a drowning but the body has been moved. Closer inspection at the morgue reveals some odd things about the corpse. And suddenly, Archie is faced with another killer who has a very unusual way dispatching the victims. Add to that some weird clues and a missing boy, we are set up for another crime thriller. With the water level rising and a flooded city imminent, Archie has to find the killer before he or she strikes again, or escapes without punishment for their deeds.
This novel is has a very clever setting. Susan Ward has written about a skull found in a 1948 flood near Portland that she wants to solve the mystery of, while at the same time facing a present day flood and finding herself involved once again with Archie in the midst of a case. We are left wondering throughout the novel what, if anything, this old skull might have to do with the present case. And we have a very unique killer on the loose with a strange modus operandi and an unknown motive to the very end.
Despite this clever setting and very interesting characters, this novel did not live up the previous three installments. The novel does keep the reader's interest but it simply is not the spellbinding page turner as those featuring Gretchen Lowell more prominently. It seems the characters personalities are stuck in place without much development and plot is interesting but a bit plodding.
While I think this series needs to put Gretchen in the background, it needs to do more to bring the rest of characters to the forefront in a way that advances their stories instead of rehashing the past. While overall I would recommend this novel to fans of the previous installments, I hope to see better in the future.
In this new novel, the Beauty Killer Gretchen Lowell is finally in the background, but she will never be out of the picture as Archie will be forever damaged and sickeningly drawn to this dastardly beautiful female serial killer. But it is time that we all get on with our lives without her.
The Night Season is set around a flooding Portland, Oregon with a weird serial killer on the loose. First, a woman's body is discovered on carousel in small amusement park that appears to be a drowning but the body has been moved. Closer inspection at the morgue reveals some odd things about the corpse. And suddenly, Archie is faced with another killer who has a very unusual way dispatching the victims. Add to that some weird clues and a missing boy, we are set up for another crime thriller. With the water level rising and a flooded city imminent, Archie has to find the killer before he or she strikes again, or escapes without punishment for their deeds.
This novel is has a very clever setting. Susan Ward has written about a skull found in a 1948 flood near Portland that she wants to solve the mystery of, while at the same time facing a present day flood and finding herself involved once again with Archie in the midst of a case. We are left wondering throughout the novel what, if anything, this old skull might have to do with the present case. And we have a very unique killer on the loose with a strange modus operandi and an unknown motive to the very end.
Despite this clever setting and very interesting characters, this novel did not live up the previous three installments. The novel does keep the reader's interest but it simply is not the spellbinding page turner as those featuring Gretchen Lowell more prominently. It seems the characters personalities are stuck in place without much development and plot is interesting but a bit plodding.
While I think this series needs to put Gretchen in the background, it needs to do more to bring the rest of characters to the forefront in a way that advances their stories instead of rehashing the past. While overall I would recommend this novel to fans of the previous installments, I hope to see better in the future.
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