The Jock Book Review

A Fan's Bible

2012-02-21T08:59:00.004-05:00

Ritualized and a manifestation of arbitrary devotion. We talking sports fandom or religious study? In this case — the case of A Sportsman's Guide to the Torah — we're talking both.

ASGttT is the work of the pseudonymous Shlomo Ben Yitzah Halevi (aka, Brit/Canadian/Aussie Dr. Tony Rebuck). A Melbourne Rebels (rugby), Toronto Blue Jays (baseball) and Torah (Jewish holy book) aficionado, Halevi takes a somewhat eccentric and individualistic approach to merging all that ritual and devotion into a set of quirky pages between covers.

Linking Fan to Fantasy

2012-02-20T08:42:00.000-05:00

The joke about sports fans is that season after season they root for laundry. Taking one step forward, fantasy sports fans root for their own strings of 1s and 0s (the digital foundation of their stat-based dreams). The good news for the book world, apparently there are pages of baseball players statistics that can be sold from between covers. Nobody, it seems, actually cares about the players. For fanboys preparing for their Rotisserie League Draft Night there is stat upon stat to fetishize from Baseball Prospectus 2012, Baseball America 2012 Prospect Handbook and even the 2012 Minor League Baseball Analyst. After all, whether laundry or digits it's certainly not the flesh and blood that matters.

Pink Pop!

2012-02-18T08:56:00.001-05:00

The plot isn't much, but Julie Goloski Golub's Shoot has inspired a holiday.The U.S. Army shooting team vet, current captain of Smith & Wesson pro shooters and first (also, only) U.S. Practical Shooting Association Ladies national champ in five divisions penned her comprehensive look at the variety of target busting competitions. As she explained to MyGunCulture about a book that might have been called, "Bang Bang for Dummies,"

What I want people to take away from the book is that safety is first and foremost whenever dealing with firearms and to go ahead, get out there and try your hand at shooting. There are so many shooting sports and I believe there’s one suited for everyone. Go for it, be safe and have fun!

The holiday, such as it is, National Take Your Daughter to the Range Day, currently scheduled to premier June 9, 2012, and Lynne Finch, the woman behind the celebration of gun culture, credits it all to reading Shoot.

Sash and Tiara as Uniform

2012-02-15T09:09:00.000-05:00

Commonsense argues that beauty contests are not a sport. But CS loses out to today's reality, which is something of the story Josh Dean tells in Show Dog, his year in the life of Australian Shepherd Jack — animal-turned-athlete (?) touring the dog show circuit.

Of course, on the day when a Pekingese is proclaimed Best in Show (really, is a Peke even a true dog or just a fluffed up rat?) heads the USA Today sports coverage and a hot chick in patches of fabric stands out on the cover of Sports Illustrated you do have to wonder if maybe getting gussied up really is just like boxing. One can hope the answer is no, but it does seem gaggles of others think differently.

Inventor Defeats Athlete? Unlikely.

2012-02-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a dream with What Color Is My World, although it certainly borders on delusion. "I want kids to get excited about science and engineering and understand that being an inventor is just as cool as becoming a pro athlete,” is the money quote from the basketball great and recently appointed U.S. cultural ambassador.

His book for kids, featuring twins Herbie and Ella, talks up 16 African-American inventors, who contributed to the world everything from the ice cream scoop to refrigerated trucks to advances in heart surgery. You have to wish him well, but it seems unlikely — at least from the evidence so far — that high school grad Lebron James has much to worry over regarding lost endorsements.

Raise Up Your Voice Vince Dooley

2012-02-09T08:41:00.000-05:00

Major college football ex-coach with a bit of a swelled head and aggrieved sense of having been wronged? Right now it is hard to see anyone topping former Georgia Bulldog leader Vince Dooley. Promoting his History and Reminiscences of the University of Georgia (not to be confused with his autobio of a few years ago, coach/gardener book, kids book about the UGa bulldog mascot, or other tomes going over much of the same material) said he'd get rid of the university's president. That he was finally forced out nearlly kicking and screaming when Pres. didn't renew his contract isn't the reason, you understand. It's just that, as he told the TV interviewer,

"I do think that from time to time that it's necessary to move on, to make a change .... He thought in my situation that it was time to make a change and didn't renew mine, so I would say that he's at the point where I could also say the same thing about him."

It'll probably sell more books. So, on behalf of all authors (and probably all college football coaches who also believe that if they could just unshackle the team from the university dragging it down everyone would benefit) GOOD ON YOU, Vince.

Talking Flak

2012-02-08T09:04:00.003-05:00

The perk for modern celebs turned autobiographer is producing and shading one's own VHI Behind the Music-ish look at personal excesses. Today's '70s icon taking advantage is former footballer and drag racer Dante "Dan" Pastorini with his Taking Flak — big news once, apparently, was his wearing a flak jacket while quarterbacking.

It was all good then, although there are some scores to settle with those who did him minor and major wrongs (referees, owners, actresses, etc.). The best news, however, now that he's spilled his guts work has begun on his next book. Guts spilled now can be reclaimed and refilled when his cookbook comes out promoting his DP Quality Foods spice and seasoning wholesaler.

Until Pitchers and Catchers Report, An Outfielder and His Dog

2012-02-06T09:46:00.000-05:00

Football's over, encouraging the happy realization there there are just 13 days until pitchers and catchers report for spring training and baseball can begin its month-on-month tramp through the sports pages. In the spirit of that slog, let's begin the buildup to "the national pastime" slowly, with the kids' book Jack and Larry.

Jack of the duo is Cleveland Nap (now "Indians") John Gladstone "Jack" Graney, notable as a Canadian and dependable lead off hitter. His partner, Larry, is a mutt and stadium mascot who the ballplayer befriended as a way to get over some sad. A story of friendship and baseball history and a man and his dog: in other words, a lovely bedtime tale for a baseball fan parent to unfold for a child over the next 13 days.

Books and Bookmaking and a Football Game

2012-02-04T11:55:00.001-05:00

Celebrating marketing genius, a big shout out is due Beacon and Other presses — two smaller publishers based in Boston and New York City, respectively — for their Super Bowl wager. While having no obvious football connection, they have managed to get a few lines of attention by betting that their local team (i.e., Foxboro, Mass., or Swampland, N.J.) will win, forcing the other publisher to promote some titles from their list.

And speaking of non-Super Bowl book history and news. The New York Giants owe their existence in this year's event to a book ... albeit the one that first owner Tim Mara made when football gambling was allowed above ground outside Vegas.

Dissolving St. Joe's Halo and Wings

2012-02-01T08:17:00.003-05:00

While true that the myth is almost always bigger and better than the man, it's ever a disappointment to have the truth revealed. So, if hagiography of Joe Paterno is your thing, then Death Comes to Happy Valley is not your book — actually, your $1.99 "Kindle single.

For years, St. Joe received a mostly free media ride as a scholar who just happened to coach big time college football. It is not that he didn't do many wonderful things to help build Penn State as a university, it's just that (as the book's excerpt on Grantland suggests) there has been a dark cloud chasing JoPa's legacy long before he became enmeshed in assistant coach Sandusky's pedophilia scandal.

It's not that Paterno acted at a more unethical level than many (most? all?) others heading up major college football programs. He probably (mostly) acted as well or sometimes even more honorably. It's just — as journalist/author Jonathan Mahler explores in his book — he wasn't halo and wings worthy. Alas .... Myth meet man; truth crush myth and man.

How Greenberg My Valley Grows

2012-01-30T09:11:00.002-05:00

Two Hank Greenberg bios were published March 2011, joining already well-stocked shelves on the Jewish baseball hero. The adult bio by seemingy all-knower Mark Kurlansky (Earlier: A Serious Business Called Hope) was of a "hero who didn't want to be one." The big "winner," however, was the kid's book published by Scituate (Mass.) librarian Shelley Summer, who just picked up a Jewish librarian award, a Sydney Taylor Silver Medal, for her Hammerin' Hank Greenberg (not to be confused with the 2006 Hammerin' Hank by Yona McDonough, Greenberg's autobio, Hank Greenberg, or Ira Berkow's Hank Greenberg, among others).

What do we learn from all these books? Apparently, Jews need more athletic — or at least baseball — heroes ... and books about Jewish baseball hall of famers could use a bit more imagination in titling.

Jock Itch? No Jock?

2012-01-28T09:18:00.001-05:00

Best blurb never to be used (or even considered): "If you've got jock itch but no jock, then this is the book for you."

How better to laud You're in the Front Row, the book by sports radio gabber and big event statistician Glenn Capelito promising to show readers how to find their place within the sports industry without enough (even any) athletic talent who pair that with an excess of interest?

DeNouncer's Dudette

2012-01-26T09:35:00.002-05:00

Australian roller derby's DeNouncer Dude, Robert Anderson, wrote for his young children and others interested in a kid's book about swinging elbows, whips, pushes and the glory of an individual within a team. The straighforwardly named Mimi discovers her life's love in I Know a Girl ... Who Skates Roller Derby! If not quite as magical as some of the work by Dr. Seuss — whose first book And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street has just celebrated its 75th anniversary — it might be relevant to remember that Anderson had to write around his own two- and five-year-olds, while Seuss was able to be magical without any youngsters underfoot.

Crushed to Pulp

2012-01-25T08:43:00.001-05:00

Some hulking guy got the crap beat out of him.

Ignoring any dark, psychological insights into humanity it is easy to see how that truth is part of the allure for both hockey and the crime fiction genre. So welcome Brad Shade, lead in sportswriter Gare Joyce's The Code — the title referring to the unwritten rules for the human demolition derby taking place in hockey rinks throughout Canadian winters.

Answering questions about his first foray into crime fiction sportswriter Joyce offered what's left in the crucible when all else has been burned off: "On the ice, desire, hockey sense and, yeah, talent matter. That stuff is clear cut. Off the ice it’s about money and ambition and schadenfreude. What more can I tell you?"

If a Mallet Isn't Handy ...

2012-01-24T08:47:00.001-05:00

While there is often little point in reviewing reviews, once in a while attention is demanded. Thus it is for the review of Serious Croquet by Croquet Network Magazine. Boil down the review of celebrity photographer Bob Chilton's eye on the wealthy wielding mallets to shepherd colored balls through wickets and you get a fascinating dictate. In short, the reviewer advises that if someone doesn't think croquet is a real sport with a depth of soul and emotion then you should use the side-table sized collection to clock them over the head.

The Good and Badminton

2012-01-21T09:48:00.001-05:00

Be clear. It's not bad mitten(s). That could be what a non-Romney (Mitt) favoring South Carolina Republican primary voter might think as they head off today to vote.

It's badminton (bad-min-tn), and thinking on that subject should include Lee Chong Wei, Malaysia and World No. 1, and autobiographer of Dare to Be a Champion. He describes it as, "... about the hardship I went through as a player. Hopefully, it will generate more interest among the youngsters." Here, of course, we are not necessarily counting more interest among youngsters in Asia where badminton evokes national passions. It's youngsters in the west, where the money still is and where, unfortunately, it is almost impossible to find the book or even learn about one's obligation as a badminton fan.

Football Rah Rah Blah Blah

2012-01-18T09:01:00.001-05:00

In most places the 1970s are dead. These places do not include the minds of many Texas football fans who continue to celebrate America's Team, the Dallas [football] Cowboys. While they began their season (AGAIN) with lots of promise and hullaballoo about how this would be their season, they ended it with eight wins and an equal number of losses — admittedly an improvement over their 6-10 record the previous season. Despite mostly middle of the pack status since two 1990s Super Bowl wins (the team is 3-5 overall in SBs, losing 4 times in the 70s), the 'Boys reputation among the faithful remains undented. For that audience, a quick read through Breakthrough 'Boys, AP Texas sportswriter Jaime Aron's new book, will spiff up the lenses nicely on their rose-colored glasses.

For what it may be worth, fans who want to put down their pinkly-hued lenses for a bit might take a look at Aron's website celebrating his prematurely-born twins and raising money for the March of Dimes.

Cup of Great and Teaspoon of Mundane

2012-01-16T08:52:00.000-05:00

Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered today in the United States of America with a Monday holiday. A man of letters, as well as a civil rights icon, King is honored today with people recovering from watching football playoffs and road races. Thus do sports and the authorial life too often mix.

The Canadian-American Dream

2012-01-14T09:34:00.000-05:00

A Canadian — honored by baseballs hall of fame — stands behind the American dream. Who knew?

And now for the devil in the details. Edmonton-born W.P. Kinsella, author of the 1982 novel Shoeless Joe, which formed the basis for the 1989 Field of Dreams movie, has received the Joe Graney Award from the Canadian baseball hall of fame in recognition of the 30-year-old book. As none of his characters ever said, "Write it and they will come ... eventually."

Boring Sucks! (and is bad biz, too)

2012-01-12T08:25:00.000-05:00

For Working Out Sucks!, the first question is, which came first, the title or the text? The next question is how big a raise did the marketing person get who came up with the book's promise to "speak truth to blubber"?

WOS is the product of quick-and-cheap and open-all-time Anytime Fitness franchise CEO Chuck Runyon and team. After the attention-snatching opening phrase, the cover spews out the remainder of the marketing pitch: "(And Why It Doesn't Have To): The Only 21-Day Kick-Start Plan for Total Health and Fitness You'll Ever Need," which does suggest wonder at how many "21-day kick-start plans for total health and fitness" one might be considering, or even how many one might be exposed to.

Work out regularly. Eat well. Think healthy thoughts. All pretty bland advice that probably would never sell without turning the amps up to 11 with a title. And that's how you create an international business with 1800+ franchises stretching from Qatar to Mexico City to Hastings, Minn., that mixes mirrors, music, metal and vinyl and has the customers do all the work themselves ... and pay to do it.

Help Yourself to Harm

2012-01-10T08:44:00.000-05:00

Yoga a sport? It's got real winners and losers according to William Broad's The Science of Yoga. Of course, they can be the same person as practitioners go one on one with themselves. Pushing past balance they often "win" (or "lose") by causing themselves hip, ligament and nerve damage, even brain trauma and even in one case a stroke. The first take in The New York Times has already stirred controversy in the community, more to come as the book likely heads to best seller lists.

A Team Dream and the Chaos Effect

2012-01-09T08:31:00.001-05:00

Nothing matters, except to the people to whom it does. That's the takeaway from Scarlet Ice, the story of the 1994-95 Mankato West High School hockey team author Roger Dier has been working on since
nearly season's end.

Mankato, a tiny berg in south-central Minnesota, were state champs at the end of their season that saw them facing internal dissension and an outbreak of meningitis claiming one of their players. Each event detailed is small and unimportant in the grand scheme of the world unless you are a strong believer in the Chaos Theory (unfairly summed up as a butterfly flapping its wings in Bogota, Colombia, causes a chain of events that affects weather in New York's Central Park)

So do nowheresville high kids pulling together against adversity to claim a team dream mean anything to you? Do you believe in Chaos?

Great Enough

2012-01-07T10:04:00.000-05:00

Titles lie. Not necessarily by intent, just for sales purposes. And so, somewhat in the tradition of Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man (a critique of historians the then conservative historian author has somewhat reconsidered) comes Gene Wojciechowski and his The Last Great Game.

The game suggested as "the last great one" is the 1992 NCAA men's basketball East Regional final between Kentucky and Duke, mostly unknown, forgotten or just often ignored today except by older Wildcat and Blue Devil hoop fans and some ESPN geeks, of which ESPN.com national senior correspondent Wojciechowski is a proud rep. (Duke won in the last seconds on a long pass and throw-it-up-with-hopes-and-dreams shot ... if you don't want to Wikipedia it.) Not surprisingly, there are some who think there might have been great college basketball games played this century. Be honest, though, entitling one's opus "A fun game to watch played years ago by guys ~~paid~~ representing mega-basketball programs of whom some are still in the spotlight" isn't the sound of something likely to fly off the shelves.

Awards for the Dead

2012-01-05T08:40:00.002-05:00

Giving one dead guy an award named for another dead guy doesn't seem like the most efficient way to promote book sales. Still, giving bookwriting wonder (and all-round gentleman) George Plimpton, dead these eight years, always seems like a pleasant idea. So, thanks Boxing Writers Association of American, who have dropped the 2012 A.J. Liebling Award — named for the great boxing (and other subject's) writer — on GP.

They don't actually give a reason why. Since it's a nice idea, we probably shouldn't press them on their need for one. Let's just hope it sells books.

Talkers for People Who Often Don't Listen

2012-01-04T08:41:00.003-05:00

Will listeners read (that is, "buy" because nobody makes money from just readers) a new book about people who conduct sports bull sessions for a living? That's the question posed by Sports Talk — which is that much harder for listeners to find and purchase by being hidden from most views at the company website.

Author, publisher of the book and yakker himself, David Brody, has with two co-authors created and collected interviews with a seemingly random group of national and regional sports radio "personalities" about their life and times behind the mic conducting the raves and rants that pass for knowledgeable fan talk over the (mostly AM) airwaves. There is a CD version to come, which does seem a bit closer to the wheelhouse of most talk radio aficionados. Will either one tear listeners from their favorite site to bitch and moan about sports ... and since much sports talk radio is consumed while driving a car can this even be a good thing?