With football season upon us--earlier for the CFL, later for the NFL--gridiron obsessives may want to explore some of the works on the peripheries of the action; e.g., books and films (and maybe songs--how long since you've launched into "Buckle Down, Winsocki"?).
Recent book to arrive is "Why Football Matters," by Mark Edmundson. Edmundson played on the line for a high school team near Boston, but has long since worked in academe. His book is a deeply thought evaluation of what the game can mean in the development (or sometimes misdevelopment) of character, personality, and ethics. It's a book with both praise for and skepticism about football, and necessarily ambiguous; but in the end, Edmundson comes back to love for the game.
"Why Football Matters"--recommended by Slap Maxwell, our locker room literary critic.
The book many people think of first when talking football is "Paper Lion," by George Plimpton. Plimpton, the ultimate sports dilettante, also wrote--or co-wrote, with Bill Curry (Green Bay Packers, Houston Oilers, L.A. Rams, Baltimore Colts)--an excellent but less known book titled "One More July." Hard to find, but rewarding when you do.
But what we're working around to is recommending you search out the 1968 film of "Paper Lion," with the then unknown Alan Alda playing Plimpton, the Sports Illustrated writer who goes in incognito as last string quarterback for the Detroit Lions. Wonderful scene at training camp, when new arrivals are asked to stand and declare their football backgrounds and sing their school song. Plimpton/Alda tells them he has come down from Canada, where he played for the Newfoundland Newfs. He then sings his Harvard school song.
There is a backup of actual Detroit Lions players, including Alex Karras and John Gordy. And Lauren Hutton is okay, too.
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For those who enjoy gridiron writing I'd like to suggest great reads from both major North American leagues:
ReplyDelete"Instant Replay" was a tremendously witty account of the Green Bay Packers 1967 championship season under volcanic coach, Vince Lombardi. The book, by Packer guard Jerry Kramer from Sand Point, Idaho, appeared in 1969 and became a multi-million dollar best-seller.
"West Riders Best", by Regina Leader Post scribe Rob Vanstone, covers the Green Riders' first ever Grey Cup winning season, with the championship game at Empire Stadium. Phlegmatic coach Eagle Keys guided one of the most versatile and complete offenses the CFL has ever produced.
Many former Reginans may recall dancing to the Hotel Saskatchewan Orchestra led by a bubbly, boisterous Brit named Alan Vanstone, father of author Rob. A drummer who moved from Regina to Vancouver had this note from the band's bassist: "Alan Vanstone rolls on, while his sidemen gather moss."
- Lantzvillain