Reader Views

Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan Who’s Seen ‘Em All

In his new book, “Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan Who’s Seen ‘Em All,” Stephen J. Koreivo firmly establishes that he is not an ordinary college football fan. He is an extraordinary one. He is immersed in the sport completely. He has followed his favorite team, Notre Dame, since childhood. Later, he began to also follow Penn State. Inspired by ABC Sports announcer Chris Schenkle’s signature opening line for game day – “College Football…what better way to spend an autumn afternoon?” – Koreivo watched every fall Saturday afternoon. It wasn’t long before he wanted to spend Saturday afternoons at a stadium, not in front of his TV. Even after marrying, he successfully juggled his passion for college football with the life he had begun with a wife and children on, into the new decade.

In 2000 he wondered just how many Division 1 teams he had seen. He concluded that he had already seen more than half, which resulted in a life-changing decision: he set a goal of seeing in person, every one of the 120 BCS teams play at least once. He achieved his goal in 2007. His new book celebrates his formidable feat.

This book is simply designed and easy to read. Each of the games Koreivo attended on the road to his goal is described in a one to three-page essay in the order in which he saw them. Each essay is seasoned with snippets of team history and trivia. Pre and post-game anecdotes of most of his road trips also add some of the flavor of the local fans, team traditions and a sense of the unique personality of each school’s stadium.

The book is a treasure trove of history of the sport. The team, program, and conference trivia will interest any true college fan. Most of the games the author attended were ordinary games. Since Koreivo’s event had both time and budget constraints – motels are costly; staying with friends who followed the home team saved money and came with free local flavoring added – the quality of the games were generally secondary to the goal of reaching the magic 120 number. 

Koreivo has a lot to say of interest about the sights, sounds and emotions of being at a game. But as Mark Twain used to counsel aspiring writers, “Don’t say the old lady screamed - bring her on and let her scream.” Koreivo is a good nuts and bolts writer, and his style works well with the historical and trivial content of the book; but, painting word pictures of the feelings and emotions that a fan experiences at a game requires a different skill set. His writing never made me feel connected to what he was describing; I never felt like I was there in the seats with him. Too bad, I thought more than a couple of times, because I think I would have enjoyed his company at the Louisville – Army (44) game a lot.

Fierce college football fans whose interest goes beyond their favorite team and the conference in which they play will surely like “Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan Whose Seen ‘Em All.” And, if you’re a Notre Dame fan, I suspect the author would like to swap stories with you.

Tales from the Tailgate: From the Fan Who’s Seen ‘Em All
Stephen J. Koreivo
AuthorHouse (2011)
ISBN 9781463416867
Reviewed by Joseph Yurt for Reader Views (10/11)

Wisconsin’s Carlisle Indian School Immortals (Native American Sports Heroes)

Mr. Benjey brings a well-researched and detailed history to light in this interesting volume. He explains the important role that American Indians played in the history of professional football, beginning with an insight into the role that the Carlisle Indian School football program played in introducing the American Indians to football and the trials and tribulations they went through and the history they made.

Chapter two gives the reader the short version history of Indians in football from its meager beginnings to the present. The way it started was with a stuffed pigskin and a young group of eager Indian boys. This led the way to such greats and Hall of Fame inductees as “Jim Thorpe and Joe Guyon.” The book also mentions many others that became great professional players and coaches. One such person that helped these young Indian boys was “Glenn S. Warner,” the coach at Carlisle that was instrumental in the football program.

When “Pop Warner” became Athletic Director, he shut down his law practice and devoted himself to his players. He went as far as drawing up contracts for his players that were turning pro. There was so much the author had to say about Coach Warner that he explained why he devoted a whole chapter to this man and then followed it with chapters about the players.

I enjoyed reading this very enlightening book. It gave me an insight into a portion of sports and Indian history that I was not familiar with. I never realized what an important part American Indians played in sports history.

The writing was good enough to keep me reading and the editing was of a decent quality. I did not hesitate in giving “Wisconsin’s Carlisle Indian School Immortals” a solid B on my grading scale. With its historic pictures and detailed storyline, this general audience, 329 page group of biographies; should be a hit with all sports fans.

Wisconsin’s Carlisle Indian School Immortals (Native American Sports Heroes)
Tom Benjey
Tuxedo Press (2011)
ISBN 9781936161225
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (5/11)

Beating About the Bushes: Minor League Baseball in the ‘60’s

Tim Sommer highlights an almost-forgotten era in American baseball. He gives the reader a candid look at a time when professional baseball players were motivated by the love of the sport and of the simplicity of professional baseball in the 60s and 70s. He tells how his family circumstances, personal persistence, and his boyhood dreams impacted his entry into an eight-year career in professional baseball.
 
“Beating About the Bushes” gives an insider’s perspective and a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the lives of professional athletes, their loyalty to one another even amid the competitive nature of achieving the major leagues. Sommer also points out the human faults of the sports heroes created by the media.

Sommer’s writing is humorous, entertaining, informative, and sometimes controversial. Although he pulls no punches, his allegiance to Orioles, the players, trainers, coaches, managers and fans are all a part of who Tim is. He relates stories of dozens of professionals who are now professional baseball legends as well as those who have become members of the Hall of Fame.

Tim Sommer talks about his own unique experiences during his eight years in professional baseball. He gives play-by-play accounts of games that were important to him in his drive to attain personal success. He shows another side of his personality as he describes a road experience, “Always it was a wonderful opportunity to experience the size and diversity of America while traveling…opportunities to absorb the many flavors of life along the way.”

Sommer provides the reader with a broad overview of professional baseball. He gives insight into racial tension, contract negotiation, free agency, pensions and the player strike of 1969.

The format of the book is ideal for today’s busy sports fan. The forty-five short chapters are fast reading, entertaining and contagious. Each chapter highlights an incident, a celebrity story, or a funny expose of one of Tim’s peers. Chapter titles are made up of catchy titles which draw the reader in compelling them on to the finale chapter “One Last Hurrah.”

Tim Sommer is articulate, witty, and is a veritable encyclopedia of baseball trivia, history, statistics, and first person vignettes. Baseball enthusiasts, from little league coaches to professional fans, trainers and managers are destined to bond to the persona who is Tim Sommer. “Beating About the Bushes” is a book for all sport fans.

Beating About the Bushes: Minor League Baseball in the ‘60’s
Tim Sommer
Infinity Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9780741449818
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (11/09)

My Dirty Little Secrets - Steroids, Alcohol and God: The Tony Mandarich Story

Tony Mandarich’s book "My Dirty Little Secrets – Steroids, Alcohol and God" is heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. The reader gets to follow Tony through the best and the worst of college football and his NFL career, as well as his "career" as husband and a father. Everything that readers love is there: humble beginnings, working-class parents, older brother to look up to, promising start to a brilliant career, dedication and hard work, grueling workouts, drugs, invitation to NFL and… a big crash. What follows this first, promise-filled part is heart-wrenching. Tony’s descent into the addiction hell is surprising on one hand and all too understandable on the other. Readers can’t help but be astonished that somebody, who on one hand has trained so hard and turned his body into such a temple to strength, can so viciously destroy it with drugs and alcohol on the other hand. We have to give it to Mr. Mandarich – he is nothing but brutally candid and honest, and he never blames anybody else for his troubles, not even in the cases where some blame could have been shared, if not clearly laid on others. Tony Mandarich’s shoulders are wide, and he bravely decided to take the full load of guilt on himself.

Even if you are not a sports fan, I am convinced that you will find Tony Mandarich’s account of his two NFL careers fascinating. The crystal clear difference in his attitude during his days with the Green Bay Packers and sharply contrasting days with the Indianapolis Colts is elucidating. What a difference an attitude adjustment can – and does! – make. This should be required reading for anybody in the public eye, but most importantly for many athletes who have trouble understanding that they are responsible for their actions on and off the athletic fields. As illuminating as I found the chapters of Tony Mandarich’s years on the football field, they pale in comparison with his insight into his own addiction and his path to recovery and healing, both his own and healing of those around him. Some of my favorite pages are those where he describes his newly rediscovered joy of playing football, and playing it well. And the romantic in me rejoiced when Tony met and reconnected with his college sweetheart, Char. By the looks of it, Tony really learned his hard lessons, and both his second NFL career and his second marriage, to Char, were – and are – so much more successful than either of his first attempts.

Brutally honest at times, and always straightforward, Tony Mandarich’s "My Dirty Little Secrets" is in my opinion first and foremost a great book about the power we all hold within ourselves and everything we can achieve if we only decide to do the right thing. Unfailingly optimistic, but never preachy, this book should find a wide audience of those who are curious enough to reserve judgment until they learn all of the facts. I am not qualified to say how good of a football player Tony Mandarich ever was, but he is certainly a brave man and one who can walk with his head held high anywhere in this world.

My Dirty Little Secrets - Steroids, Alcohol and God: The Tony Mandarich Story
Tony Mandarich and Sharon Shaw Elrod
Modern History Press (2009)
ISBN 9781932690781
Reviewed by Olivera Jackson-Baumgartner (9/08)

Brett Favre: A Packer Fan’s Tribute (Third Edition, The Final Season)

March 6, 2008 is a day Packers fans dreaded. It would be so hard to say goodbye to a man who led their team to the Super Bowl and will never be forgotten. He is so beloved by Packer fans and the city of Green Bay; why he even had a street named after him. It wasn’t without tears by the man himself that he said goodbye to playing the game and the fans who embraced him. Brett Favre made everyone feel that he was leaving the game that he loved and entering a new chapter of his life. Little did he know at the time, or did the Packers organization know, that this was not to be the final goodbye. Anyone who watches National Football League games on Sundays knows that he is now the starting quarterback for the New York Jets.

"Brett Favre: A Packer Fan's Tribute" is a game-by-game report of each of the games which Brett started while wearing the Green and Gold. With the most consecutive starts in NFL games, this book is packed with recaps of the most memorable games in his illustrious career. What packer fan could ever forget the gutsy Monday night performance the night after his father Irvin's sudden death? The snow globe game in Green Bay in 2007 won’t soon be forgotten either, where he jokingly threw a snowball at his teammate and high-fived a referee.

True Packers fans will want to keep this book in their collection. Being filled with many photographs, it would make a wonderful coffee table book. Brett is a legend and sure to be enshrined in the National Football League Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Living in Wisconsin when Brett retired, you couldn't miss the news coverage of his "retirement." He joked that after seeing some of the television stations tributes, he now knew what it felt like to die. Brett will long be remembered as a legend. He now has a book which is devoted to his statistics and photo history of his time in Green Bay.

"Brett Favre: A Packer Fan’s Tribute" by Tom Kertscher would definitely bring a smile to all the Brett Favre fans out there all over the country!

Brett Favre: A Packer Fan’s Tribute
Tom Kertscher
Cumberland House (2008)
ISBN 9781581826838
Reviewed by Lori Plach for Reader Views (10/08)

Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes

Most people have heard of the great ball player Mickey Mantle, but few know the story of his rapid rise from obscurity to distinction, and the hurdles he had to overcome to get there and stay there. Fred Glueckstein has masterfully captured part of the famous baseball player’s life in his short book “Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes.” This book, written for young adults, will be enjoyed by anyone desiring to learn about Mantle’s early years, and how he rose from out of the Depression and Dust Bowl to the 1951 World Series.

Though Glueckstein could have written a full biography of Mantle’s life, he has intelligently limited his scope to the baseball star’s rookie year with the New York Yankees, and all that led up to that formative time. By narrowing his range, Glueckstein has been able to both focus his attention to the important parts of Mantle’s early years in Oklahoma, Kansas and his first year with the Yankees, and to provide young adults an easily readable book that will inspire their desire to succeed and never give up.

“Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes” is the story of a young Oklahoma boy whose father and grandfather worked hard in the zinc and lead mines by day, and then at night poured themselves into helping Mickey become a superb switch hitter, able to hit solid homeruns from either the left or right side of home plate. This is the story of a young man who learned that he had a serious bone disease while in high school, and yet never let it stop him. This is a story of a developing success that failed and then overcame his failure to soar high in baseball history. This is a story of a father’s encouraging drive and a son’s determined love.

In this nicely-bound, well-edited book, “Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes,” Glueckstein has pulled together loads of batting averages and other important statistics for the baseball fanatic. And yet the author has also woven in the personal side which makes the story come alive before the reader’s eyes. Everything from snippets of personal dialogues, to snatches from his personal letters to his future wife, Merlyn Johnson, the humanness of a Major League Baseball star comes out.

If the reader is looking for an easy, inspiring, well-written book that will encourage both younger and older, then I recommend “Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes,” by Fred Glueckstein.

Mickey Mantle: Rookie in Pinstripes
Fred Glueckstein
iUniverse (2008)
ISBN 9780595469215
Reviewed by Dr. Michael Philliber for Reader Views (8/08)

The Story Behind the Glory: Winning Quotes from Sports Greats on the Game of Life

If you are a sports fan, and even if you aren’t, I’ll bet you’ve  heard the phrases “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” and “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game.” Bill Cairo’s book, “The Story Behind the Glory,” takes ten famous quotes from sports history and expands on them. This book gives readers more than just a quote. It also provides the background story by delving into the personal and professional lives of the men behind these famous lines.

While you may be familiar with most, if not all, of the phrases Cairo reviews in his book and you may even know who said all of them, you probably do not know what experiences in the sportsman’s life led him to saying the words. Cairo gives readers a succinct look at the lives of sports greats such as Yogi Berra, Muhammad Ali, John Wooden, and Arthur Ashe, as well as those with less name recognition but no less importance to the sports world such as Fred Shero and Grantland Rice. Each man’s story is covered in about 10 pages, which the author uses to expand on the life experiences of these men, including highlights relevant to the quote they are known for without getting into information that is not relevant to the quote. He includes the stories, both good and bad, about the men that give the reader a better sense of what led to the utterance of these now famous words.

“The Story Behind the Glory” is geared towards those with an interest in sports, but would be enjoyable for non-sports fans as well. While it gives sports buff’s some historical perspective and more stats they can quote while talking with their like-minded friends, it is also interesting enough to keep the attention of those readers not as interested in the sports world. This book is most well-suited for sports fans and readers of the motivational genre.

The Story Behind the Glory
Bill Cairo
Turano-Zimmerman Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9780977760534
Reviewed by Nikki Pringle for Reader Views (6/08)

Golf: The Mental Game

Even though the reader is not an avid golfer, she does like to watch golf. What really impressed me about Dorsel’s book is that it has techniques that one can apply to any sport, job or setting goals.

The main point from this book is that one should pay attention to their thinking, emotions and actions. Usually if something goes wrong it is related to one of the above. In the first chapter, “the nine R’s of golf” are discussed, some of them being: realism; responsibility; relaxation and reinforcement. Regardless of what your goal is, to be a better golfer or better on your job, the nine R’s can help you.

The book is written in a fashion that it is easy to read and understand. You can take points from each chapter and apply them immediately.  In addition, each chapter gives specific examples of the principles discussed.

I would recommend “Golf: The Mental Game” to beginning golfers, as well as other individuals who want to make positive changes.

Golf: The Mental Game
Tom Dorsel, PhD
Cumberland House Publishing (2008)
ISBN 9781581826494
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer for Reader Views (5/08)

Ireland’s Professional Amateurs: A Sports Season at Its Purest

To get background information and interviews for his “Ireland’s Professional Amateurs,” award-winning journalist, Andy Mendlowitz toured Ireland for eight months to observe and record the story of a sport season at it its purest.

This is a behind-the-scenes story of The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), of Gaelic Football, a combination of the elements of soccer and rugby, and the game Hurling. Hurling is an Irish sport played with a stick similar to ice hockey. Andy described the game this way: Gaelic football was physical and with the players not wearing pads, trouble followed. Hard shoulder-to-shoulder contact led to violent collisions. Heads banged and bodies got slammed to the ground.

These games often attract crowds as large as 80,000. The athletes train as professionals but maintain full-time jobs outside of the sports arena to pay support their families. According to Andy, GAA both created and reflected community. GAA fans had two loyalties-- to the club team and to the inter-county squad. Mendlowitz provides several enlightening references within the various chapters of the financial underwriting of the GAA organization and their investments.

From the early playoffs in February through April to the finals in September and October, Andy followed the teams from Clare, Mayo, Leitrim, Kerry, and Galway Counties to Derry in Northern Ireland and the cities of Cork and Dublin.

I personally enjoyed Andy’s word pictures and colorful detailed descriptions of the Irish countryside as he traveled from the rural parishes to the large cities of Belfast, Dublin, and Cork. I was fascinated as he gave me a new appreciation of Ireland’s culture, folklore, superstitions, history, and economics. He also gave me a new understanding of the difficulties being faced in Northern Ireland.

To provide the background information Mendlowitz wanted for his story he stayed with players and their families. He became involved in their personal lives and identified with the loyalty they feel for their teammates, their fans, and their country.

Mendlowitz writes in a fast-moving, journalistic style that reveals his own passion for sports, his fascination with the sports, the games themselves, with the individual team members, their coaches, and their fans. His love for travel, new adventures in learning and a love for life all come through in “Ireland’s Professional Amateurs.” This is sports writing at its finest.

Ireland’s Professional Amateurs: A Sports Season at Its Purest
Andy Mendlowitz
iUniverse (2007)
ISBN 9780595456840
Reviewed by Richard Blake for Reader Views (2/08)

Crimson Tide Madness: Great Eras in Alabama Football (Golden Ages of College Sports)

Wilton Sharpe
Cumberland House (2007)
ISBN 9781581825800
Reviewed by Lori Plach for Reader Views (7/07)

Are you a National Football League fan? If you are, chances are your favorite team has at least one member who has graduated from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa. The mascot for the University of Alabama is known as the Crimson Tide. The university's football team has a tradition of greatness. The Crimson Tide boasts twelve national championships; three times they have won in back-to-back years.

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