Enjoying strong magazine pieces I picked this up on the bargain bin at Amazon. Of the collections I have read the totality of the pieces was not as good as some the anthologies before or after but there were still some incredibly powerful stories.
One was a story about Jermaine Ewell who was strong high school football player on his way to the NCAA and perhaps the professional leagues. Involved in an argument at a party, he was beaten with a bat to the point where he could or should have died. After years of recovery he was attempting to play Arena Football. He did not succeed but he succeeded by even attempting it. An inspiring story.
Dirty Moves was a story from a writer who takes his sons to wrestling meets. His sons, taught the right way, lose in a match due to a dirty move made by his opponent. A story about a bond between fathers and sons.
The article Driving Lessons by Steve Friedman was perhaps my favorite. Telling how the author connected with his father as he tried to teach him golf. Another father to son story. Wonderful.
Fallen Angel tells the story of Bo Belinsky, one of the first wunderkind bonus babies in baseball. Pitching a no hitter his rookie year, he went on to win a total of 28 games. As he said however he took those 28 wins further than anyone else. It was quite a journey and interesting to read.
The saddest story was the tale of Mike Webster in Tormented Soul. Webster the long time All Pro Center of the Steelers died of multiple health problems. He also suffered from dementia type issues, losing his whole life and being in pain a great deal. The backstory is Webster's families attempt to get more out of the NFL Retired players disability program. While it was clear that the program did not do enough for Webster until forced too the claim that he was disabled right after leaving the league seems a stretch.
Some very interesting stories.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment