Three 2022 sports books that look behind the scenes - Issue 10
Including the usual list of new releases and my top 5 sports books of 1999.
When I group reviews together, I try to have a common thread or theme. Often it emerges after I read a bunch only to find connections I hadn’t expected between wildly different books. So here are three very different 2022 releases that focus less on what happens on the field of play and look behind the scenes at the level of a club, a league and the wider sports industrial complex.
After last week’s post on best sports books of 21st Century, I couldn’t resist finding my top 5 sports books published in 1999. I’m going to do a best of for each year of the 1990’s over the next 10 newsletters. Happy reading.
New Book Reviews:
- 🏈 Playmakers: How the NFL Really Works (And Doesn't) by Mike Florio
- ⚽ Glorious Reinvention: The Rebirth of Ajax Amsterdam by Karan Tejwani
- 🏀 Black Market: An Insider's Journey into the High-Stakes World of College Basketball by Merl Code
Mike Florio is a well known NFL pundit with a huge online following. Playmakers is the result of 2 decades worth of thinking and reflection on the sport presented in bite sized articles around 10 broad topics. It’s the type of book I usually might have avoided - the article format usually means there is no central narrative, no grand vision or thematic message laid out for the reader. However, despite my initial skepticism the book undoubtedly works for what it is intended to be.
Florio writes about the game with both knowledge and passion. Most notably, Florio is consistent in a few key observations and opinions on the modern NFL. He paints the league itself as badly reactive with only the threats of losing its audience or of government regulation prompting reforms.
Above all, he is an advocate for players and repeatedly highlights the uncomfortable ease with which the media and fans can accept the league’s, and billionaire team owners’, presentation of facts and narratives especially when they paint a negative portrait of players. This advocacy is ultimately the books central theme - whatever about the drama that surrounds the sport, never forget its the players, their talent, sacrifice, courage and personality, who make it what it is.
Black Market by Merl Code is a very different book but also one that looks behind the headlines - albeit with a much more personal story at it’s core. Code worked for major sports brands connecting them with college players and helping to ensure the next great basketball player had Nike or Adidas on their sneakers when they were ready to turn pro.
Code is the unlucky rare fall guy needed to maintain the sh-amateurism illusion of big time college sports. The book affords an opportunity for him to reshape the narrative of the actions which cost him his career (and possibly his freedom) by placing a proper context on the financial underbelly of college sports and the unspoken reality of how the business works. Part biography and part rage against the hypocrisy of big time college sports, Black Market is passionate, powerful and very very persuasive.
Glorious Reinvention takes a narrower focus than the other two books reviewed this week, focusing on one team, Ajax Amsterdam, the most famous, and successful, team in Dutch football. Tejwani, who previously chronicled Red Bull’s football project in the excellent Wings of the Change, shines a light on how Ajax returned to the top of European football in recent years (much to the joy of every fan in their late 30s and early 40s who look back in wonderous awe at the Ajax team of the mid-90s).
Tejwani skillfully combines an overview of the club’s oft-told history with the more modern story of it’s boardroom chaos of the early 2000s and a series of smart business and operational decisions that saw the club’s pipeline of talented young footballers reemerge. Well-researched and written, it’s a fascinating insight for any European football fan who asks themselves just how did Ajax get so great again.
With Eric Ten Hag getting the Man Utd job this is also an enlightening read on what he will bring to the English game and whether he can overcome the dysfunction to bring United back to the top of the game.
New Sports Books - What’s out recently or coming out soon?
Keep an eye out for these sports books out recently or coming out over the next week:
⚽ In The Heat of the Midday Sun: The Indelible Story of the 1986 World Cup by Steven Scragg. Author of excellent trilogy on European Club football turns to on of international football’s most memorable tournaments.
⚾ The Umpire Is Out: Calling the Game and Living My True Self by Dale Scott with Rob Neyer.
⚽ The Nearly Men: The Eternal Allure of the Greatest Teams that Failed to Win the World Cup by Aidan Williams. Celebrating those great international football teams that didn’t quite win it all.
🏏 Elephant in the Stadium: The Myth and Magic of India’s Epochal Win by Arunabha Senguta. A look at the legacy of India's first Test cricket series win in England in 1971.
⚽ Jimmy Greaves: The One and Only by Norman Giller. Authorised biography of the goalscoring great by his close friend.
⚽ Kicks, Spits, and Headers: The Autobiographical Reflections of an Accidental Footballer by Paolo Sollier. English translation of book from the 70s considered a classic of radical football literature.
🏒 1972: The Series That Changed Hockey Forever by Scott Morrison
⛳ The Cup They Couldn't Lose: America, The Ryder Cup, and the Long Road to Whistling Straits by Shane Ryan. Hopefully the book is more ennjoyable than the tournament was for European golf fans!
🏈 Hometown Victory: A Coach's Story of Football, Fate, and Coming Home by Keanon Lowe with Justin Spizman. Lowe was an offensive analyst for the San Francisco 49ers when his childhood friend and former high school teammate suddenly died from an opioid overdose prompting him to become football coach at a struggling high school back in his hometown.
⛳ So Help Me Golf: Why We Love the Game by Rick Reilly. One of golf’s top writers.
The Best Sports Books of 1999
As promised here is my top 5 list of the best books of an annus mirabilis for high quality sports book publishing.
When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by David Maraniss. A simple wonderful biography that stands as the definitive biography of one of American Football’s most revered figures. A Maraniss biography is a the sports book equivalent of a Super Bowl winning team. Review of his upcoming Jim Thorpe biography coming in a newsletter edition pretty soon.
The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro: A Tale of Passion and Folly in the Heart of Italy by Joe McGinniss. The the story of the 1996/97 Serie B campaign of tiny Castel Di Sangro after they had achieved an unexpected promotion (the ‘Miracle’) to the second division in Italian football. McGinniss, a successful American writer in his 50’s, spends the season with the team sharing their meals, the dressing room and eventually their secrets. A remarakable, enthralling and at times infuriating read. Check out my review of this book here.
Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made
by David Halberstam. The book is about Jordan the man and Jordan the phenomenon. It’s also very much about the NBA of the 80s and 90s and the people in that world. Its as much about the impact of Jordan as it is about the actions of Jordan. A great book from an exceptionally great writer. Read my review of this, and other books on Jordan here.
Addicted by Tony Adams (with Ian Ridley). Published in 1999 when Adams was still Arsenal and England captain, and less than 3 years after he had revealed his alcoholism and stopped drinking, Addicted was a strikingly honest and frankly remarkable book from a footballer still playing at the highest level. Read my review of this and follow up book Sober here.
Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand. This accidentally made into my best of 21st Century list but was actually first published in 1999! A story of adversity, success and fame through the lives of the three men (arguably four) who turned Seabiscuit into such a success. Read my review of Seabiscuit here.
Not a bad top 5 for a year!
Thanks for reading. Let me know your thoughts, opinions, any improvements I can make etc. Catch me on Twitter. More books next week!