Overview
John Schulian, a much-honored sportswriter for nearly forty years, takes us back to a time when our greatest athletes stood before us as human beings, not remote gods. In this compelling collection, Schulian paints prose portraits to remind fans of what today’s cloistered stars won’t share with them. Here, Willie Mays remembers how to smile in dreaded retirement; Muhammad Ali muses about a world that was once his. For every moment of triumph—Joe Montana in the Super Bowl, Marvelous Marvin Hagler over Thomas Hearns—there is another filled with the heartache that Pete Maravich felt when he hung up his basketball shoes. The result is a book guaranteed to stir memories for the generation that was—and to leave subsequent generations wishing they had it so good.
Full Product Details
Author: John Schulian ,
William Nack
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Imprint: Bison Books
Dimensions:
Width: 14.00cm
, Height: 2.10cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.408kg
ISBN: 9780803237766
ISBN 10: 0803237766
Pages: 336
Publication Date: 01 October 2011
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
Mr. Schulian's most impressive quality, more admirable than his ear or knack for a phrase (his Nolan Ryan had a heart like a blister ), is his generosity...Mr. Schulian made one generation of athletes worthy subjects of wonder. Had Hollywood not called, you suspect, he'd have done the same for another. Tim Marchman, Wall Street Journal John Schulian ranks high among the best sports journalists of our time. His stories are clean and muscular and filled with swift, poetic turns... I've often wondered if the subjects of his stories realized how privileged they were to have him telling their tales. Great ballplayers come and go, but there has been only one Schulian. John Ed Bradley, author of It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium This generous, big-hearted collection comes at a perfect time. Here is a reminder of what athletes were like before they were made virtual, hypothetical, or imagined or projected as probabilities in a fantasy game. They weren't always heroes. But Schulian made them all human. Mark Kriegel, author of Namath and Pistol It's easy to forget how wonderful it is to be a sports fan. Remind yourself. Read this book. Joe Posnanski, author of The Soul of Baseball and The Machine
John Schulian ranks high among the best sports journalists of our time. His stories are clean and muscular and filled with swift, poetic turns... I've often wondered if the subjects of his stories realized how privileged they were to have him telling their tales. Great ballplayers come and go, but there has been only one Schulian. John Ed Bradley, author of It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium This generous, big-hearted collection comes at a perfect time. Here is a reminder of what athletes were like before they were made virtual, hypothetical, or imagined or projected as probabilities in a fantasy game. They weren't always heroes. But Schulian made them all human. Mark Kriegel, author of Namath and Pistol It's easy to forget how wonderful it is to be a sports fan. Remind yourself. Read this book. Joe Posnanski, author of The Soul of Baseball and The Machine
Author Information
John Schulian’s work has been included in Best American Sports Writing and Sports Illustrated’s Fifty Years of Great Writing. His many books include The John Lardner Reader and Twilight of the Long-Ball Gods: Dispatches from the Disappearing Heart of Baseball, both available in Bison Books editions. William Nack is the author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion and Ruffian: A Racetrack Romance.
