Half-read book review

It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium by John Ed Bradley

Various folks have recommended this to me since it was published in 2007 and I had been putting it off until someone finally went ahead and bought it for me this Christmas. I just picked it up this weekend and, my God, it is far far more compelling than I had imagined.

Bradley is not just some ex-jock waxing nostalgic about his playing days. Instead, he has written (in the first half of the book anyway) a dark memoir of an angst-ridden young writer struggling to distance himself from an athletic career which he appears to view with equal parts pride and shame. Bradley's examination of his (perhaps unnecessary... perhaps a bit selfish) identity crisis raises questions about one's expectations and their relationship with what is expected of one... as well as the concept of "humility" as a sort of false face for self-satisfaction.

And, of course, the book is also the sometimes harsh and sometimes reverent but realistic college football memoir it is advertised as. As a reader, it helps to be a) interested in football and b) from Louisiana. But it isn't necessary.


And that's all I got so far. Remember, it's a "half-read" book.


Update: In a related matter, we see that Les Miles has hired a new defensive coordinator off of Phil Fulmer's now disbanded staff. Fitting as Fulmer was the only SEC football coach who was actually worse than Miles. (Not counting Spurrier, of course. No thing or no one is worse than Spurrier in any category)