AGAINST FOOTBALL: ONE FAN’S RELUCTANT MANIFESTO by Steve Almond

Steve Almond, Against Football: One Fan’s Reluctant Manifesto (Melville House Printing, 2014). 177 Pages.

Also available for Kindle and Nook.

 

(NonFiction)

 

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

 

This is a treatise written by a journalist and former sports reporter and play-by-play man. It is his ruminations about his fanatical habits of watching football and being a fan of the game since early childhood. This book is neither long nor complicated, but the end result of reading it may be both long and complicated for the reader.

 

I am a football fan, of course, as any family member will attest. I have given some thought through the years to the sham of college football, but that hasn’t deterred me from being a Hawkeye fan or watching NFL games on TV. I will say up front that my fandom and viewing habits have not yet changed since I read this book, but I am still thinking the over the issues which are presented here.

 

Almond divides his concerns over football into chapters addressing each of them. His major moral questions center around head injuries and concussions at all levels of the game, money and tax issues associated with the professional game, the continuous charade of the “student-athlete” in the college game, the “rape culture” that surrounds both college and professional players, and the general and overall affect a game of aggression and violence has on society in general.

 

Almond makes some sweeping recommendations in the epilogue of the book. Among others, they include: revoke the NFL’s non-profit status – let them pay taxes!; enforce a weight limit on players; include graduation rates in a college team’s national ranking; and require a 3.0 GPA to play varsity football. In another part of the book, he also argues for the disengagement of football from universities and substituting clubs (at NFL expense), which is the European model for sport.

 

This book has some food for thought. Mr. Almond has stopped watching all football as a result of his research. He also admits that most who read this book conclude he is crazy!  Each person, after reading what is presented here, can make a decision for her or himself about the future of football in their individual life. 

THE CHINA BAYLES MYSTERY SERIES by Susan Wittig Albert

Susan Wittig Albert, The China Bayles Mystery Series (published by Berkeley, 1992-  )

Available in hard cover and paperback, as well as for Kindle and Nook.

(FICTION)

Reviewed by Kathy Smith Morales

My introduction to the China Bayles mystery series came on my birthday several years ago as a gift from my husband. He saw book #14, Bleeding Hearts, on display in a bookstore and thought I might enjoy it.  The author of the series, Susan Wittig Albert, is a local author – local for us, anyway.  She lives near Austin, TX and I learned recently that a friend is in a women’s writing group with her. 

The main character, China Bayles, lives in the fictional town of Pecan Springs, located between Austin and San Antonio. China left her high-powered career as a criminal lawyer in Houston to seek a quieter life in Pecan Springs as the owner of an herb shop. But her past life as a criminal attorney keeps her busy solving mysteries in her new hometown.

I enjoyed the local flavor of Bleeding Hearts and the inclusion of some recipes that played a part in the story was a fun bonus. I decided to start at the beginning of the series and now make a habit of putting a couple on my Amazon wish list every year. My son thoughtfully obliges. I just had another birthday, so I’ve just finished reading Rueful Death on a road trip. Next up – Love Lies Bleeding.

This is a fun series. Each book has some herb or flower as part of the book title and as an ongoing theme throughout the plot. Each chapter begins with a bit of information, a quote, a recipe – some little extra something related to the herb of the book title. 

According to Wikipedia, Albert describes her books as "cozy mysteries" because they do not describe much violence or gratuitous behavior. Sometimes that is just what I want.

P.S. I also read that she used the pen name Carolyn Keene to write for the Nancy Drew series in the 1980s.

[NOTE: You can find a list of all the books in this series at the author’s website. See http://www.abouthyme.com/China/index.shtml. The website also has discussion guides for book groups and recipes for foods that might be served at a book club meeting.]