Customer Reviews

Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Despite the fact that I am always fascinated by whatever Michael Lewis writes about, I had not planned to read Coach. In the bookstore, it looked like one of those "inspirational" books they stock at the checkout counter, next to the gift books about angels and cats.

But then I heard an interview with Lewis on NPR radio. The book was originally a magazine article in the New York Times Magazine. He summarized the story in a few minutes. A coach he had at his prep school (I didn't even catch what sport Lewis was playing) had changed his life by treating him, in a critical moment in a must-win game, as if he was the clutch player Lewis and every other kid dreams of being. Lewis rose to the occasion and the confidence he gained from the experience radiated to his academic work and beyond. But now, twenty-some years later, the parents at the private school are pressuring the headmaster to oust the coach. They say his heavy-handed ways are hurting their kids' self-esteem. Lewis ended his radio summary by revealing that publicity from the New York Times article had resulted in the coach keeping his job, although the school was now looking for a new headmaster.

What a great story. It was short and had conflict as well as a satisfying ending. But then I read the book, which is simply the article, unchanged.

In it, the coach has a temper that seems uncontrolled and frightening, even to the adult Lewis. Coach takes a second-place trophy his team won and smashes it on the locker room floor, indicating his disgust at not winning first. He refuses to drive home when the team has lost, obsessively walking miles through New Orleans at night (yikes) to punish himself for being a loser. When the team doesn't hustle enough, he makes them practice sliding headfirst on concrete-hard dirt until they are bloody and bruised.

Lewis's interviews with former students of the coach sound like Stockholm Syndrome sufferers, people who've been kidnapped and held hostage but come to sympathize with their captors. The former players speak with admiration as they describe how Coach intimidated them. Lewis tells of being on the mound in another clutch situation as Coach shouts ridicule at him from the dugout, distracting him enough so that he misses a grounder that hits him in the face, causing him to black out. But when Lewis regains consciousness, he loves Coach, just as Winston loved Big Brother.

Lewis mentions that when he was a young pitcher, the coach had him put Ben Gay on the bill of his cap, to use for spitballs when his fastball wasn't doing the trick. I'm not familiar with prep league play, but isn't throwing a spitball against the rules? The more I read, the less I admired the coach.

As usual, Lewis's writing is compelling, and once you start Coach, you won't be able to put it down. You just may not find it as inspiring as Lewis meant it to be.

Lewis makes a remarkable statement: a person is not born with selfrespect, but earns it. A struggle to overcome fear and failure is necessary. There are those that try to instill these beliefs on children, even though the lesson is not appreciated immediately in their youth and the profoundly positive impact is not understood until later in life. This is what the book is about.

Lewis' high school coach drives them hard. The kids don't understand why initially. Over time, they learn that through hard work they can achieve their goals--not just in athletics.

Casual readers, based on earlier reviews, seem to think that the coach is obsessed with winning; they miss the point (just as Lewis did when he was in 7th grade). Lewis talks about a season when the team was 1-12: The coaches frustration is not with the win-loss record, but that they kids possess the drive to improve and compete. He is not preparing them to win baseball games, but obtain their goals for years to come in life.

The book is a criticism of a growing opinion among parents that kids are born with respect, instead of needing to develop it. Achievement builds selfrespect, not conception. Parents should be exposing their children to fear and failure to allow them to overcome these obstacles instead of protecting them from it.

The touching element is that a successful author living comfortably in the Bay area champions someone that people no longer believe in, because this person championed him when nobody, including Lewis, believed in himself. It is the ultimate strength of character that Lewis' coach successfully cultivated in Lewis and others.

As a subscriber to the New York Times, I get the magazine. Unfortunately I did not see this article when it was published. To say a book that is a reprint of an article does not have merit is to foolishly presume that everyone gets the Times and has the time every Sunday to devour it. A reprint of an article takes a concept from a select few to the masses. Shame on those who do not appreciate this.

I differ with previous reviews lamenting the brevity of the book. Obviously, adults reading the book were thinking in terms of adults. I read the book thinking about my 12-year old grandson and felt it was a perfect book to send him at this stage in his life.

This is exactly the type of book you would want to send your grandchildren or have your own children read.

It sends a powerful message and being written by someone having been coached by this person at the age of 13 makes it even more valid.

It may be short, but that's the beauty of it. It keeps your interest, gets the point across and leaves you wishing for more or better yet, offers the opportunity for discussion with young adults.

Best selling author (Moneyball, Liar's Poker, and the New New Thing), Michael Lewis has written a little (90 pages) jewel with "Coach." Lewis reflects on his life at Isidore Newman School and the impact that his baseball coach and teacher, Billy "Fitz" Fitzgerald, had in shaping his life.

Fitz entered Lewis's mind at age 12 and has stayed there ever since. Think about that rare teacher or coach that has stayed with you into your adult life; reminisce with Lewis as he rediscovers the attributes of this relationship and its impact on his life.

Lewis's learning that a former player was organizing an effort to remodel the old gym and have it named after Fitz served as the catalyst for the book. While the cash was pouring in from former players and the parents of former players, current players and their parents were doing all that they could to persuade the headmaster to get rid of him.

This conflict allows Lewis to contrast a time when Fitz worked tirelessly to give boys a sense that their lives could be something other than ordinary to what is happening today. Fitz effectiveness had ended as he had run up against the culture of "kids being bestowed with a sense of self-esteem at birth."

The system of values he attempted to instill is no longer in alignment and was now more difficult than those of the parents and of the greater society. They are not in sync; they are no longer tolerated.

"Coach" transcends the events surrounding Fitz and the gym revealing the dark side of a society that has lost its way with honorable values and meaning.

Having previously read Moneyball, I was keenly interested in Michael Lewis' tribute to his high school baseball coach. He did not disappoint. It is a brief, almost essay-like book that gives us snapshots of his coach and himself that reveal worlds about life, coaches, athletes, parents and rising to meet the challenge.

He contrasts very effectively the experience he had with the experience of present-day players, and sets the coach and his ways in graphic relief against both. His admiration for his coach comes through the telling of the story, and not through a simple list of his accomplishments.

The book does give important lessons on the game of life, thus fulfilling the promise of its' title.

One of the book's strengths is also a weakness. It is too brief! This will make it more easily accessible for many, but this reader was left wishing for more...but isn't that the grand goal of most good authors? Michael Lewis has given us another gem.

Highly recommended for athletes, coaches, and especially parents of athletes! Read, enjoy, learn...

MONEYBALL by Michael Lewis was one of the best baseball
books that I have ever read . . . so when I saw the author
had another book out, COACH, I made it a point to get
and read that one too . . . and I wasn't disappointed, though
it is radically different from his earlier effort.

MONEYBALL dealt with the economics of professional
baseball as it is played today . . . COACH is the story
of the author's coach when he was in high school who now--because
he hasn't changed his approach--isn't completely understood by
his players or their parents . . . in fact, many even want to
see him replaced.

And that's a shame because as Lewis notes, [he was] "a man trying
to give boys a sense that their lives could be something other than
ordinary."

Others have that same opinion, too, including Peyton Manning who
might be the highest-paid player in pro football:

"As far as the respect and admiration I feel for the man, I couldn't put
it into words. Just incredibly strong. For me, personally, he prepared me
for so much of what I faced at the college and pro level. Unlike some
coaches--for whom it's all about winning and losing--Coach Fitz was
trying to make men out of people. I think he prepares you for life. And, if
you want my opinion,  the people who are screwing up high school sports
are the parents. The parents who want their son to be the next Michael
Jordan. Or the parent who beats up the coach, or gets into a fight in the
stands. Here's a coach who is so intense. Yet he's never laid a hand
on anybody."

My only complaint about COACH is that it is quite short--only
91 pages, in fact, in a 5" x 7" format . . . it left me wanting to read
more about Lewis' high school days and how he described
them . . . such as in the following passage:

Graduating from Babe Ruth to the varsity with only the slightest physical
justification ( I now resembled less a scoop of vanilla ice cream than a
rounder Hobbit) meant coping with an out-of-control hormonal arms race.
A few of our players had sprouted sideburns; but the enemy retaliated
by growing terrifying little goatees and showing up at games with wives
and, on one shocking occasion, children. I still had no muscles, and no
facial hair, but I did have my own odor. I smelled, pretty much all the time,
like Ben-Gay. I wore the stuff on my perpetually sore right shoulder and
elbow. I wore it, also, on the bill of my cap, where Fitz had taught me
to put it, to generate the grease for a spitball that might just compensate
for my pathetic fastball. Everywhere I went that year, I emitted a vaguely
medicinal vapor; and it is the smell of Ben-Gay I associate with what
happened next.

Michael Lewis has combined a healthy curiosity about how organizations behave with an engaging narrative style to produce the eye-opening Liar's Poker, Moneyball and New, New Thing, among other books.

In this short portrait of his high-school baseball coach, Lewis merges a study of that individual with an affirmation of the effect of his values on the boys who played on his baseball team at a toney prep school, along with an essay as to why such a manly, hard-core method is pretty much forbidden by the realities of parental pressure today.

The book fundamentally expresses gratitude for the author's good fortune to have been at an elite high school in a spartan era. It does not fully explain the basic motivation of the coach, but leaves a melancholy impression that his type of dinosaur is needed now more than ever, just when the system seeks something different.

I read this after finishing Michael Lewis' The Blind Side. It's a very short read -- basically an extended magazine article -- but well worth the ticket. I thought Lewis conveyed this retrospective on his high school athletic experience very well, and there are some interesting observations about the changing world of high school sports. Every coach, athlete, and parent would benefit.

This short read on the high school athletic student is a must for all parents of athletes. You'll find out how the attitudes of student athletes are changing the face of high school sports.

How in the world could I give "Coach" a three star rating but suggest, "don't buy it?"
It's a fun, quick read with a few nuggets -- definitely worth a read.
But... you can finish it in 20 minutes. Of the 93 pages, at least 12 are photos. (I've read longer newspaper columns.)
I suggest you go to Borders or Barnes and Noble and buy a medium coffee. Before your coffee gets cold, you'll be done with this book.
Then if you really like Lewis' writing, purchase, "Moneyball." It's a tremendous look at the business side of baseball.