It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium: Football and the Game of Life [Hardcover]

John Ed Bradley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2007

"The best sports book of the year."
- Sports Illustrated

"John Ed Bradley says that all he ever wanted to do was to leave behind a pretty piece of writing. Here it is-a wonderful blend of honest introspection, passionate reporting, and superb storytelling. One of the best books I have read in years."
- Jeffrey Marx, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Season of Life

Inspired by a classic essay about a visit to a dying coach, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium explores in gorgeous detail the inescapable pull of college football-the cocky smiles behind the face masks, the two-a-day drills, the emotionally charged bus rides to the stadium, the curfew checks, the film-study sessions, the locker room antics, and the yawning void left in one’s soul the moment the final whistle sounds. To understand why it’s so painful to give up the game, you must first understand the intimacy of the huddle. "It ends for everybody," writes John Ed Bradley, "and then it starts all over again, in ways you never anticipated. Marty Dufresne sits in his wheelchair listening to the Tiger fight song...Ramsey Darder endures prison by playing the games over in his head...Big Ed Stanton never took up the game of golf, and yet he rides the streets of Bayou Vista in a cart nearly identical to Coach Mac’s, recalling the one time the old man invited him for a ride." Far more than a memoir, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium is a brutally honest, profoundly moving look at what it means to surrender something you love.




An Amazon Editors’ Best Book of 2007

"John Ed Bradley is a rare gem, a gifted writer trapped in the body of a football player. It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium will send chills down the back of anyone who loves the game and will echo in the minds of former players long after they’ve put it down."
- Tim Green, best-selling author and member of the College Football Hall of Fame

"A mesmerizing read...achingly sentimental in some parts, brutally truthful in others..."
- Chicago Tribune

"The best memoir I have ever read on how a particular game, win or lose, can linger with us."
- Josh Levin, Slate

"An unsparing and often beautiful chronicle of [Bradley’s] attempt to join polite society."
- Play Magazine

"A lyrical memoir...about his teammates, his coaches, his parents and the magnetic power of football in Louisiana." - National Public Radio

"Heart-wrenching, honest, insightful and hard to put down." - The Franklin Sun



From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Ed Bradley is the author of several highly praised novels, including Tupelo Nights and My Juliet. A former staff writer for The Washington Post, Bradley has contributed features to Sports Illustrated, Esquire, and GQ. He lives in Opelousas, Louisiana.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: ESPN; 1 edition (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933060336
• ISBN-13: 978-1933060330
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #705,369 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "THEY WALKED BETWEEN THE RAINDROPS!", September 11, 2007

By 

Rick Shaq Goldstein "*SHAQ*" (Danville, Ca, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium: Football and the Game of Life (Hardcover)

This is the autobiography of a young man named John Ed Bradley who lettered in football for four years at Louisiana State University. (LSU) Despite the fact that the only position more impressive in Louisiana than playing football for LSU would be Governor, this is oh so much more than a sports story!

John Ed's football career at LSU culminated on December 22, 1979 with a 34-10 victory over Wake Forest in the Tangerine Bowl. At that point John Ed decided to put his entire lifetime football experience behind him, including any contact with any of his teammates or coaches. Though at first blush, the reader might feel, like John Ed did, that this was just a step in the maturation of a child putting aside childhood toys, but twenty-seven years later, John Ed agonizingly realized with excruciating sadness, that his choice reverberated with echoing emptiness in the deepest chambers of his heart and soul.

The writing style of John Ed is akin to romantic poetry, instead of the "click-click-click" staccato you would expect from your everyday sports section in your local newspaper. The reader, with just a little imagination can become ensconced, as if you're involved in a youthful breakup with a lover, that you walked away from a quarter of a century ago, and though you've refused to look back on whether you did the right thing or not so many years ago, an alignment of your life's planets has forced you to re-examine with fresh eyes and heart, the scene you left frozen in another time.

John Ed was asked by teachers, "What was it like?".... He was asked by bankers, "What was it like?"... He was asked by women, "What was it like?" He was asked by students, "What was it like?" "TO PLAY FOOTBALL AT LSU!?"

HE SAID: "WE WALKED BETWEEN THE RAINDROPS. THAT PRETTY WELL DESCRIBES HOW WE THOUGHT ABOUT OURSELVES. NOTHING COULD TOUCH US, INCLUDING THE RAIN. AND OF COURSE IT WAS AMAZING HOW PEOPLE TREATED YOU OUT IN PUBLIC!"

And then twenty-seven years later, it hit John Ed like a million tons of raindrops, and he poetically wrote: "I miss football so much. I miss it like you can't believe. I miss the things I didn't value or pay much attention to when I had them. I don't miss the games so much, the people in the stadium. I miss being a part of something. I only have myself to worry about now, and it's about worn me out. The weird thing is I've even started to miss the guys I didn't much care for when I was playing. And I miss August and the way the grass used to smell when we went out to start two-a-days." "I guess I never saw my time running out. I thought I'd have it forever. And now if I could have anything back, it would be that-the feeling that came around every August when everything was new and anything could happen because the season was about to start."

As I said; this exquisitely written book, isn't really about sports. It's about the parent you stopped talking to years ago, and now it's too late. It's about the lover you walked away from and never looked back. It's about the best friend whose friendship ended so long ago, and only now in hindsight do you look back. The author uses words like Picasso used colors!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has needed to be written for a LONG time, September 9, 2007

By 

Chip Gallent "Who knows anything?" (Franklin, TN USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium: Football and the Game of Life (Hardcover)

Anyone who has played organized sports and has been fortunate to experience success needs to read this book. Often we feel that there are events we experience early in our lives that we will never eclipse. Mr. Bradley accurately captures in this great book the essence and the burden of this thought.

He explores the mystique of playing football in the great state of Louisiana - especially at LSU. He also very artfully explores life after playing football at LSU and what it's like to live up or live down an era in one's life. I'm absolutely sure this exists in ever part of the country regardless of the fact that this is set in Louisiana. There are hometown heroes everywhere that either run from the past or try and re-live it, trying to be great once again.

Never before has a former player, who excelled, so eloquently encapsulated the internal struggles that come from being great at one time in their lives. Once you've had a taste, you're just not normal again. John Ed ran from that for a long time. And, I believe that this book is meant to set that right with both himself and his former teammates and coaches.

Read this book, then relive some of it, or the old days, with an old buddy that you've put off calling for way too long. You'll be happy that you did both.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have ever read, September 21, 2007

By 

Michael F. Hynson (Baton Rouge, LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium: Football and the Game of Life (Hardcover)

This book was one of the best things that I have ever read. I also attended LSU, and can almost see John Ed Bradley sitting in the Quad, or walking to Allen Hall. He not only makes you realize a new respect for the game, but also makes you feel like you are a part of it. You start to understand that you are not the only one that is missing a part of themselves, and it helps you to realize that you, too, can get past the things that haunt you in your dreams.

This book is so well written that you come away from it with the feeling that you have been reliving your past, not someone else's. It takes a minute for it to sink in that regardless of whose life you are thinking of, we all share one thing: the desire to be great.