Once in a Lifetime [Paperback]

Gavin Newsham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 2006

In 1971, Warner Brothers bought a local football team, the New York Cosmos. In 1975 the club signed a three-year deal with Pele, the greatest player the game had ever known. More big name signings would follow: the German superstar Franz Beckenbauer, the charismatic Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia and Brazil's 1970 World Cup winning captain, Carlos Alberto. Almost overnight, the Cosmos became the hottest ticket in town. Celebrities like Robert Redford, Mick Jagger, Barbara Streisand and Steven Spielberg attended games. Cosmos players were mainstays of the hedonistic club scene at Studio 54. Set against the backdrop of a city on the edge, Once In A Lifetime is much more than a football book. It is a vivid evocation of the mania that surrounded the Cosmos at the height of their powers in 1977 and the explosion in new forms of popular culture, the debauchery of Studio 54 and the razzmatazz and conspicuous expenditure that surrounded them. It is a story that embraces millionaires, superstars, gangsters, groupies, glamour, power struggles, alcoholic excess, drugs, and full-on fistfights. It also has some of the greatest football players ever to grace the game.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

GAVIN NEWSHAM is a journalist and writer based in Brighton. He is currently a Contributing Editor at Maxim, the world's biggest-selling men's life style magazine and is a regular contributor to the Observer's Sport Monthly magazine. Previously, he has been the Senior Writer at the groundbreaking football magazine 90 Minutes and the Chief Features writer on the multi-award winning FHM magazine. His first book, a biography of the golfer John Daly, Letting The Big Dog Eat, met with widespread critical acclaim on its release in June 2003.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Atlantic Books (May 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843543753
• ISBN-13: 978-1843543756
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #675,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And hopefully, it's only once., June 9, 2007

By 

RedPower (Kansas City, KS) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once in a Lifetime (Paperback)

I've now seen the documentary and read the book, and this is a story that is both fascinating and familiar to sports fans. The film sort of centers around the dream of Steve Ross, president of what became Warner Communications and the Cosmos. It paints him as a selfless and daring pioneer who was desperate to make soccer big in this country. To an extent, he really was that. The book is less charitable to his behavior, painting him as a poor sport who brought Warner to its knees. Ross partied on the company's dime, looked like a playboy genius, fouled things up with a few bad decisions, and got out with an enormous bank account. Hey, wouldn't we all love to do that? Except it cost thousands of people at Warner and Atari their jobs. Many American soccer players' dreams of playing in their domestic pro league were crushed. I hope Major League Soccer executives read this as their bible, and don't let history repeat itself. In the end, you have to feel sorry for the fans and players, who hoped in vain their success would last forever. But those few good years were pretty sweet, and it was entertaining to learn what happened behind the scenes after years of wondering.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story!!!, November 30, 2006

By 

Howard Wexler (White Plains, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once in a Lifetime (Paperback)

ESPN Classic has been playing the movie made of this book. The two complement each other perfectly.

The story is of the NY Cosmos, a star-laden team that flamed in the late 70s and early 80s. They routinely drew sellout crowds to Giants Stadium, led by such stars as Pele, Beckenbauer, Chinaglia, Alberto. Then a few years later, the team (and the league) disappeared. But what a ride, a hysterical story that is told quite well by Newsham. He interviewed many people (except Pele who reportedly wanted big $$$).

Book is weighed down by Newsham talking about what was happening in the country and world at the time.

But the story is so good. Even if you are NOT a soccer fan, and I am not, it is worth reading.

4.0 out of 5 stars An odd dream of a team, December 18, 2011

By 

WDX2BB (New York State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Once in a Lifetime (Paperback)

There's something dream-like about reviewing the history of the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League.

You mean, there was an outdoor soccer team in the New York area that once played to capacity crowds in a pro football stadium? That was the glamour team of the region in spite of the Yankees, Giants and Knicks? That had some of the world's greatest players on it?

If this were a movie, you'd cue the harp.

"Once in a Lifetime" recounts those days in the 1970's, when soccer was trendy in this country. Author Gavin Newsham has done a good job of reviewing a time that soccer, like its contemporary disco music, makes us say, "What were we thinking back then?"

That's not a knock on the game, which remains the most popular sport around the world and has been adopted by millions of people. Efforts to sell the game in the United States have been taking place for years, and they've usually come up short. Not enough goals, not enough action, not a good sport for television ... you get the idea.

The NASL was one of those efforts. It had the usual plan of putting teams in cities throughout North America, starting small and trying to build a fan base. The plan was interrupted by Steve Ross of Warner Communications Inc., who got caught up in soccer fever and thought he could make it hit the big time. So he got out his corporate checkbook and tried to buy as many stars as possible.

It worked at some level. Pele, the most magical name in soccer, came aboard, astonishing the soccer world. Others like Franz Beckenbauer and Giorgio Chinaglia, followed. Suddenly the Cosmos were a worldwide attraction, and filled Giants Stadium. They even won some games and a few championships.

But the rest of the league wasn't as well financed, so there was no carryover effect, more or less, in other cities. The grass roots development continued at its slow pace, and the television ratings were still relatively awful in those pre-ESPN days. Once the stars started to leave, interest in the Cosmos dropped off again. And when Warner's money supply didn't turn out to be so unlimited, the spiral continued.

While it lasted, though, it was quite a circus. Newsham does a good job of catching up with many of the principals, who are still shaking their heads. He gets the atmosphere surrounding the team right, whether it be coaches coming and going or drug-filled parties after games.

Newsham is an interesting choice to write the book, simply because he's from England. Maybe that's why he included so much information about what was going on in the United States during the course of the narrative. It really doesn't work too well in this context.

But Newsham knows the game, and he presents the story in a straight-forward manner that works quite well. When dealing with amazing material, better to let it rather than you tell the story.

Between this and the DVD of the same name, "Once in a Lifetime" will give the reader/viewer a fine course in a head-shaking episode in American sports history.