Amazon.com Review
The Sweet Season is an aptly titled, vibrantly entertaining book. After a decade of fall travel covering games, longtime
Sports Illustrated football reporter Austin Murphy forgoes the roadie lifestyle to move with his family and cover one of the best football programs in the nation, at Minnesota's St. John's University. With all the self-deprecating and witty style of Bill Bryson, Murphy depicts the coaches, players, monks (it is, after all, a Catholic school), his family, and himself as fallible humans and unsung heroes.
Above all, Murphy has fun here, in his silly depictions of small-town, college life, the simple delights his family brings, and the refreshment of football without superhuman egos. John Gagliardi, the 70-plus coach of St. John's, has won more games than any five active NFL coaches combined, despite a non-traditional coaching style devoid of full-contact scrimmages or hours of (useless) calisthenics. One Johnny exercise is the Beautiful Day Drill, where players flop down and stare at the sky, commenting on the loveliness overhead.
Murphy's football anecdotes are insightful, his humor relentless, and his game savvy tested. At the first St. John's game, Murphy "[watches] the kickoff transfixed, half-expecting Eau Claire's returner to go all the way. I mean, I've been with the Johnnies damned near a month and haven't seen them make a tackle. Who's to say they can do it?" As we find out, and opposing teams can attest, they hit hard, every season. Highly recommended. --Michael Ferch
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Murphy, a Sports Illustrated writer whose beat exposes him to the ballyhoo of college football on fall Saturdays and the high maintenance millionaires of the NFL on Sundays, takes a season-long respite from egos and attitudes at idyllic St. John's College in Collegeville, Minn., to cover the school's Division III squad, the Johnnies. Murphy seeks rejuvenation, for himself and his relationship with his wife and two small children. He also seeks enlightenment from John Gagliardi, the Johnnies' eccentric coach whose unorthodox style includes never allowing his players to hit each other in practice. He's also the winningest active coach in NCAA football and second on the all-time list. Murphy's dry, delightful humor keeps him out of trouble when sappiness looms. Upon his final visit to the Johnnies' stadium, he writes, "Here... I will let go of the season. Here, I will bid bittersweet adieu to the Natural Bowl, my favorite sports venue of all time. Here, I will search for the Starbucks commuter mug I left under the bench this afternoon. The goddam things go for about seventeen dollars." He also shows his sportswriting talents with several vital, original descriptions reminiscent of Hunter S. Thompson's gridiron coverage. "Moore hip-faked the poor boy halfway back to Wisconsin," Murphy writes of the Johnnies' offensive star, "sold him a parcel of swampland, a used '74 AMC Pacer with a cracked engine block." Readers will also appreciate Murphy's funny, self-deprecating reflections on his family life, though the passages sometimes drag on. But invariably Murphy comes to the rescue with a well-timed one-liner, a signature of this lighthearted, enjoyable book.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
