We’re counting down my ten most dog-eared, beaten-up, food-stained sports books — not necessarily the best or most important, just the ones I’ve gone back to again and again. Each day until September 10 (when I will be announcing my new book), I’ll share one of these beloved books (and, because why not, I’m also pairing each with a fountain pen from my collection).
Reminder: During the countdown, we’re offering 10% off at the JoeBlogs Store. Simply enter PENNANT10 as your discount code at checkout. We’ve got all new PosCast merch in there!
No. 9: When Pride Still Mattered
Author: David Maraniss
Signs of wear: No idea. Somebody borrowed the book a good while ago — I don’t even remember who — and I keep forgetting to buy a new copy.
Just beat out: Friday Night Lights, Buzz Bissinger; Three Bricks Shy of a Load, Roy Blount Jr.; Saturday’s America, Dan Jenkins.
The wonder of Buzz Bissinger’s book “Friday Night Lights” has been lost a bit because of the ultra-popular (and fictional) television series inspired by it, but that book was an absolute lightning bolt when it came out. This story of a struggling Texas town investing its hopes and dreams in the high school football team … I remember just being overwhelmed. What a book.
Here’s something: Friday Night Lights was No. 89 on the American Library Association’s more frequently challenged (banned) books. What? Why would they ban Friday Night Lights?
There seem to be a few reasons. For example, in 2023, an Iowa school district banned Friday Night Lights because Chat GPT identified a “depiction of a sex act.” There is no such depiction — I simply cannot imagine a more modern American story than banning a book over something that doesn’t exist because AI says it does.
There’s a famous Vince Lombardi story that begins, approximately, like so: Lombardi hated agents. He hated, as Maraniss wrote in When Pride Still Mattered, “anything or anyone getting between him and his players, making the process seem mercenary, less personal.”
So, as the story goes, in 1964, the great center Jim Ringo walked into Lombardi’s office seeking a large raise. Ringo had been a first-team All-Pro five years in a row, and he’d been at the heart of two championship teams, and he was turning 33 that year and wanted a little security for his family. Lombardi, as hard a man as he was, could understand a player wanting that.
What Lombardi could not understand, and would not tolerate, was Ringo bringing an agent into the office with him.
“Excuse me for a moment, Jim,” Lombardi growled, and he left Ringo and his agent sitting alone in the office. After a few minutes, Lombardi returned.
“We think Jim has done everything you could ask from a player,” the agent began.
“Go talk about it with the Eagles,” Lombardi said. “Mr. Ringo has been traded to Philadelphia.”
Here’s the most important part of the story — it’s not true. Lombardi did not directly negotiate with Ringo. Also, Ringo wanted to be traded to Philadelphia so he could be closer to his home in New Jersey. And Lombardi thought Ringo was slowing down a bit and wanted a younger player. “Both the player and the coach had other motives,” Maraniss wrote.
BUT … it’s also a little bit true, Ringo did in fact hire an agent. And it did irritate Lombardi.
I bring this up because “When Pride Still Mattered” is the best sports biography I’ve read when it comes to separating and blending myth and reality. That’s such a thin tightrope, particularly in sports. If you lean too heavily on the myth, you end up with nonsense, with Babe Ruth missing games because he ate too many hot dogs. But if you lean too heavily into the reality, you end up with a story stripped of the joy and nuance and wonder that made you want to read it in the first place.
Vince Lombardi told that agent story about himself time and again. He wanted people to believe it. He wanted players to be wary of hiring an agent. Lombardi wanted to be shrouded in myth. That was part of his aura.
So what David does is a real magic trick. He tells the story of both the real Lombardi and the mythical one in the same book.
David begins the book by telling us how he got the most perfest sports book title — it comes from a scene in Richard Ford’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Independence Day, when the narrator goes to the Vince Lombardi rest stop off the New Jersey turnpike and, glancing at the memorabilia, quickly reminisces about Lombardi’s late-career stint with Washington (when pride still mattered).
Ford meant it ironically. David says he does too. But having read the book multiple times, I think he meant it both ways.
The Fountain Pen: TWSBI Diamond Mini AL Grape.
TWSBI just makes delightful pens, and the Diamond Mini is probably my favorite because it’s so cute. If someone sees you writing with it, they’ll immediately go, “Hey, what’s that pen?” It’s a perfect little pocket carry, and you can see the ink sloshing around in it, and it writes very well.
Note to Brilliant Readers: I’m TRYING to take a vacation, but you know me … I can’t help sneaking in a few half-baked, off-the-cuff Notebook posts. This week, so far, it has been Bochy magic and the unhittability of Aroldis Chapman and the inevitability of Novak. If you want those in your inbox, just click yes in the poll — or just read them online.
