Review of "The American Game"

It took me longer than expected to finish this book on lacrosse, a sport in which I have become more interest the last few years and one in which it is hard to find books.  Therefore, my first review in October took longer, but I was glad I finished this book - here is my review of "The American Game." 

Title/Author:

“The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse” by S.L. Price

Rating: 

3 ½ of 5 stars (good)

Review:

The title of this book by S.L. Price, a long-time Sports Illustrated writer, is very appropriate for a book on the sport of lacrosse. While it is very well-known that Native Americans played the earliest known versions of the game, not much is known about their struggle to field their own team as a nation. That is just one of the topics Price covers about the sport in the book.

The Haudenosaunee (formerly Iroquois before taking back their original name) tried to enter Isreal for the 2018 world championships using their own passports instead of becoming part of the teams from the United States or Canada.  This caused several issues, but they eventually competed in the tournament.  The difficulties they faced is just one of several issues with the game that Price describes.

Other topics that are highlighted that trouble the sport is the lack of diversity, the lack of women in the sport, at least before Title IX was passed (it should be noted that Price does a really nice writeup of the recent state of women’s college lacrosse, including the fact that it is growing faster than the men’s game) and the “laxbro” attitude of the players who are mostly white, upper to upper middle class, and have a history of substance abuse. While it was very appropriate to include these topics, they were more of the focus of the book instead of the sport itself and for me, that was a disappointment. 

However, when Price did write about the game, whether the growth of the women’s game, the “medicine games” played by the indigenous players in its earliest days and is still done by them today or just recapping how some schools such as Johns Hopkins in Baltimore (men) or Northwestern University near Chicago (women) became powerhouses in the sport. While not at the level that a person who knows nothing about lacrosse would understand, Price’s text on actual game play and the positions are very good as well. 

My thoughts on this book, as one can probably tell, are very mixed. On the one hand, it has great information on the sport at various times in its history, albeit a little uneven as Price switches from one topic to another and back often.  Also as noted, the book did seem to concentrate on the hard issues of the sport instead of the beauty of the game.  Nonetheless, it is worth checking out if one wants to learn more about the sport of lacrosse.  

I wish to thank Atlantic Monthly Press for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse - Kindle edition by Price, S. L.. Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Review of "We Showed Baltimore"

Lacrosse is a sport I never paid much attention to until an indoor lacrosse team moved to our local area this past year.  I attended a game a couple months ago - and now I am hooked on the sport.  So, when I saw that a book on the Cornell University lacrosse program was available for review, I jumped on the chance and was even more excited when the request was approved.  Here is my review of "We Showed Baltimore"

Title/Author: “We Showed Baltimore: The Lacrosse Revolution of the 1970’s and Richie Moran’s Big Red” by Christian Swezey

Rating: 5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: Before the 1970’s, college lacrosse was dominated by five schools, collectively known as the “Big Five” – Army, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Navy and Virginia. Cornell University’s program was getting better as the 1970’s approached and went through their 1970 season undefeated. At that time a team had to selected by writers to win the national championship.  Cornell did not gain the votes needed, which made their coaches, players and athletic department upset enough to call for a tournament.  This led to a very successful decade of lacrosse for Cornell and that decade is captured in this excellent book by Christian Swezey.

Swezey is a well-respected lacrosse writer – his knowledge and the depth of his research shines in this book that is best described as a history book of the Cornell lacrosse team for the decade of the 1970’s.  Just about any question or piece of information you would want to know about those squads can be found in these pages.  There is much information on the two coaches of that decade – Ned Harkness, who also coached the hockey team, and Richie Moran.  Harkness left after the undefeated 1970 season to take an NHL job, leaving the program to Moran.

That was a wise decision, as the book does a great job in describing Moran’s teams, his players and his coaching style for the decade.  The book never goes too deeply into personal lives, whether Moran or star players like Eamon McEneaney, Mike French and Tom Marino.  There are some sections which get very detailed, such the recruiting of McEneaney or even the description of what some of the players did in a hotel room before an NCAA tournament game (listing the Friday night TV programs they watched in the hotel room).  This does give the reader a decent look at the person being profiled.

Unlike many books about teams or athletes from different eras, there is not a lot of text about the social and political climate of the time.  Of course, since this is about a college sports team during the 1970’s there is some mention of the Vietnam war and the associated protests.  But that type of commentary is not often found in the book.  Instead, more is written about the sport of lacrosse and those changes, such as the introduction of plastic sticks, which were much easier for players to use and more affordable than the traditional wooden sticks.  This was an excellent way to introduce the reader to the changes that were occurring in the sport during the decade.

But the best writing by Swezey is when writing about the action on the field and associated actions that occurred, such as the switching of Cornell’s home field from natural grass to artificial turf to accommodate the training and practice regiments of Moran.  This led to better conditioned players for Cornell and combined with the outstanding skills of the players, Cornell ended up winning the NCAA championships three times in the decade – 1971, 1976 and 1977.  Their championship games, especially the 1977 one against Johns Hopkins, is great reading for detailed, on-field action. 

For any reader interested in the sport of lacrosse, whether a newcomer or a long-time fan or player, this book is one that must be added to their library. It doesn’t matter if the reader knows much about the history of Cornell lacrosse because it is such a great read about the sport itself that every person who likes the game will like the book.

I wish to thank Cornell University Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Link:  https://www.amazon.com/We-Showed-Baltimore-Lacrosse-Revolution/dp/1501762826/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1646258021&sr=1-2

Review of "Here and Gone"

This book's main topic was one in which I have always been fascinated: sports teams that folded or otherwise ceased operations.  When author John Rust sent me an email to ask if I was interested in reviewing this book, I certainly wasted no time in responding and his book was everything I could hope for, even if a couple teams that I remember seeing didn't make it into the book (thinking of the Danbury Trashers hockey team and the Minnesota Kicks soccer team), but he still did a nice job of sharing stories about failed teams and leagues.  Here is my review of "Here and Gone"

Title/Author:

“Here and Gone: Short-Lived Sports Teams and Leagues” by John Rust

Tags:

Baseball, basketball, football (American), soccer, ice hockey, history, short stories

Publish date:

September 24, 2018

Length:

171 pages

Rating: to

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Sports fans are familiar with the scenario: a brand new team or league is formed with expectations that people will come out and support a sports team in a new venue or a new team that replaces one that folded or moved away.  Then problems arise, from lack of funds to lack of fans to poor management and the team is gone, with not many people even noticing or caring.  However, author John Rust did care enough to write a book of essays about teams and leagues that did not last for long.

What is most impressive about the book is that Rust covers five different sports over a long time frame and was able to find information about some of the more obscure teams and leagues.  How many fans realize that there have been professional volleyball leagues?  Or that lacrosse has tried to start several leagues?  Well, Rust talks about these sports and some of the least known teams in those short start-ups. These are mixed in with writings about teams in some of the more well-known leagues that had short lives.  Leagues in this category include the World Football League, the United States Football League, the World Hockey Association and the American Basketball Association.  The latter name was used multiple times for basketball leagues and Rust covers all of them.

The teams also cover a wide range of geography and unusual names, such as the Minnesota Fighting Pike,  This team’s name, even though it lasted only one season in 1996, is still considered to one of the top ten names in the history of Arena Football. Interesting trivia like this make the book entertaining – at least more so on top of the stories of why the various teams failed.  As mentioned, it usually was due to poor management, a lack of fans or a lack of money.  That isn’t always the case as Rust also includes some incidents of criminal behavior and the sad story of a college basketball team that was popular on campus and played very well but was not well-received by the town because of the presence of black players so they ceased operations after only two years. 

Because this is a collection of stories about these teams, the book can be read in as short or long a session as a reader wished.  The usual characteristic of a book structured like this also is true – namely, that not every story will be a terrific one for every reader.  Also, as Rust notes in the epilogue, he doesn’t write about all the failed teams and leagues because there are just so many.  So he had to use his judgement while doing his research on which ones to include. Overall, this is a very good book for readers who, like me, are fascinated with stories about teams that had a very short life in the world of professional sports.

I wish to thank Mr. Rust for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

Paperback                                                                                                                                        

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Here-Gone-Short-Lived-Sports-Leagues/dp/1723761753/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=