Review of "This Is Not About Running"

Mary Cain’s rise in running was meteoric, but the story behind it is far more complicated. In this memoir, she pulls back the curtain on the pressures and abuses that shaped her teenage years. It’s a revealing look at how easily talent can be exploited.

Title/Author:

“This Is Not About Running” by Mary Cain

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very Good)

Review: 

Mary Cain’s story is sadly not uncommon. An elite runner discovered at age 12, she gained even more notice in high school as she shattered records previously held by professional athletes. At 16, she joined the elite Nike Oregon Project after being recruited by Alberto Salazar. But her experience there — and even with her high school teammates — was far from happy. She writes about those years in this memoir.

While the book’s title says it’s not about running, that’s both true and false. The most powerful sections deal with the treatment Mary received: coaches insisting that at 120 pounds she was too heavy, and the eating disorders and mental health crises that followed. Things became so severe she considered suicide and began cutting. The writing is fine, though at times it leans more toward venting than deep self-reflection. It’s never easy to write about one’s own mental health, so some grace is warranted, but it’s not the strongest memoir I’ve read on that subject.

The parts that are about running are compelling as well. Readers get a sense of what it’s like to train and compete at an elite level. Because we only have Mary’s perspective, many of these interactions come across as negative — and in most cases, justifiably so. The clearest examples come from her high school years. As she broke records and drew attention, one teammate’s mother began harassing Mary and her parents, convinced Mary was stealing the spotlight from her daughter. Mary suggests this mother was living vicariously through her child because of her own running background. Whether that’s true or not, it’s at least an explanation.

Then, of course, there are the issues with the Nike Oregon Project. Mary previously published an editorial in The New York Times detailing the mental abuse, the eating problems, and the toll on her mental health — but she never mentioned sexual abuse, even though she often spent time at Salazar’s house and describes several moments where they were alone. Given the later allegations against Salazar and his fall from grace, readers may wonder whether the memoir tells the full story of their relationship or whether some things were intentionally left unsaid.

Overall, this is a strong exposé of what the Nike Oregon Project did to Mary and, as she explains, the broader exploitation of young athletes. Hopefully her story contributes to further reforms beyond those already underway.

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

Link:  This Is Not About Running: A Memoir: Cain, Mary: 9780063441880: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "The Shining Mountain"

 It isn't often that I will read or listen to a book from the 1970's.  But as I was searching for a mountain climbing book on a peak I had not heard of before, I saw this one in the Audible library.  I decided to pick it up and I am glad I did.  This is my review of Peter Boardman's account of a two-man expedition on Changabang in 1976.

Title/Author:

“The Shining Mountain” by Peter Boardman, narrated by Stuart Crank

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very Good)

Review: 

In 1976, two climbers from England, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, set out to achieve a first in mountaineering history.  They set out to be the first climbers to summit Changabang’s West Wall.  They would not be the first to reach the summit of this mountain in the Indian Himalayas but they would be first to do so on this more treacherous path. This book is Boardman’s account of that expedition, published in 1978. 

The audio version is narrated well by Stuart Crank.  His voice inflections allow the listener to easily distinguish between Boardman and Tasker, something that would not be easy to do if one has not met the men.  The writing is good as well.  Boardman does come off at times as bit of an elitist with his less-than-flattering remarks about people such as porters, but when it comes to his description of the climb, it feels like a gripping novel of survival.  This is especially true as the two of them reach the summit.

Some of the other features I did like was there wasn’t a long, drawn out description of the history of the mountain like some other books on mountaineering have.  There is some that will help the reader who is not familiar with the mountain have a little background, but it’s not a major part of the book.  I also felt that the description of the actual climb, the conversations between the two men and their feelings both during and after were excellent.  Especially that latter part.  While yes, Boardman may have made the remarks mentioned above, those are at least honest.  Keeping in mind when this took place and when the book was written, it was not uncommon for those types of thoughts to be prevalent at the time. 

I live my vicarious mountain climbing life through these types of books and this one gave me another mountain for which I have enjoyed hearing about a summit reach.  I am also glad I chose the audio version for this as an excellent narrator can enhance a story like this and Crank does so marvelously.

Link:  Amazon.com: The Shining Mountain (Audible Audio Edition): Peter Boardman, Stewart Crank, Vertebrate Publishing: Books

 

Review of "Unhittable"

If you've been watching baseball, especially Major League Baseball, the past few years, you may have noticed that the speed of pitches is faster and faster and that hitters, overall, are struggling to reach the same batting averages and on-base percentages that was prevalent a couple decades ago.  This book by Rob Friedman explains the phenomenon behind this trend. 

Title/Author:

“Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks and Innovators Engineered Baseball’s New Era of Pitching Dominance” by Rob Friedman

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very Good)

Review: 

Throughout the history of baseball, there have always been eras in which either pitching or hitting dominated the game.  Currently, there is little doubt that this is an era of pitching dominance with pitch speeds higher than ever.  There are new advanced statistics and modern technology methods to measure them. This book by Rob Friedman explores the evolution of technology and other ways of making pitchers more dominant than the traditional methods of scouting and gut instincts.

There is a little self-promotion in the book as Freidman is the creator of Pitching Ninja, the platform where Freidman, a pitching coach and baseball analyst, will show videos of various pitches from pitchers from various levels of baseball and these videos are used by pitchers who want to improve their craft.  However, as the book explains, video is far from the only explanation why pitching is currently dominating baseball.

Something that will be appreciated by interested readers is that while Friedman does provide a lot of talk about new methods of analyzing data on pitchers, advanced technology to help create that data and other platforms like Codify, Friedman does not delve too far into language that is difficult to understand.  He also talks about each of these subjects by using the success of current pitchers like Tarik Skubal, Trevor Bauer and Tyler Glasnow to illustrate how these new methods of training and coaching are improving the quality of pitchers. 

It should also be noted that Friedman does include pitchers and coaches from most eras to show not only the advancements made for pitching but also how some had the foreshadowing to incorporate some of today’s coaching and pitching mechanics into their careers, even if not quite as advanced as they are today.  Two excellent examples of these forward-thinking baseball men mentioned prominently in the book are Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux and long-time pitching coach Tom House. There are even segments going back as far as the days of Walter Johnson and Christy Matthewson, mainly on how velocity was important to them even those early days before radar guns.

While there are sections that I felt dragged somewhat mainly because of repetition, nevertheless this is a very good book on explaining why this era of baseball is dominated by pitching.  It even includes some explanation from a hitter’s point of view, most notably Athletics All-Star Brent Rooker.  If a reader wants to know why pitchers are so hard to hit in today’s game, this is a good place to find out.

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

Link:  Amazon.com: Unhittable: How Technology, Mavericks, and Innovators Engineered Baseball's New Era of Pitching Dominance eBook : Friedman, Rob: Kindle Store

Review - The Hockey 100

 As I continue my quest to reduce my TBR mountain to hopefully at least a hill, I chose this book as the hockey season is coming to a conclusion this week.  This is the fourth book in a series that highlights the 100 greatest players in a sport - this is one is for the modern era of hockey.  I've read all four and so far, this is the best one. 

Title/Author:

“The Hockey 100: The Story of the Greatest Players in Modern Hockey History” By Sean McIndoe and Dan Robson with The Athletic hockey staff

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (Excellent)

Review: 

Since hockey has some unique traditions like playoff beards and an octopus thrown out on the ice at Detroit, it is only fitting that some of the greatest players in the game have some unique stories as well.  This book, listing the 100 greatest players since the NHL expanded from six teams to 12 in 1967, has some of those stories. These have been collected from various writers for The Athletic and compiled by Sean McIndoe and Dan Robson.  These are stories that every hockey fan should read.

Since this is a subjective list of those 100 players, there will be omissions or arguments about where certain players should be ranked. While those are always good for sports bar arguments or even friendly (?) discourse around the couch while a game is on the television, these rankings are grounded in well-reasoned arguments.

One great example of this is the story of Marcel Dionne, ranked #15 on this list.  The writer of this story points out that when people rattle off great players in the history of the NHL, Dionne is overlooked because he was never on a team that won the Stanley Cup. I wanted to stand up and cheer this author – it’s an argument I always make about any great player in a team sport.  I have always felt that degrading a player because his team didn’t win a championship is unfair.  The player doesn’t make personnel decisions – that’s up to the coaching staff and the front office. 

The other aspect of this book that I really like is that many of the stories of these players don’t always revolve around their statistics and accomplishments.  Of course, each player’s feats are included, but they aren’t always THE story. 

Here are two examples:  The first is about Bryan Trottier, who was a key player on the New York Islanders teams that won four consecutive Stanley Cups, has been very active in making the voice of Canadian Indigenous people heard.  The second is about Alexander Mogilny, a Russian player who came to the NHL before the USSR allowed its players to play in North America.  Mogilny had to make his arrangements in Sweden and even there, the team executives working on the deal felt the Soviet Union might be following them and tracing their calls.  This story was even more intriguing than the well-known story of The Russian Five from the Detroit Red Wings.  Some of those players made this list as well.  

Some hockey fans will not only be disappointed with the book because of player rankings, but it will also leave out greats from the Original Six era like Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and Gordie Howe (he’s left out because even though he played after 1967, his best years were prior to that). Even without them, it does make for great reading for hockey fans and pays homage to the great players of the last 60 years.

I wish to thank William Morrow for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley.  The opinions expressed in this book are strictly my own.

Link:   Amazon.com: The Hockey 100: The Definitive Ranking of Ice Hockey's Greatest Players by The Athletic's Journalists (Sports series, 4): 9780063329195: The Athletic: Books

Review of "What Makes Olga Run?"

I have been in a bit of a reading funk lately as I not only am trying to figure out which books to tackle on my huge pile - call it task paralysis - but I was also at a professional conference last week and when I go to those, my only consumption of books are audiobooks to and from the destination.  This was the audio book I listened to for this trip and I enjoyed it, even if it may not really qualify as a "sports" book. 

Title/Author:

“What Makes Olga Run?: The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives” written by Bruce Grierson, narrated by Sean Pratt

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very good)

Review: 

As the synopsis of this book says, Olga Kotelko is not your typical 94-year-old woman (at the time this book was published in 2014). She was an elite track and field athlete.  Not only did she run, but she also competed in events like the hammer thrown and the shot put.  In her age category she holds 17 world records and overall, 23.  What makes this remarkable athlete continue to compete at such a high level?  Author Bruce Grierson goes to great lengths to explain why this can occur.

The book doesn’t talk much about Olga’s accomplishments in meets, although the beginning of the book covers much of her athletic achievements.  The book is more about the physical and mental aspects of aging, and how Olga was able to overcome many of the physical downfalls of aging that happen to most people. What was very interesting is that Olga wasn’t someone who had a completely healthy diet, strict sleep patterns or extreme training.  Her regiments are explained by Grierson, but most of the book concentrates on what typical aging people go through and how there can be exceptions like Olga.

Since this makes up the bulk of the book, Grierson does an excellent job of finding many knowledgeable people whose expertise lie in those areas. Sometimes the scientific talk on the audio version, especially when discussing the brain functions, can get a little confusing, but narrator Sean Pratt is very good on keeping the audience not only engaged, but also narrating this without any mispronunciations or other errors.  Grierson also deserves kudos for always bringing the topic back around to Olga and her remarkable ability to perform at this level of athleticism.

Link:   What Makes Olga Run?: The Mystery of the 90-Something Track Star and What She Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Happier Lives: Grierson, Bruce: Amazon.com: Books

Review of “Out of the Rough”

 It’s always exciting to read a book on a topic or person that you did not know about before reading that book. That was the case for me with this book about Ted Rhodes, a Black golfer considered to be one of the barrier breakers for Blacks into professional golf. Here is my review of this excellent biography on him. 

Title/Author: “Out of the Rough: Ted Rhodes and His Fight Against Golf’s Color Barrier” by Dan Taylor 

Rating: 5 of 5 stars (Excellent)

Review: When Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters, in his press conference he paid tribute to three men considered to be pioneers for Black golfers - Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder and Ted Rhodes. The work and struggles Rhodes had in opening the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) up to Black golfers is largely unknown and this book by Dan Taylor is an excellent biography of this golfer whose accomplishments should be better known. 

Rhodes grew up in Nashville where Jim Crow laws made it hard for him to pursue golf, but he did get a caddying job on a public course and it was there where the golf bug hit him. He was mentored, took the game seriously and was invited to play in a tournament sponsored by heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, an avid golfer himself. That was where Rhodes became more well known as a golfer who had great potential.

Taylor’s writing illustrated Rhodes’ struggles to get into a PGA tournament as the organization had a strict “Caucasians Only” policy. Rhodes still was able to rack up great scores in the United Golf Association (UGA) that was for Black golfers, but the prize money was a pittance compared to PGA purses. While the coverage of Rhodes’ success was very good, Taylor’s account of the deals made and broken by the PGA, their blatant discrimination against Black golfers and their heavy handedness when addressing this matter with sponsors such as Bing Crosby and his annual tournament was very revealing. It showed just how bad Black golfers were viewed by the organization.

Once Rhodes was able to break the color barrier, he and Charlie Sifford did have some success. But where Rhodes was really making his mark was in coaching other Black players. One very famous pupil of his was Althea Gibson. Once she was tired of tennis because she had defeated nearly every other player, she wanted to try her hand at golf. Struggling at first, she eventually became proficient enough in the game under Rhodes’ tutelage that she became the first Black woman to compete in the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association (LPGA).

When Rhodes died at age 55, the golf world grieved as the sport lost a true pioneer. This book is one that should be read by those who enjoy golf but may not be aware of the contributions Rhodes made to the sport. I was one of those golf fans who did not know about Ted Rhodes - I am very glad that I do now.

I wish to thank Bloomsbury Academic for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own. 

Link:   https://www.amazon.com/Out-Rough-Rhodes-Against-Barrier/dp/B0FBQY2554/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 

Review of "Tony Zale: The Man of Steel"

He fought in one of boxing’s greatest eras, yet Tony Zale rarely gets his due. This biography hits hard enough to change that. Here is my review.

Title/Author:

“Tony Zale: The Man of Steel” by Thad Zale and Clay Moyle

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very good)

Review: 

During one of boxing’s most popular decades, the 1940s, one fighter twice won the middleweight championship: Tony Zale. The man who defeated Zale to win the belt—and then lost it back to him in their third match—was Rocky Graziano. Because Graziano had a far more outgoing personality and published an autobiography, he is better known to boxing historians and fans. However, Zale led an interesting life of his own, and this book by Thad Zale (Tony’s nephew) and Clay Moyle provides a rich account of Tony’s full life and boxing career.

As one might expect from a biography written by a family member, there are passages in which Thad’s admiration for Tony comes through clearly, sometimes in ways that feel biased. Even so, this is a very good biography of Tony Zale’s entire life. This review won’t go step-by-step through that life; instead, it highlights the most interesting sections.

The best parts, especially for a sports fan, are the descriptions of Zale’s major fights. There are separate chapters on each of the Zale–Graziano bouts and on his fights with Al Hostak, whom he defeated in 1940 when he first won the middleweight crown. Each chapter covering a significant fight is rich with detail—not only round‑by‑round accounts of nearly every punch, but also the actions taken in both corners and even the referee’s interactions with the fighters. These details make readers feel as if they are ringside, despite the fact that these fights took place more than 80 years ago.

As for Tony’s personal life, this is where having a family member as author is both helpful and, at times, somewhat biased. This is especially true in the discussion of Tony’s first marriage, which ended in divorce, and his subsequent inability to see his two daughters as often as he wished. While Thad appears to strive for objectivity, the narrative is more sympathetic to Tony than to Adelaide, even if all allegations against both parties are accurate.

Tony also faced financial difficulties after retiring from boxing. Here again, the reader sees the family’s sympathy, but the book also describes how Tony refused to ask for assistance because of his faith, pride, morals, and work ethic. When he married his second wife, Philomena (affectionately called “Mighty Mouth” by Tony), his life changed dramatically. Philomena took charge and ensured that Tony received the recognition due to a former world champion. That improved Tony’s life immensely, and Thad writes about this period with the same strength and clarity he brings to the boxing chapters.

Since this book set out to tell the story of Tony Zale’s life, it succeeds. I had known of Tony Zale only from lists of past champions and occasional mentions of great fights, such as his trilogy with Graziano. This book showed me that Tony Zale was not only a great fighter but a good man as well

Link:   Amazon.com: Tony Zale The Man of Steel eBook : Zale, Thad, Moyle, Clay, Zale, Deborah: Kindle Store