Losing Season

by Jack Ridl

Overview

Losing Season explores the often unsettlingly central role that sports play in American life. From the star player to the kid who never gets in a game to the town religious fanatic to the disgruntled parent—all have their say. Even if you haven’t lived in this town, you will recognize the lives of quiet endurance, unrecognized triumph, harsh weather, and hardnosed hope that propel people through the season.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781933880150
Publisher:	CavanKerry Press
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Series:	Notable Voices Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	104
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Jack Ridl, poet laureate of Douglas, Michigan, is the author of Saint Peter and the Goldfinch and All at Once.

Table of Contents

Losing Season: Everybody Talks • At Fifty • First Cut • Coach Goes Down the Hall Wondering Where All the Men Went • Coach’s Daughter • Assistant Coach Thinks about Taking Over • Opening Game: Halftime • Scrub Dreams of Taking the Last Shot • Shower • Trainer Teaches Eight Phys Ed Classes a Day • Manager • Coach Losing His Daughter • Jim Kenner Owned a Variety Store • Pep Rally • Band Director • Pacing Before the Game • Before the Game • He Sits on the End of the Bench • Ref Comes in from Out of Town • Closing the Gym • Bad Night at Practice • The Principal Assigned Him to Sell Tickets • At Harry’s Coffee Shop • The End Is Near • Stats • Outside Kmart • Over Christmas Break, Coach Dreams He Visits the Basketball Hall of Fame • Lunch Hour • The Former Great at the Game • No Game Plan • Timer • Vendor Sits, Waits for the Halftime Rush • Head Cheerleader • Ex-Cheerleader • In the Last Seconds • The Gym, January • Halfway Through • Winter Weekend • Insomnia • Scrub • Coach Checks His Mail • Barber • Dog • Coach Sits in Church Drawing a New Offense on the Front of the Sunday Bulletin • Bus Driver • Scrub Dreams of Injuries • Coach’s Prayer • The Morning after the Tenth Straight Loss • Team Meeting • Walking Home Late after Practice • Coach in Effigy • Can’t Sleep • Coach’s Wife • Coach Dreams of Being on Vacation • The Next Morning • Coach Teaching History • The Equipment Man’s Wife • Last Game • Coach Reflects with His Wife on the End of the Season • On a Day in Early March • Late Night Jazz Station, Coach Listening • All He Does • Dear Coach • Coach Tells His Wife about the Big Game, the Big Snow • Night Gym • Acknowledgments

What People are Saying About This

Richard Jones

"Losing Season isn’t just a great book of poetry, for it is much more than that—it is more like the Great American Novel we have long hoped would grace our literary landscape."

Conrad Hilberry

"An unmatched collection bringing to high school basketball the nuance and detail the film Bull Durham brought to minor league baseball. Poems so compelling, so varied, so familiar to anyone who has felt the impact of high school sports that they may well introduce a new genre. This is a terrific book--there's nothing like it."