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Overview
In I’d Know That Voice Anywhere, Deford discusses everything from sex scandals and steroids to Americans’ perennial nostalgia for Joe DiMaggio and why, in a culture dominated by celebrity, sport is the only field on earth where popularity and excellence thrive in tandem. He considers the similarities between Babe Ruth and Winnie the Pooh, why football reminds him of Venice, and how the Olympics are like Groundhog Day—or like an independent movie filled with foreign actors you’ve never heard of. He considers the prevalence of cheating in the classroom among student-athletes and why academic whistle-blowers are castigated as tattletales, pens a one-size-fits-all sports movie script, and even delivers Super Bowl coverage in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. This page-turning compendium of Deford’s witty and frank pieces covers more than thirty years of sports history while showcasing the vast range of Deford’s interests and opinions, including his thoughts on the NCAA (a shameless autocracy, where college players are essentially indentured servants), why gay athletes “play straight” (more for fear of their audience than their colleagues), and why he’s worried about living in an economy that is so dominated by golfers.
A rollicking sampler of one of NPR’s most popular segments, I’d Know That Voice Anywhere is perfect for sports enthusiasts—as well as sports skeptics—and a must-read for any Frank Deford fan.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780802126726 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Grove/Atlantic, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 05/16/2017 |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 288 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Please, let’s face it, where there are games, people will bet. It’s idiotic to run away from that fact. Indeed, in many countries, national lotteries are based on soccer results. In a grown-up place like England, you can walk into any neighborhood betting shop and get a wager down on just about any event, including even, say, the British Open and Wimbledon. And, you know, I haven’t heard a single suggestion that Phil Mickelson or Anna Kournikova haven’t won the championships because gamblers have gotten to them.
But the American sports leagues love to maintain this fiction that gamblers are a threat to their games. By making a big fuss about this, the leagues can then shout about what a wonderful job they’re doing in saving their games from fixes. It’s like the guy sitting on the street corner waving his arms. “What are you doing? “I’m keeping the elephants away.” “I don’t’ see any elephants.” “See, I’m keeping them away.”
The NFL, the NHL, the NBA and baseball are doing a great job of keeping the elephants away. The players in our professional leagues simply make too much money, which is why what few attempted fixes there are invariably involve poor college kids with no pro future. Yet, the leagues have a whipping boy. It would be as if President Bush regularly talked about the threat to America of the Bolsheviks or the Barbary pirates.
Table of Contents
Foreword xiii
1
Mass and Class, Together 3
Words to Play By 5
Our Indecent joys 8
Sisters, 1 and 1-A 10
By the Seat of Their Pants 12
The Groundhog Games 15
Back in the Day 18
2
Sports Are in the Union, Too? 23
Spittin' Image 25
The Other Winnie-the-Pooh 28
Little Big Man 31
Stoodint Athaleets 33
The Real Bad Guys 35
The Volunteer State 38
3
The Pursuit of Sports 45
Baseball's Sad Lexicon 47
To an Athlete Leaving Young 50
The All-Purpose Sports Movie 52
The Other Sports Violence 55
Another Way to Win 58
Par for the Course 60
4
The Super Bard 65
Worse Even Than Us? 69
Where Have We Gone? 71
Me and Paul 74
Bad Bubbly 76
We're Number 33! 78
Trading Lip 80
5
Football Are Us 85
The Victim 87
Euro Exceptionalism 89
I Can Work Longer Than You 91
The Snakes in the Garden of Sports 93
Chicago 95
Put an End to It 98
6
Give and Go 103
Pretty Good 105
Mister Misses 107
His Refuge 109
You're It Is Out 111
The Last in the Line 113
Hailing Proudly Too Often 115
7
Kept Men 121
Seashells and Balloons 123
Keeping the Elephants Away 126
Real vs. Reality 129
That Sunday of Ours 132
Play a Fore 135
Home Alone 137
8
Match Play 143
Lip to Speed 146
Did He Say That? 148
Da Boys Will Be Boys 150
Time to Go 152
A Good Aim 154
Deliverance 156
9
Who Needs War? 161
Headmaster 163
Girl Watching 165
Too Much to Care 167
Namesake 170
The Patriots Act 172
The Forgotten (Well, Briefly) 175
10
All Guys All the Time 179
Loyal (Sports) Alumni 181
The Old Butterfly 183
Sound Off 185
Past-ism 187
Let's Give 'Em a Hand 189
Southern Comfort 191
11
Artful 195
Gone Fishin' 197
Nouveau Heart and Mind 200
Little Big Man 202
Life in the Time of Drugs 204
GMs and ADs 206
End of a Love Affair 208
12
Presidential Exploitation 213
Wistful Day 215
Fat Chance 218
Game Changer 221
There's No Tin U.S.A. 223
Gimme That Old-Time Momentum 225
Mulligans 227
13
The Other State U's 231
The Fenway Park Address 234
Getting to Know You 236
Patriot Games 238
August Song 241
The Rev. Mr. Coach 243
Used to Be 246
14
Blessed Are the Pure 251
Speaking of Sports 253
Life Among the Idle Fans 256
Juiced 259
Don't Tie One On 262
Paying Through the Noseguard 264
Sweetness and Light 267