The Sportscaster's Daughter: A Memoir

by Cindi Michael

Overview

One of the 20 Best Books of 2016, Redbook Magazine


Readers’ Favorite Award: Honorable Mention


Millions of people watched sportscaster George Michael each week on the Sports Machine, including his daughter Cindi. Cindi Michael appears to live a charmed life: she’s happily married, has a successful career, and is a loving mom to two wonderful children. Yet she longs for a father who hasn’t spoken to her in twenty years, and even secretly watches him on TV when the longing becomes unbearable.



When Cindi was eleven, her father fought for sole custody of her and her siblings, raising three children on his own despite being a bachelor and rock ’n’ roll DJ in New York in the 1970s. But with his rising fame as the host of the popular show Sports Machine, his 80-hour-a-week work schedule, and his second marriage, the close relationship Cindi shared with her father began to crack; she did everything to earn his love and attention, but for perfectionist George, it was never enough—and when she was eighteen and a freshman in college, in a burst of anger he told her never to come home again. As the years went on, Cindi struggled to steel her heart while still remaining hopeful that they would one day reconcile, just as her father did with his own dad, and transcend painful family patterns that span generations. Candid, moving, and ultimately hopeful, The Sportscaster’s Daughter is a family story of forgiveness, faith, and strength.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631521072
Publisher:	She Writes Press
Publication date:	08/23/2016
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

After moving from Maryland to Switzerland to Texas to Michigan, Cindi Michael now lives in rural New Jersey, not far from where she spent the golden years of her childhood. She’s happily married to an Englishman and is a die-hard football and swim team mom. Her day job as a technology and big data expert takes her to clients around the world, and she is the author of five business and technology books. She holds a BA in English from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Rice University. She has won two creative writing awards for her short stories.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Digging for Baby Clams 1

Chapter 2 Through the Windshield 12

Chapter 3 Whispers in the Night 18

Chapter 4 Worlds Apart 25

Chapter 5 Escape 42

Chapter 6 Our Golden Years 48

Chapter 7 A Perfect Bride 62

Chapter 8 The Family Reunion 67

Chapter 9 The Richest Christmas 72

Chapter 10 The Sportscaster's Daughter 86

Chapter 11 First Love 97

Chapter 12 A Fall from Grace 111

Chapter 13 My Fight to Survive 135

Chapter 14 Broken Hearts 144

Chapter 15 Dying 158

Chapter 16 Tip Toeing Perfectly 172

Chapter 17 Spilt Sugar 191

Chapter 18 Engaged 201

Chapter 19 Fairy Tales 206

Chapter 20 Dumb Foreigner 212

Chapter 21 Breaking Up and Out 220

Chapter 22 Love, Finally 234

Chapter 23 Repeating the Cycle 243

Chapter 24 The Letter 251

Chapter 25 Going Home 264

Chapter 26 Christmas Eve 271

Chapter 27 A Journey 280

Chapter 28 Letting Go 289

Epilogue 294

Acknowledgments 296

About the Author 298

Reading Group Questions 299

Interviews

-Leverage Cindi Michael’s father (George Michael) and his status as a public figure in the sports industry.
-Reach out to national media and the many outlets who worked with George Michael and regional media in their hometown of New York City and the many places Cindi moved to: Maryland, Switzerland, Texas, Michigan, and New Jersey.
-Utilize sports, women, and family interest media to cover the variety of topics throughout the memoir.

Editorial Reviews

"In this memoir, Michael meticulously traces the agonizing course of a fractious relationship that still haunts her. There is, of course, no shortage of memoirs about benighted families, but the author is unflinching in her self-analysis. Now a mother of two herself, she provides the insight that 'the past—a difficult one anyway—can only be laid to rest when we have examined and understood it.' A remembrance that effectively captures the author’s emotional pain and her attempts to come to terms with it."


—Kirkus Reviews



“This memoir combines sports, a woman’s unbreakable spirit, and the strength of family. If that isn’t the American dream, we don’t know what is.”


—Redbook Magazine, 20 Best Books of 2016



“Michael's memoir, Sportcaster's Daughter, cozies up to you and breaks your heart. It's a long, deep look at family dysfunction in the suburbs and the devastation of an unrequited love for a family. You'll find echoes of Karr and Walls--read it.”


—Stephanie Jay Evans, author of Faithful Unto Death



“Cindi Michael’s memoir does not end on the last page. The Sportscaster’s Daughter lingers. It makes you question how a young girl, barely out of middle school, assumes the role of family caretaker... and survives. Thrown out of her house—twice—she manages to go to college, marry, divorce, and finally find unconditional love while trying to heal from her father’s refusal to see her for twenty years. As the daughter of a celebrity sportscaster, Michael engages the written page as if it were her last chance. Woven delicately, this memoir will break your heart until understanding and forgiveness emerge. Then you will cheer.”


—Julie Maloney, Director, Women Reading Aloud



“The Sportscaster’s Daughter is a compelling story about the special love a daughter has for her famous and at times unapproachable father. This is the true story of Cindi Michael, a strong, hardworking, young girl who is at first surrounded by her father’s love, and then, for inexplicable reasons, is cast from the house to live in isolation, confusion and heartbreak. Cindi does not give up. She is a fighter. This is an important story of a daughter’s love for her less than perfect father, about overcoming the childhood pain of being raised by parents who have no tools to help themselves, let alone guide their children to healthy relationships.”


—Leslie Nack, author of Fourteen: A Daughter’s Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival



“In The Sportscaster's Daughter, Cindi navigates and reexamines her bittersweet past, the ties and pains of family, her parents' divorce, and life and love in the shadow of a famous father. This is a clear-eyed, affecting look back, and in the end our heroine emerges into the light.”


—Cullen Thomas, author of Brother One Cell and memoir teacher at New York University and Gotham Writers’ Workshop



“I enjoyed this book tremendously on many levels. I haven’t read a book that is this open, revealing, and personal in quite a long time.”


—Ed Kalegi, America Weekend Radio host



“The Sportscaster’s Daughter is candid and deeply touching as it reveals one family’s struggle with forgiveness and faith.”


—BuzzFeed



“While George Michael was navigating a highly successful radio career during the 1970s, he was living a rather unconventional life as a single dad with custody of his three children, often putting his oldest daughter in charge. Cindi is not simply telling the story of her dad, but also revealing in great detail her own choices that tested the bonds of a once close father-daughter relationship. This is a story of faith, family and forgiveness and demonstrates how that effort continues long after her childhood and father have both passed away. Cindi’s is a remarkable journey which presents an honest look at the man she proudly calls dad while simultaneously revealing her own story of courage and strength. Both are compelling and unique. It’s a book worth reading.”


—Matt Ward, New York area traffic reporter



“The Sportscaster's Daughter by Cindi Michael is a tale of forgiveness and self acceptance. I'm not an avid sports listener by any means so I feel that I was able to dive into The Sportscaster's Daughter without any preconceived notions of the man who for a time was such a dominant figure in her life. Still, I found myself rooting for Cindi at every turn, hoping that she would find the stability and love she so desired, to find her own triumph despite the rejection she faced. The Sportscaster's Daughter by Cindi Michael is a great read for anyone looking to dig deeper into the legend, to find not a god, but a man with flaws like everyone else.”


—Readers’ Favorite

From the Publisher