The Miracle of Castel di Sangro

I usually do not write about a book that I have not finished. But I enjoyed what pieces of it I had read so much - I needed to record it.

Who is the last person you would expect to write a book on sports? This author is well-known in non-fiction circles for a certain type of book. True crime. What is a true crime author writing about sports? Especially soccer? European soccer? It is with the voice of the converted, that Joe McGinniss can write about about his newest passion - soccer. Italian soccer. In The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, McGinnis takes an in depth look at the small soccer team from the remote village. They had managed a "miracle". They had moved up in the rankings and leagues of Italy's soccer standings. (The explanation of the leagues - is very intense and detailed.) Yes - for their fans, it was an amazing year. But the true miracle will be if they can hang on to their new standings.

Being an in depth writer, McGinnis plunges into this small community and their local team. His experiences with the Italian way of doing things - slower, a bit convoluted, seemingly simple - allows the reader to experience his year of living in Italy following "his" team. He takes us through the struggles that a young team has with owners who never expected that they would have to spend more money on the team now that it has been successful - see the complicated Italian soccer rules and guidelines for that bit. He allows us to peak at the players and coach who are trying to maintain their rankings for the following year. They are not looking to be number one - they just want to remain in the new league!

McGinnis shows us their triumphs and tragedies (is there any other way?) in his new beloved sport. A great book for soccer fans, sports fans, and those wishing to explore the Italian immersion experience. A good read.

The Boys of Winter

The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team by Wayne Coffey is a book about a hockey game. But it was a game, that represented more than just a group of amateur young Americans taking the ice. It became a symbol of the country's daring do in a rather bleak point of our history. Coffey does some excellent research and interviews and he takes us along for the ride.

If you are an fan of the Olympics, you will enjoy this book. If you remember the game or the era - you will enjoy it even more. Coffey does a period by period breakdown of the game and brings in the backgrounds of all the players, coaches, and officials in the book. He even manages to make the former Soviet players human. He manages to bring vibrancy and life to an event that is over 25 years old. And he does so with a journalist's eye and perspective, so that the book is not just a puff piece. It made me eager to watch the game (not the glamorized movie version) all over again. A very good read.

The Amateurs - an Olympic story

The Amateurs: The Story of Four Young Men and Their Quest for an Olympic Gold Medal by David Halberstam is an intense story of the sport of amateur rowing. This is not a glamour sport. Only a few colleges compete in it, at the time of the story, and besides the Olympics, there is really no sporting "afterlife".

So what pushes these people? Glory? Fame ? Self worth? Their Coach? Perhaps all of the above. As he concentrates on his four main athletes, we find that each of them have a different reason to achieve their goal of making it into the Olympics. Halberstam focuses on the 1984 single scull trails but we also learn how rowing is a sport of conditions, so that scores and times can not be trusted past a day's workout or competition. This is also a study of the psychology of sports - before it became a standard part of the athletic training process.

So who will win? The older guy, who was the back up on one Olympic team and also on the team that had to boycott the Olympics - is this his last chance? The one from Seattle, recovering from a bad back, and not really part of the Eastern group? But what about the guy who has been known to pull an upset on any given day? Or that moody California guy who is determined to beat out the Ivy Leaguers? You will have to read it yourself - because I'm not telling! A good read.

"Perhaps in our society the true madness in the search for excellence is left for the amateur."