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Frank Deford (1938–2017)

Autor von Alex: The Life of a Child

31+ Werke 1,365 Mitglieder 35 Rezensionen Lieblingsautor von 3 Lesern

Über den Autor

Benjamin Franklin Deford III was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 16, 1938. He graduated from Princeton University in 1962. He began his career at Sports Illustrated as a researcher. He wrote for Sports Illustrated for more than 30 years, appeared on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel for mehr anzeigen 22 years, and gave 1,656 weekly commentaries for NPR's Morning Edition. He was a six-time Sportswriter of the Year, a National Magazine Award recipient, a member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame, and the first sportswriter to be given a National Humanities Medal. He wrote both fiction and nonfiction books including two memoirs entitled Alex: The Life of a Child and Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter. He died on May 28, 2017 at the age of 78. (Bowker Author Biography) weniger anzeigen

Beinhaltet die Namen: Frank Deford, ed. Frank Deford

Bildnachweis: Bridgeport Public Library

Werke von Frank Deford

Alex: The Life of a Child (1983) 353 Exemplare
The Entitled (2007) 155 Exemplare
Bliss, Remembered (2010) 94 Exemplare
An American Summer (2002) 63 Exemplare
Everybody's All-American (1981) 43 Exemplare
The Best of Frank Deford (2000) 38 Exemplare

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This book was a series of essays and anecdotes about Deford’s career as a sportswriter and sports commentator. There were some interesting stories about various people including Kingsley Amis, Rodney Dangerfield, Vince McMahon, Bill Bradley and Arthur Ashe.

My issue with this book is that I downloaded it as a Kindle book. There was no proper index. It just described the Chapter number and page without a description. I skimmed through the 46 chapters of varying lengths. There were some chapters I read with interest, others that I paged through quickly.

I actually found the Jimmy The Greek chapter rather poignant. He was such a tragic figure---he was not a smart or sophisticated man and one slip of the tongue ruined not only his career but his life.

I am not a huge fan of Deford. I enjoyed his sports commentaries on TV but did not follow his writing on Sports Illustrated.
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writemoves | 5 weitere Rezensionen | Oct 26, 2021 |
I saw the movie with Dennis Quaid and Jessica Lange before I read the book. The movie runs close to the book except for the ending. I enjoyed both the movie and the book. Not an unusual story. Football star becomes legend in college. Good, not great career in the pros. Then a sad decline as the years build up and the injuries mount. Gavin, the Grey Ghost was a running back and athletes in that position do not usually have long careers.

Gavin suffers financial setbacks, betrayal and his marriage to his college girlfriend Babs begins to suffer. When Gavin’s playing days are over, he does not make an easy transition to a new career. He flounders and hopes he gets the chance to play football again. Babs moves on with her life.

All the attention, accolades and glamour leaves his life. He hangs on tight to his past legends and memories to the dismay of his wife and friends.

This is not so much a sports book but a tale of human tragedy. One reads actual stories like this of other athletes who retire or unable to compete and become financiually destitute and suicidal. A cautionary tale not only for athletes but all who choose to live on past laurels.
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writemoves | 1 weitere Rezension | Oct 26, 2021 |
I love Deford's sports writing, and have enjoyed his previous collections, but this one left me wanting more, more about his family, more about the athletes he mentions (and "mentions" is the correct term for this collection) and finally, less-less repetition, especially when he refers to sports writers of the era that came before his. This feels like a book thrown together to fulfill a contractual obligation or to top up a bank account.
 
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Rdra1962 | 5 weitere Rezensionen | Aug 1, 2018 |

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31
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1,365
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#18,835
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½ 3.7
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35
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85
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3

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