[movermike] movermike: Book Review: The Entitled

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Posted by movermike:
Book Review:  The Entitled
http://www.movermike.com/posts/1186368460.shtml


   [Michelson_P_Baseball,-gicle_lrg.jpg]

   Are you a baseball fan? Are you glued to the TV from spring to late
   fall watching as many baseball games as possible? Do you collect
   baseball cards and wallow in the statistics of baseball like a dog in
   a mud puddle?

   No me either! But, I did watch two seasons of Oregon State winning the
   national championship and I did watch Boston defeat the "Babe curse."
   I rooted for the Cubbies and watched in disbelief as a fan interfered
   with a fly ball that ended their dream for one more year. Mick, my
   driving buddy who's "Hey, Blue!" for high school baseball can
   entertain me for hours with stories of baseball high jinx and crazy
   calls. What I'm leading up to is a great book I just finished written
   by Frank Deford.

   They say that Deford is "the most influential sports voice among
   members of the print media" or "the world's greatest sports writer."
   I'm no expert on his past writing, but I just finished The Entitled, A
   Tale of Modern Baseball and I couldn't put it down. From that opening
   paragraph I was hooked:

     So, for Howie, it was, at last: neither resignation on the one
     hand, nor anger on the other. No, it was simply awful, horrible
     disappointment that tore at him. That it all must end this way. No,
     not this way. Anyway it ended would be a calamity, because despair
     would follow, and Howie understood himself well enough to know that
     he didn't possess the creative resources to really ever overcome
     that despair.

   Howie Traveler, great name for a manager that's been everywhere, is a
   baseball manager for the Cleveland Indians. He has finally made it to
   the "show". Howie has a love for the game that is beyond anything I
   feel. One night, going to his room he sees something he wished he
   hadn't. It involves his star player and an alleged rape and his
   conscience. And one way or another may cost him the only thing that
   has mattered in his life.

   Deford through Howie and the star Jay Alcazar let us in on the behind
   the scenes of baseball as it's played today. We learn about he
   entitlement of the new players. We meet an obsessive owner, all
   knowing about stats, but no wisdom about players. We learn from a man
   who has seen most everything about the fans, the groupies and
   baseball.

   I wasn't disappointed in the ending as some have been. I thought it
   worked well for everyone involved.

   IFRAME:
   [1]http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=movermike-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=14022
   08960&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=i
   fr

   [2]Baseball [3]The Entitled [4]Frank Deford [5]Mover Mike

References

   1. http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=movermike-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1402208960&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr
   2. http://technorati.com/tag/Baseball
   3. http://technorati.com/tag/The+Entitled
   4. http://technorati.com/tag/Frank+Deford
   5. http://technorati.com/tag/Mover+Mike