Home
The Daily Dose/October 11, 2007
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Trying not to mope after the elimination of our All Blacks at the Rugby World Cup...
CAPSULE BOOK REVIEW: The Education of a Coach, By David Halberstam: Halberstam's subject is Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots. Belichick is in the middle of a career in which he is already regarded amongst the very best coaches ever in the National Football League. He is in his eighth year at New England, has won 10 or more games five times and has twice gone 14-2. He was won three Super Bowls, second on the all-time list behind Chuck Noll, who won four with Pittsburgh.
Warning!: Don't read this expecting a complete biography of Belichick. His ancestry is explored in some detail, though his marriage and divorce are mentioned almost in passing, and his three children aren't exactly passing this book around to their friends saying "Hey, lookie here, I'm in a book!" Halberstam promises insights into how one of the very best ever at what he does is produced, and he delivers without bothering his readers with such nonsense as insights into Belichick's family life or hobbies.
Dry, Technical Observation: Which itself is an excellent metaphor for life as an NFL coach. The hours are insane, 12 16, 18 hour days, seven days a week in season, and not too much shorter during the off season, and family, friends hobbies usually only get in the way.
Belichick is no different. He started his coaching career at the age of nine helping his dad, a long-time and highly regarded assistant at Navy, break down film of Midshipmen opponents. He found early on football was more or less the only thing that interested him and, being slow and of average size and below average talent, was able to narrow that down further to coaching football as the only thing that interested him.
True To Form: Halberstam presents his reader with a typically richly researched volume that is also a valentine to Belichick, which was another endearing trait of Halberstam's (see Summer of '49), who does everything but impart divine status on not only Belichick, but everyone who had any sort of positive influence on him. For example, Belichick's high school coaches are given Lombardi-like status, whose own Hall of Fame careers were put on hold because of their undying dedication to the youth of America.
This trait is particularly evident when Halberstam covers Belichick's time as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, where Belichick produced only a 36-44 record and one winning season in five years. This time is, when compared to the immense detail given to every other part of his career, relatively glossed over, chalked up as a learning experience, attributable to Belichick's own inexperience and working for a bad organization, though, Halberstam manfully concedes that Belichick's would have benefited mightily from some tutoring in media relations.
Halberstam turned to sports a lot during the later part of his career. Some may dismiss this as a an older writer indulging himself, but, as he flattered his readers in his Afterword to War In A Time of Peace, he enjoys writing about serious topics for concerned citizens, and The Education Of A Coach provides timeless lessons about hard work, doing what you were meant to be doing and laser focus to a cause, though it could've done a better job of showing the effects this dedication and hard work has on other aspects of the human experience.
We Interrupt This Program For A Word From The Ratings Department: Following Is The Official Writer's Shack Rating scale:
EX - Excellent; as good as the medium can produce in every respect.
VG - Very Good; well worth your time.
AR - All Right; not completely without merit.
SP - A steaming pile, utterly without merit and not worth your time, my time or anyone else's time.
Final Ranking: VG. Halberstam, not for the first time, though sadly for the next-to-last time, has produced a book that is worth the effort he asks the reader to put in to reading it. Any football fan will like it, of course, except for those boorish, hair-on-the-palms fans in Cleveland who have trouble reading a menu, and regular Halberstam readers who may not be football fans will find it worth their time, too.
Famous Final Scene: Halberstam was 73 when he died in a car accident this past April, when the idiot college student driving the car Halberstam was a passenger in had his car broadsided while making a left turn. As this book shows, though he was at an age were some start putting clean dishes in the freezer and forget who their kids are, his mind was still sharp, his skills formidable, and it is sad that one of this country's foremost man of letters had to join the ranks of those who died an untimely, stupid death. The Education of a Coach was Halberstam's penultimate book. The Coldest Winter, America and the Korean War, was published this past September.
Standard Internet Disclaimer: Though Gaylon is better read than some, he is not Einstein for Pete's sake and is not a professional book reviewer. In fact, he makes no guarantees that the reviewed book is current, or even being read for the first time. Reviews are based on his own personal tastes, are completely subjective and not measured against established literary standards. He has a habit of re-reading selected favorites and books that were published as early as the 20th century.
ON THIS DATE: In 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Despite the overall success of the mission, including nearly flawless testing of the system that would place future missions in and out of lunar orbit, it was the last space flight for all three crew members, Wally Schirra, Don Eisele and Walter Cunningham, due mainly to testy, tedious relations with mission control over the course of the eleven days Apollo 7 was in space.
Comments? Recipes? Threats? Email us here!
Home |
|