One Heartbeat II: The Road to the National Championship Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)One Heartbeat II' is an update to the original book 'One Heartbeat'. The updated version contains stories about the Texas Longhorns' from around 2000 to winning the national title game against USC. There is good news and bad news about 'One Heartbeat II'. The bad news is that Mack Brown isn't in any danger of quitting coaching to start a writing career. The book is weighed down with an 'aw shucks' gooeyness that is sometimes hard to overcome. Writer Bill Little does a pretty good job of narrating the book and adding his own stories but at times falls victim to the same goo.
The good news is that the book succeeds at it's goal of presenting Mack Brown's coaching philosophy. You get a good picture of Mack Brown the person, his life philosophies, and his perspective on how those things relate to his coaching and success with the Texas Longhorns.
'One Heartbeat II' walks through Brown's career, including heavy coverage of his stint at North Carolina and the reasons he left the Tar Heels. Brown presents inspirational stories about his encounters with people throughout his life and career, including stops at LSU, Appalachian State, Oklahoma, Tulane, and (of course) Texas. He includes stories about running back Ricky Williams, dealing with Cole Pittman's death in a car accident in 2001, and Brad Hermes who overcame his deafness to play for the Longhorns. Particularly enjoyable are his frequent encounters with and comments from Texas coaching legend Darrel Royal.
Despite difficulties with the number of cliches and heaping helpings of corniness, you cannot help but find a deeper respect for Mack Brown the person and head football coach of the Texas Longhorns. There is something in this book for everyone, whether a fan, a coach, or an athlete. If you're a Longhorn fan and you haven't read this book you're missing out on a fair amount of insight into the team and coach you hold so dear.

Click Here to see more reviews about: One Heartbeat II: The Road to the National Championship

Chronicles some of the life and times of Mack Brown and his journey from Cookeville, Tennessee, where as a child he rode the team bus with the high school football teams his grandfather coached, to Austin, Texas, where today he is head football coach of the University of Texas Longhorns. One Heartbeat II is filled with thoughts and stories from Brown who, in following his dream of coaching, has built winning football programs everywhere he's coached. Each chapter opens with a photograph depicting a person or an experience that has helped shape Mack Brown's life, his values, and his philosophy.

Click here for more information about One Heartbeat II: The Road to the National Championship

Read More...

The Best American Sports Writing 2005 (The Best American Series) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is a fabulous book. The reader will be rewarded again and again. Mike Lupica has done a worthy job as editor.
Let's face it, there is no shortage of good writing out there. Just like when we see a film, like it or not, the technical work is outstanding. The challenge for the editor is to create, using his selections, an introduction to the greater narratives that underlie the sensibility of the genre.Sports, in 2005, having never lost the ability to inspire, having those wonderful stories of determination, of grit, of overcoming odds, of personal victory are now also tales of despondency, of scandal, of defeat not just on a personal level, but also at the grander scale that we now experience this global world. So Lupica takes us on an emotional journey that captures as a snapshot the world we live in. The stories are the links in the chain. The chain as a whole, the journey as a whole, is wonderfully well thought out and perfectly executed. I cannot say enough about this book.
If you like this book, and this style of meta-narrative, please check out the 2004 Best American Travel Writing, edited by Pico Ayer. He carves out an incredible emotional journey, in alphabetical order!

Click Here to see more reviews about: The Best American Sports Writing 2005 (The Best American Series)

The Best American series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of periodicals. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the very best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected--and most popular--of its kind.The Best American Sports Writing 2005 includesMichael Lewis • Gary Smith • Steve Coll • Tom Verducci • Ira Berkow • Bill Plaschke • Linda Robertson • Michael Bamberger • L. Jon Wertheim • Thomas McGuane • John Brant • Pat Jordan • David DiBenedetto • and othersMike Lupica, guest editor, has been a columnist for the New York Daily News since 1977 and is the best-selling author of numerous books, including, most recently, Travel Team, a number one New York Times bestseller.

Click here for more information about The Best American Sports Writing 2005 (The Best American Series)

Read More...