Customer Reviews (1)

A Boy's Book
I am a teacher and a mom and I am always looking for books my 10 year old boy will read. I found that he loved this author so i bought this book.He was reading it as soon as he got it and quoting superbowl facts by the end of the day. (Proof to me of reading comprehension).Great book, great author. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Ebony, published by Johnson Publishing Co. on October 1, 1989. The length of the article is 778 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Blacks in ... the greatest sports events of all time.
Publication: Ebony (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 1989
Publisher: Johnson Publishing Co.
Volume: v44Issue: n12Page: p120(5)

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Book Description
A collection of intriguing stories about the sports activities and 'different' lifestyles in Marquette maximum security prison. Written by the then-recreation director, "Oakie" Brumm, these true stories tell of the games and sports teams playing in the prison from 1952 through 1957. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Shame........
Shame Michigan never kept up the program and shame on the author for trivializing the horrors of state prison.

A look inside a prison and the games prisoners play
Recently, Sports Illustrated and ESPN ran features on San Quentin prison and its Giants baseball team. It was noted the San Quentin Giants only played home games.

Leonard "Oakie" Brumm published this book in December 2001. Maybe he should attempt to collect from the above stated venues for stealing his idea and "only home games" line. Those pieces ran well after Oakie Brumm's book.

Leonard "Oakie" Brumm is a respected high school hockey coach in the Milwaukee area. My father-in-law claims to know him. It's possible, as both men come from Michigan's Upper Peninsula--an area where hockey is a major sport and the fanaticism of hockey fans exceeds even the fanaticism found in Minnesota.

But the book is about a job Oakie Brumm had for four years in Marquette, Michigan (a major UP city). The book details Oakie's tenure as Recreation Director for the Marquette State Prison, a maximum security facility. Oakie was hired a year after the Jackson State Prison riot in downstate Michigan. The Warden at Marquette wanted to prevent the same scenario to play out in Marquette. Thus, the hiring of Brumm as recreation director.

You might ask what would incite a sane individual to apply for such a job. The truth is, the job came looking for Brumm. Brumm had coached in Alaska and Wyoming previously, which the warden knew. Brumm had come back to Marquette to work in his family's construction business. And it was while doing road work that the warden would stop and ask Brumm to apply for the job; it was his for the taking.

Brumm was naturally hesitant to take the job. Who in their right mind wants to work inside a maximum security facility? But his wife urged him to take the job. Women love job security and financial security and working for the state in maximum security wasn't bad.

This was indeed a special job. Brumm reported only to the warden. He was told never to tattle on the prisoners to the guards ("screws"). Brumm needed to win the prisoners' trust if he was going to get them to co-operate. As the warden stated, "If the screws can't catch them, we'll get more screws."

The job also was tailor-made for a "self-starter." There was no job description and no agenda and no direction. The warden had never hired a recreation director before and had no idea where Brumm should start.

And certainly politics and bureaucracy come into play. Some activities, such as miniature golf, are viewed as turning the prison into a country club. And the deputy warden warns Oakie, "Just make sure no one kills someone with those clubs." The bureaucratic irony comes when the assistant deputy warden tells Brumm, "Get some more clubs." Seems miniature golf had become so popular that many complained they couldn't get time on the course. It is also ironic that baseball bats were already on the grounds, but bringing golf clubs into the prison was seen as dangerous.

Oakie Brumm writes with candor and honesty and openness. He doesn't sugar coat and he tells what life inside the prison was like, even the details of "prison love." Brumm uses the language of the prison in his book. But don't fear about not knowing the language; Brumm includes a "Glossary of Marquette Prison Terms." Read through the glossary before reading the book for a better understanding while reading the book. One caution I would make is that if you don't wish for your children to know about the harsh realities in life, or in prison life, you may want to monitor their reading of this book or at the very least be willing to discuss and concerns or questions they have while reading this book. Brumm is frank and forthright in his relaying not only the games played inside the prison with rules and regulations and scores kept, but also the games cons played in all areas of prison life. While such frankness may be shocking, it is an untainted portrait of life inside a wall where all games, competitive or not, intramural or inter-institutional, are all "home games." This book is an education in the realities of life in prison and of those serving time in prison.

(Originally published on BookIdeas.com.)

Traditional sports and life in prison
We Only Played Home Games: Wacky, Raunchy, Humorous Stories Of Sports And Other Events In Michigan's Maximum Security Prison by Leonard "Oakie" Brumm is not a book for the faint-hearted. We Only Played Home Games is replete with sometimes disturbing, sometimes darkly humorous, sometimes outrageous anecdotes, about a warden who used team sports to sublimate inmate dissention - or in other words, get the prisoners to focus on something other than escaping or tearing each other apart. We Only Played Home Games is fascinating, informative, unique, and reveals traditional sports and life in prison in a much different light than can be found in typical prison memoirs or traditional penology studies. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Palaestra, published by Challenge Publications Limited on March 22, 2002. The length of the article is 2815 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Calendar of events.(adaptive sports calendar)
Publication: Palaestra (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2002
Publisher: Challenge Publications Limited
Volume: 18Issue: 2Page: 16(3)

Article Type: Calendar

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Book Description
For fans of sports and just plain great writing, this collection of twenty-seven of the finest pieces from the past year features "outstanding sports reporting on a wealth of different topics" (Booklist).Guest editor Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of Moneyball and Coach, has assembled a compelling look at the sports stories and issues that dominated 2005. Pamela Colloff reports from the politically and sexually charged world of competitive cheerleading in Texas.Paul Solotaroff meets the star of the University of Georgia wrestling team, a nineteen-year-old world-record weightlifter who was born with no arms or legs.Ben Paynter travels the gay rodeo circuit.Pat Jordan profiles the world's greatest poker player, a boyish thirty-year-old whose mom still packs him a brown bag lunch.Jeff Duncan travels to Florida, where a New Orleans high school and its football program are picking up the pieces in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.We also discover Linda Robertson reporting on the supersizing of NFL players.S.L.Price profiles the most famous U.S.Paraolympian.Katy Vine introduces a girl who can dunk -- in eighth grade -- and more. The pieces in this outstanding volume show the true reach and impact of sports, its importance often extending far beyond the playing field.As Lewis writes in his introduction, "What's reassuring about great sports writing is what's reassuring about great sports performances: facing opposition, and often against the odds, someone, at last, did something right." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Marvelous
I've enjoyed reading this series for a decade, and this book was right up there with the best of them.This book can either be read quickly like a pleasant novel, or it can be read in pieces; I usually save it for a business trip, when I have breaks to read for just 10-20 minutes at a time. It's hard to pick a favorite, though the boxing girl and the cave-diver pieces are especially memorable. I also thought it was interesting that several articles related to how homosexuality is accepted/not accepted in the sports world and by sports fans.

Engaging and interesting
The chief strength of this anthology is its diversity. Very contemporary in flavor, this one appealed to me even though I'm only on the outer fringes of the world of sporting events.

Micheal Lewis' has culled an intriguing mix of stories related to sport. In this collection, you will find a young girl who wants to box, the gay rodeo, the story of Mike Webster, a rainbow coach, the fastest sprinter with a prosthetic leg, post-Katrina football among other gems. Truly a sign of our times. Each story has a unique protagonist and/or setting and each writer does a very good job bringing his/her narrative to life. Excellent summer reading!

Best American Sports Writing 2006
Have been reading "Best Sports Writing" since 2001 and it is a hit every year. Only three stories so far; the limbless wrestler was a fantastic "fighter" and had great courage. Loved "Brooklyn Heights". She could play. Also had a look at NBA article. If memory serves me correctly there was some discussion about young players going straight to NBA without college degree. Kareem A.J. made several good comments in a video clip in New York Times saying that these young players miss out on important life experiences by not going to college, but made the point that with so much money going around who could blame the young players.
Got off the track.
Love B.A.S.W. and looking forward to reading more of the stories. Keep it going.
Nick Moschetta, Adelaide(Andrew Thomas territory), South Australia

Underdogs, Oddballs, and Goat Dressers
Michael Lewis, this year's guest editor to Best American Sports Writing, is somewhat of a newcomer to sports writing. After fifteen years of fairly successful (and really interesting) journalism in his books about high finance, a presidential campaign, and Silicon Valley, Lewis hit on a major success with Moneyball, a story of money and baseball. Then he wrote Coach, about a crusty old high school baseball coach. Now he has a book out about football, The Blind Side, that tells of a poor black kid who is (with the help of a wealthy white family) on the brink of pro football success. Suddenly, instead of writing about the always fascinating topics of money, greed, and power, Lewis is writing about sports. And while it is certainly possible to write about money, greed, and power in sports, Lewis has made a disturbing turn to the heartwarming.

So I approached the 2006 edition of Best Sports Writing warily. Sure enough, there are enough heartwarming articles in here to satisfy any fan of inspirational writing. The world's fastest amputee, a cyclist with Parkinson's, a girl boxer, a gay boxer, a homeless softball star, a quadriplegic wrestler, all fighting bravely against overwhelming odds.

Fortunately though, there are also pieces on oddball sports like golf course fishing and gay rodeo (which features an event called goat dressing, in which the contestant puts a pair of boxer shorts on a goat in the quickest time) and competitive cheerleading. An article on the Dakar Rally and a profile of Rickey Henderson were two of the best entries in the book, in my opinion. They put you right there, in the car hurtling through the desert, and in Rickey Henderson's head.

Two of the most powerful articles were about football, and despite Lewis's apparent decision to appeal to the Reader's Digest crowd, these essays are not heartwarming. One is about Mike Webster, a retired pro football player who died in 2002 at age fifty after struggling with hypertension, depression, and dementia, all probably brought on by football injuries. The other article is called XXL and it's about the alarming trend in football, at all levels, to encourage players to be heavy. Because of the changes in the game over the past thirty years, physical size is more important, and players in the NFL are on average 65 pounds heavier than they were in 1975. Over 300 players in the NFL today are over 300 pounds, compared to none thirty years ago. Young players who hope to make it to the pros someday start bulking up early. Coaches and even parents encourage the kids to put on the pounds.

All in all, a satisfying collection of good writing, mostly about sports (is poker a sport?). ... Read more

Book Description
This book examines France's hosting of the soccer World Cup, held in ten cities in summer 1998. It covers the major socio-economic, political, cultural and sporting dimensions of this global sports event, including bidding for and organizing the Finals, the improvement of sporting and transport infrastructures, marketing, merchandzing and media coverage, policing and security during the month-long competition and building a national team. The analysis of France 98 is set within the sporting context of the recent history and organization of French football (the links between football, money and politics; the sporting public) and more broadly within the French tradition of using major cultural and sporting events to focus world attention of France as a leader in the international community. The book concludes with an evocation of the day-to-day impact of four weeks of sporting festivities, and the lessons to be drawn concerning sport and national identity in an era of increasing economic, political, cultural and sporting globalization. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by The Register Guard on March 29, 2002. The length of the article is 729 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: UW takes big lead in UO event.(Sports)(Regional Roundup: Huskies have a 16-stroke advantage in the Oregon Duck Invitational.)
Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: March 29, 2002
Publisher: The Register Guard
Page: C1

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Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by Thomson Gale on November 30, 2006. The length of the article is 669 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Club coach to speak at event.(Sports)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: November 30, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: D5

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