book reviews

ED (Seth): Oh, a new book by Bacon dropped. It’s about when he was the coach of the worst high school hockey team in the state, and he had enough leadership stuff in there  I haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet, but it’s on the docket as soon as I can get this offseason to the finish line. You can get it from Bacon’s website, or wherever you prefer to get books.

He’s also doing an event TONIGHT at the Michigan Theater with Ira Weintraub, and Carol Hutchins. You can get in for $5 or in with a book he’ll sign for $35. Need a mask and your vax card to get in. Michigantheater.org. Let Them Lead by John U. Bacon

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John, by way of Brian Cook and Seth Fisher, asked me to review his new book, Let Them Lead: Unexpected Lessons of Leadership from America’s Worst High School Hockey Team, without other direction. No one said to me “give it a good review;” or even tepid encouragement to “say something nice.” Rather, I was just asked for the favor of my thoughts.

I admit I wasn’t overly enthusiastic. While I am always up for the story of the downtrodden becoming, well, much less so---who, after all, doesn’t like Major League and its ilk---the title took away all secrets of what the text is about—leadership and (mostly) not hockey.

Generally, self-help books are a pass for me. “I’m OK, You’re, OK?” It might be OK, but I don’t care. My preference is historical fiction from the period of the Weimar Republic, something noir or, even, say, a sports book about basketball or hockey.

But I promised, and I was surprised. The writing is smooth and uncomplicated---I didn’t expect anything less---but as I went through it, I found (a) the Major League elements to be engaging and (b) even though I haven’t supervised anyone (except myself) for a long time, the core of the work grabbed me and held on.

[After the jump: Maybe we need this more than we thought.]

[Eric Upchurch]

As you might have heard, there is a new John U. Bacon Michigan book today. This one's full title: OVERTIME: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football. If you want it, you can start at Bacon's website, or you can come down to Hill Auditorium tonight for the event hosted by Literati, ask your questions to the man himself, and get a signed version.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Bacon's publisher is advertising this book on this here site, and I make my living by selling the advertising on this site. They're not paying me to write a review, and I had most of this review written before they offered. I think if you compare this review to Brandon's Lasting Lessons, you'll be able to gauge how much bias crept in. Anyway, you're a Michigan fan and you read this site, so the rest of this is superfluous: you've known you're going to start it tonight since you heard about it.

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Revelations

I heard about it early. I was trying to pitch Bacon on writing an article for Hail to the Victors 2018 called “Recruiting Harbaugh,” paralleling Michigan’s pursuit of the young quarterback in 1981-‘82 with that of its savior head coach in 2014—”You know, like Godfather II.” Bacon kindly explained his publisher had other ideas for a Harbaugh story contrasting the rise of the Comeback Kid with the administration of the family operation he rescued.

As with previous books, Bacon spent a year embedded in the program, catching stories you wouldn't believe, and a lot more you suspected. Coming off the Brandon one, I can see why reviewers and excerptionists would prefer to focus on the few compact tales of cartoonish villainy and incompetence. A barrage of "I can't believe he actually…" stories were a feature of Endzone because they were a feature of the man in charge of things. In Overtime, the ol' rogues gallery provides enough to keep things spicy and tickle some confirmation biases, but focusing on the controversies is antithetical to the story being told. My friends will be happy to know the Michigan Man™ stuff isn’t as belabored as the tweets make it seem.

[After the JUMP: A sequel to someone’s lasting lessons]

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[Ed-S: Bacon’s latest book is a personal memoir of John Saunders, and Saunders’ lifelong battle with depression. Ira Weintraub (@michiganinsider), co-host of WTKA The Ticket’s flagship, The Michigan Insider, offered to review it since he read it faster than I could.

Playing Hurt: My Journey from Despair to Hope by John Saunders, is available from Amazon in hardcover, Kindle, or Audiobook format, or you can get a copy from the publisher directly. Take it away Ira:

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Let me start by making a few things very clear: John U Bacon is my friend, and I think he’s a terrific writer. So, yes, I am biased in his favor. But that did not influence my opinion of Bacon’s newest book, “Playing Hurt: My Journey from Despair to Hope,” which he wrote with his friend and long-time ESPN broadcaster John Saunders.

Let’s make one other point very clear – this is not a Michigan book, even though you are reading this review on a Michigan site. There are Michigan references, stories and anecdotes in “Playing Hurt.” But this is not a Michigan book. And, no, this is not a sports book, although sports is a big part of Saunders’ life story.

So what kind of book is it? It’s a life-lessons book. It’s a story of overcoming a myriad of obstacles and the ability to endure just about everything the world and society can throw at you. It is also the best book in the John U Bacon literary collection.

[Hit the JUMP for…an interview with Will Heininger?!?]