Review of "A Season in the Sun: The Inside Story of Bruce Arians, Tom Brady, and the Making of a Champion," by Lars Anderson

 Review of

A Season in the Sun: The Inside Story of Bruce Arians, Tom Brady, and the Making of a Champion, by Lars Anderson, ISBN 9780063160200

Four out of five stars

Interesting, but a little too laudatory

 After an incredibly successful career quarterbacking the New England Patriots, in 2020 Tom Brady found himself yearning to play elsewhere. For reasons that have never been thoroughly articulated, and are not examined in detail in this book, Tom Brady decided he wanted to play for another team. At 43 years of age, Brady was generally considered at an age where he could no longer be effective in the NFL. Yet, Brian Arians, having been a successful head coach in the NFL, was now coaching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team with the lowest historical winning percentage in all of major sports, the Buccaneers were not a team with a great winning tradition.

 Brady signed with the Buccaneers in March of 2020 and immediately began the process of acclimating to the weather of Tampa Bay and the culture of the Buccaneers team. This required him to learn a different offensive system and become comfortable with a new set of teammates. Pass receivers are quite different in their moves and how they prefer to receive the ball from the quarterback. After a few setbacks, the Buccaneers went on to win the NFC and win Super Bowl LV against the Kansas City Chiefs.

 This book is the story of that year, and it is both unique and yet a bit formulaic. There are the standard problems of acclimating a superstar into a team not used to winning as well as the descriptions of how all of the principals from Brady to the coaching staff to the other players adapted in order to pursue the prize of a championship. Yet, it is interesting to learn some of the human and professional background events that led to the Buccaneers hoisting the Lombardi trophy at the end of the Super Bowl. It is a bit laudatory of the main players, but not beyond what is considered acceptable.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review of "The Autumn Dead," by Ed Gorman

  Review of The Autumn Dead , by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0345356322 Four out of five stars An aging ex-cop is handed a case to retrieve a case   Jack Dwyer is an ex-cop that now works for a private security agency. Most of what he does is bust shoplifters and other petty criminals. He is a bit overweight and has few prospects to improve his situation. However, he has an interesting past that is focused on his high school years.   A woman that was a flame of his in high school and has retained her beauty suddenly pops back into his life. She offers Jack a significant amount of money to retrieve a suitcase from the house of a man she had been living with. Since she has a key and claims that the suitcase is really her property and she still has a significant sway over Jack, he agrees to take the job.   When he gets there he finds the owner unconscious from a blow on the back of the head. This is the first hint that the case is much more complex than Jack thought. Hi...
Read more

Review of "The Forty-Minute War," by Janet and Chris Morris

  Review of The Forty-Minute War , by Janet and Chris Morris, ISBN 0671559869 Three out of five stars Absurd initial premise and bad ending   This book begins with an absurd premise, not the event, but the context. A group of committed terrorists manage to acquire a nuclear weapon and a plane. The manage to fly it from Saudi Arabia to Washington D. C. where they detonate it. Distraught over the knowledge that his wife and family have been killed, the American President orders a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union. They retaliate and it is all over in 40 minutes. After ordering the strike, the American President takes a gun and kills himself.   There are two reasons why this premise is absurd, one major and the other minor. The major one is that the intelligence services of the United States were aware of the nuclear weapon and had an elite anti-terrorist team on the ground ready to take out the terrorists. However, the team was given a stand-down order. Whil...
Read more

Review of "Heat," by Mike Lupica

  Review of Heat , by Mike Lupica, ISBN 9780142407578 Five out of five stars More about life than sports   Satchel Paige is arguably the all-time best baseball pitcher. One of his teammates once said, “The good lord didn’t give Satchel an arm, he gave him a whip.” Michael Arroyo was also born with what his father said was, “the arm.” Even though he is still young enough to play Little League baseball, Michael can throw an 80-mph fastball and he has excellent control. His goal is to help his team move on to the Little League World Series.   While baseball is his joy, his life is complicated. His father brought Michael and his seventeen-year-old bother Carlos with him in an escape from Cuba and they now live in New York City. Their father died suddenly of a heart attack and the boys are terrified that social services will learn of their plight and either separate them into foster care or send them back to Cuba.   With the help of some kindly neighbors, the ...
Read more