Detroit Lions Books

I first ordered this book for my son-in-law, because he is such a Charlie Daniels fan. I then ordered a copy for a friend of mine who is going through a rough time in her life right now. Before giving it away, I flipped through the pages, and read the story by Jonny Lang. I am a 61 yr. old grandmother, but I have albums by him. I was just blown away, and had to order a copy for myself.

In the book, How Do You Know He's Real, you'll get an inside look into the spiritual lives of 34 celebrities. Hagberg has compiled testimonies ranging from Kirk Cameron to Rudy Sarzo (former bass player for Ozzy Osbourne). Each story is remarkably different and it's amazing to read how God has worked in the lives of each of these well-known people.

The author has collected very readable stories telling how celebrities have become Christians, and they share their low points and their joys here. This is a welcome peek into the lives of well known people who typically are more secretive.
Ricky Skaggs, Kirk Cameron, Gloria Gaynor, Bethel Johnson (34 people in all) tell about their struggles and their early days as new Christians.
Billy Ray Cyrus tells of singing in his grandpa's Pentecostal church when he was 4, and includes the touching lyrics to the song he wrote "The other side."
Jackie (Jacklyn) Zeman, star of General Hospital, advises that when you are at a crossroads "cry out to God and ask for His guidance."
Al Kasha's story resonated with me; this Academy Award winning songwriter overcame agoraphobia, and talks about how Hollywood is a tough place for a Jew who came to Christ, and how he started a Hollywood Bible study group.
There are stories here for anyone to enjoy and find spirit lifting.

(Hagberg has written a companion book with the same title, subtitled God Unplugged)

How Do You Know He's Real? is a collection of celebrity essays about God acting in their lives. The contributors include athletes, musicians, and actors. Their stories often follow a familiar pattern of fame leading to drugs and alcohol before hitting bottom and being turned around by an encounter with God. That's not to say the accounts are all stock and cliched, but rather that God meets each person in their need--and for celebrities that need will be similar. And many of the tales include growing up in stable Christian homes, but still needing to make personal decisions about God and Christ and how that decision impacted their careers.

The stories are collected alphabetically but Hagberg has provided a topic finder so a reader battling discouragement or frustration can find offerings from Billy Ray Cyrus, Nancy Stafford, Zorro, Gary Burghoff or John Schneider.

Each essay begins with a picture and short biography of the contributor, listing their accomplishments. Following the selection is God's Road Map, a few sentences about the issues raised by the author, with Bible verses for teaching and encouragement.

The essays themselves are as varied as the contributors. Some of them read as if they were written to be given as speeches. Several sound like the writer could be sitting at your kitchen table, chatting over the coffee pot. All of them are honest and share from their heart how God has acted in their life and how they know He's real.

Reading the accounts of God acting in both miraculous and mundane ways reminds us that no matter what a person does for a living, each of us are created beings who need a loving Savior and merciful God.

Armchair Interviews says: Up close and personal stories from celebrities.

I received this book as a gift and once I started, I couldn't put it down. Ms Hagberg has captured the beliefs of these well known and respected celebrities, sports figures, and musicians. I'm anxiously awaiting the next book in the series and can't wait to give copies of this one to all my friends. Order 2!

This Special Issue was purchased as a gift for an adolescent who is a big Cardnials fan. For this purpose, it was perfect. Unfortunately, the packaging for the magazine had rounded corners so the magazine came with slightly damaged corners. For our nephew this was no problem, but for the collectors we know this would have been a reason to return the item. Other than the bent corners of the magazine, the item was in perfect condition and came promptly. Over all, we were very satisfied.

This is a great gift for any St. Louis Cardinals fan. I bought it for my boyfriend who loves baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals and he was very impressed with it. It had a lot of interesting facts about the Cardinals in it along with a lot of history about the team. A great find for a reasonable price!

I bought this for my husband who has been a life-long Cards fan. In checking it out before giving it to him I found myself reliving the exciting moments of the '06 Series, and was really happy that I'd ordered it. The fact that this was the first season in their new stadium and then to take home the championship is truly an occasion for celebration and acquiring a piece of memorabilia such as this. Sports Illustrated captured the memorable moments of each of the key players excellently and then topped it off by assembling a team of the "all-time" historical greats. I thought this was a nice addition.

I did have to send my first copy back as it had a bit too much shelf wear including bends, wrinkles, and worn corners, but Amazon over-nighted a new copy to me and it was much better. I heated the sticker with my hairdryer and it peeled right off, improving the appearance, though there is still a price scan mark and numbers.

I highly recommend this item for any Cardinals fan. Where else can you find a compilation of this much information, SI's unbeatable photography, and downright fun for the price?

It is a nice issue, but I wanted to frame it and it has a lot of stickers on the front with barcodes and things like that. Thank you.

Sports Illustrated presents a nice keepsake of the Redbirds 2006 World Series championship. The eighty-four pages combines SI's usual excellence in photography and journalism. And only a few pages of advertising interupts the flow of photos and articles. Cardinal fans (and fair-minded others) will enjoy Richard O'Brien's perspective on what makes baseball in St. Louis a special and generational experience. The volume capsulizes the NLDS, NLCS and Series, highlighting key game moments, pivotal managerial decisions, and includes line scores from each contest. The commemorative includes interesting bios on Albert Pujols, emphasizing his consistency and work ethic and Chris Carpenter's transit from journeyman pitcher and injury to Cy Young winner and "stopper". Let the debate begin, as the issue suggests the greatest to wear the "Birds on the Bat". The issue closes with Ted O'Leary's profile of Stan Musial, the modest Redbird who (somehow and inexcusably) escapes many discussions of baseball's greats. Read this article and you'll understand why Musial should be in the mix. Why buy this edition? As Stan The Man is fond of saying, "Why not."

During the summer of 1963, Plimpton became a rookie for the Detroit Lions, after joining their preseason camp as a 36-year-old rookie quarterback wannabe. He ended up sticking with the club through an intra-squad game before the paying public a month later. He traveled from the east coast to Michigan where he spent four weeks at the Lion's training camp learning how to call plays and take snaps. He ran formations, dressed in thick layers of padding and tried to tackle his opponents. He played cards with the coaches, played pranks on the players, bunked in the dormitories and debriefed in the locker room. Wearing the number zero, he finally was put in the game in a scrimmage, managing to lose yards on each play.
Throughout his book, Plimpton describes the grueling physical aspects of this sport, and through conversations with many of his teammates, he also captures the mental training these players go through. But, because he immersed himself so deeply into this culture, Plimpton also captures a sense for who these players are. He listened to their stories, learned about their backgrounds and became one of them. This memoir sticks out for its insights into the personalities of the players and the coaches. Compared to a memoir like The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer, Plimpton sticks to his journey to make the team, rather the venturing off about his life. He's not afraid to take detours, such as explaining who Harry Wismer is and his failure as the owner of the AFL team the New York Titans. Reading this classic work of literary nonfiction today, the reader sees that Plimpton not only captured a sense for what football was like in 1963, but what the world was like back then.

A talented journalist joins the Detroit Lions to get get a greater insight into what it is to be a professional American football player. Some amusing moments because of his ineptitude.

This was a top class team dominanting their opponents, so they wangled an agreement that if they got a big enough lead they could put George in as a last string quaterback.

Top quality sportswriting work here.

Long before ESPN cameras and behind-the scenes television programs, George Plimpton went out on a mission to the magical world of the NFL, looking to bring back an original insight on the dream life of a professional football player. In Paper Lion, Plimpton arrives in Michigan for a month of training camp and a preseason scrimmage with the Detroit Lions, having brought a suitcase of clothes, some cleats, and a minimal trace of athletic ability. Though he was not a very skilled or successful member of the Lions, his role is an essential one for us as readers. Plimpton does a marvelous job of painting the picture of a profeesional football player with vivid details and intriguing technique, most notably simile. He details aspects of the training camp with clear references for the everyday reader. This helps explain feelings and strategies such as the Lions' kickoff coverage: " the downfield rush was straight, like a ruler sweeping crumbs off a table." (178). Plimpton also captures the emotions of the players during camp and reproduces them through simile as well: "When a player was hurt in a scrimmage, the others seemed to point their backs pointedly...as if an injury were communicable, like mumps." (194). Another example comes on page 253 when he compares the physical toll of football to "Bronco riding." These details and relatable comparisons are what help Plimpton to bring the reader into the setting and let him experience training camp as if he too were wearing shoulder-pads.

While Plimpton does an excellent job of depicting the setting and emotions that go along with training camp in the NFL, at times he seemed a little too out of place. Plimpton was a writer for Sports Illustrated and thus should have a keen sense on sports and what the players go through. However, there were times in the book where he approached the situation as if he had come from another planet, rather than a different occupation. Such is the case on page 180 when he asks a running back: "do you close your eyes when you run for the middle of the line?" As a sportswriter and an intelligent person it would seem that he would know that a professional athlete would keep his eyes open and not shy away from the contact of the line in a game situation.

George Plimpton's Paper Lion is a great read as well as an entertaining passageway to the world of sports. Plimpton's ability to accurate scenes and vividly detail characters makes a reader feel as though he has not so much holding a book but in fact his own personal uniform on the Detroit Lions.

A very interesteng read, If you are old enough to remember all the players.

Back in the 1960s, writer George Plimpton began "covering" a variety of sports through participating on/with pro teams/athletes and reporting on it through books, magazine articles and TV specials.

Perhaps his most famous was in the early 1960s when he was "signed" by the Detroit Lions as a 36-year-old rookie trying to make the club as a third-string quarterback. Plimpton - wearing jersey number 0 - practiced with the team for one month.
His quarterbacking culminates with his appearance in a scrimmage where Plimpton calls a number of plays under game conditions.

The book leads the reader through the highs and lows of Plimpton as a player, along with great anecdotes on the teammates and coaches.

A reprint is slated for publication in September 2006. I hope the TV special on Plimpton's training camp and QB play gets dusted off during the upcoming NFL season. Anyone reading this inside that large campus in Bristol, Conn.?

I agree with the previous posting. The book read like a blog for the most part, especially in the later chapters. I enjoyed it for the most part because of the recolections of some of the Lions' most embarrassing performances (i.e. Marty take the wind, Boss Ross goes for 2 twice, Eagle playoff mega-blowout, etc.)

For the price, I would recommend it to another long suffering Lions fan. You can easily finish it in a day or two.

The Detroit Lions. Nowhere in the history of organized human sport has a team displayed such an unwavering and thorough commitment to incompetance, amateurism and utter bufoonery. Despite 47 (and counting) years of producing excrement-like results on the football field, it is amazing that the Lions have ANY fans, let alone one passionate enough to write a book about the subject. It is even more amazing that after 6 years of the uttery insanity that is the "Matt Millen Era", anyone like me would even care to buy (let alone) read a book about the Lions. I guess that's a testimony to how great the Detroit fan base is - that with three pro teams and 2 major university teams which have won multiple championships in the last 30 years, they still manage to sell out Ford Field every year, with nearly 70,000 fans gathering every Sunday to see whether the Ford/Millen led abortion of a team will get 2 wins this season or 3.

In any event, it's clear that like myself, Mr. Schumer is a fan. A passionate fan. A fan who loves his hometown football team ... even if it is the Lions. His book is seemingly meant to be a personal reflection on his many decades of following the team, and all the great heartaches that entails. I say seemingly because while the book brought back a lot of the same emotions in me, I could never quite follow what it was the author was trying to say. While he had a lot of memories, it's clear he wasn't a professional "author", and thus the book was frequently meeandering and unfathomable. Each chapter leapt all over the place, and rather than segment the book into specific topics, it seemed like a loose collection of the same essay written over and over again. Furthermore, this appears to be a "vanity" publication, which was published without even the most rudimentary editing. Typos and incomplete sentences abound, and make it hard to follow any trains of thought.

I found the book entertainng, but it was mostly because it triggered so many of my own memories about the Lions' incompetance under Old Man Ford. With some editing, and a few more rewrites, I think this could have been a must buy for any true Lions fans ... but as the book is currently released, I just can't bring myself to recommend it.

I'd close this review with some quaint comment like "perhaps if the Lions ever turn it around and get to the Superbowl, Mr. Schumer could revise and rerelease the book", but as any true Lions fan knows, we'll all be dead long before this joke of a team ever gets to the top of the mountain.