Why Football Matters

June 9, 2014
Edmundson’s memoir attempts to explain why football means so much to him, and why its influence on his life has been so lasting. In the course of all this, he argues unconvincingly that there are lessons that only football can teach—but this is a minor drawback in an otherwise intelligent and charming book. In each chapter, he focuses on a human trait, quality, or belief, and discusses how it relates to football: character, patriotism, and manliness are among those analyzed. An English professor at University or Virginia, Edmundson turns frequently to literature for his examples. The highlight of the book may well be his discussion of the ancient Greek heroes, Achilles and Hector, and their individual relationships with courage. Edmundson tentatively concludes that what we call courage or bravery may be little different from anger and the inability to repress it. Also enlightening, and moving, are the stories of Edmundson’s relationship with his father and his youngest son, and the importance of football in these relationships. Unafraid to challenge common assumptions about what football does and does not teach us, Edmundson’s book is uncommonly probing and insightful and should have wide-ranging appeal.

August 1, 2014
The author of Why Read? (2004) and other works of cultural criticism returns with a memoir/treatise about those personal virtues he traces back to his years playing high school football. Edmundson (English/Univ. of Virginia; Why Teach?: In Defense of a Real Education, 2013, etc.) arranges each chapter in similar fashion. Each has a theme (courage, manliness, faith, etc.) that he introduces with football memories and expands with later-life examples. Throughout, the author acknowledges the dangers of the game-though for a more incisive discussion of that aspect of the game, see Steve Almond's Against Football-and he is far too complex a thinker to simply repeat the mantras of coaches and unthinking fans ("Football builds character!"). Moreover, he adorns his text with allusions to writers and literary works. Melville, Joyce, Homer (there is a lot about The Iliad here), Emerson, Ellison, Hemingway, Dickey-these and others form his offensive line. Edmundson also employs references to popular culture (Johnny Carson is on special teams), and there are lots of engaging stories about high school. He begins with boyhood memories of watching football on TV with his father, who made a great ritual of Sundays spent watching his beloved New York Giants-though he had a great fondness, as well, for Jim Brown and Y.A. Tittle. Edmundson writes about how he was sort of disconnected when he decided to give the game a whirl and surprised himself with his assiduousness and determination. He is appealingly self-deprecating throughout and quite certain that it was on the gridiron that he learned and developed his adult virtues. Although he does have a few gratuitous (and unconvincing) comments about women (how do they become virtuous?), he does not have much to say about how non-football-playing young men develop their courage, character, manliness, loyalty and so on. A provocative thesis bolstered by amusing and instructive anecdotes-but there is a flaw in the defensive line.

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Starred review from August 1, 2014

Cultural critic Edmundson largely attributes his teenage transformation from a doughy dreamer to a disciplined man of serious thought to his stint as a high school football team benchwarmer. Here, the author reflects on the qualities that are often said to be taught by football--including character, courage, pride, toughness, loyalty and resilience--in a balanced analysis of their impact. Drawing on both his own experiences and the writings of such poets and thinkers as Homer and William Shakespeare, Edmundson comes to view each quality as a double-edged sword, especially when taken to extremes. In short, the game to him is both a poison and an elixir. While at times Edmundson seems to be overreaching, this work is a wide-ranging and insightful meditation on what football means in American culture. VERDICT Beautifully written and impressively thought out, this smart memoir should appeal to a wide audience.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2014
Why football matters should be self-evident to a nation that's lost its mind over the game these past few decades, but Edmundson, an English professor at the University of Virginia who grew to manhood out of his football career at Medford (MA) High School in the late 1960s, gives an uncommonly thoughtful take on the issue. For example, his discovery that whatever he lacked in football talent was compensated by a sheer doggedness that slowly, steadily reaped gains. Or the perfect response his coach presented to the team the Monday following an especially punishing loss to their bitter rival: he simply explained to each player where that player had fallen down and the specific work he needed to do to improve. For all his gains, though, Edmundson understands too well the physical and emotional price he paid. And he quite perceptively lays out the contradictions in a country that celebrates the kindness and charity of a New Testament Jesus while cheering on a sport that lives by Old Testament brutality and revenge. A remarkable memoir that can only elevate its readers' response to the game.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)