New book by Jon Falk - Foreword written by Harbaugh
Retired equipment manager Jon Falk has written a new book. Forty Years in the Big House is available for pre-order on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Forty-Years-The-Big-House/dp/1629370738
When I first read it, I finished the thought with "Harbaugh!" and laughed.
But it actually is written by Harbaugh.
If we made a photoshop thread of Harbaugh, 25% if the images would be true.
So how many of you went to the Amazon page, clicked on Jim Harbaugh's name, and were surprised (or not surprised) to see these books/articles come up in the Amazon search results, among others:
"A 12-Step Approach to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius"
"Prevent Robotic Welding 'Indigestion' Choosing the Right Welding Wire Spells Relief From Downtime"
"12 krokow i cwiczenia duchowe"
We keep learning about just how many talents he has...
Well, He is a good Catholic boy
Google says the Polish translates to "12 paces and spiritual exercises," which must be the first book in Polish
"12 krokow i cwiczenia duchowe" I was certainly expecting that but the rest was a surprise!
"At the end of each meditation is a short encapsulation, which Father Harbaugh whimsically calls a OSecond Prelude, to go.O Re-freshing and down to earth, this book will set you briskly along a new path and greater independence."
"Now lets go kick some Ohio ass!"
But this is a book I'm actually excited to read; not reluctantly feel I should read.
I'll be damned if it isn't enjoyable to sometimes just read a bunch of anecdotes and good stories about the history of the program you love. Really looking forward to this one more than the Bacon book even.
I hope it's better than Falk's last book though. The number of new stories those walls would tell were few and far between. Half the book was repetitive letters by other people talking about what a great guy Falk was, and most of the Falk stuff was season in review stuff that wasn't new to anyone familiar with the recent history of the program. For someone who had been inside the program for almost 40 years, there weren't very many inside stories. I wasn't exactly desparate for Falk to get back together with Ewald to get more by the time I finished.
In 1976, Bo called Falk into his office and told him that President Ford was returning to Ann Arbor and needed a place to stay. Bo didn’t ask but rather told Falk that Ford would be staying in his apartment that overlooked the U-M Golf Course — but on one condition. “ ‘Is the place clean?’ ” Falk did his best Bo impression, which, having spent decades together, is quite precise. “ ‘What do you think I am, an animal?’ ” Falk replied. “For two weeks, every day, Bo would say, ‘Hey Falk, is your apartment clean? The president is coming into town. The president of the United States.’ “Two days before he showed up, they threw me out of my apartment and brought in a professional cleaning crew.” When Ford finally arrived at the pristine apartment, he chatted with Falk for a few minutes. Ford thanked him for the hospitality, assuring him that everything looked to be in order. Falk, never the type to shy away from an opportunity to stay in his coach’s good graces, made one request of the president, in exchange for the use of his bed. “Make sure that Bo knows the place is clean,” he boldly requested of the commander-in-chief.
My favorite Falk story from his first book. Can't wait for the new one...
A sitting president comes to town and he stays in some dude's apartment?! What?! Was Falk's apartment the second floor of the golf course clubhouse or something? That would make a little bit of sense, but still. I don't know of any other buildings surrounding the course where there might be an apartment other than in one of the houses on State St. Were there no hotels in Ann Arbor in the 70s? Bo or the the pres of the university couldn't share their homes? I need to get this book just to figure out how this all came to be!
Probably wanted to stay on the course.
http://www.linksmagazine.com/best_of_golf/gerald-ford-best-golf-presidents
Stagg vs. Yost: The Birth of Cutthroat Football
Here's another book people might be interested in. It comes out next week and it's by the same author who wrote Natural Enemies (UM-ND rivalry).
I'm wondering if he's a balanced writer.
That said, I bet it would be interesting. THe early days of college football often amaze me.
I remember for one class I had to read 'Hanging on: How to get through a depression and enjoy life'
The author describes going from Flint to UM and his days as an undergrad. He has a really humorous encounter where he and certain starters on the football team are going after the same girl. She liked to horse back ride so they all go riding. The Football players were so sore the next day they could barely play.
He's a professional journalist (covers the NFL for the Toronto Star) and IMO his last book was very balanced and thorough.
Here's the review by John U. Bacon...
The best cure for nostalgia is a healthy dose of honest history. Kryk delivers that by the bucket in Stagg vs. Yost, where wax figures come to life, revealing themselves to be far more clever, corrupt, complex and occasionally noble than we ever could have imagined. (Spoiler alert: when you finish, you might conclude Stagg’s name should be taken off the Big Ten trophy, and Yost’s should replace it.) Kryk provides real scholarship, original insights and page-turning stories. In the process, he shows us how it all started—and why it still matters. If you care about college football, and especially Michigan football, you’ll devour Stagg vs. Yost.
If you caught Big John Falk on the Michigan Insider shortly after the Harbaugh hiring, you can tell the guy just bleeds maize and blue. Very excited to read this.
I was pleased to see that Dan Ewald was helping out on this one actually - I've read several of the works he has helped pen with various Detroit Tigers legends and I have definitely enjoyed those as well. Of course, Ewald worked for the team for a long time, I believe, so that level of access might have been relatively easy to get. In any case, "They Call Me Sparky" is one of the first he helped on, I believe, and it is pretty good.
*click* Just pre-ordered "Forty Years In The Big House".
Some had suggested that Falk's retirement was somewhat Brandon-related...does anyone know more on this and if so, maybe he is considering a return in some form?
Is it just me or has there been a drought with good sports books the last few years? I cannot even think of the last good sports book I read. Moneyball? I'm probably missing one since then, but there have not been mnay.
Harbaugh may write while sitting forward in his chair, but in this book he wrote the foreword.