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EDITOR'S NOTE: STAN ISAACS MAY SOON BE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, SELLING HIS NEW BOOK DOOR TO DOOR. DO NOT MISTAKE HIM FOR A HOBO! DO NOT CALL 911! HE IS HARMLESS. |
To My Favorite Author
of TheColumnists.com
Warning: This column is an unabashed commercial, an outrageous blowing of my own horn, a shameless bit of chutzpah, a blot on my escutcheon as an unassuming, modest fellow.
It is a response to business associates and family who have badgered me for not doing more to promote my just-published book, “Ten Moments That Shook the Sports World” (268 pages, Skyhorse Publishing, $15).
The book was published in July. And despite some exuberant comments like “You wrote a book?” and “I would read it if I didn’t have so much homework,” “Ten Moments” has not reached No. 1 on the Best Seller’s List. It hasn’t even reached the Best Seller’s List.
Astute readers would recognize that the title is a play on Jack Reed’s famous “Ten Days That Shook the World” about the Bolshevik takeover in Russia. I would have to admit that for all the thrills and chills in “Ten Moments,” it doesn’t have the gravitas of Reed’s epic.
In these hard times my publisher, Skyhorse, hasn’t been able to send me on a cross-country book-signing tour. No sweat. I have been lined up with radio stations all over the country and have become a morning, afternoon and night presence on sports talk shows. I did more than 40 radio interviews near and far--Manchester, NH; Boise, ID; and Louisville, KY, among others. I wondered how many books I could hustle in Shenandoah, Iowa--is there a bookstore in Shenandoah?--until I was told that Shenandoah is actually a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska. I suspect there isn’t a hamlet in the country that hasn’t been afforded the overwhelming pleasure of hearing me talk about how thrilled I was to cash a $2 win bet on Secretariat in the Belmont Stakes.
To help stimulate sales, I am including a list of the chapters along with a bit of a tease to whet readers’ interests in dropping everything they are doing to rush out to the local bookstore (preferred) or Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com before they run out of books. On the other hand, if you are a cheapskate, you will feel that what I have inflicted on you here is enough.
The hook of the book is that these are 10 epic events that I covered. I list the events in descending order of shock to the world.
No. 10: The First Super Bowl. In which I note that exalted Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi decided his team was a little too tense as it left for the game. So he stopped the bus, stepped into the aisle and did a rousing soft-shoe dance.
No. 9: John McEnroe’s Wimbledons. In which I tell about a three-hour conversation in a Dingle Peninsula, Ireland restaurant with a lady fan of McEnroe who turns out to be a member of the Irish legislature.
No. 8: Secretariat’s Belmont. In which I report moments of panic by the horse’s owner which almost results in jockey Ron Turcotte losing the mount on Secretariat in the Kentucky Derby
No. 7: The Miracle Mets. In which I dare suggest that some Mets wives were the determining factor in one of the Mets’ World Series victories.
No. 6: Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29. In which I report the background of what I regard as the greatest headline ever to appear in a college newspaper.
No. 5: The Princes of New York. In which I compare the sartorial splendor of some of the New York Knicks as contrasted to the abysmal wardrobe of Bill Bradley.
No. 4: Ali-Frazier. In which I reveal the real story of the disappeareance of Muhammad (Cassius Marcellus Clay was a grand old name) Ali’s Olympic gold medal.
No. 3: The Jets Upset the Colts. In which I reveal that New York Jets coach Weeb Ewbank had his own way of keeping his boys loose for the Super Bowl; he told them a dirty joke.
No. 2: The Shot Heard “Round the World. In which I quote an eloquent and prescient New York Times editorial on the “inspirational drama” of the Giants-Dodgers playoff series.
No. 1: The Munich Olympics. In which I hitch a German television van to ride through the streets of Munich trailing marathon winner Frank Shorter.
So that’s it. To repeat, it costs $15, and bookstores across the land have been alerted for a stampede of buyers. But as for cheapskates….
©2008 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The book cover illustraton is courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing Co. This column first posted Sept. 1, 2008.
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