Book Review: North Dallas Forty

North Dallas Forty is one of the most famous (or infamous) football books ever written. In the semiautobiographical account by Peter Gent, we spend a week with a wide receiver (a semi-fictionalized version of Gent named Phil Elliott) to learn about the wild, chaotic, and insane world of pro football.

Vindictive coaches, racism, violent men, drugs, alcohol, and sex, it seems, were inescapable in the late '60s and early '70s football scene. The men of the North Dallas Bulls certainly had some wild times!

Elliott, a reliable receiver with tremendous hands who's almost past his prime, struggles to find playing time. He relies on painkillers to get by on a daily basis and stay out on the field. Wild parties fueled by drugs, alcohol, and sex permeate the narrative. Elliott's teammates range from a star quarterback to a completely unhinged lineman who would've terrified anyone who had to be in the same room with him.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

The weeklong narrative provides a window into what pro players go through just to get on the field on a week to week basis. Sunday's game takes a physical and mental toll on them that they have to work through only to repeat it on gameday. They cope in various ways (for Elliott's teammates, it tends to be the aforementioned parties). Brutal injuries are treated with oral medication, shots, and indifference.

The book won't be for everyone. Violence, swearing, and sex are unavoidable, along with depictions of drug use and substance dependency. These things are endless. That said, it also mines some (often ribald) humor and provides a window into racial integration. 

Elliott's existential crisis--wondering what he'll do with his life once his football days are over--does bring some gravitas to the narrative. It also appears he may find some semblance of happiness with Charlotte, a woman he meets at one of the parties and pursues (while also having sex with the fiancée of one of the team executives).

Nick Nolte starred in the movie adaptation, released in 1979, and it's a happy-go-lucky account compared to its inspiration. As for the book's ending, well, let's just say I didn't see it coming. It's dark, upsetting, and unexpected. 

Book Review: Eruption

I'm a sucker for Michael Critchton novels.

Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain are two of my favorite all-time books. Crichton had a talent for taking a scientific concept, making it tangible, and telling propulsive stories with likeable, intelligent characters who try to solve the problem and avert disaster.

Eruption has the hallmarks of a Michael Crichton novel: an ecological disaster, a determined geologist, a race-against-the-clock narrative, cinematic set pieces, and a rival faction. Crichton died in 2008 at the age of 66, but a few of his books have been posthumously published (Pirate Latitudes, Micro, Dragon Teeth, and Eruption). 

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

James Patterson is listed as a coauthor on Eruption (published in 2024), which was a partial manuscript found in Crichton's archives after his death. Basically, one mega-author stepped in to finish the novel started by another mega-author. The results are pretty much what you'd expect, a high-concept thriller ripe for a movie adaptation.

A cataclysmic eruption is set to destroy Hawaii, and only the determined efforts of John "Mac" MacGregor and his team can stop it. You can feel Crichton's fingerprints all over this one: experimental technology, secret government facilities, a resolute protagonist determined to think his way out of trouble.

The book proceeds at a breakneck pace--it's a page-turner--along with hooky, cliffhanging chapters daring you to go, "Okay, just one more and then I'll stop." 

It's not perfect. Characters survive unsurvivable situations in the unlikeliest of ways, but that's part of the charm of a Michael Crichton novel. Don't expect deep character work, either, because we all know the characters are really there to drive the plot forward. Expect a fair amount of jargon-heavy exposition because, well, that's part of the deal, too. At least it keeps moving at a good clip.

All in all, it felt like mid-tier Crichton. I would never rank it above Jurassic Park or The Andromeda Strain, but I would personally rank it above the likes of Sphere and Congo. Worth it for most readers, although the diehardest of diehard Crichtonists may be disappointed. 

Book Review: The Wax Pack

Every once in a while, you see a concept for a book and go, "Man, I should've thought of that."

That was my reaction to Brad Balukjian's The Wax Pack. I mean, just look at the freaking cover.

As a kid Balukjian, collected baseball cards. He delighted in the old Topps wax packs with their stick of pink, teeth-shattering bubblegum. Once he reached his mid-30s, he decided to buy an unsealed pack of 1986 Topps cards and then track down the men whose cards he found inside.

It's such a clever conceit for a story, and this nonfiction book serves as a road trip adventure and a jolt of baseball nostalgia for fans of a certain age. Published in 2020, Balukjian tells the stories of 14 men inside his pack (the 15th card was a checklist)--a mixture of stars, everyday role players, and a few "now here's a guy" names.

Image via Indianapolis Public Library

The narrative reveals a tremendous amount about the individual players--even the ones he fails to meet in person--and the author himself, as he grapples with his own insecurities and travails. While Balukjian's vivid account is aimed squarely at baseball fans, I think it's accessible for all readers.

The players featured in The Wax Pack:

• Don Carman
• Jaime Cocanower
• Vince Coleman 
• Al Cowens
• Carlton Fisk 
• Dwight Gooden 
• Richie Hebner
• Lee Mazzilli
• Rance Mulliniks
• Gary Pettis
• Randy Ready
• Rick Sutcliffe
• Garry Templeton 
• Steve Yeager

Many of the former players are more than willing to talk to Balukjian, some of them even inviting him inside their homes for a family event, such as Cocanower, who hosts him for July 4. Rick Sutcliffe comes off as particularly warm and likeable, sharing stories of his pro career and many comebacks.

All of the players Balukjian meets in person have something to offer--lamentations of untapped potential, stories of distant fathers and tough childhoods, or insights into the toll the game takes on a soul. 

Many of them have stayed attached to the baseball, whether as broadcasters, coaches, minor league managers, or consultants. Don Carman, one of the author's favorites as a kid, turned his baseball life into a career as a sports psychologist who works with super-agent Scott Boras and serves as a sounding board for struggling players.

You'll find the requisite stories of life on the road, marriages that didn't last, and the daily grind of playing 162 games in a season. The men share stories of draft days and signing bonuses and the unbreakable bonds they forged with teammates. Balukjian visits the hometowns of many of his subjects as he crisscrosses his way from California to Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, and Las Vegas, putting thousands of miles on his faithful Honda Accord and consuming an astonishing amount of coffee.

The author and players tend to shy away from their career-defining moments, as most of those have been covered ad nauseum, such as Mazzilli's postseason heroics for the 1986 New York Mets during their championship season. Balukjian said he could offer no further insights into such moments, although fans unfamiliar with them may need to consult Google (I had only a vague recollection of the '86 Mets, for example).

Readers will even glean some insight from the players who don't meet with Balukjian. Cowens died in 2002, well before Balukjian's cross-country trip. A phone conversation with Cowens' son reveals how his father's late-life struggles led to a personal religious revival and a tragic end. 

Fisk, sort of a looming background antagonist in the piece, comes off as a less-than-flattering figure, using surrogates to rebuff the author's attempts to contact him and suggest Balukjian's project is beneath him. At one point, Fisk's agent calls Balukjian and rattles off a long list of reasons Fisk couldn't possibly spare an hour to share a story or two. It made me perceive the Hall of Famer as trite and out of touch.

Doc Gooden, who had agreed to meet with Balukjian as long as he got paid, ghosts the author during their planned time together. It's heavily suggested that Gooden, whose meteoric rise led to a sudden descent into drug addiction, may have suffered a relapse around the same time. Some demons are inescapable.

Also, if you always thought Vince Coleman was a jerk, Balukjian finds nothing to dispel that notion.

The Wax Pack is an insightful read filled with heart and humor. Highly recommended, even for those who aren't baseball fans.