S.L. Price on Mike Coolbaugh

I was kind of disappointed with the excerpt SI ran a couple of weeks ago, pretty much just a recitation of people who died during games - didn't want to make me buy the book. But Price is a damned good writer, maybe he's an even better reporter than he is a writer because he finds nooks and crannies in stories that allow him to disappear and let the story subjects speak for themselves.

 

Which he received because of his accomplishments, not because he showed up on Sunday morning and asked when Pappy was in a good mood.

 

I had an analogous conversation last night with my brother. He's a lawyer, and he and his girlfriend (also a lawyer) did the old eye roll when I talked about watching old college football games as book research, i.e, "That's not real work!"

There is nothing about writing a book that is like shooting fish in a barrel. Nothing. Even with all the time in the world, it is a long, grueling grind to put all the pieces together properly. And an issue I have, which I'm sure other authors share, is that I tend to get so close to and familiar with the material that even the really interesting stuff starts to seem bland to me. Kind of like when you stare at any word long enough it looks like it's misspelled.

P.S. All of that being said, I love, love, love, love, love writing books. Love when it starts to come together. Fucking love it.

 

I've read the book. It is fantastic.
Price got details and anecdotes that really make the book and it is not so much a story about a "minor league coach getting killed by a line drive" as the story is so much more than that.
How silly and foolish you sound to say such things.
I've had the opportunity to meet Price and talk to him at length about this book. He was humble and gracious and everything I'd like to be.

 

Henry is a giant tool who doesn't know what he'd talking about, but at least he's stopped using Henry Hecht's name and claiming it was a tribute to a Croatian composer.

I don't think Price took any time off to write this book, btw. His articles have appeared at a steady pace in SI. As my tastes have grown and evolved, I'm come to believe he may actually be better than Smith. Price does not get in the way of the story -- ever. He's not showy just to be showy. He is eloquent and artful but does not overwrite. There is remarkable talent in that restraint, and no, the shit does not write itself. Price's memoir, Far Afield, is proof he has become one of the modern masters, in my mind.

 

what's with the ad hominum attacks?

state your opinion - agree or disagree - but don't make it personal.

sophomoric shit.

 

I'm curious about what sort of "fat advance" Price got for a book like this. My guess is that it wasn't very fat at all, and that it won't sell many copies.

I love Price's work. I think he's in the top five sports writers working today. But that's because he does the sort of off-the-beaten-path sports work that I enjoy, and have tried to emulate. But stories like this never got me 1/100th of the reaction of, say, a column about who should start at running back. And I can't imagine it helps Price sell many books. It is ranked 778th on Amazon.com as I post, and has one - one! - customer review.

His other books are a memoir of living in Paris for a year and watching sports, which has all of four customer reviews, and a book about sports in Cuba, which has eight. Granted, these are all fascinating topics and all have been terrific reads. But sports fandom is way, way, way too dominated by meathead David Puttys for a guy like S.L. Price to sell to the masses. It's one reason I lost my stomach for daily sports writing, to be honest.

It actually saddens me that someone like Price wants so badly to tell these kinds of stories from the sports world that resonate, but nobody gives a shit.

I honestly don't even know how he pitches these projects. Publishers want to know they can sell a book. I don't know how he convinces them that these books will.

 

Not whatsoever, but that's OK.

Again, I'm not criticizing Price. I'm sure the book is fabulous. I bought it today. I'll probably read it in two days. I love this kind of stuff.

But the face-painters and mouth-breathers and fantasy addicts who comprise too large a percentage of the sports fan base would read an excerpt on Deadspin and most likely post about what a "douchbag" S.L. Price is. Highbrow sports books that sell are still about iconic figures - Pistol Pete. Namath. Ted Williams. DiMaggio. This is about a career journeyman. It's a book women would probably love, but would probably pass up because it's a "sports book."

Perhaps a publisher takes a chance on books like this hoping for the next breakout/crossover "Seabiscuit." Perhaps Price's name has a prestige factor that I'm unaware of.

But no matter how good it is, I just don't see how a bottom line-thinking publisher would justify a "fat advance."

 

1. I'm certain he didn't get a fat advance.

2. Sometimes you do things just for the sake of art. I think every writer who labors over sentences and paragraphs does this during their career. Keep in mind that comments and reviews are not a reflection of how something resonates with people who actually do read the book. How often do you read something, are totally wowed by it, and don't write anything about it other than on SportsJournalists.com? I've never written a word professionally about The Wire, never commented on Amazon about it, never blogged about it, yet I believe it's the greatest show in the history of television. It's not for everyone, and even at the height of its popularity, it wasn't getting more than 4 million viewers a week. Yet for the people who were invested in it, it truly resonates.

3. Waylon, you know as well as anyone that no one knows anything in the world of book publishing. No one understands what will be a success and what will not be. A lot of publishers greenlight things they're almost certain won't make money just on the 5 percent chance that they will. It's a little bit like the movie business. There are a few projects that everyone knows will make money, and a lot of indie stuff that you're hoping maybe one in 10 will be a surprise hit, or even one out of 50. The shit subsidises the art. Except, other than a few obvious examples, it's hard to understand what exactly is shit, and what is commercial art.

He probably sold the book on the strength of the story he wrote for SI. And a publisher signed off on it well before the economy tanked. And Harper Collins might have thought: You know what? This will probably never make money, but it's enough about family that you just never know if some producer on Oprah whose kids play Little League might want to have the Coolbaughs on the show. And then, if that happens, all bets are off.

4. One of the worst things a sports writer can do, no matter what medium he writes in, is to let the fucking commentors at Deadspin influence the direction he chooses to take with his writing. Deadspin is not a representation of "typical sports fans," it is open mic night at the Baja Beach Club, with 10,000 smart alleck dicks trying to out-snark one another. There are people there who probably would read and enjoy Price's book, but the last thing they're going to do is admit it in that forum.

 

I want to make this very, very clear: In this world of "American Idol" and "US Weekly," I am very, very glad that publishers take on Price's projects. Very glad.

 

Yep, you pretty much nail every scrap of a half-completed thought that I was kind of pondering. You're absolutely right. All you need is Oprah or somebody to discover this book, and it becomes the next "Seabiscuit." Books like this are blockbusters waiting to happen, but only a small percentage of them actually break out. Kind of like the "Slumdog Millionaires" of book publishing.