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Love's Winning Plays: A Novel
by
Inman Majors
Though the Southeastern Conference football season is still months away, the fans obsession is year-round. So head coach Von Driver will take his motivational magic and his Isosceles Triangle of Success on a Pigskin Cavalcade to the small towns in the state. Raymond Love, a young coach unfamiliar with the banquet circuit of big-shot boosters and chat-room gurus, will go al...more
Hardcover, 256 pages
Published
August 27th 2012
by W. W. Norton & Company
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What a fun book this is. I'm new to Majors work, but this one made me want to go and read all of his other novels. He offers a very funny satire of college football life. But the games don't take center stage here. What does is an out-of-season "cavalcade" in which the coaches go on tour to raise money and meet with the team's boosters and hard-core fans. The main protagonist is coach Raymond Love, an earnest graduate of a Division III school, who's now working as a post-graduate assistant at a...more
"Coach" raymond Love (More of a "gofer" than anything) is a grad assistant for an SEC football team. It's off season and the coaching staff is going from town to town meeting alumni pep clubs and talking up the program. Love is in charge of head defensive coach Woody, kind of an old, hairy guy beloved by all who has a mind of his own about when and where to show up for events.
This is a rollicking, fun read all the way. Not a serious sentence (well, maybe one or two) in the whole story. You love...more
This is a rollicking, fun read all the way. Not a serious sentence (well, maybe one or two) in the whole story. You love...more
Raymond Love, son of a high school football coach, aspires to coach at the college level, and he's got his foot on the lowest possible rung at an SEC school: He is a non-coaching graduate assistant, one tantalizing rung away from being a coaching graduate assistant. Love's Winning Plays takes place during the off-season as Love participates in the Pigskin Cavalcade, joining other coaches from his school--and chaperoning one loose cannon coach in particular--as they schmooze and inspire their way...more
This novel is so sunny and droll! Who could resist it? it resembles a comedian del'arte play, with the stock comic characters. The head coach, bombastic and pushy. the aging assistant coach, old school and loyal. The young graduate assistant, wanting the job and the girl, but unlikely to get either. The athletic director's daughter, bikini-clad, flirty, but playing way too many games.
So many of us are so devoted to college football, ignoring the big money, the corruption. We see it as a game, b...more
So many of us are so devoted to college football, ignoring the big money, the corruption. We see it as a game, b...more
As a girl from the South who loves college football, specifically SEC football, I really wanted to love this book about a young man trying to start his coaching career at a Division I school, but I was so distracted by the absence of proper punctuation that I can't give this work more than 2 stars. Mr. Majors may think that his laid-back style excuses him from conventional grammar, but a book that is filled with dialogue and lacks a single quotation mark is unacceptable in my opinion.
Despite th...more
Despite th...more
Almost a four star from me, Inman Major's novel is a short, fast-paced and lightly satirical look at the trials and tribulations of college football coaches in this modern era of power hungry boosters and message board zealotry. Major's novel had me chuckling quite bit in the early bits but it just couldn't maintain the comic energy level throughout the book. It is about time someone took the big business world of college football to task and the SEC setting of LOVE'S WINNING PLAYS gives Majors...more
My library branch (the most excellent Kenton Library) had a "blind date with a book" display and I took this one home mostly because the two hearts on it said "Romance" and "College Football." Intrigued, I tore open the wrapping and dove into a very funny tale of a Graduate Assistant Football Coach at a big football-centric state school in the south. It did indeed provide me with both romance and college football and also enough laughs that I disturbed the boyfriend while he was taking a GRE pra...more
http://www.gerberadaisydiaries.com/20...
Raymond Love, a low level graduate assistant for a non-descript SEC college football team, has been assigned to “babysit” Coach Woody – the longtime defensive line coach who is known to go “rogue” on occasion – while on a caravan across the non-descript southern state, to meet boosters and discuss the upcoming football season.
Love’s Winning Plays, by Inman Majors, is a novel full of stereotypes and clichés about the world of college football:
• Love and Spa...more
Raymond Love, a low level graduate assistant for a non-descript SEC college football team, has been assigned to “babysit” Coach Woody – the longtime defensive line coach who is known to go “rogue” on occasion – while on a caravan across the non-descript southern state, to meet boosters and discuss the upcoming football season.
Love’s Winning Plays, by Inman Majors, is a novel full of stereotypes and clichés about the world of college football:
• Love and Spa...more
A great book for anyone who loves college football and wants a fun look at the dance between athletic departments and boosters. The only detraction was the decision not to use quote marks to set off conversations. It was a wonderful commentary on the business and politics of college football versus the love of the game and the loyalty to a team. Additionally, I found the descriptions of the book club and it's chosen books to be hilarious. All-in-all, a thoroughly enjoyable book that doesn't
take...more
take...more
I love this book.
It's a short send-up of Book Club books and its about SEC football. A grad student assistant is traveling with the coaches on a meet and greet Pigskin Cavalcade with the boosters. We've got internet football chat room, a foodie book club, coaches, drinking, boosters, romance, "gumption" and obnoxious other coaches.
Good stuff.
Don't forget to check out the Book Club Questions at the back. Hilarious.
It's a short send-up of Book Club books and its about SEC football. A grad student assistant is traveling with the coaches on a meet and greet Pigskin Cavalcade with the boosters. We've got internet football chat room, a foodie book club, coaches, drinking, boosters, romance, "gumption" and obnoxious other coaches.
Good stuff.
Don't forget to check out the Book Club Questions at the back. Hilarious.
Chilled out holiday don't-think-too-hard-enjoy-the-Southern-weirdos read. The actual plot is a bit too pat, but it's more about hanging out in the culture of boosterism and obsession that is the SEC. Don't expect big words, introspection, sad endings. Do expect a screen treatment.
Good fun read for anyone who is fan of college football. Especially SEC football. Being a serious SEC football fan, I know I need to take a break and smile at some of it all. Enjoyed this book which pokes fun, but never insults.
I expected more than one play. This novel is less about football and more about fans, boosters, and women. Still, it's enjoyable. It wasn't deep or difficult or even that memorable, but it was believable and had a happy ending.
Interesting commentary on college football at least in the SEC. Light reading. No real social content. but it may reflect the attitude and actions of diehard football fans or fanatics.
Having a husband who worked in college football, this was spot on. Since Inman Majors' dad is Johnny Majors, he would certainly know. I laughed a lot, in a sad sort of way.
A short, fun little read that had me laughing aloud in some places.
One big criticism, however, is the lack of quotation marks for dialogue. An affected post-modern ploy. Blech!
One big criticism, however, is the lack of quotation marks for dialogue. An affected post-modern ploy. Blech!
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***I received this book through a Goodreads Giveaway***
This book takes a clever spin on college football and one young GA's journey through the system. The book was the account of a young man as he encountered the various power struggles within the system, and handling all the various relationships. The book was nice but lacks quotations which can make following conversation paths difficult. The book is written so that both men and women can enjoy the story. Overall, the book was enjoyable and w...more
This book takes a clever spin on college football and one young GA's journey through the system. The book was the account of a young man as he encountered the various power struggles within the system, and handling all the various relationships. The book was nice but lacks quotations which can make following conversation paths difficult. The book is written so that both men and women can enjoy the story. Overall, the book was enjoyable and w...more
Oct 16, 2012
Gail
marked it as to-read
I received my copy yesterday in the mail from the first reads free giveaway. Thanks for my copy.
Read this in one day...a perfect SEC football Saturday. It was fun and enjoyable. Go DAWGS!!
With the college football season just concluded, this was an especially fun read. It's not terribly deep, but it does have a lot to say about honesty, loyalty, and integrity--qualities that sometimes seem to be in short supply in college sports. But you don't have to be a football fan to read this book; anyone will enjoy the story of Graduate Assistant Coach Raymond Love as he navigates the worlds of graduate school, college athletics, and romance.
This is a Goodreads First Read review.
This is a fun look at a young grad assistant’s life at a university, and having to deal with other assistants, coaches, boosters, and overeager fans. Although not a big part of the novel, it definitely helps to be a football fan to understand all of the jargon. There is one thing this book needed; quotation marks, because after a while it became hard to tell who was talking.
This is a fun look at a young grad assistant’s life at a university, and having to deal with other assistants, coaches, boosters, and overeager fans. Although not a big part of the novel, it definitely helps to be a football fan to understand all of the jargon. There is one thing this book needed; quotation marks, because after a while it became hard to tell who was talking.
Interesting, fun read.
Very funny--I particularly enjoyed the skewering of "Eat, Pray, Love" and book-group discussion guides. This starts out as something like "The Devil Wears Prada" set in the world of SEC football. The plot is predictable, but there are good laugh-out-loud moments. The targets are obnoxious sports boosters, affected sports writers, and anyone who fist-bumps. 3.5 stars.
This was was thoroughly enjoyable. It had great insight to the crazy world of college football. The characters were rich and realistic. I loved it.
I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads
May 17, 2013
Kate
marked it as to-read
Apr 27, 2013
Ginny
marked it as to-read
Apr 23, 2013
Elizabeth Mabrey
added it
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