Comments on: Cardboard Books: A False Spring

By: skybluestoday

skybluestoday — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:24:36 +0000

12. ”The Last Picture Show” is one of the most bewilderingly sad movies I’ve ever seen (unavailable theatrically, no video release) — for a long time in the 70s-80s, it was almost impossible to take in, but it started to make the rounds again in the great late 1980s (great, for moviegoers).

A masterpiece. I have no idea how Platt and Bogdanovich made it work, but they sure did.

My favorite scene (naturally) is Sam the Lion (Ben Johnson) delivering his amazing monologue on the riverside. The directing and camerawork are subtle and perfect — it’s Johnson’s best work, better than his intense supporting work in the Peckinpah flicks by quite a bit.

By: spudrph

spudrph — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:52:28 +0000

11. I bought Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan, and loved it. I can't believe it took me this long to find him. Your piece, as always, is gorgeous. I have been feeling like Jim Bouton says it feels like when the knuckler isn't working-bereft of tricks, nothing to fall back on, just throwing the same stuff up there again and again and hoping they hit it at somebody.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:30:28 +0000

10. FYI: Some new comments on older posts have been trickling in:

Mark Belanger (Orioles)
Jim Rice (Red Sox)
Skip Jutze (Mariners)

Also a few favorite childhood book comments (in Paul Mather) came in after the conversation started to tail off.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:41:27 +0000

9. 8 : I definitely will. Thanks for mentioning it. Alex also recommended that one.

By: Wabi-sabi

Wabi-sabi — Fri, 30 May 2008 18:01:25 +0000

8. If you like "A False Spring," definitely check out his "A Nice Tuesday," which picks up the story about 30 years later. The opening scene is perfect, and then the book stays good throughout.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:42:42 +0000

7. Ken, it's funny how we find things (movies, books, art) and people exactly when we need them. In many ways, I feel the same about Pat's books and Pat himself, who, incidentally, is a terrific guy.

By: Ken Noe

Ken Noe — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:26:35 +0000

6. 5 I envy you working with him. That book came along in my life at about the exact time I needed to read it.

By: Alex Belth

Alex Belth — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:14:00 +0000

5. I think Pat did become a better person because of his baseball experience. It certainly helped shape him as a writer, although that was a long process and not immediately apparent to him when he left the game. But I think Pat felt that he had a knack for observation when he started taking journalism seriously and was determined not to piss away that talent like he squandered his pitching gift. When he first starting writing the book, he took it Ray Cave, the freelance editor at SI, who told him it was promising but too bitter (at that time, Pat was blaming his failures squarely on the Braves organization). Originally, the working title was "In the Days of Wine and Bonuses" a reference to the Jack Lemmon alcoholic movie, "Days of Wine and Roses." Good thing they changed it.

By: Ken Noe

Ken Noe — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:54:54 +0000

4. 2 Nuke LaLoosh never found out about the out-of-wedlock child he fathered in the back of a car. Thirty years later I remember most the book's devastating honesty and sense of loss, but also my conviction that in the end Jordan was a scarred but better man. It's funny, but I also thought about False Spring when I first read about Billy Beane in Moneyball. And of course, when I see the Braves come out in those uniforms Jordan loved.

By: Josh Wilker

Josh Wilker — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:22:30 +0000

3. 2 : Boy, that makes a lot of sense.