Because I'm now authoring two blogs, my unlimited cache is now a bit limited, so pardon me if I combine my most recent post with a new one. My book, Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries, has been out a week and it's been more than I expected.
Having never authored a title before, every day comes with a new experience. First, the good. I had signings in South Lyon, Birmingham Seaholm and Dearborn Fordson during the past week and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Sales were strong and I had a great time talking with prep football fans, something that gets shelved when I'm actually refereeing a game.
Now the bad -- I found a couple minor mistakes that missed my edit and our final edit. If you're a perfectionist like me, you already know how this feels. Yet it's a lot like working a very important football or basketball game that goes into multiple overtimes. A couple small mistakes get overlooked when the important parts of the game come off without a hitch, and that's how I look at the book.
For a title that I had 45 days to deliver from contract to deadline, complete with 18,000 words, 200 original photos, chapter layout and design, plus referee the overloaded prep and collegiate basketball season, do my day job and be family man in between, I'm not going to beat myself up over the small stuff.
THANKS, JIM! The Daily Tribune in Royal Oak, Michigan gave the book some props this past Sunday. Just click on the photo (above) within this post to read Jim's review. The one attribute that Jim Evans has marked his journalism career with is his stellar perspective. He's covered some of the biggest games ever to be played in South Oakland County, yet he knows that today's Hazel Park-Seaholm game, although played in front of 2,000 in 2008 instead of 10,000 in 1978, means as much to today's athletes as it did 30 years ago.
JESTICE IS SERVED: On Friday I had the pleasure of meeting the former head football coach from Dearborn Fordson, Mr. Charles Jestice, for the first time. He and his wife take in every game they can at Fordson. I suppose that blue n' gold never leaves the blood stream. He's got a grandson who's a junior varsity quarterback at Grosse Pointe South and more of his family name at Dearborn High, proving the old rivalries never die, they just temper with age. Coach Jestice and his wife are attending three games a week this fall!
COACH FINAMORE, WEB GURU JUMP ONBOARD, TOO: Jackson Community College Men's Basketball Coach Steve Finamore took the time to throw some kudos my way, writing: "Congrats! Great job... As a basketball historian, how about a book on the basketball from Detroit - the players, coaches, and of course rivalries? I love sitting down and talking with guys from 'The D' listening to them talk about guys like Curtis Jones, Ice and many more."
Steve authors a cool blog driven towards coaching but it's also enriched with a healthy amount of leadership content. Check it out at http://hoopscoach.wordpress.com/
The other comment came from a true football fan and historian, none other than Willy Mena. Willy authors the ever-popular Michigan High School Helmet Project. Those of us in metro Detroit noticed the cool interactive football preview hosted online by The Detroit News, and next to every school profiled was one of Willy's helmets and a link to his site. The Detroit Free Press used Mena's handiwork as accompanying artwork to Mick McCabe's Top 25 preseason poll.
We'll see about the 2nd edition copy,Willy. If you haven't checked out Willy's new Novi Wildcat football site, it's up and running and it's sweet. It's linked here at http://www.novifootball.org/
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