I was blown away by this book. Simple, everyday living by a local parapalegic, living in my own neighborhood. It is told with honesty, dignity and self deprecating humor.
Marcus is new in town, but he has high aspirations for his high school football career: he hopes to quarterback the undefeated Raiders. But that spot, as it happens, is already taken by Tyler Popovich. The team is tight together and unwelcoming of an interloper, no matter how accurate his powerful throws may be.
In the town's park, Marcus practices relentlessly with an athlete's focus and a newcomer's lack of other things to do. One day a man joins him without overture or introduction and proceeds over many practices to get Marcus hooked on "the pop"-- that moment of hard contact in a tackle or a block that has always scared Marcus into passing too soon. But who is this middle-aged guy who acts and pranks like he's sixteen and gives and takes pain like goliath? How does he know so much about football, and why is he willing to gift it to Marcus? And why is Tyler so furious at this friendship that he threatens Marcus to leave this guy alone?
This book is indeed about football, but the characters tackle much more than each other. They face off with the mighty force of their own fury, with the cruelty of illness, with the sport's consequences, with divided loyalties, with the meaning of heroism, and with the value of a moment in the fickleness of time.
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