Determination in Football
“They heard the laces whistling as the ball slapped down into Rusty’s outstretched hands, and Troy heard them gasp.”(Green 244). Tim Green’s book, Football Genius, captivated me with it’s vivid storytelling and exciting plot line. Troy White has a great talent, he can predict plays in football before they happen simply based on the lineup of the players. When his mom gets a job with the Atlanta Falcons, Troy tries to help them turn their season around and win. In this book, the main character Troy must overcome many obstacles like coaches, players, and bullies in order to help his football teams win.
In this book, the theme is clearly evident throughout. The theme is that not everything is about physical size, strength, or position of power. It is about character and how hard you are willing to work. Tim Green uses a really vivid writing style to weave this theme into most of the things that Troy does. The way that Troy demonstrates this theme as an underdog is what really made me like this book and enhances the reading experience. I enjoyed the third person narration of the book and I liked even better that it was a limited perspective so that we could only see Troy’s thoughts. This made it a lot more interesting because as the reader, we could not tell what any other character was thinking or about to do at any given time.
Another thing that I liked was how Tim green developed the characters. The way that he made Troy’s thoughts made us as the reader like some characters and hate others just because of what Troy was thinking. This is probably why as a reader, I liked Troy and his friends better than the other people like Jamie, I thought that he was just a jerk. For example, Jamie makes fun of Troy and calls him a liar even though the things that Troy says are true. In the text, Jamie says, “He’s a liar! His mom doesn’t work for the Falcons!”(Green 27). Troy however is portrayed as a kind, caring person which made me like him. The setting is set in a small town outside of Atlanta, Georgia. It is set around current time so it really helped improve the reading experience because I could relate to it. The way that Tim Green described Troy’s house and the practice facility for the Falcons made me feel like I was there. The author used descriptive words to describe how hot and muggy it was in Georgia and how dusty the dirt driveway was.
Throughout this book, Troy is struggling with three main things. He must overcome not having a dad, the unfair coaching of his football team, and he must overcome the mean defensive coordinator for the Falcons and try to help them win. This book is really a lot like other sports books and Tim Green writes a lot like the sports author Mike Lupica. This book really connected to the world for me because in college football, many people struggle with wanting to have starting positions and many people transfer because of it. It also connected to the other book that I read, Game Changers. Both of these books feature 2nd string quarterbacks trying to become the starter. Finally, this book connected to myself because Troy has to prove himself. This connects to me because many people, including myself, have to prove themselves to people to earn their respect.
Overall, the writing style of Tim Green really made me enjoy this book. The usage of descriptive words and adjectives made this book very good and I thought that it was a really well written book. I would really recommend this book to anyone who just wants to read a good book. I would especially recommend this book to sports fans and people who have read Tim Green books in the past because they will really love the exciting writing style of this book.