One Dream: The NFL

by Woody Falgoux

In One Dream: The NFL, Woody Falgoux follows 10 unsigned rookies through New Orleans Saints training camp as they battle heavy odds to make the team. For those who were not drafted, practicing with the pros in the sweltering Louisiana heat provides an opportunity to show you can hit, run, or do whatever else needed to stand out. Everyone knows a number of players will be axed throughout the grueling process (only 8 percent of unsigned rookies get contracts), so every drill and scrimmage matters, and each precious down played in a preseason game offers a fresh chance to be noticed by the staff. Some get plenty of chances; others seem outcast from the beginning.

Falgoux has a gift for storytelling, and the book unfolds with style and grace. In describing the frustration of one of the collegiate-stars-but-unsigned- nobodies at a scrimmage shortly before the first preseason game, he writes:

He's a young man staring at Goliath, a man who's a little frustrated because he can't really whack people out here, even though he's just whacked [a running back]. He knows tomorrow he'll have the chance to whack 'em all. Finally, he'll really do, whether one calls it violence or vindication or victory, what he does best.

The coaching staff must make its choices, whether random, planned, fair, or bizarre. One Dream offers a memorable look at a pro team's camp and the perspiration and aspirations of 10 young players trying to make the choices easier. Strongly recommended. --Michael Ferch

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Woody Falgoux grew up in Louisianas bayou country. Some of his earliest memories are of watching workboats glide down Bayou Lafourche. Their tall cabs and regal, graceful motion reminded him of chariots. Their personalized names spoke of an intriguing history. He would pass by the boat owners mansions and hear bits of their improbable stories. Even as a kid, he was always curious about how they achieved their success.
His boyhood curiosity only increased as the years passed. While fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, he would watch these massive boats plow through the waves. Working one summer at a Grand Isle shrimp shed, hed stare in awe at the workboats, larger than clouds, coasting down Bayou Rigaud.
After graduating from high school in 1988, he entered the University of Missouri School of Journalism and worked in Columbia, Missouri as a reporter, videographer and anchor for KOMU-TV, an NBC affiliate, and as a radio producer, reporter and anchor for KBIA-FM, an NPR affiliate. After graduation from Journalism School in December 1991, he returned home to the bayou and covered the outdoors as a freelance writer for Louisiana Sportsman, Louisiana Game & Fish and the Houma Daily Courier.
After graduating from LSU Law School in 1995, he became in-house counsel at Bollinger Shipyards before joining a maritime firm in New Orleans. During most of his two years there he took statements and depositions from oilfield rig hands and workboat captains. He also inspected jack-up rigs, tugs, barges and other vessels.
Woody then began a solo practice in suburban Metairie and in 1999, moved his practice back home to Thibodaux.
In 2000, he wrote his first book, One Dream: The NFL (Sleeping Bear Press, 2001), a narrative nonfiction of 10 long shots attempt to make the New Orleans Saints. After One Dreams release, the author made numerous media appearances and speaking engagements (as listed at www.woodyfalgoux.com). One Dream attracted positive reviews appearing in newspapers from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to the Seattle Times. The author has appeared nationally on ESPN radio and on regional radio from Florida to Iowa to Texas.
He now lives 100 yards from the banks of Bayou Lafourche with his wife Susie and young daughters Gracie and Celeste.
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