First and Last Seasons: A Father, a Son, and Sunday Afternoon Football

by Dan McGraw

Reminiscent of Frederick Exley's A Fan's Notes and James Dodson's Final Rounds, First and Last Seasons is not only a courageously confessional memoir but a work of resounding originality-a Rust Belt requiem for a father written by the black sheep son he leaves behind.

Dan McGraw did not plan to go home to help his father die. To the thirty-nine-year-old Texas-based senior editor for U.S. News & World Report , Cleveland, Ohio, was a million miles away. Dan was the prodigal middle son within a large Irish-Catholic family, and life never really got going until he was far away from the city and his dominant father, Richard. But the gravitational pull of his hometown grew stronger as each year passed by. The final tug home came when the NFL announced that the Cleveland Browns football franchise would be resurrected for the 1999-2000 season. All McGraws and Clevelanders are die-hard Sunday afternoon football fans, and Dan decided to take a leave of absence and cover the Browns' first season. Soon thereafter, Richard was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Dan came home to a press pass and the caretaking chores for a father intent on dying the way he lived, on his own terms.

First and Last Seasons is a heart-wrenching work about fathers and sons, the binding influence of community, and how emotionally disconnected men find a common language in sports. It is also a poignantly funny and charming celebration of one man's life and how his sacrifices and mistakes helped his son find the best part of himself. A beautifully written, intensely personal story, this cathartic chronicle of how Dan participated in his father's final season is sure to speak to the millions of fathers and sons who have trouble finding the voice to express their love for one another.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 10, 2000

About the author

Daniel McGraw is a writer and author living in Lakewood, Ohio. A former reporter for the Lake County New-Herald, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and U.S. News & World Report, he now is a contributor for Politico, New Republic, ESPN's Undefeated, Next City, Pacific Standard, Washington Monthly and others. His favorite Cleveland athlete of all-time is Tank Carder.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that begs for the ability to use half stars. If it were possible, the rating would be three and half stars instead of three. As an examination of an interesting and complicated father-son relationship, the impact of a city's culture, in this case Cleveland, on one's outlook and the role of a professional football team on these other two factors the book works wonderfully. Dan McGraw writes clearly and with heart, amazing really given his self described drinking habits. If I drank as much as he admits to I wouldn't be able to write this review! What keeps the book from garnering four stars is McGraw's narrative after his father's death. Intent on continuing the book through the end of the Brown's season, the book loses considerable vitality after the death of his father, Richard. McGraw writes engagingly of his interactions with his father during his final journey but less so of the emotional aftermath. Without Richard's presence in the narrative the book becomes less interesting and limps to the end. Still, a very good read and meditation on fathers, football and the process of losing one's parent that we, as aging boomers, are all likely to through.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps this book wouldn't appeal to a non-Clevelander, but it certainly appeals to me ... while I don't know Dan McGraw, I've lived in his old neighborhood, and been to many of the bars and other places he names in the book, and I also lived and died with the Cleveland Browns, their move to Baltimore, and the creation of the "new" Browns. But the story is wrapped up in the poignant story of his father's slow death, which plays out over the Browns' first season, as the author struggles to find his place in the world, no longer overshadowed by the larger-than-life father.

[Kathy Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this because I lived in McGraw's neighborhood, knew the family (his mom was my daughter's first piano teacher)and others mentioned in his book - made for a very interesting read!