Paper Tiger: One Athlete's Journey to the Underbelly of Pro Football

by Ted Kluck

Former college football player Ted Kluck had a to return to the playing field and try to stir the dying embers of his athletic prowess. He decided to try and sign on with a professional team--in his case, the Battle Creek Crunch of the Great Lakes Indoor Football League. Here's how he describes the results of his first

[BEGIN EXT indent this paragraph both sides] "Post-practice, my body is a bas-relief road map of pain. I am purple from shoulder to elbow and my arms sport an interesting array of little polka-dot welts (from the mesh practice jersey) and Field Turf abrasions. There is a nice, purplish bruise around the outer portion of my right eye and if my wife harbored any excitement about sleeping with a professional athlete, then it is for naught. My plan is to not be touched by anyone for any reason, for several days. Sexy." [end EXT]

Part Paper Lion and part Bull Durham , this book tells the story of the dreamers and the world-class athletes with promise who never quite made the next step.

Genres: Sports

222 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Ted Kluck writes on topics ranging from Mike Tyson to the Emergent Church. Ted has played professional indoor football, coached high school football, trained as a professional wrestler, served as a missionary, and taught writing courses at the college level.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not have a lot of empathy for the author and really thought he was kind of an idiot throughout the book. I barely finished as the book read like a newspaper article and was very clunky.