Meet Joe • Recent Press

2006

December 10

Book Review: Season of Life

Season of Life is a somewhat deceptive book. Those looking for a book solely about sports will not be finding it here. However, those looking for a book where sports have become applicable to real life situations will find this book very interesting. Jeffery Marx does a great job exploring the lives of the football team of Gilman High School football and their unique style of play, and lifestyle.

Gilman is coached by former NFL player Joe Ehrmann and his buddy Francis “Biff” Poggi. These two men are more than just football coaches, they are coaches of life. In fact, that is what they see themselves as first. Their coaching at Gilman is part of a program that is called “Building Men for Others.” It is essentially re-defining what it is to be masculine.

Masculinity, according to the book, is defined in modern society in a few ways. Girls, wealth, and fame. Ehrmann and Poggi argue that it shouldn’t be measured that way, that it should be measured in terms of relationships. The relationships that men have with others. Can they be open? Do they have a solid relationship that isn’t based on false pretenses? We see how this theory is applied to the game of football. No one would expect to see high school football players telling each other “I love you.” Yet that is exactly what happens at Gilman. We see that these aren’t boys bound by the traditional social restrictions, they are willing to express their emotions to their team mates, something taboo in most situations.

This practice isn’t without success. Gilman has two undefeated seasons under this program, and the year in which Marx opted to follow the team, they started off ranked first in the state of Maryland. It certainly helps that Gilman is a private school and thus has a great ability to get better players because of “recruitment” and scholarships. But despite this, these two men have found a way to snap traditional definitions of manliness and to instill another definition, and throughout all of this they have built a winning football program in what many consider the most “manly” sport.

This is a book that really makes you think. In it, Marx shows the contrast between coaches like those at Gilman, who offer constant support and affirmation, and those at other schools who do nothing but yell at their players with an intense negative passion. The book almost proves that the positive affirmation way is the route to go. The Gilman team has incredible success, as is documented throughout the book, and in all the descriptions of all the boys on the team, they are all model citizens, or well on their way to that.

Season of Life is a powerful social commentary wrapped around sports. It follows one of the nations most popular sports, football, on a high school level. Readers are offered a new, fresh perspective on a lot of things, which will, at the very least, cause a great deal of thinking and re-evaluation. I would highly recommend this book for anyone. Sports fans, and non-sports fans alike will be able to find something in here worth reading.