/lit/ - Literature

Anyone here read sports literature? Particularly auto/biographies about sporting icons?

"Straight Shooter" by Matthew Lloyd is probably my favourite. I'll admit that I'm biased because I'm a big fan of the man himself, but his work is surprisingly erudite.

This book is the story of a kid driven by a fear of failure to climb the highest peaks in football. A young man who taught himself how to achieve a zen-like state of mind when kicking for goal, to become an astonishingly accurate full forward.

It is a personal account of how he had to come to terms with a new coach, who as a previous player himself, envied Lloyd and dismantled his career in a clandestine fashion. Yet as the established captain of the Essendon Football Club, he continued to be a loyal servant to a club plagued by political scheming.

It contains an brutally honest account of how he nearly, but fairly almost made an opposition player a paraplegic. Society's hatred towards him as a direct result of the incident forced him into early retirement.

Above all, it is a fascinating read about an astonishing career from a man who is a Straight Shooter in more ways than one.