SKU: 74796656875

Bull in the Ring: Football and Faith, Refuge in a Troubled Time

Sale price$9.94 Regular price$11.04
Save 10%

Pay in installments of $2.76 with ShopPay, AfterPay and Klarna

Shipping Estimate
USA
  • USA
  • CAN

Ships within 48 hours · Estimated delivery Aug 6 - Aug 11

Promo Codes Available:

For Your Every Summer RSVP, with Code: SUMMER15

Description

Bull in the Ring: Football and Faith, Refuge in a Troubled TimeThe thread of the book is an account of the 1970 Missouri large schools high school state football championship my St. Louis University High team won. We were unlikely champions: undersized, not very fast, no home field, high academic standards for admission, half our games against Top 10 teams in the state. We barely qualified for the four team state playoff, we faced the heavily favored title game opponent having won our previous four games by an

The thread of the book is an account of the 1970 Missouri large schools high school state football championship my St. Louis University High team won. We were unlikely champions: undersized, not very fast, no home field, high academic standards for admission, half our games against Top 10 teams in the state. We barely qualified for the four-team state playoff, we faced the heavily favored title game opponent having won our previous four games by an average of just 4.5 points, including a 14-13 victory over our archrival in front of 18,000 people at Busch Stadium. I was a center and linebacker, and one of the team captains.

The story of the book, though, is how football and that championship season became a refuge for my classmates and me, young Baby Boomers whose great but na ve ambition was tempered by the frightening, threatening social turmoil of the late 1960s. The Vietnam War was escalating, the Civil Rights Movement was exploding, college campuses were erupting in protest, and many of us were at war with our parents' generation.

Adding to our drama, our beloved Student Council vice president and classmate was wounded in a robbery attempt on August 1 of 1970, and died two weeks later, the day before our football season workouts began. We devoted our season to him.

I tell this true story from the first person, and through the reminiscences of a handful of the key characters who were central to it, including our legendary head coach Paul Martel, who died in January 2016 at age 91. I conclude the book with reflections of what that season and accomplishment meant to us, particularly as we now face the final quarter of our lives. Educated by Jesuit priests, who challenged us to question, to commit to something, and to act, we pulled together in common purpose, at least for that season. Most of us were buoyed by our belief in each other, and by our faith in God. And, at least for me, I experienced life lessons that proved invaluable for what I was to become: a daily newspaper sportswriter and columnist, then a business executive, husband and father.

  1. true sports stories such as Remember the Titans, Hoosiers, Friday Night Lights, and One Shot at Forever (the story of the small-school Macon, Illinois baseball team that finished second in the 1971 Illinois baseball tournament), offer drama beyond the tension of high school competition on the fields and courts. This story provides plenty for an avid sports fan. But it, too, offers much more. I suspect Baby Boomers around the country, and readers of all ages, can relate to the way dreams evolve, become compromised or rationalized, and come to rest. And how hard-earned accomplishments, especially those boosted by the kind hand of an unseen power, provide meaning and comfort as we reflect on the impact we have made on the world.

Among the characters: our best player, an earnest and unselfish athlete who had his best game in the state championship; our only African-American teammate, whose parents moved him to St. Louis to distance him from the racial turmoil in central Alabama in the mid-1960s; our biggest player, a character seemingly straight from Clair Bee's Chip Hilton stories; our quarterback, a free-spirited genius who exasperated the coaches but pulled off heroic plays; an under-sized defensive end seemingly possessed by the spirit of his cherished older brother killed in Vietnam; and our Student Council secretary, an African-American who challenged us to confront society's racial issues and later revealed he is gay.



Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Jala Publishing
Published: 08/15/2017
ISBN: 9780999247709
Pages: 288
Weight: 0.94lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.65d
Shipping Notes
  • Free Standard Shipping on $100+ Orders to the USA.
  • Except Preorder products are shipped in 48 hours.
  • Delivery to the USA:
  1. Standard Shipping : 3-10 business days
  • If time is of the essence, please consider selecting expedited delivery for faster service.
Exchange/Return Notes
  • We offer a 30-day return/exchange service after receiving.
  • Final sale items are not eligible for returns or exchanges.
  • To process your return/exchange, please contact us at [email protected]
  • Please click here for more details>>> Return & Exchange Policy
SKU: 74796656875

Discover Niche Categories That Outsell

Top-Converting Item to Boost Your Average Order

4.2 ★★★★★
Based on 9 reviews
Sort
Highest Rating
Newest First
Oldest First
Product Reviews
M
Verified Purchase
Mary Georgescu
Boise, US
★★★★★ 5
A Must-Read for Anyone Building (or Rebuilding) a Community—from the Ground Up or Within a Studio
Format: Paperback
Mastering Community Management by Victoria Tran is easily one of the most approachable, grounded, and genuinely helpful books I’ve read on the subject. It’s not weighed down by corporate jargon or vague motivational fluff. Instead, it reads like a knowledgeable friend sitting beside you, walking you through what community actually is and what it isn’t. As a small indie developer trying to revitalize my own brand and reconnect with my community after a long absence, this book hit at exactly the right time. It gave me not only strategies, but the right questions to ask myself about the kind of experience I want to create. Too many resources focus on surface-level tactics—Victoria goes deeper. She invites you to reflect on your values, your voice, and your long-term goals, then gives you tools to act on them. One of the strongest aspects of this book is how clearly it distinguishes community management from marketing, social media, PR, and other often-blurred roles. If you’ve ever struggled to explain the value of community work to stakeholders or collaborators, this book gives you the language, examples, and frameworks to make your case with clarity and confidence. It’s also deeply aware of the wide range of contexts in which community work happens. Tran never assumes you're working with a massive team or unlimited resources. Whether you're part of a AAA studio, a two-person indie dev team, a hobbyist group, or something in between, the book respects those differences and offers flexible, practical guidance that can be scaled or remixed to fit your needs. The book is packed with real-world examples and thoughtful exercises that walk you through both practical strategies and big-picture thinking. You’re not just handed advice—you’re invited to work through your own approach using templates, prompts, and reflection activities that are grounded in real experience. Every chapter is dense with insights that are critical for new developers and also thought-provoking for those who’ve been in the industry a while. And while the book is focused on video game communities, its frameworks feel highly adaptable. As someone also working in the tabletop space, I found that many of the ideas translated beautifully—especially in a field where so much success is driven by small, tight-knit communities and word-of-mouth engagement. For those of us wearing multiple hats—dev, marketer, moderator, cheerleader—this is the kind of resource you’ll return to again and again. Whether you're just starting out or trying to rebuild trust and engagement, Mastering Community Management provides clarity and care in equal measure. It’s clear, it’s kind, and it’s deeply useful. Buy it for yourself, your team, and anyone who still thinks community is “just Discord.”
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2025
L
Verified Purchase
Lyndsay Bamberger
Battle Creek, US
★★★★★ 5
Wonderful!
Format: Paperback
Great read
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2025
D
Verified Purchase
David Galindo
Belleville, US
★★★★★ 5
Required reading for just about anyone!
Format: Paperback
Rare that we get a book that encompasses so much vital information about the games industry that can also be utilized across a number of fields, rarer still that we get to learn from one of the best in a funny, heartfelt and down to earth book that is a steal at any price. You will read this, and come back to this book, for the years to come.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2025
B
Verified Purchase
BookReader
Grantham, US
★★★★★ 5
Extremely practical guide to community management!
Format: Paperback, Format: Paperback
Victoria Tran’s Mastering Community Management is the book I wish I had when I was managing massive startup communities as an introvert. It validates the emotional labor behind the role and reframes community management as care, not chaos. Tran’s strategies are practical, but what makes the book powerful is her empathy. She shows that introverts’ strengths from listening deeply, noticing subtle shifts, valuing one‑on‑one connection, are essential to building healthy communities. Her emphasis on kindness and intentionality reminded me that the late nights, careful responses, and invisible scaffolding of trust truly matter. This book is both a guide and a comfort. It proves that introverts can thrive in community management, and it honors the humanity behind the work.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2025
D
Verified Purchase
Danielle Baum
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 5
Favorite graphic novel of all time
Format: Paperback
Daisy Kutter used to be train robber. And she used to be partners (and perhaps more) with Tom. But those days are past as Tom is now the Sherif and Daisy is owner of local general store...and bored out of her mind. She can't acclimate herself to "normal" life like Tom can and one night trying to relive her boredom she loses the store in a poker game. Mr. Winters, who she lost the store to, has a proposition though: try to rob his train and test his new security robots. And he's willing to pay. But it appears that not everything is on the up and up. And Daisy and Tom are fighting to survive. Set in a steampunk version of the old west, where robots and humans live together, Kibuishi creates a masterful story that has a great deal of humor. You know that classic stoic character in the old west movies? That's Daisy. But instead of being played by some curmudgeonly old man, it's played by a young woman with a bit of humor to her, which is a nice change of pace. The relationship between Tom and Daisy is set up beautifully and it's easy to relate to them and understand where both of them are coming from. The artwork has some of the elegance and detail that can be found in Kibuishi's current series, , but in a bit simpler style. It's a completely black & white, but Kibuishi uses the gray tones effectively to create a lot of depth and energy to the characters. And with just a few simple lines Kibuishi gives us memorable characters that keep us coming back for more. I especially love the close ups of the characters eyes, particularly Daisy's. When those happen we get a real sense of who the character is and the emotion that they're feeling at the time. Like the title says, this is my favorite graphic novel of all time. It was the first one I ever picked up so yeah it hold some sentimental value, but the combination of a great story and great artwork make this a must read for anyone. My one complaint...no sequel (although there is a short story in Flight volume 6)!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2011

recommand products