Coach: Lessons on the Game of Life

A Miss.

Oddly enough, the first thing that catches my attention is the photographs. They are nice, no doubt about that. However, they are almost all stock images, which gives the book a rather generic feel. It would have been so much better if they had been all Michael Lewis or Coach Fitz photos, or at least photos of the school or the town. This would have added a more personal and unique touch to the book.

Being held accountable does sound like a good idea in theory. But being yelled at, bullied, or scared by someone throwing things is definitely not the best way to go about it. There are much more effective and respectful ways to hold someone accountable.

This book seems to be trying to tell the story that parents today, especially rich parents, coddle their kids. But this is really just a variation of the age-old complaint of "Kids these days". It doesn't offer any new or particularly compelling insights.

Overall, I find this book to be uncompelling. It lacks the depth and originality that would make it truly engaging and worthwhile.

This is a truly engaging story that not only tells of how a tough coach inspired high school kids, including the author, to achieve more in life but also delves into the generational divide.

It highlights how modern parents, accused of "helicoptering" and over-sheltering their kids, make the coach's job more challenging.

The book, despite being just 90 pages long, holds significant meaning. Michael Lewis, who attended a wealthy private school in New Orleans, had Billy Fitzgerald as his baseball coach. Coach Fitz was intense, often giving sermons, breaking things when upset, and adding extra practices if he felt the kids weren't working hard enough.

However, more than 30 years later, Lewis learned that some parents were trying to have Coach Fitz fired for being too tough. So, he went back to New Orleans to investigate.

The current headmaster, Scott McLeod, said that the school had changed since 1978. Parents were now more willing to intercede on their kids' behalf in an unhealthy way, both in sports and in the classroom, and this trend was only getting worse. Fitz was at the top of the list of hardships parents protected their kids from.

When Lewis talked to Fitz about this, the coach said it was now more difficult to have a meaningful relationship with the kids as the parents always got in the way.

Most of the book focuses on the impact Fitz had on Lewis's life and that of other students. Lewis shares the story of a memorable baseball game where, despite being only fourteen and not looking athletically inclined, he was called in to pitch on the last night of the season when the team was tied for first place.

Coach Fitz handed him the ball and gave him some tough words, but then leaned down, put his hand on Lewis's shoulder, and became calm, creating a sense of unity. Lewis believed in himself and pitched well enough to win the game, which led to a change in his life. He started working harder in school and at practices.

This is a well-written, inspirational book that can be read in one sitting. However, the author's complaint about the unnecessary and irrelevant photographs padding the slim volume is valid. If Coach Fitz had been in charge of the book, he probably wouldn't have tolerated such nonsense.

Overall, it's a nice little book with a powerful message, but the use of photos detracts from its quality.

I used to be surprised that a significant number of people revere sports teams and coaches. I previously thought it was due to a general cultural inclination of admiring sports as spectators. However, Lewis' book has made me understand that, at least for the group who trained under coach Fitz, such reverence is well-deserved and not just a consumer's admiration for a purchased entertainment experience.

Lewis' book is filled with tension. I can't do justice to his excellent writing in this review. I can only recommend that you read it in its entirety (better yet, get the audiobook read by him. His hoarse yet earnest voice adds to the experience). In this short book, Lewis interweaves his personal experience of being coached by Fitz. Fitz gave baseball a purpose for adolescents and helped them overcome the crises of young life. He distinguished between "liking baseball and wanting to win" for fun and applying oneself wholeheartedly as if it were a matter of life and death, and understanding that life is not a series of purchase decisions to get out of trouble (for this group of adolescents in an expensive school, using their parents' money to bail out).

Fitz had an intensity that tolerated nothing less than total dedication. Team members who went to parties between practices were disciplined and didn't want to go to the beach for decades. Lewis himself was grilled by Fitz when his parents took the family on vacation during Mardi Gras, which meant he missed a week of committed practice. Guilty for not meeting Fitz's intense devotion, he was accidentally hit by a ball that broke his nose when he returned to the field. But Lewis described that moment of being hit and losing consciousness as the happiest moment of his life, and the first thing he said to his family at the doctor's office was that he would never go on vacation again. He changed from a troublemaker who frequently visited the headmaster's office for confronting teachers to a respectful one that the teachers truly loved. As Lewis put it best, "Fitz could reach in and pull a white rabbit out of an empty hat, and the whole experience means a lot more to the white rabbit than to the magician."

Before you think Fitz was a sadistic madman torturing high school kids, the book provides enough details about Fitz to clarify that his intensity was even stronger on himself. He would walk home miles through bad neighborhoods in a murder capital city when his team lost. It was a habit from his playing days that he carried through to coaching, punishing himself quietly to atone for the noncommittal adolescents' sins. He would miss his own grandson's christening to be at a game and, of course, was outraged when three boys chose to miss that game just to go to Paris.

But the problem is that times have changed, and "the magician is not allowed to reach into empty hats anymore." This is a major point of the book: a general shift in attitude towards coaches and schools between the 1970s and the early 2000s. Parents and former players from the 70s revere Fitz for instilling values in adolescent boys and making them better men. They appreciate him so much that they raise funds to build a gym at school named after Fitz. However, parents today consider themselves as paying customers demanding pampering. They badger the headmaster to fire the coach for calling out their kids' lack of discipline, failed commitment, and lies. Most of these parents are lawyers who are too eager to help their kids achieve conventional success, such as getting into a good school and getting a good job, and they resort to pestering the coach to give their kids more playing time. The irony is that the only parent (a cardiologist) who refused to join this lobbying and actually went to the headmaster to defend the coach's discipline had the hardest-working, most humble kid who also turned out to be the best player on the team and was courted by the kind of success (a professional team inviting him to join directly after high school) that the other lawyer dads wanted so badly that they were trying to harass their way into. You can see that the parents who don't understand the concept of intensity from coach Fitz are the ones who can't handle intensity themselves and are used to getting their way through threatening, complaining, lobbying, and purchasing.

This coach Fitz, a closet intellectual whose sermons to the team quickly ranged from Aesop to Mark Twain, and who quoted "What is to give light must endure burning" to inspire the team, represents the intense idealism that money and lobbying consumers can't buy. As Lewis put it, this kind of thing "refused to be trivialized by time." This book makes me think of my teachers and parents and worry about whether I can do my job, cherish the gift of intensity I received, and pass it on to the next generation.

Really, it's more like 3 and 1/2 or even 4 stars.

However, I'm knocking it down a little bit. Given that it's so short and I desired so much more from it. Additionally, the fact that, annoyingly, it's essentially the same as an excellent podcast episode I listened to called “Don't Be Good, Be Great” from the second season of Michael Lewis's podcast Against the Rules. I was longing for an expansion of that podcast and basically got the exact same thing, and I even paid 16 bucks for it.

Nevertheless, Billy Fitzgerald is clearly one of the greats. Listening to his stories reminds me not only of what we've lost as a culture (and what's leading to our collective downfall) but also what I've lost as a human being. I've had many Billy Fitzgeralds in my life (how many can be that lucky?). In recent years, I've let them down by forgetting what it truly costs to be a grown man. I need Fitzes in my life and I need to do my best to be a Fitz to others. I pray to God that he makes it happen in my life and, more importantly, in our culture as a whole.

I hope that Billy Fitzgerald's message can reach more people and have a positive impact on our society. Maybe then, we can start to turn things around and move towards a better future.

It was a good, short book.

I could really relate to the old school coach. He was the kind of person that the parents and administration had issues or hesitation with. This was because he always spoke the truth and wasn't politically savvy enough to hide behind fancy words.

I truly enjoyed this short read and found that I could identify with it quite well. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing a part of myself in the story.

However, there was one drawback. Sometimes the author would jump around from one idea to another or add some really weird sentences that would catch me completely off guard. It was a bit disconcerting at times.

Despite this flaw, I would still read this book again. There was something about it that kept drawing me in and making me want to know more. Maybe it was the authenticity of the characters or the simplicity of the story. Whatever it was, it had a certain charm that I couldn't resist.

Overall, it was a great little book that I would recommend to anyone looking for a quick and easy read that still manages to pack a punch.

Laura Vanessa Normandy COACH
by Michael Lewis
THUMBS DOWNNN

I have always had a great passion for the books written by Michael Lewis. The previous ones I have read have been truly enlightening, and he has this amazing ability to make learning both educational and highly entertaining. However, this particular book, "Laura Vanessa Normandy COACH", was a complete letdown for me. It felt like a "NOTHING-BURGER", as I really didn't learn anything new or valuable from it.

I wasn't inspired in the slightest. Even if the coach was as wonderful and inspiring as the author claimed, it was not at all clear what specific actions or qualities made him so outstanding. He was described as being tough and caring, but that was about it. There wasn't enough depth or detail to truly understand what made this coach so special.

Moreover, this book deviated from Michael Lewis' typical topic of finance and Wall Street. Instead, it seemed more like a personal and extremely long tribute or toast to an admired coach from his high school days. Overall, I was very disappointed with this book and would not recommend it to others.

I have an unwavering love for everything that Michael Lewis pens. Therefore, I am choosing to overlook the fact that this particular work is essentially one rather lengthy article, which can be easily read within an hour, yet is presented as a book with very little substantial content. It truly puzzles me as to why there are these so-called "wholesome-america" photos that one would typically expect to find already neatly inserted within a photo album. Why is this the case? What purpose do these photos serve? Do they add any value to the overall narrative? Or are they simply there for decorative purposes? These are the questions that keep swirling in my mind as I peruse through this work.

Perhaps Lewis had a specific intention in including these photos, but it remains somewhat of a mystery to me. I find myself constantly coming back to these questions, hoping to gain a better understanding of the author's vision. Despite my initial reservations about the slim content, I am still drawn to Lewis's writing style and his ability to engage the reader.

Overall, while this work may not be as substantial as some of his other offerings, it still manages to capture my attention and leave me with much to think about. I look forward to seeing what else Michael Lewis has in store for us in the future.

Another good one, an easy small book read recommended for everyone.

This book is truly a gem. It doesn't require a great deal of effort to understand, making it accessible to readers of all levels.

The story is engaging and flows smoothly, keeping you hooked from the very beginning.

It's the kind of book that you can pick up and read in short bursts, yet still feel a sense of satisfaction.

Whether you're looking for a lighthearted escape or a quick read to pass the time, this small book is an excellent choice.

It offers valuable insights and lessons in a simple and enjoyable way.

So, don't hesitate to give it a try. You won't be disappointed.

Highly recommended for everyone who loves to read.