The Philly fan's code : the 50 toughest, craziest, most legendary Philadelphia athletes of the last 50 years / Mike Tanier.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tanier, Mike, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sports--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History.

Sports.

Athletes--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--History.

Athletes.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : Temple University Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Face it: Philadelphia athletes are often as tough as their fans are passionate. How else to explain the rabid appeal of the bone-crunching Broad Street Bullies? Chuck Bednarik was one of the looniest tunes in Philadelphia sports history, but fuggedabout him. In The Philly Fan's Code, New York Times sportswriter Mike Tanier provides fun and opinionated essays that evaluate the 50 greatest, toughest, and most eccentric legends of Philly sports since Concrete Charlie hung up his cleats.Using his own ""rubric"" to calculate the impact of each athlete, Tanier

Contents:

Contents; Introduction; 1. The Answer in Theory, but Not in Practice; 2. The Bully Who Made Us Believe; 3. The Slugger Who Won Our Hearts, Eventually; 4. The Man, and the Man Crush; 5. The Showman We Could Not Boo. Or Could We?; 6. The Babe Ruth of Backspin; 7. The Haunted, Eternal Samurai; 8. The Defense of the Minister; 9. The Role Model for the Non-Role Models; 10. He Called Us the F-Word; 11. He Brooded Back at Us; 12. The Idiot Man, Hallelujah; 13. Better Than the Greatest, If Only Briefly; 14. The Reluctant Enforcer; 15. The Once and Future Captain; 16. The Pan-Dimensional Catcher

17. He Left Us So He Could Stay with Us18. The Baby Brother We Could Not Pick On. Yet.; 19. The Haters' Favorite; 20. The Ultimate Something or Other; Intermission: Coaches and Executives; 21. The Forever Flyer; 22. The Man from Lovetron; 23. He Taught Us to Win, and Laid Off the Action; 24. The Origin of the Booed Species; 25. The Other Fighter; 26. The Man Who Spoiled Memories; 27. The Slaphappy Workhorse; 28. The Legend We Could Love; 29. He Gave His Life for Philly Toughness; 30. The Agony of the Feet; 31. He Nailed the Good Ol' Boy Act; 32. He No Longer Takes That Fifth Day Off

33. The Spirit of '64, the Year That Wasn't34. The Quarterback We Grew Up With; 35. Point Guard for a Nation; 36. Ameba, Enigma, Goaltender; 37. The Thinking Man's Slob; 38, 39. The Lost Brothers; 40. The Forgotten Hall of Famer; 41. All He Had Was Four Little Words; 42. He Was Too Tall to Disappear; 43. The Wildest Thing We'd Ever Seen; 44. The (Briefly) Perfect Reliever; 45. The Man Who Got the Credit; 46. The Defenseman in the Shadows; 47. Backache, Headache, Heartache; 48. The Greatest Mistake; 49. The Bat Who Wouldn't Leave; 50. The Face of the Future; Acknowledgments

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-283-24466-7

9786613244666

1-4399-0600-9

OCLC:

753704053