Crackback

This is almost Crutcher homage: good guy athlete Mike Manning learns his coaches aren't always right and that the real life lessons take place off the field. There's also a buried family situation, a demanding father, and a school assignment that mirrors some of the book's themes. It is a classic coming of age story as Mike tackles more lessons than opposing players, such as discovering that the pretty girls are not always the most interesting. But what saves it from being just faux Crutcher (not that there's anything wrong with that) is the voice, which is just about perfect as Mike's confusing changing life — and finally love — snaps, crackles, and pops all around him. Review originally appeared in Novelist.

Miles loves football and is good at it... and everyone tries to tell him to get bigger, get stronger, and play better but who does he listen to? His coach... his father ... or himself?

An interesting look at the conflicting loyalties within high school athletics.

This novel is about a boy named Miles Manning who is playing high school football. I really enjoyed reading this book because it is very descriptive in the sense that I could visualize the situations he was going through and that were depicted in the book. I think this is a great novel for a class read and it can be used to teach right from wrong.

Miles is faced with a series of choices during his sophomore year in high school. A good football player, his favorite coach resigns, and suddenly Miles' focus on football isn't as certain any more. The new coach is authoritarian, steroids are suddenly available in the locker room, and winning becomes the most important part of the game. Miles' father, equally passionate about the game, can't understand the changes in Miles, who begins to see that there are other parts of life beyond the field. A believable, football-play-descriptive book with a perfect cover to interest readers.

This book is about a young man who plays football he is very good at it but a new coach takes over and benches him so he has to decide if he will stay benched and try to work hard to get on the team or to follow in his friends footsteps and take steroids and cheat his way back to a starter. This book is good because it is totally believable throughout the whole book. I think the message is to make the wright decisions even if one you feel is better but one is pressured to choose. This book is a little inappropriate in one part but the rest of the book is good. People who like high fantasy would not like this book because as I said before this boo is very believable.

I liked how the main character chooses the right path instead of following his friend and doing steroids. Q4P4 AHS/Austin K

This book was amazing!!! I managed to stsy interested throughout although I usually do not like to read. The overall message of this book was "discipline".