The Music of the Gridiron (In the Shadow of the Goalposts)

An offence with attitude and a mean streak.
A defence so radical it's dubbed "the Weird."
A fractured coaching staff ready to come to blows.

It is Head Coach Arne Viimets' third year at McGill, and he's been told his contract will not be renewed. The university is moving in a different direction, and he is not the man wanted at the helm of the football program. But what if he achieves the ultimate success? What if he brings his team to the Vanier Cup? It's a long shot - McGill hasn't even made the playoffs since Arne took over. To do so will require every element of his peculiar football genius. It will require his controversial best player to buy in. It will require his team to punch above its weight game after game.

Ultimately, it will require Arne to hold his own life together as forces from all directions threaten to tear it apart.

Gary J. Kirchner played linebacker for the McGill Redmen, served as team captain, and was a two-time winner of the Fred Wigle Memorial Trophy for sportsmanlike play. He coached with the Redmen for twenty-seven years, receiving Football Canada's Gino Fracas Award in 1995. Along with his coaching career, he taught physics at John Abbott College, and in 2014 was given La Mention d'honneur de l'Association québécoise de pédagogie collégiale. Gary is the author of the dystopian novel Cromby's Axiom. He lives in Dorval, Quebec, with his Estonian wife Hille.