It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium: Football and the Game of Life

"The best sports book of the year."
- Sports Illustrated

"John Ed Bradley says that all he ever wanted to do was to leave behind a pretty piece of writing. Here it is-a wonderful blend of honest introspection, passionate reporting, and superb storytelling. One of the best books I have read in years."
- Jeffrey Marx, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Season of Life

Inspired by a classic essay about a visit to a dying coach, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium explores in gorgeous detail the inescapable pull of college football-the cocky smiles behind the face masks, the two-a-day drills, the emotionally charged bus rides to the stadium, the curfew checks, the film-study sessions, the locker room antics, and the yawning void left in one’s soul the moment the final whistle sounds. To understand why it’s so painful to give up the game, you must first understand the intimacy of the huddle. "It ends for everybody," writes John Ed Bradley, "and then it starts all over again, in ways you never anticipated. Marty Dufresne sits in his wheelchair listening to the Tiger fight song...Ramsey Darder endures prison by playing the games over in his head...Big Ed Stanton never took up the game of golf, and yet he rides the streets of Bayou Vista in a cart nearly identical to Coach Mac’s, recalling the one time the old man invited him for a ride." Far more than a memoir, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium is a brutally honest, profoundly moving look at what it means to surrender something you love.




An Amazon Editors’ Best Book of 2007

"John Ed Bradley is a rare gem, a gifted writer trapped in the body of a football player. It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium will send chills down the back of anyone who loves the game and will echo in the minds of former players long after they’ve put it down."
- Tim Green, best-selling author and member of the College Football Hall of Fame

"A mesmerizing read...achingly sentimental in some parts, brutally truthful in others..."
- Chicago Tribune

"The best memoir I have ever read on how a particular game, win or lose, can linger with us."
- Josh Levin, Slate

"An unsparing and often beautiful chronicle of [Bradley’s] attempt to join polite society."
- Play Magazine

"A lyrical memoir...about his teammates, his coaches, his parents and the magnetic power of football in Louisiana." - National Public Radio

"Heart-wrenching, honest, insightful and hard to put down." - The Franklin Sun



From the Trade Paperback edition.

is the author of several highly praised novels, including "Tupelo Nights" and "My Juliet." A former staffwriter for the "Washington Post, " Bradley has contributed feature stories to "Sports Illustrated, Esquire, " and "GQ." He lives at historic Coliseum Square in New Orleans' Lower Garden District.