Education of a Coach

My latest audiobook was The Education of a Coach by David Halberstam and narrated by Eric Conger.

Certainly a worthwhile "read" for a New England Patriots fan and, indeed, for any fan of the game, particularly the professional version. It traces Bill Belichick's development from virtually a toddler to the pinnacle of his profession as a 5-time SuperBowl winner (including the 2 rings with the NY Giants working with some other guy named Bill).

Halberstam's writing is crisp and clear, as always, and Conger brings it to life with a thick, booming voice that's perfect for a gridiron narrative. I've read several audiobooks recently that were well-written but with mismatched narrators, so this was particularly refreshing.

Belichick's mentors are many and varied, and Halberstam interweaves the vignettes in a manner allowing us to see how each one influenced him differently. His early (pre-Giant) career is particularly interesting -- even a fairly knowledgable fan like me didn't know that he once worked for the Detroit Lions, as is the dissection of his first head coaching job in Cleveland and the lessons learned therefrom.

And with baseball season basically in a nosedive, it was the perfect book for the preseason.