cover image God Save the Quarterback!: American Football Goes to England

God Save the Quarterback!: American Football Goes to England

Michael Globetti. Random House (NY), $20 (277pp) ISBN 978-0-394-57564-3

Born in Birmingham, Ala., ex- Boston Herald sports columnist Globetti joined the Birmingham (England) Bears as a player/club officer/factotum and here describes a wacky season of what the English call gridiron and what the author labels as Britball. With almost no financial backing, with uniforms scrounged from contributors on both sides of the Atlantic, with a few American athletes of less than top rank and locals who had played rugby, the British American Football Association was a travesty. Yet the Bears were one of the best squads, winning 23 straight games until their defeat by the Dutch in the Euro Bowl; subsequently the team also lost in the Budweiser Bowl. At season's end the league folded, a fitting finale to a comedy of errors and to this entertaining account. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)