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Summary: excerpts from recent reviews
Review: "Bottom line: Women's take on gridiron passion scores a touchdown." Book of the Week, People Magazine"A defining Southern book that is not afraid to discuss race or religion or what it's like to be a woman in a man's world. Read it, laugh and file it on your shelf right next to 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.'" - Atlanta Journal -Constitution "Far more than in its insights about sport and society, it is unfailingly perceptive and deeply moving. Footballs fans might be deceived, but they won't be cheated. This is a terrific book." - Booklist
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Description
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BALLS is the story of a college football coach, his rise, his fall, and his fallback position. You could say BALLS is the story of a coach's kick-off, his first, second, and third downs . . . and his punt. But BALLS is a coach's story that belongs to the coach's wife. To her, and to his mother, his mother-in-law, his daughter, his assistants' wives, his players' mothers and girlfriends, and even his players' grandmothers. It's the women standing behind this handsome football hero who tell the story behind the headlines of Mac Gibbs, Birmingham University coach Catfish Bomar's star quarterback, who married Dixie Carraway, the beautiful homecoming queen. Set in Alabama, home state of the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant, BALLS is told by fifteen women and one little girl touched by Mac Gibbs's fall from fame as a college quarterback to infamy as head coach of the Birmingham University Black Bears. It's told in those women's voices, from their seats in the stands. They watch the other women, worry when players are slow to get up off the ground, pray when players are carried off on stretchers. They don't care much for the "science" of the game--or its brutality. They see football as it really is--sexy, dirty, sweaty, painful, empowering, corrupt. The story they tell is often funny and not always pretty, as the view from deep inside rarely is. This is a novel that moves with the force of a fourth down charge, and shimmers with the tears of the women waiting outside the locker-room door when the game is lost. The author, twice a head coach's wife, knows whereof she writes so brilliantly. She also knows a lot about love. And BALLS is, above all, a love story. From the Back Cover Copy
ADVANCE PRAISE "Balls is sad, funny, honest--and one of the best novels ever written about college football. But this sumptuous roman a clef is about more than that: love, marriage, sex, race, corruption, all set in a vivid milieu where Saturday is the holy day." -- Willie Morris, author of The Courting of Marcus Dupree "Nanci Kincaid's exuberant female characters...seduce with bouncy charm and then--thwack--come at you from left field with gritty insights about life and love."--Elle From the Flap Copy
She's in love with--and married to--a coach on the rise. He's in love with--and married to--winning the game. Set in Alabama, where football is akin to religion, Balls is the story of a college football coach's fall from grace. Told by the women whose lives he changes, Balls should be required reading for any women who's ever been involved with a man who's involved with sports. You might say that Balls is the story of a coach's kick-off, his first, second, and third downs...and his punt. But this coach's story belongs to the coach's wife, Dixie Gibbs, and to his mother, his mother-in-law, his daughter, his assistants' wives, his players' mothers, girlfriends, and grandmothers. It's the women standing behind handsome Coach Mac Gibbs who know--and tell--the secrets the sports page headlines leave out. These women talk straight. They don't care much for the "science" of the game--or its brutality. They wince at the injuries, both physical and spiritual. They swear at the press and bristle at the fickleness of the fans. They see football as it really is--sexy, dirty, sweaty, painful, empowering, tainted. And the spin they put on the whole enterprise is ironic, often funny, and not always pretty, as the view from deep inside rarely is. This is a novel that moves with the force of a fourth-down charge and shimmers with the tears of the women waiting outside the locker room when the big games are lost. If balls is another word for courage, then often it's the women off the field who come to understand that best. Balls is the novel every football widow will want to read. Author Biography
Nanci Kinkaid is the author of two previous books of fiction, Crossing Blood, a novel, and Pretending the Bed is a Raft, stories. At nineteen, she married a football coach, then raised two daughters, returning to college, received her undergraduate and MFA degrees, and won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Mary Ingraham Bunting Foundation. She is recently remarried--to the head coach of the University of Arizona football team--and lives in Tucson.
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Summary: Loved the book because it's true!
Review: Having been an intern for 4 years for a Division 1 University football team, I can honestly say that this novel could not be more true. I adored the coaches I worked for, admired them for their accomplishments, their passion for the team, and for the "majic" they brought to our University town. I loved the players too. I screamed my heart out for them every Saturday and knew many of them like I know my own brother. But I can't tell you how many times I lied to a coaches wife, did a players homework, and wore a skirt while a "hot" recruit was visiting, because I was told to. I think I know all of the people Nanci Kincaid was talking about. In a country of sports, sports, and more sports, Nanci Kincaid opens up a point of view that we don't usually hear-a womans!
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Summary: Touching, realistic portrayal of women
Review: I am the wife of a football coach. This book is amazing. Kincaid has scenarios that often happen in college football, but are not discussed. I could not put it down! I kept gasping out loud and reading excerpts to my husband. I enjoyed this book so much that I wrote Kincaid a long letter about her development of the characters and their lives. She knows football after being married to two high profile head football coaches. Please get this book. It also makes a wonderful gift for any coaches' or player's wife.
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Summary: This is a must read if you are close to college football!
Review: I am the wife of a football coach. This book is amazing. Kincaid has scenarios that often happen in college football, but are not discussed. I could not put it down! I kept gasping out loud and reading excerpts to my husband. I enjoyed this book so much that I wrote Kincaid a long letter about her development of the characters and their lives. She knows football after being married to two high profile head football coaches. Please get this book. It also makes a wonderful gift for any coaches' or player's wife.
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Summary: True to life
Review: I am the wife of a football coach. This book was the story of MY life! Kincaid has a terrific sense of humor. I have placed it on my book club list so that all of my friends will read it.
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Summary: True to life
Review: I am the wife of a football coach. This book was the story of MY life! Kincaid has a terrific sense of humor. I have placed it on my book club list so that all of my friends will read it.
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Summary: A Woman Who Understands What it is Like to Be a Coaches Wife
Review: I loved this book. I read it in three days. This was very true regarding the demanding, stressfull, trying life of a coaches wife. I am sure that there were many more chapters that the author could have included. She is a gifted writer. This book will be kept and read again.
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Summary: Not my typical read, but recommended!
Review: I recently moved to a city where college football is its life blood. This past football season was the first time I had ever witnessed the Big Orange hysteria & I have to say I was amused & befuddled by many of my friends & co-workers who were caught up in it. So, when I saw this book, I thought it might be an interesting read & give me some insight into a culture that is completely alien to me. And in short, this book did that & more. The book alternates chapters & tells the story of Southern women who are married or related to football players & coaches. Occasionally, the book's set up was a bit confusing--I sometimes had to flip back & see exactly who it was that was doing the talking, but for the most part, it worked. This book isn't just about football. It is about women struggling to make a place for themselves in a world of men. It is about the way that mothers & daughters relate to one another. It is about the way families communicate. It is about the way men communicate. It is about the South. It is about racism. And this novel manages to address these things in a way that gets the point across without getting too preachy. You don't have to be a football fan to enjoy this book.
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Summary: What is marriage like to a jock?
Review: I was thoroughly entertained at the tales of the wives of the various football coaches. Their lives were sad and shallow, in a way, in that they revolved around the game of football. It was an enchanting view into a world where football is a religion. It was also interesting to see some of the women mature, while their mates did not. There is also some interesting takes on African Americans dealing with whites and the interactions of mothers and their children. This is the kind of good read to take on a trip to the beach.
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