Playing for Pizza

A complete dozen! This book is John Grisham's Playing for Pizza, a short novel. Well, two hundred some pages, but for me that's a short book. The protagonist is Rick, a struggling football quarterback who manages to lose the game for the Oakland Browns in the last eleven minutes of a playoff game, ending their Super Bowl hopes. He is loathed to the point that rabid fans storm his hospital (he got crunched by the other team) and every sports channel is replaying his errors. The Browns fire him and no one else wants him. He is depressed and running from his troubles when his agent gets him a last-chance job: playing American football in Italy. With amateurs, who play for free because they like to knock people down. After much persuasion, he goes to Italy, and it is an eye-opening experience. He learns to love his team and the country, along with a beautiful opera singer. I'm sure I would have enjoyed the book more if I knew the difference between a first down and a third and eighth, or a tailback, fullback, halfback..... whatever. Even being a football imbecile, I still enjoyed Rick's awakening as a well-rounded person. Good book.