AGAINST THE GRAIN

by Eugene Mercury with Steve Fiffer Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 20, 1988

When Eugene ""Mercury"" Morris retired from the National Football League in 1976, he left with $250,000 in the bank, two homes, two cars, and the second best yards-per-carry average among running backs in N.F.L. history. Six years later, after financial failure and a heavy cocaine habit, Morris was arrested for drug trafficking, convicted, and sentenced to a minimum mandatory 15-year sentence. In 1986, his conviction was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court after his attorneys successfully argued that the state had entrapped Morris in the deal. Here, with the help of attorney-turned-sportswriter Fiffer (How to Watch Baseball), Morris sets out to clear both his name and his reputation. In many ways, Morris' story is a familiar one: economic underprivilege overcome by athletic prowess led to an outstanding football career at West Texas State, and later to fame and glory with the Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins. But Morris' penchant for fast cars and fast women caught up with him. Recklessness, he admits, made him vulnerable to the drug sting. Unfortunately, his later vindication in court creates an abrasive self-righteousness that is the book's dominant tone. Morris has nothing good to say about anyone but himself and the attorneys who set him free. He chastises everyone from Miami Head Coach Don Shula to the US government for not somehow preventing or stopping what became his own heavy cocaine habit, and he is bitter and platitudinous while discussing his own rehabilitation. Thus talk of his repentance and the anti-drug ""crusade"" he has now undertaken ring somewhat hollow, like ablutions taken at gunpoint. A cautionary tale that warns more against the confessional-book genre than it does against the narcotics fast-lane.

Pub Date: June 20, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1988

Categories: NONFICTION