MY HOME TEAM

An iconic American sportswriter returns to his Midwest roots and finds his greatest story.

How did a much-decorated sports columnist and author who chronicled some of the most epic athletic events since the 1960s end up writing for a high school girls' basketball team's website in exchange for Milk Duds? In this fast-paced, endearing memoir written in three acts, Kindred chronicles a circuitous route to his hometown and what could be his most important and personally meaningful subject: the dominant Morton High School Lady Potters hoops squad. The author, who wrote nationally recognized sports columns for publications such as the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Golf Digest, recounts his idyllic upbringing, the rapid changes in the newspaper business during his career, juggling work and family, and his success in emulating his sportswriting heroes and gurus, particularly Red Smith. Kindred has an elephantine memory and sharp eye for detail, talents that distinguished his columns and add flavor to his descriptions of his unique relationship with Muhammad Ali; his coverage of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing (and beating a libel suit by exonerated suspect Richard Jewell); and a panoply of Super Bowls, Kentucky Derbys, and Masters tournaments. Kindred often zigzags in and out of his memories of events and all involved; this may be dizzying for some, but a completely chronological recitation would be ill-suited to this book. The narrative is also an ode to his wife, Cheryl, his high school sweetheart and all-everything partner, whose health problems precipitated their move back home once Kindred left full-time work. The author writes candidly of personal heartache, loss, and the solace that the no-frills, community-oriented world of small-town high school athletics brings. His profiles of the Lady Potters and what the team meant to him during difficult days are every bit as compelling—if not more so—as the famous athletes he covered in thousands of columns. "When the wages are Milk Duds,” he writes, “it's everything else that matters."

An enjoyable, poignant, meaningful memoir.