<![CDATA[
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" vlink="#CC0000" alink="#CC0000"><center><hr width="350" size="1" align="center" noshade>An original and quirky take on Philadelphia legends and the meaning of �tough athlete�<hr width="350" size="1" align="center" noshade><p><a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/ChicagoBook.aspx?ISBN=9781439905999&&PRESS=temple" target="_top">Buy this book!</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">View Cart</a> | <a href="https://cdcshoppingcart.uchicago.edu/Cart/Cart.aspx?PRESS=temple" target="_top">Check Out</a></p><p><img src="2137_reg.gif" height=200 border=1 vspace=4></p></center><!--none//--><h1>The Philly Fan's Code</h1>
<H2>The 50 Toughest, Craziest, Most Legendary Philadelphia Athletes of the Last 50 Years</H2>
<h3>Mike Tanier</h3>
<P>paper 1-4399-0599-1 $15.95, Aug 11, <FONT COLOR=#990033>Available</FONT>
<br>Electronic Book 1-4399-0600-9 $15.95 <FONT COLOR=#990033></FONT>
<BR> 264 pp
5.5x8.25
16 halftones
</P><BLOCKQUOTE><I>"A veritable cheesesteak between covers, Mike Tanier's </I>The Philly Fan's Code<I> is a book no self-respecting Philadelphia sports fan can be without."</I><br> —<b>Gregg Easterbrook</b>, ESPN</I></BLOCKQUOTE>
<p>Face it: Philadelphia athletes are often as tough as their fans are passionate. How else to explain the rabid appeal of the bone-crunching Broad Street Bullies? Chuck Bednarik was one of the looniest tunes in Philadelphia sports history, but <i>fuggedabout</i> him. In <i>The Philly Fan's Code</i>, <i>New York Times</i> sportswriter Mike Tanier provides fun and opinionated essays that evaluate the 50 greatest, toughest, and most eccentric legends of Philly sports since Concrete Charlie hung up his cleats.
<p>Using his own "rubric" to calculate the impact of each athlete, Tanier ranks well-adjusted players like Mark Howe alongside both unpredictable athletes like Brad Lidge—who followed an almost perfect season with a 162-game catastrophe—and quirky ones, such as Wilt Chamberlain, who may be better known for bragging about his sexual conquests than for scoring 100 points in a game. And let's not forget our visitor from Planet Lovetron� Then there are the <i>real</i> wild cards-players like Terrell Owens, who does sit-ups in his driveway and whose impact—for better or worse—
outlasted the few actual games he played for the Eagles. As for Tanier's choice for the No. 1 toughest, craziest, most legendary player, well, you'll have to read the book to see if you agree. Whether you do or don't, <i>The Philly Fan's Code</i> will provide hours of debates and memories of who our toughest sports heroes were—or weren't.
<BR> <h2>Excerpt</h2><P>Excerpt available at <a href="http://www.temple.edu/tempress">www.temple.edu/tempress</a></p>
<BR> <h2>Reviews</h2>
<p><I>"Honest, incisive, funny, and compulsively readable, </I>The Philly Fan's Code<I> is the perfect book for Philly sports fans. Mike Tanier offers a fresh take on age-old debates about the legacies of the city's most memorable and controversial athletes, inviting readers to reconsider the reputation and history of Philadelphia fans." </I><br>—<b>Tom McAllister</b>, author of <i>Bury Me in My Jersey: A Memoir of My Father, Football, and Philly</i>
<p><I>"Mike Tanier may have once booed me, but I have nothing but praise for his snappy little argument starter, </I>The Philly Fan's Code<I>. I�m honored to be included in this book�just not sure why I wasn�t ranked higher!"</I> <br>—<b>Ron Jaworski </b>
<p><I>"[Tanier] has written a terrific book... [H]e's got his tongue so far up his cheek, you can see it sticking out his left ear. That just makes his list livelier, more kindling for a fiery debate... Let's cut to the chase. Tanier nails Bobby Clarke, Wilt Chamberlain and Charles Barkley dead-on. ...The book gets high grades for telling me things I didn't know before." </I> <br>—<b><i>The Philadelphia Daily News </b></i>
<BR> <h2>Contents</h2><P>
<p>Introduction</p>
<p>1. The Answer in Theory, but Not in Practice
<br>2. The Bully Who Made Us Believe
<br>3. The Slugger Who Won Our Hearts, Eventually
<br>4. The Man, and the Man Crush
<br>5. The Showman We Could Not Boo. Or Could We?
<br>6. The Babe Ruth of Backspin
<br>7. The Haunted, Eternal Samurai
<br>8. The Defense of the Minister
<br>9. The Role Model for the Non-Role Models
<br>10. He Called Us the F-Word
<br>11. He Brooded Back at Us
<br>12. The Idiot Man, Hallelujah
<br>13. Better Than the Greatest, If Only Briefly
<br>14. The Reluctant Enforcer
<br>15. The Once and Future Captain
<br>16. The Pan-Dimensional Catcher
<br>17. He Left Us So He Could Stay with Us
<br>18. The Baby Brother We Could Not Pick On. Yet.
<br>19. The Haters� Favorite
<br>20. The Ultimate Something or Other</p>
<p>Intermission: Coaches and Executives</p>
<p>21. The Forever Flyer
<br>22. The Man from Lovetron
<br>23. He Taught Us to Win, and Laid Off the Action
<br>24. The Origin of the Booed Species
<br>25. The Other Fighter
<br>26. The Man Who Spoiled Memories
<br>27. The Slaphappy Workhorse
<br>28. The Legend We Could Love
<br>29. He Gave His Life for Philly Toughness
<br>30. The Agony of the Feet
<br>31. He Nailed the Good Ol� Boy Act
<br>32. He No Longer Takes That Fifth Day Off
<br>33. The Spirit of �64, the Year That Wasn�t
<br>34. The Quarterback We Grew Up With
<br>35. Point Guard for a Nation
<br>36. Ameba, Enigma, Goaltender
<br>37. The Thinking Man�s Slob
<br>38, 39. The Lost Brothers
<br>40. The Forgotten Hall of Famer
<br>41. All He Had Was Four Little Words
<br>42. He Was Too Tall to Disappear
<br>43. The Wildest Thing We�d Ever Seen
<br>44. The (Briefly) Perfect Reliever
<br>45. The Man Who Got the Credit
<br>46. The Defenseman in the Shadows
<br>47. Backache, Headache, Heartache
<br>48. The Greatest Mistake
<br>49. The Bat Who Wouldn�t Leave
<br>50. The Face of the Future</p>
<p>Acknowledgments</p>
</P><BR> <H2>About the Author(s)</H2>
<P><b>Mike Tanier</b> is a senior writer at <i>Football Outsiders</i> and a regular contributor to <I>The New York Times</i> and NBCSports.com.</P>
<BR><H2>Subject Categories</H2>
<p><A HREF="/tempress/sports.html" TARGET="_top">Sports</a>
<BR><A HREF="/tempress/philly.html" TARGET="_top">Philadelphia Region</a>
<BR><A HREF="/tempress/general.html" TARGET="_top">General Interest</a>
</p>
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