{"product_id":"2940012757807","title":"Gods \u0026 Gridiron","description":"To Oklahoma football, Coach Russell Burke exists as Mount Rushmore made flesh. Such a status makes easing into retirement after a half-century in the University of Oklahoma athletic department very delicate. He carefully planned his transition out of the coaching job by grooming the right successor and shaping the transition so skillfully, spectators are halfway convinced he’s a deity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut in the last year Burke walks the sidelines at Owen Field, he’s faced with the strangest quarterback controversy. Brad Oakes, a Heisman-winner who left for the battlefield of Afghanistan, isn’t letting the resulting amputation prevent his comeback. Before even completing rehab, Brad is filing a medical hardship waiver with the NCAA. Incredibly, the NCAA board reinstates his eligibility, and after the star lights up a semipro league in the spring, Coach Burke must decide if the wounded veteran is the strong horse.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBrad returns to Oklahoma with his own god-like reputation, but some biblical baggage could undermine him. The below-the-knee amputation has left him with a hysterical problem, freshly-exposed nerve endings that leave a sensitive new erogenous zone. The problem torments him throughout the season, threatening his lifelong friendship with Heather Madison, the woman he’d quietly carried a torch for his entire life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the periphery is Brad’s platonic admirer, Sal Gundy, who is coaching the new Oklahoma City Welders the next year. Sal stands alone in believing Brad has the tools for professional play. Mindful to avoid NCAA violations, he accepts as his obligation to guide Brad with the subtlety of an angel.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGods \u0026amp; Gridiron is a conscious effort to write in the under-appreciated genre of romantic realism. Coaches exist as idealized archetypes, while players exist as far more humanized characters, living more within the realism of the 'writer as reporter' style of Tom Wolfe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe novel will most appeal to enthusiasts for the literary journalism-turned fiction that Wolfe has championed since the late ‘eighties. Anyone who finds the idea of exploring the subculture of the Sooner Nation through the eyes of a novelist and a reporter should be hooked.","brand":"Cindy McKee","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47081836708080,"sku":"2940012757807","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012757807_p0.jpg?v=1763572229","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012757807","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}