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THE BOOK.
No announcer ever proclaimed:
"Up Rises Frazier!"
"Havlicek commits the foul, trying to steal the ball!" or
"The Giants Lose the Pennant, The Giants Lose The Pennant!"
Such moments are indelibly etched upon the mind of every sports fan. Or rather, they would be, had they happened. Sports are notoriously games of inches, and when we conjure the thought of certain athletes - like Bill Buckner or Scott Norwood - we can't help but apply a mental tape measure to the highlight reels of our minds. Players, coaches, and of course fans, obsess on the play when they ask, "What if?" Upon Further Review is the first book to answer that question.
Upon Further Review is a book of counterfactual sporting scenarios. In its pages the reader will find expertly reported histories, where one small event is flipped on its head, and the resulting ripples are carefully documented, the likes of...
What if the U.S. Boycotted Hitler's Olympics?
What if Bobby Riggs beat Billie Jean King?
What if Bucky Dent popped out at the foot of the Green Monster?
What if Drew Bledsoe never got hurt?
Upon Further Review takes classic arguments conducted over pints in a pub and places them in the hands of dozens of writers, athletes, and historians. From turning points that every sports fan rues or celebrates, to the forgotten would-be inflection points that defined sports, Upon Further Review answers age old questions, and settles the score, even if the score bounced off the crossbar.
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UPON FURTHER REVIEW
The Podcast.
A limited-edition Slate podcast based on the book of the same name. Over the course of five episodes, Mike and a roster of podcast all-stars will explore counterfactual sporting scenarios through a combination of speculative fiction, investigative journalism, and sound-rich narrative.
From turning points that every sports fan rues or celebrates, to the forgotten would-be inflection points that defined sports, Upon Further Review answers age-old questions and settles the score, even if the score bounced off the crossbar
“In their anthology LOSERS: Dispatches From the Other Side of the Scoreboard, the editors Mary Pilon and Louisa Thomas amass a diverse collection of essays and stories about people who have largely been ignored…. Highlights include Mike Pesca’s “Losing on Purpose,” which highlights moments in sports when losing can emerge as a viable strategy. ‘It turns out that sometimes winning in the end requires losing along the way,’ Pesca writes.”
- Oskar Garcia, deputy sports editor, The New York Times
COLLABORATIONS.
Twenty-two notable writers
including Bob Sullivan, Abby Ellin, Mike Pesca, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Louisa Hall, and Gay Talese—examine the untold stories of the losers, and in doing so reveal something raw and significant about what it means to be human.