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Sto caricando le informazioni... Iron Mac: The Legend of Roughhouse Cyclist Reggie McNamaradi Andrew M. Homan
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At a time when cycling in the United States rivaled baseball as the nation's most popular professional sport, along came Reggie McNamara, a farmer's son from Australia. Within a month of his arrival in the United States in 1913, he had earned the moniker "Iron Man" for his high tolerance of pain and his remarkable ability to recover from seemingly catastrophic injury. The nickname proved justified. Not only was he tough, he was also one of the best and highest-paid athletes in the world. During his thirty-year career, McNamara won seventeen punishing six-day races along with an inestimable number of shorter distance races, including high-profile events on three different continents, peaking in 1926-27 at the age of thirty-nine. The fans, media, and his fellow professionals all idolized him as an example of the true grit needed to succeed in this grueling and dangerous sport. Late in his career, however, hard drinking and injuries took their toll, and McNamara became estranged from his wife and children. He fought back just as he always had on the race course, conquering his addiction to alcohol and becoming one of the earliest success stories of Alcoholics Anonymous. In this humorous and exciting biography of the original Iron Man, Andrew M. Homan pulls McNamara back into the spotlight, depicting a flawed but beloved man whose success in those unrelenting six-day races came at a price. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)796.6The arts Recreational and performing arts Athletic and outdoor sports and games CyclingClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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One problem is that this is not a competent biography. The author lacks the materials to make it so and has to overuse words and phrases such as “probably,” “presumably,” “possibly,” “perhaps,” “a lot of,” “most likely,” “must have,” “no doubt,” “likelihood that,” and “one can imagine” to fill in missing details—details that are conjecture. This is wholly unsatisfactory, especially in proportion to the few things that reliably can be, or at least are, reported to us about McNamara.
Another problem is the account of the six-day races. The races, which at sites such as Madison Square Garden would last well over 20,000 laps (!), drew large crowds worldwide in the early decades of the 20th century and their stars were paid as handsomely as stars in any of the other professional sports, baseball included. The mystery is why any of this is true, something Iron Mac fails to make clear. Homan tells us that some of America’s biggest celebrities would come to the races (e.g., the Marx Brothers, Alice Roosevelt, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, Bing Crosby, William Randolph Hearst). What captured their attention? The 20,000-plus laps? At Madison Square Garden, frankfurters were sold, people could smoke, and a band played. Was that enough to cause folks to wait in long lines for tickets? To stay all six days of the event, as some fans would do?
Maybe some excitement lay in the risk spectators ran. Homan shares a report from The New York Times: “Thieves infect the Garden this year like they always have, but they seem to become more daring each year. One’s watch or money is never safe there, and his overcoat is almost certain to be lifted if his eye is off it…Complaints have been made this week…of various kinds of hold-ups, but there is never anyone to be found who fits the crime.” If Iron Mac had more detail of this quality I’d sing a less critical tune.
Too bad. Reggie McNamara was a tough guy. His story, while not in sport overly unusual (except for length of career), sounds more interesting than it is in this book, an impression supported by an essay composed by McNamara himself which Homan wisely includes. It is the best thing in the book and causes one to regret McNamara did not succeed in writing his own memoir. ( )