The Glory Game

The Glory Game by Hunter Davies tells of the 1971-72 season of our beloved Tottenham Hotspur. It's a fun read. The team was good that year, and they played all over Europe, and they were in the transitional period of professional sports from its origins to the ruthless corporate world we see today. Some of the era is worthy of celebration (the outfits, the ruggedness, the success of Spurs) and some is best left in the past (all the players were white and British, and the provincialism shows). Davies had good access to the club, in the locker room and pitchside, and the best parts of The Glory Game are the funny details on game day. We witness manager speeches, player scapegoating, superstitions, and silly celebrations. Much of the book was probably groundbreaking at the time, though it feels dated in our era of 30 for 30 documentaries and social media.    

In recent years, I've become taken with Tottenham, and Premier League football in general. It's a great league. The structure is perfect: 20 teams playing 38 games (home and away against everyone), with no playoffs. As a Dodger fan, bedeviled by playoff vagaries in recent years, I appreciate the weight on the regular season. Even though a champion is often crowned before the end, there are enough other things to play for (avoiding relegation, European places, pride) that each game is tense and exciting. And the season lasts for 10 months! Games also air early Saturday morning, which happens to be the only time I can sit down and watch any live sporting event for longer than 20 minutes. Pre-coronavirus lockdown, it was a real source of joy for me. My love for English soccer, then, buoyed the more pedestrian parts of The Glory Game.