Bump & Run

From one of sportswriting's best-known commentators comes a Semi-Tough for the new century---a riotous novel about the world of professional football, filled with black comedy, outrageous characters, and a lot more truth than the NFL will ever admit.

As the go-to guy in Las Vegas, Jack Molloy thought he knew it all, but that was before he inherited half of the New York Hawks and found out that, next to the denizens of the country of Football, he was just a babe in the woods.

Over the course of a single season, Molloy will get a crash course in steroids, gambling, crooked quarterbacks, idiot sportswriters, control-freak coaches, and philandering announcers. He will become acquainted with such people as A. T. M. Molloy will end up with his brother and sister co-owners, Ken and Barbie---"the devil twins"---out to get him, joined by his coach, the commissioner, and most of his fellow owners. He will find out just how far every mogul in America who doesn't have his own football team will go to get one, especially Allen Getz, the dot-com king, also know as Allen Getz What He Wants. And he just might wind up falling in love, if he can only figure out which of the two smart, funny, tough women in his life, Annie or Liz, to fall in love with. The fact that Liz also happens to be his team president only makes it more complicated.

How Molloy prevails (or doesn't) against this sea of adversity if something only a writer like Mike Lupica would dare to dream up, but if you've ever wondered what you would do if you owned a football team...well, Lupica's your guy. This is a delight from beginning to end: like Annie and Liz, smart, funny, and tough.