Winning's Only Part of the Game: Lessons of Life and Football - Hardcover

Bowden family values rule in this curious mixture of football and inspirational philosophies. For those familiar with big-time college football, the Bowden name is synonymous with winning. Bobby, the close-knit clan's partiarch, is coach of the Florida State University Seminoles, a one-time NCAA champion and perennial powerhouse. Bobby and his wife, Ann, have six childrens--two girls and four boys--five of whom have, in one capacity or another, followed their father into football (eldest son Steve remains the holdout--he is a minister/educator). Less well-known, however, is that the Bowdens are devout evangelical Protestants. This book takes the form of a kind of dinner table discussion about life, kids, faith, love, leadership, loyalty, competition, and gender issues, conveniently couched in the lexicon and contexts of the occasionally inconsistent realms of gridiron life and individual salvation. Scattered among the scores of platitudes (``Most of the time when you lose, it's because the other team is a little better than you. . . . The key, I think, is to make sure you take something away from those losses'') are some genuinely perceptive thoughts, many provided by Steve, who gently opposes Dad's fundamentalist point of view. Wife Ann describes Bobby, her husband of 47 years, as a man of unshakable faith who ``accepts the Bible as the Word of God.'' This and other highly personal insights the Bowdens share about one another should intrigue football fans who associate Bobby's Seminoles or Terry's Auburn Tigers (or, for the record, most other successful football programs) with the frequent misdeeds of some of their players. To be fair, all the Bowdens seem comfortable, sincere, and mostly nonjudgmental in their faith. However, with their highly successful personal and professional lives, they seem at times to be a bit out of touch with other aspects of life. Surefire inspiration for those who are inspired by the Bowdens; not much of anything for anyone else. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

The Bowdens are the Kennedys of college football--minus the tragedies. Bobby is the successful head coach at Florida State, and his son Terry revived the once-disgraced Auburn program. Son Tommy is an assistant at Auburn, and son Jeff is on Bobby's FSU staff. Another son is an ordained minister, and two daughters are a teacher and a lawyer, respectively. In this uniquely organized round-table discussion, the whole group reflect on their lives and how being the children of a coach has shaped their destinies. The coaching Bowdens examine football issues such as recruiting and strategy, but the real insights are generated by the noncoaches. Steve, the minister, and Ginger, the lawyer, offer observations that force the coaches to re-examine their priorities. Terry, for example, realizes he's obsessed with success and questions the values of his goals. This is an absolutely fascinating book, football aside. To eavesdrop on a large family of articulate adults as they evaluate their childhood and their relationships with the outside world proves remarkably rewarding. Wes Lukowsky