"The Rage Within- A Season in Professional Indoor Football" by Michael Goodpaster

Some of you may remember that back in 2013, I started a fan blog devoted to the indoor football team from Owensboro, the Owensboro Rage!  I really loved that team, and I was really hoping that they would pull through and make it.

I had my blog, I also handled their twitter for them.  My best pal Brent Clary was their on field announcer.....  And I drove from Lexington to make it to all of their home games while they existed.  Though they didn't quit make it to the end of the season, I really enjoyed the team while it lasted.

BUT, before that team came to Owensboro in 2013, it was headquartered in Evansville, and in 2012, the team was the Evansville Rage.

Coach Michael Goodpaster was the teams coach.  I loved watching him do his thing in Owensboro.  The man is professional and passionate, and you know he likes to win.  Luckily, Coach Goodpaster has written a book about the 2012 season with the Evansville Rage.

I was thrilled to see that this book was out, because.... well because I love everything relating to the team.  I still have my ticket stubs, flyers, shirts, and other items I can scavenge relating to the Rage.  This book is a nice piece to add to my collection.

AND, its just a fun book.  Michael Goodpaster isn't trying to create a literary masterpiece here, but he has written an honest account of the Evansville version of this team.

The book is written in a way you would expect from a football coach who doesn't give a crap about what anyone thinks.  In fact, at the beginning of the book, he acknowledges that some people mentioned in the book might be offended by what he says, but he says that he has proof to prove everything!

Four letter words fly all over the place here as coach tells strange stories.  An almost totally unbelievable one involves Coach Goodpaster literally coaching a game as he sits on a toilet. 

Coach talks a lot about some of the things you might expect from a low level pro sports team in a struggling league.  Money, resources, and talent are all in short supply at times- creating a headache for Michael, his staff and players.  During the season, he deals with getting kicked out of a hotel as the teams owes the hotel money.  He faces challenges relating to getting his players paid.  He confronts racist refs, he gets in the middle of fights between teams, and when its all said and done, he is still trying to figure out who exactly owns the team!

This book is a lot of fun and I am so glad that Mike Goodpaster took the time to write it!