Bouncing Back: From National Joke to Grey Cup Champs

CFL Talk
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Hi, everyone. I’m pleased to announce that my book about the 1981-83 Argonauts, Bouncing Back: From National Joke to Grey Cup Champs, is now available for sale.

It can be ordered here: [url]Page Not Found | Lulu

The book is soft-cover, 224 pages, with a colour cover and 30 black-and-white illustrations interspersed throughout. It has 19 chapters covering the complete story of those three mesmerizing and eventful years when the Argos went from the worst record in team history (2-14 in 1981) to their first Grey Cup championship in 31 years.

The book is based in part on interviews with almost four dozen individuals associated with the Argonauts and the CFL, including nearly all of the key members of the 1981-83 Argos: Holloway, Greer, Minter, O’Billovich, Mouse, Pearson, Ferrone, Carinci, Henderson, Ilesic, Barnes, Brazley and many others. I also interviewed some key figures from other teams of that era, including Hugh Campbell, Al Bruno, George Brancato and Adam Rita.

The book, which sells for $23.95 plus tax, is being published by Lulu.com, the print-on-demand publishing company owned by Ticats owner Bob Young. (Lulu also published Angelo Mosca's autobiography, Tell Me To My Face, a couple of years ago.) When you order a copy, one is printed and shipped to you within a few days. Both regular mail delivery and ground delivery (i.e. courier) are available, and I can personally attest that both methods are fast and reliable. When I was waiting on two separate deliveries of proof copies, I got email notice that the book had been shipped one day, and it was at my house the next.

There will also be an eBook available for iPad, with the same content but some of the pictures in colour. I’m dealing with a few formatting issues so the release for that platform has been slightly delayed, but I hope to have it for sale within a couple of weeks. The eBook will be priced at $18.95 and you will be able to download it instantly. (The soft-cover book is priced higher because of printing costs that don’t apply to an eBook.) I will post a notice here when the eBook is available.

The book’s website is here: http://bouncingbackbook.ca/.

I would love feedback on the book, and can be reached by email at bouncingbackbook@gmail.com. If you like the book – heck, even if you don’t – I would really appreciate shout-outs to friends, relatives, colleagues, through social media, etc. The more publicity I can get for the book, the better chance I have of earning back at least some of the costs I incurred travelling for interviews, hiring editors, transcribers and a designer, and so on.

I am grateful for the interest and enthusiasm so many football fans have shown for the book while it was a work in progress over the past year. Researching, reporting and writing it has been a wonderful (albeit at times draining) experience. I’m obviously not objective, and I’ve read and reread it so many times that my perspective is skewed, but I think it will stand as the definitive account of one of the most fascinating and memorable eras in the long, proud history of the Argonauts.

Cheers,

Paul Woods

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Nice shout-out for the book from Yahoo's Andrew Bucholtz:

[url]Why Paul Woods chose to write “Bouncing Back,” a new book on the 1983 Argos

[url]Paul Woods on the 1983 Argos’ chemistry, and why his book on them is self-published

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Thank you, I had assumed someone was posting about the 2013 Riders.

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Thanks for the heads up. It looks like an interesting read. Please let us know when the digital version is available. A Kindle version would also be great if that’s doable. :thup:

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Thanks! Unfortunately a Kindle version is not in the works at the moment.

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I'm happy to say that the Toronto Sun will be giving Bouncing Back extensive play this week, including a couple of excerpts from the book.

The coverage kicks off today with a two-page centrespread by the legendary Bill Lankhof: http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/17...s-grey-cup-win

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/17...argonauts-book

The book also got a mention in Steve Simmons' widely read Sunday column:

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/17...fredssons-deal

Bouncing Back has also been favourably reviewed by Toronto broadcaster Don Landry: http://www.donlandry.com/2013/07/blogge ... -team-was/

and by Yahoo's Andrew Bucholtz: http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-55 ... 04768.html

Bouncing Back can be purchased through Lulu.com:

Book: http://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-woods/bou ... 83101.html

eBook: http://www.lulu.com/shop/paul-woods/bou ... 12897.html

or through Amazon.com:

[url=http://www.amazon.com/Bouncing-Back-From-National-Champs/dp/1304106381/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376829594&sr=8-1&keywords=Bouncing+Back+Grey+Cup]http://www.amazon.com/Bouncing-Back-Fro ... k+Grey+Cup[/url]
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If anyone is interested in getting a copy of this book directly from me, for the rest of December I am waiving the shipping charge for any destination in Canada. The cost is $25, including tax. PM me or email me at bouncingbackbook@gmailcom.

Here is what some readers and reviewers have said about Bouncing Back:

An exquisitely rich account, filled with evocative writing. Both nostalgic stroll down memory lane and journey of discovery. If you remember this edition of the Argos, if you remember the depths of despair they brought you to as well as the heights of championship joy, this is a book you must read. (Don Landry – Toronto broadcaster/announcer)

Bouncing Back: From National Joke to Grey Cup Champs is something many sports books aren’t. It’s honest. The commentary Woods dispenses can be alternately scathing and glowing. It makes this a book worth reading. (Bill Lankhof – sports columnist, Toronto Sun )

This outstanding book was impossible to put down. (Rob Vanstone – sports editor, Regina Leader-Post )

A superb story of a great Argonauts team, written by an expert. It’s a remarkable work and one that should be of interest to Argos fans, CFL fans and those who enjoy any sort of football history. (Andrew Bucholtz – CFL columnist, yahoo.ca)

An incredible account – the best book written about the CFL I have ever read. I loved it so much that I didn’t want it to finish. (Lori Bursey – president, Friends of the Argonauts)

This book should be required reading for any Argos fan, and I wish that there was a way for it to be required reading for all Torontonians so that they could understand just how big of a part of the city’s cultural fabric the Argos once were and could be again. (ArgoRavi, regular contributor to online CFL discussion boards )

All sports are a big blur of impenetrable rules and stats and history, a world I’ve been outside my entire life . . . until this book. Now I get what people see in sports, what holds their interest, what makes them go crazy with excitement and happiness and depression, too. That’s quite a gift. If there is a sports book hall of fame, this is going to be in it. (Donna Green – author and freelance journalist )

An excellent sports history by a great writer. (Keith Kincaid – former president, Canadian Press)

More than a sports history book, Bouncing Back is a freakin’ time machine! All the quotes from all the guys took me back to the locker-room, the games and the huddles I shared with my fellow Argos. Thanks for helping me remember what a wild ride we all shared in 1983! (Tom Trifaux – member of Argonauts 1981-85)

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Actually , if you reverse the title, from Grey Cup Champs to national joke, you could be talking about the Eskimos, 8 yrs and counting for them...

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Wow, that comment was from July 6 and it only took you till December 19th to come up with a not so clever comeback. Maybe you could go back to last years archives and come up with more.

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I didn't even know this thread existed until a couple of days ago... until somone resurrected it