I came across a book George Plimpton wrote some time ago Mad Ducks and Bears which I read on our trip. It discusses football with a lot of time devoted to Alex Karras and John Gordy stories. I’d always admired Karras as a player. It turns out Karras had been selected in high school as All State four times during his playing in Indiana. What’s even more remarkable was he was selected each year in a different position in football: guard, offensive end and fullback. By his senior year over a hundred offers of scholarships poured in.

Karras talked about playing a Pro Bowl game where a play Karras refers to as the "Oh shit" play was used against him. This was where he was playing defensive tackle and the guard opposite would pull to sucker the tackle to follow while the ball carrier would run through the hole while the defense tackle is out of position. He says they pulled the play, but he was too tired from being out late the night before and decided not to follow. The great Jim Brown was the carrier and was slammed by Karras, but not brought down. Brown caught himself, regained running balance and went on to run eighty five yards for a touchdown to Karras’s utter amazement. A great book which has amusing stories about the game and the players even if the book is dated.

I also read a book A Thousand Days in Tuscany by Marlena De Blasi on this trip which was a very well written and interesting book about living in Italy. I liked her style of writing. She talks about Fernando who recites to himself "stai tranquilla" – stay calm which she writes is "the constant Italian prayer used to stave off all unpleasantness and secure the sacred state of bella figura – a good impression. She writes about the Italian word "spezzatura" which is difficult to translate but refers to the mastering of something without exhibiting any effort and the resulting nonchalance of self confident accomplishment. Her descriptions of her life after marrying an Italian and moving to a small town in Italy make this an enjoyable book to read.