Only A Game

Since professional sports began to capture the interest of the American public, many have argued that athletes have a responsibility of being a role model to the kids watching them, using their media exposure to exhibit humbleness and good character. Conversely, others claim that most young people shouldn’t look up to athletes as role models, for they only see them on the field, and are unaware of the person they are when the cameras are off.

Regardless of where one may stand, it’s interesting to ponder why it is that people hold these men in such a high regard to the point that we forget that they are people just like us. After all, beneath the shoulder pads and the face masks that turn the tough as nails football player into modern day gladiator are men with a past and a present, each one full of triumph and failure, joyfulness and suffering, demons and virtues.

Maybe we consider that in our everyday lives we don’t garner the same degree of attention for a unique skillset that allows others to temporarily escape the challenging and mundane commitments of everyday life. Maybe it’s because as children and teenagers, we have the opportunity to play football and understand the beauty of the game, and can’t help but to feel wonder and admiration for those who can succeed playing it at the highest level. Perhaps it’s the inspiration of a football player’s effort and might that installs a passion in us to fight through unbearable times in hopes that we too can become the best version of ourselves by overcoming adversity.

Whatever the reason, its reasonable to acknowledge that there is or can be a difference between the man and the player that the fans know, a reality that Robert Daley, former New York Giants publicity director turned author, writes about in his book, Only A Game.

Published in 1967, Only a Game follows an aging “Duke” Craig Wallace, halfback for the fictional Big Red football team in the NFL, as he continues to excel on the gridiron at age 31, but isn’t sure for how much longer. His efforts on the field have earned him the accolades of an All American sports hero, constantly being interviewed by newspapermen on his discipline and unmatched skillset. Men and women approach him at restaurants and social gatherings, asking for autographs as they shower him with praise. He’s married with two children, and his son, Bobby, gets excited when he can invite his friends to play football with his father in the front yard.

To the world, Duke Craig is the man that has it all; fame, money and a grounded family life. But to Duke himself, he’s just another man who feels that life is passing him by, if it hasn’t passed him already.

The course of the season in which the novel occurs begins in the second to last exhibition game in Nashville, where Duke meets a model named Margie Berger who is sponsored by the Pepsi-Coal company to shoot commercials with the the children of the Big Red players. Immediately, Duke feels the nervousness of being around a beautiful woman, not quite finding the right words to say, like a young boy approaching a girl in school that he has a crush on. He senses that she too feels an attraction to him, but doesn’t entertain the fantasy, not only because he is married, but the team owner, F.X. Boyd, a deeply religious man, believes she’s the type of women that can attract bad publicity for the team, and could even corrupt the players.

As the team travels back up their undisclosed northern city (presumably in New York), the readers get glimpse of Duke’s home life. His wife, Carribel, a woman who’s reluctantly accepted the role of a suburban housewife and mother, finds little pleasure in marriage anymore, longing to go back to the days when Duke and her were living in Texas in college, and everyone knew who she was. She passes her time by spending Duke’s paychecks and gossiping with the other player wives, but doesn’t have any interest in continuing to fulfill the domestic end of their arraignment, such as cooking fresh meals. Duke’s attempts to communicate or to be intimate with his wife fail time and again, leaving him thinking about Margie every waking moment.

Once the season begins, Margie reappears before one of Duke’s games. They begin casually having dinner before they enter into an affair. Duke, feeling like he can talk openly to Margie, feels in a way fulfilled; he can speak his mind about life inside professional football and his concerns about life after the game. Margie, herself in the middle of a divorce, listens to Duke as he describes the exhilarating feeling of being cheered on every time he makes a touchdown, but wonders how life will proceed when someone younger comes along and puts him to the sidelines.

Duke goes through the season constantly thinking of Margie while he anchors his team to a winning record, despite injuries challenging him along the way. He reflects that football is all he’s ever known because that’s what he was great at. The publicity directors at the University of Texas and The Big Red tailored his career to maintain his All American image. He married Carribel because that’s what All American’s did, even though he knew marrying her wasn’t what he truly wanted. He said all the right things even if he disagreed with it, because that’s what an All-American was supposed to do. Football wasn’t just a part of his life. It was his life, his identity, his god and his guidance, and made all of his life’s decision based on this reality.

With all of these conflicted emotions about Margie and his heroic sports figure status, Duke’s decisions builds up to a climatic boiling point that has an effect on those closest to him, forcing him into an ultimatum that he deems necessary, but nonetheless heart wrenching.

Robert Daley has said that his time as the publicity director for the Giants and the stories he heard from the players served as an inspiration for Only A Game. In the era of Frank Gifford, Charley Conerly and Sam Huff, one may begin to wonder how aligned this fictional story is with the real life exploits of these original NFL superstars. The book, however, shouldn’t be read with thinking that this is a fictionalized account of one of these great players, but rather with the consideration of how great players should be viewed in the public light, and how should the star views himself in that same position.

As a book with few comparisons, Only A Game provides a unique viewpoint of a man with stardom that feels the same disparaging emotions found in many people, and he resorts to compromising his own ethics for a sense of fulfillment. Some may not fault him, while others would condemn him. In the end, however, Duke, living by the book his entire life for the sake of being a football hero, is an example of how the persona in the media is only a fraction of what the man really is, and perhaps it’s up to the fan to recognize that.