1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERRick Dockery is the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually gets into the game. With a seventeen-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provides what is arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he becomes a national … national laughingstock—and is immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.
But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent find a team that needs him. Against enormous odds, Rick finally gets a job—as the starting quarterback for the Mighty Panthers . . . of Parma, Italy. The Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player—any former NFL player—at their helm. And now they’ve got Rick, who knows nothing about Parma (not even where it is) and doesn’t speak a word of Italian. To say that Italy—the land of fine wines, extremely small cars, and football americano—holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.
BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from John Grisham’s The Litigators.
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One of the few Grisham books that doesn’t follow the same old template. The descriptions of the food are great and almost make you schedule a culinary trip to Italy!
If you love good sports stories with an underdog who triumphs, and a message about playing from the heart and not the wallet – then you’ll enjoy Playing for Pizza. I also enjoyed thinking just how wonderful it must be for Mr Grisham and his family to choose a holiday destination, and write the whole thing off as a deduction for research purposes. Well played!