Balls

Set in Alabama, this is a “funny, entertaining novel about college football coaches and the women who love them” (Library Journal).
 
Balls is the story of the rise and fall of a Southern college football coach—told by his wife and the many other women in his orbit, from his mother, mother-in-law, and daughter to the girlfriends and grandmothers who watch from the sidelines, cheering, worrying, and praying when the players are carried off on stretchers.
 
It’s the women standing behind this handsome football hero who tell the story of Mac Gibbs, star quarterback, who married the beautiful homecoming queen, Dixie Carraway. Set in the home state of the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant, the novel relates the tale of Mac’s fame as a college player—and eventual infamy as head coach of the Birmingham University Black Bears. They don’t care much for the “science” of the game—or its brutality. They see football as it really is: sexy, dirty, sweaty, painful, empowering, corrupt. The story they tell is often funny—and not always pretty.
 
Written by a prominent coach’s wife, this is an “engrossing [and] terrific book” about love, competition, and a woman taking control of her own life in an era of change (Booklist).
 
“Kincaid knows her Southern football culture thoroughly. . . . The novel’s warm humor and eccentric characters, so reminiscent of Lee Smith, kicks this into the winning end zone.” —Library Journal
 
“What makes the tale fun is that Kincaid tells it through the eyes of the women in Mac’s life . . . Great Southern details . . . Characters so believable you can hear them drawl.” —People