The View from Pluto

Sports fans in Northeast Ohio have seen a lot in recent years. The Indians' exciting rise to dominance in the American League . . . and their heartbreaking loss in Game Seven. The traitorous Browns move . . . and the team's hope-filled return. The blossoming of stars like Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel, the departure of fan favorites like Mark Price and Manny Ramirez, and the floundering of various overpaid disappointments.And through it all there has been one constant: if something remarkable happens in local sports, Terry Pluto writes about it well. No sportswriter in Ohio has won more praise in the past decade. For good reasons. Pluto writes about sports as if they truly matter because they do to the many thousands of us who start our day with the sports pages. And he finds the stories with meaning beyond the box scores. Whether it's the honorable frustration of coaching a losing high school team, the sad truth of a promising career wasted, the exhilaration of youthful talent, or the satisfaction of hard-earned success. This is the first book to collect the finest of Terry Pluto's sportswriting from the Akron Beacon Journal. For his legion of regular readers, it offers a chance to relive a decade's worth of highlights. For newcomers to Pluto, it is a wonderful introduction to one of the best writers in the world of sports.