“Gives a whole new meaning to the idea of Fantasy Football”

Rich Hanson is an out of work, mid-level auto executive from Michigan, who knows nothing about football and cares less. As a joke, his wife enters him in a nationwide “coach contest,” the winner of which gets to coach one game of the hapless Boston Terriers, who have languished in the basement of the NFL so long that they think they are -- and are treated like -- janitors. Of course, under his comically unconventional guidance the Terriers win. And win. And win. He stays for the rest of the season, becomes a national hero, and and over the course of a winning season and a Superbowl victory uses this “Chance of a Lifetime” to learn much and teach more about the meaning of success, ethics, love and loyalty.

“The Chance of a Lifetime” is part “The Natural,” part “Slapshot,” and part “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Said Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune columnist, Clarence Page, “I loved this book.  Author Dennis Wholey serves up an instructive parable for all of the Walter Mittys out there who still harbor dreams of a great Super Bowl moment in their lives.” Said poet Nikki Giovanni, “If you were my sister-friend, I’d say GO GIRL. Everyone who’s had a dream needs this book.” And no less than pioneering author Gay Talese remarked, “I’m a football fan and a Dennis Wholey fan, and Dennis’ latest book reaffirms my appreciation of both.”

Dennis Wholey is a New York Times best-selling author of a number of self-help books. He also is host of the nationally syndicated PBS international affairs television series, “This Is America with Dennis Wholey,” in which he chats with world leaders, celebrities, newsmakers, authors, journalists, and experts from all walks of life. Dennis is a born empath. His subjects tell him everything. 

He is a friend of mine, you may have guessed, going back to the mid-sixties when he perpetrated the #1 hit record, “Wild Thing with Senator Bobby,” which for one thing earned him the undivided attention of RFK for a flight from New York to Washington during which he schooled the future presidential candidate and tragic legend on how to make a record. 

And while Dennis is a friend, I have a couple of criticisms of “The Chance of a Lifetime.” As a first-time novelist he hasn’t quite gotten down the balance between description and dialogue, as a result of which there’s too much of the latter. That does, nonetheless, give the prose a kind of energy that foretells the novel’s inevitable appearance as a motion picture. And he kind of rushes the ending, addressing the readers directly. I don’t care for that technique, but in line with the dialogue it does lend a sort of immediacy.

All that notwithstanding, “The Chance of a Lifetime” does exactly what NBC sportscaster Bob Costas says, give “a whole new meaning to the idea of Fantasy Football”

Here’s an excerpt. 

http://denniswholey.com/files/The_Chance_of_a_Lifetime_Wholey_11_page_excerpt.pdf