Ali, Pele, Lillee and Me

the long version

"A funny and revealing look at the sporting heroes of the author's 1970s boyhood - and his experiences of meeting many of them in real life, in the course of his adult job as a sports journalist ... It was the decade of the Rumble in the Jungle and of Kevin Keegan falling off his bike on Superstars. Red Rum won three Grand Nationals and Bjorn Borg five consecutive Wimbledons. Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson joined forces in the Australian cricket team and together became the formidable Lilian Thomson, mother of all fast-bowling partnerships. In rugby union, to this day, there has been no finer try than the one scored by Gareth Edwards, for the Barbarians against the mighty All Blacks, at Cardiff Arms Park in 1973. Nor, for as long as football has been played, wherever it has been played, has there been a finer team than the 1970 Brazilians. But were all these heroes truly heroic? What became of them in later years? Comparing his childhood adulation with his adult experiences of meeting many of these icons in the course of his work as a sports journalist, Brian Viner discovers some surprising truths about the dreams and realities of sport as both player and spectator"--Cover.