The throwback special

Twenty-two ordinary men meet every fall to stage one play from memory. It is the November 1985 Monday Night Football moment when Lawrence Taylor of the New York Giants broke the leg of Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann. The Redskins called the play the Throwback Special. The men have made a yearly ritual of it.

The novel covers a single weekend. The men choose their roles, then spend a long night before the game talking through their private hopes, fears and passions. The next day they act out the play itself, and this may be the last time they do.

The book is a comic novel with a sad undertow, told through the whole group of men rather than a lone hero. Its humor is dry and its attention falls on the small details of manhood, marriage and middle age. The reenactment is odd, and the story treats it as a distinctly American custom.

Expect a short span of time, a large cast and a reflective mood, with the jokes and the sorrow arriving together as the weekend moves toward the game.