{"product_id":"loserville-9781496225047","title":"Loserville","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClayton Trutor examines how Atlanta’s pursuit of the big leagues invented business-as-usual in the business of professional sports.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Clayton Trutor vividly and expertly untangles the complex ball of issues that made Atlanta's transformation into a ‘Major League’ sports town so unexpectedly (and maddeningly) difficult. A fascinating look at the way professional sports collided with politics, economics, and social upheaval in the 1960s and 1970s, \u003ci\u003eLoserville\u003c\/i\u003e also serves as a cautionary tale for any twenty-first-century city that’s hoping to land its own MLB, NFL, NBA, or NHL franchise. In other words, be careful what you wish for!”—Dan Epstein, author of \u003ci\u003eBig Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ’70s\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In \u003ci\u003eLoserville\u003c\/i\u003e Clayton Trutor uses painstaking research and impressive command of Atlanta’s political and racial history to depict the birth of a modern American sports town. Only this creation story comes with a surprising twist. Build it and they will come? Think again.”—John Eisenberg, author of \u003ci\u003eThe League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“As a baseball historian and writer since 1969, and as a fan of the Braves since 1957, I loved every page of \u003ci\u003eLoserville\u003c\/i\u003e, a well-crafted and well-researched history of both Atlanta and its sports teams. I especially enjoyed reliving the roller-coaster ride the baseball team took from its arrival in 1966 through its dismal years as the Bad News Braves, with attendance so poor that it took Ted Turner to keep the team in town—and eventually in national view via TBS and some shrewd acquisitions. I like the place and the book.”—Dan Schlossberg, author of \u003ci\u003eWhen the Braves Ruled the Diamond: Fourteen Flags Over Atlanta\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eLoserville\u003c\/i\u003e is a fascinating history of Atlanta’s emergence as the epicenter of Sunbelt sports. . . . In a revealing portrait of Atlanta and the ground-shifting changes in American sports, Trutor demonstrates how the age of franchise free agency collided with the political fracturing of a divided city. Anyone interested in the history of American sports, the South, or Atlanta should read this book.”—Johnny Smith, Julius C. “Bud” Shaw Professor of Sports History at the Georgia Institute of Technology and author of \u003ci\u003eThe Sons of Westwood: John Wooden, UCLA, and the Dynasty that Changed College Basketball\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“There is no other word than masterful to describe Clayton Trutor’s \u003ci\u003eLoserville\u003c\/i\u003e, the exhaustively researched and beautifully written story of the big-league burning of Atlanta. He tells the cautionary tale of well-meaning town fathers, eager to show off a Southern city ‘too busy to hate,’ determined at all costs to bring their city top-level professional sports franchises. But they sadly didn’t quite get what they bargained for. Along the way, they lost their charm, their innocence, and a whole lot of money as they rolled out the red carpet for four franchises that took them into the future but never quite measured up.”—Jack Gilden, author of \u003ci\u003eCollision of Wills: Johnny Unitas, Don Shula, and the Rise of the Modern NFL\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A brilliant look at the intricate ways sports and politics are intertwined.\"—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\"Every Atlanta sports fan should read this book.\"—David Schiele, WBIR-TV Knoxville\u003cbr\u003e\"If one enjoys reading about the business side of sports mixed in with social issues, this is an excellent choice.\"—Lance Smith, \u003ci\u003eGuy Who Reviews Sports Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eLoserville\u003c\/i\u003e is a well-researched and important contribution to sports history and the history of the Sun Belt.\"—Seth S. Tannenbaum, \u003ci\u003eJournal of Southern History\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"As a broad case study of Atlanta's decision to bring major sports to the city, \u003ci\u003eLoserville\u003c\/i\u003e is engaging and useful to academics as well as baseball fans. . . . \u003ci\u003eLoserville\u003c\/i\u003e, quite simply, is a winner.\"—Thomas Wolf, \u003ci\u003eNINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eList of Illustrations\u003cbr\u003e Acknowledgments\u003cbr\u003e Introduction\u003cbr\u003e 1. Forward Atlanta\u003cbr\u003e 2. America’s Virgin Sports Territory\u003cbr\u003e 3. Franchise Free Agency\u003cbr\u003e 4. The Greatest Location in the World\u003cbr\u003e 5. Wisconsin v. Milwaukee Braves\u003cbr\u003e 6. Gravitating toward Atlanta\u003cbr\u003e 7. Not Catching On around Town\u003cbr\u003e 8. Losing but Improving\u003cbr\u003e 9. Atlanta Stadium, a Center of Gravity\u003cbr\u003e 10. Outside the Stadium It’s the City\u003cbr\u003e 11. Atlanta Stadium, a Meeting Place\u003cbr\u003e 12. Madison Square Garden of the Southeast\u003cbr\u003e 13. The Developer Is Boss\u003cbr\u003e 14. The Politics of Metropolitan Divergence\u003cbr\u003e 15. Probably Room for Basketball\u003cbr\u003e 16. The Logical Choice\u003cbr\u003e 17. How the Falcons Lost Atlanta\u003cbr\u003e 18. Atlanta’s Ice Society\u003cbr\u003e 19. Just What Atlanta Needs\u003cbr\u003e 20. I Think the Fans Showed Poor Taste\u003cbr\u003e 21. Instant City\u003cbr\u003e 22. Keep Hockey a Southern Sport\u003cbr\u003e 23. Loserville No More\u003cbr\u003e 24. How the Sunbelt Became Loserville, U.S.A.\u003cbr\u003e Notes\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography\u003cbr\u003e Index","brand":"University of Nebraska Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50051582067031,"sku":"9781496225047","price":26.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781496225047.jpg?v=1740363751","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/loserville-9781496225047","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}