Overview

"For the first time ever, the popular late host of ESPN's The Sports Reporters and ABC's college football openly discusses a lifelong battle with depression. During his three decades on ESPN and ABC, John Saunders became one of the nation's most respected and beloved sportscasters. In this moving, jarring, and ultimately inspiring memoir, Saunders discusses his troubled childhood, the traumatic brain injury he suffered in 2011, and the severe depression that nearly cost him his life. As Saunders writes, Playing Hurt is not an autobiography of a sports celebrity but a memoir of a man facing his own mental illness, and emerging better off for the effort. I will take you into the heart of my struggle with depression, including insights into some of its causes, its consequences, and its treatments. I invite you behind the facade of my apparently ""perfect"" life as a sportscaster, with a wonderful wife and two healthy, happy adult daughters. I have a lot to be thankful for, and I am truly grateful. But none of these things can protect me or anyone else from the disease of depression and its potentially lethal effects. Mine is a rare story: that of a black man in the sports industry openly grappling with depression. I will share the good, the bad, and the ugly, including the lengths I've gone to to conceal my private life from the public. So why write a book? Because I want to end the pain and heartache that comes from leading a double life. I also want to reach out to the millions of people, especially men, who think they're alone and can't ask for help. John Saunders died suddenly on August 10, 2016, from an enlarged heart, diabetes, and other complications. This book is his ultimate act of generosity to help those who suffer from mental illness, and those who love them."

Full Product Details

9781478948902

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Reviews

Playing Hurt is John Saunders's personal, poignant story of how he responded to childhood traumas, abuse, clinical depression, an array of head traumas, sports injuries, suicidal thoughts, and excessive use of prescribed medications throughout his life. His hard-learned message: when depression strikes, it is a sign of real strength to talk and turn to family, friends, and experts. -- John F. Greden, MD, founding chair, National Network of Depression Centers An inspiring call to action about mental illness. -- Sports Illustrated For thirty years, my friend John Saunders earned my admiration for his understated demeanor, his top-of-the-line professionalism, his Old World ways, and his gentle yet warm smile and laughter. I'm sure those who never met him except through TV felt the exact same way. After reading Playing Hurt, my respect for him has increased exponentially. So will yours. Thank you, John. -- Chris Berman, legendary ESPN broadcaster This is an important book. Parts will leave you shaken, others will inform you, still others will uplift you. Playing Hurt is the final act of grace in John's remarkable life, so we may learn of the toll of depression, the need for diagnosis and treatment, and the hope that awaits. -- Bob Ley, host of ESPN's Outside the Lines, winner of eleven Emmy Awards A story that merits both sympathy and attention. -- Kirkus Reviews [A] moving chronicle of [Saunders'] struggle...Readers will ache for him as he struggles to overcome brain trauma while still battling depression. This is a tough read; there's a lot of pain on the pages. But, as Saunders promised in his preface, there's a kind of hope as well. -- Booklist For sports fans and anyone who has struggled with depression. -- Library Journal Dion Graham narrates with just the right touches of emotion to get across the gravity of Saunders' story, one of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and clinical depression. The voices of different people are delivered without imitation-this is Saunders's story through his own eyes. Something about Graham's reading evokes Saunders-his steady on-air presence and likable personality. His is a sad story, but one that never asks for pity, just understanding for those with mental illness. Graham delivers a strong narration of this gripping book. -- AudioFile

Dion Graham narrates with just the right touches of emotion to get across the gravity of Saunders' story, one of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and clinical depression. The voices of different people are delivered without imitation-this is Saunders's story through his own eyes. Something about Graham's reading evokes Saunders-his steady on-air presence and likable personality. His is a sad story, but one that never asks for pity, just understanding for those with mental illness. Graham delivers a strong narration of this gripping book. -- AudioFile For sports fans and anyone who has struggled with depression. -- Library Journal [A] moving chronicle of [Saunders'] struggle...Readers will ache for him as he struggles to overcome brain trauma while still battling depression. This is a tough read; there's a lot of pain on the pages. But, as Saunders promised in his preface, there's a kind of hope as well. -- Booklist A story that merits both sympathy and attention. -- Kirkus Reviews This is an important book. Parts will leave you shaken, others will inform you, still others will uplift you. Playing Hurt is the final act of grace in John's remarkable life, so we may learn of the toll of depression, the need for diagnosis and treatment, and the hope that awaits. -- Bob Ley, host of ESPN's Outside the Lines, winner of eleven Emmy Awards For thirty years, my friend John Saunders earned my admiration for his understated demeanor, his top-of-the-line professionalism, his Old World ways, and his gentle yet warm smile and laughter. I'm sure those who never met him except through TV felt the exact same way. After reading Playing Hurt, my respect for him has increased exponentially. So will yours. Thank you, John. -- Chris Berman, legendary ESPN broadcaster An inspiring call to action about mental illness. -- Sports Illustrated Playing Hurt is John Saunders's personal, poignant story of how he responded to childhood traumas, abuse, clinical depression, an array of head traumas, sports injuries, suicidal thoughts, and excessive use of prescribed medications throughout his life. His hard-learned message: when depression strikes, it is a sign of real strength to talk and turn to family, friends, and experts. -- John F. Greden, MD, founding chair, National Network of Depression Centers

Author Information

"John Saunders was a legendary ESPN and ABC sports broadcaster, known to millions of Americans as the face of college football and the arbiter of thoughtful sports journalism on ESPN's The Sports Reporters. Saunders passed away on August 10th, 2016. Website: http: //espnmediazone.com/us/bios/saunders_john/ Twitter: @johnreporters John U. Bacon is the New York Times bestselling author of, among other titles, Three and Out, Fourth and Long, and Endzone. Website: http: //www.johnubacon.com/ Twitter: @johnubacon John U. Bacon is the New York Times bestselling author of, among other titles, Three and Out, Fourth and Long, and Endzone. Mitch Albom is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and author whose works include several #1 New York Times bestsellers, such as Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time. His books have been made into acclaimed films for television. Through his work at the Detroit Free Press, he was inducted into both the National Sports Media Association and Michigan Sports halls of fame and is the recipient of the 2010 Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement. He founded and oversees a consortium of nine different charitable operations in his hometown of Detroit, including a nonprofit dessert shop and food product line to fund programs for Detroit's most underserved citizens. He also operates an orphanage in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, which he visits monthly. Dion Graham is an award-winning narrator named a ""Golden Voice"" by AudioFile magazine. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Audie Award numerous times, as well as Earphones Awards, the Publishers Weekly Listen Up Awards, IBPA Ben Franklin Awards, and the ALA Odyssey Award. He was nominated in 2015 for a Voice Arts Award for Outstanding Narration. He is also a critically acclaimed actor who has performed on Broadway, off Broadway, internationally, in films, and in several hit television series. He is a graduate of Rutgers University's Mason Gross School of the Arts, with an MFA degree in acting."

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