Gotcha Down: A Novel
Chris Earl
Out-of-Print
About
the Book
Gambling and big-time sports team up to make and break careers in
the world of college football. A television sportscaster conspires with
a Big-Ten assistant football coach to reel in the big money by fixing
four key games. Clark Cattoor is a 32-year-old sports anchor at the top
station in town. His recent divorce has left him in a money crunch and
looking for love. Larry Munson is 45 and feeling the pressure from the
university administration after another losing season and financial problems
at home. To pull off the winning bets, they need the help of naive yet
ambitious small-town place kicker Jake Steffon. Gotcha Down captures
the corruption, excitement and sheer guts of one suspenseful season in
big-money football.
College athletics makes honest men behave dishonestly in this debut novel about a fictional school, Wisconsin State, and its efforts to join the football elite. There seems to be hope for the newest member of the prestigious Big 10 conference, thanks to their star receiver, Tyrone "Touchdown" Collins, although his off-the-field antics, buoyed by an inexplicably large bankroll, are occupying too much of his time. New on the scene is kicker Jake Steffon, a small-town boy who just might succumb to the temptations of a big-time program. The coaching staff and local reporters all have their stake in the team, too, especially offensive coordinator Larry Munson, whose special-needs child makes every day a challenge, and Clark Cattoor, a local sports anchor with an ex-wife milking him dry. These strange bedfellows concoct the Plan—an elaborate gambling scheme that leads to disaster. Earl, a sportscaster in Duluth, Minnesota, gets the details right in an engaging football story.
Booklist, Mary Frances Wilkens, Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About
the Author
Chris Earl is a sportscaster at KDLH-TV in Duluth, Minnesota. Earl
lives in Duluth with his wife Erica and their son Sam. This is his first
novel.
Gotcha Down in the News
KUWS, Wisconsin Public Radio
Chippewa Falls (WI) Herald, August 12, 2004
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, July 19, 2004
Paperback:
ISBN 0-9763539-8-9
6 x 9, 338 pages
$14.95 Paperback—Fiction
(Can. $18.95, UK £7.95)
Also
in Hard Cover:
ISBN 0-9721217-6-5
6 x 9, 350 pages
$23.95 Hardcover—Fiction
Out-of-Print