The View from Pluto: Collected Sportswriting about Northeast Ohio

I have read some of Pluto's books and found him to be an engaging writer - this book is a collection of some of his articles from a ten year period from the early Nineties to the early Aughts. If you're familiar with Pluto's books, you'll read some of the obligatory articles in which he bemoans the Indians of the Seventies and Eighties, and the kidnapping of the Browns by dastardly Art Modell and Baltimore - they are kinda old hat and repetitive if you've read some of his books and you'll skim thru those sections. The real treasure of the book are the more personal articles and the articles of local high schools - in fact, when you're reading about the 1970's/1980's Indians, just skip thru them and start reading the more personal articles - most of the articles were obviously reprinted word for word, as is, and sometimes it makes for choppy reading - maybe some editing of some of the articles, like turning single line paragraphs into more formal paragraphs, would've have made the book even more enjoyable and allowed Pluto to put some more articles in the book. Not being from Ohio shouldn't deter you from this book becoz you'll recognize enuff of the pro names and enjoy the more personal and local stores.

Meet Terry Pluto. Terry is an award-winning columnist for the Akron Beacon-Journal who has been covering sports for nearly 30 years. In addition to his regular sports column, he also writes a column on faith for the paper and has authored several books on pro basketball and on Cleveland sports. The View From Pluto is a collection of some of Terry's best sports columns from roughly the past ten years. It covers an especially memorable era in Cleveland sports, including the rise of the Indians, the loss of the Browns and their return as an expansion team, the heartache of the underrated Cavs teams of the late 80s and early 90s, and the emergence of a young basketball phenom from Akron by the name of Lebron James. But some of Terry's best columns take place far away from the limelight of the professional stage. There's the baseball league for physically and mentally challenged children. There's the underdog University of Akron football team taking on behemoth Virginia Tech. There's the small town high school basketball coach fighting cancer. There's the autistic teenager finding happiness and purpose as a team manager. There's Pluto's father who found comfort in sports even as he suffered in the final years of his life. See, Terry understands that there's more to sports than wins and losses and cold statistics. He sees the humanity in sports and understands why sports mean so much to us. If you haven't read his work, by all means, buy this book and meet Terry Pluto.

I grew up a Cleveland sports fan in the 80's and 90's and still call that city my second home. Though us Ohioans have had our fair share of bad memories, we cling to those rare instances of greatnesses. We cherish the seven years of Indians dominance in baseball even if no World Series was ever obtained. We've sold out Cleveland Browns stadium year after year even when a .500 team was out of reach. We remember the glory days at Richfield Coliseum where night after night Mark Price, Brad Daughtery, Hot Rod John Williams, Larry Nance, and Craig Ehlo gave this city something to cheer about. We hope that the Lebron James's, Kellen Winslow's, and C.C. Sabathia's can lead us back to those fateful years. Pluto's book brought tears to my eyes. It's amazing how versatile this sportswriter is. He not only covers the professional teams of Cleveland but also can intricate local stories to his readers. His stories of the Indians magic summer of 1995 and their disappointing World Series loss in 1997 brought back memories of joy and heartbreak. His views on the Browns sudden departure to Batlimore were exactly what every other Browns fan was thinking. You don't take football out of Cleveland. Most importantly his stories reinforced our thinking on why we love our Cleveland teams. Yes we have won no championships in God knows how many years. Yes we have been the laughing stock of professional sports for a long time. But we still love our teams and we will always cherish those special memories. No one can take that away from us.

THIS BOOK IS A LOT OF SHORT STORIES WRITTEN BY TERRY PLUTO, A WRITER FOR THE AKRON BEACON JOURNAL. IT COVERS LOCAL SPORTS AND PERSONALITIES FROM THE CLEVELAND AREA. A VERY TOUCHING ONE CONCERNS HIS FATHER AND MOTHER. HE IS ONE OF THE BEST WRITERS IN THE CLEVELAND AREA. I HAVE READ MANY OF HIS BOOKS AND ENJOYED EVERY ONE OF THEM. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE INDIANS, BROWNS CAVS AND LOCAL CLEVELAND SPORTS THEN THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK TERRY.

Terry Pluto writes the heartbeat of NE Ohio. This book is a collection of his best sportswriting on multiple topics from Cleveland's passionate, but heartbreaking sports history. He writes in a straightforward langauge that cuts to the bone while he captures the human stories in all facets of the sports scene. He is a one of a kind writer and he is one of the very best writers in the country. Period. If you're reading this review, you need to read his column for the Akron Beacon Journal and you need to read this book.