"Football is For Lovers" by Bob Brooker and Kaye O'Dougherty

About the Author:

Bob Brooker and Kaye O'Dougherty have been adventuring together for a lot of years now. They first met at a recording studio on 42nd Street. Yes, that 42nd Street. They recorded a commercial for E.J. Korvette's, who went out of business soon thereafter.

Bob is an old saloon singer who, as Bobby Brookes, recorded for Victor and Capital back in the day. Kaye has trouble carrying a tune in a bucket. Nevertheless, over the years, as Brooker and O'Dougherty, the two have collaborated on a variety of theater projects, performing, writing, directing, managing, and producing. In keeping with the changing times, they have even created a cyber alter-ego named eBobb.

Recently, Bob and Kaye both took long-overdue turns at being rather mature college kids. Kaye now holds a Bachelors Degree in the Humanities from St. Peter's College in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Bob was graduated magna cum laude from Montclair State University with a BA in Theater, and is a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.

You can visit their website by going to FootballisforLovers.com or their blog by clicking here.

About the Book:

Can learning about football be sexy? According to Football is for Lovers, when it comes to your love life, football can be better than oysters.

The good news is that Football is for Lovers makes the basics so . . . well, so basic that learning the game is easy as eating an ice cream cone. And just as much fun.

With anecdotes, illustrations, and a lot of laughs, Football is for Lovers not only makes it easy to understand the game, but also shows you how to put an end to the TV clicker wars, improve your relationship, and spice up your love life.

It just takes looking at the game of football a little bit differently.

Then again, since Football is for Lovers contains references to football great Jerry RiceJerry Rice in a pink tutu, images of paintings by French artist Jean Dubuffet, an alert about the dangers of speaking Northeastern Mandarin, an explanation of the value of M & M's in a relationship, and a Burma Shave sign, to say it looks at football "a little bit differently" may be something of an understatement.

But if your football-obsessed partner has been making you a 'football widow' from August NFL pre-season through the February Super-Bowl, thus convincing you that you hate football, this little book may be just the 'different look' you need to discover that, after all, Football really is for Lovers!

Where are you from?

(Kaye) I was born and raised in Whitestone, on Long Island.

(Bob) I grew up in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Better known as South Philly.

When and why did you begin writing?

(Kaye) Writing has always been a natural part of me. I began writing – stories and poems and whatever – as soon as I knew how to write.

(Bob) Actually, I’ve always been more a performer than a writer. Although of course performing is really a way of bringing words to life. Singing them. Creating characters through them. But actually putting them down on paper pretty much started when I began collaborating with Kaye.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

(Kaye) I guess I always did.

(Bob) Seeing us actually write the darn words down on paper made me start feeling like a writer/performer. No. It’s always been a performer/writer. Even now, when I’ve had a stroke and can’t sing anymore, it still is. In my heart, anyway.

What inspired you to write your first book?

(Bob and Kaye) When we met – in a recording studio on 42nd Street – Bob was a well-established entertainer. Kaye was still looking for her voice as a writer. The chemistry was instant, and we began a collaboration – writing songs and scripts and skits – that lasted for decades. It wasn’t until Bob had that stroke a few years ago, and the performance aspect of our writing came to a screeching halt, that we made the move from writing for the stage to writing for the page. So I guess you could say that Bob’s stroke inspired us to write our first book.

Do you have a specific writing style?

(Bob and Kaye) As collaborators, we fell into a division of labor early in our partnership. Kaye has always preferred the behind the scenes role of researching and drafting ideas. Bob, as a performer and director, has always seen what will and will not ‘play.’ So Kaye splats down the raw material. Bob shapes it into the final sculpture.

How did you come up with the title?

(Bob and Kaye) The title simply describes the book. Football is for Lovers . . . if you let it be. We show you how.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

(Bob and Kaye) This is a non-fiction book. But, yes: it has a message. Like the song says, "Love is the answer." To just about everything. And like the books says, sharing is the key to one heck of a good time. And an easy antidote to what we see as self-inflicted ‘football widowhood.’

How much of the book is realistic?

(Bob and Kaye) Since it’s non-fiction, all of it is.

Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?

(Bob and Kaye) Although it’s non-fiction, the anecdotes are either real, or analogies for what is real.

What books have most influenced your life most?

(Kaye) Thomas More’s Utopia. I hope always in what this world can be. And it would really mean a lot to me to be a part of making that happen.

(Bob) Taylor Caldwell’s Captains and the Kings woke me up to the ugly underbelly of politics. Kaye and I have become political junkies, and we plan to write on the subject in a future book. For now, all I can say is that the active work going on in the Halls of Power to manipulate the people so that the powerful can keep their power . . . well, it’s some pretty scary stuff.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

(Kaye) Tom WolfeTom Wolfe. His Bonfire of the Vanities makes it clear that there are at least two ways we can be perceived, and that a mirror is definitely only one. As Robert BurnsRobert Burns wrote,

"O wad some Power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!

It wad frae mony a blunder free us,

An’ foolish notion:"

Okay. He was Scottish. But I think you get the point. Anyway, I think both Wolfe and Burns help us to understand how someone can honestly believe in an ideology that is a hundred eighty out from our own. And I think that’s an important thing for a writer to know.

(Bob) Langston HughesLangston Hughes, the Poet Laureate of Harlem. Being a performer, the action generated by the words has always been my focus. When we were working on a musical based on Langston’s works, I learned that he would write by walking through Harlem, listening to the people, and writing them down, so that much of his poetry is actually conversation. It’s almost as if, rather than his writing being a static script, it has somehow become the living, breathing performer. You’ve heard the expression, "He does it with mirrors." Well, that seems to me to be exactly what Langston does: he truthfully and accurately reflects life itself.

What book are you reading now?

(Kaye) I’m re-reading James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy.

(Bob) Mississippi Sissy by Kevin Sessums

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?

(Bob and Kaye) No one in particular. Maybe because our reading tastes are pretty eclectic, with a lot of non-fiction on our reading lists.