Monte Burke, "Men of Troy: The Epic Afternoons, Wild Nights, and Enduring Legacy of Pete Carroll's USC Trojans"

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For about seven years this city had a football team that felt less like a program and more like a weekly party everyone was invited to, and if you were here for it you have never entirely stopped talking about it. The Coliseum on a hot afternoon, a roster that read like a future NFL draft board, a coach who seemed to be having more fun than anybody. Burke went and reported the whole thing out - the afternoons and, pointedly, the wild nights - and the book is neither a hagiography nor a hit piece, which is harder to pull off than it sounds. What makes this worth a Wednesday in Pasadena is the room rather than the reading. A sports book event at a literary bookstore draws two crowds who do not normally sit together: people who can still name the 2005 starting backfield, and people who came because they trust the store's judgement about nonfiction. The second floor event space holds maybe eighty, free, no ticket. Someone will ask about the Bush Push and the answer will take fifteen minutes. That is the whole reason to come.