Archive: Around Town

If you wanted to give a child the best possible message, what would it be?  Try to excel.  Be passionate about life.  Do the right thing.  Follow your dreams.  Love to read.  That was the message author Tim Green brought to Lansing kids last Saturday when he was the featured speaker for the Lansing Community Library's Summer Reading Program.

"Sports Illustrated and Los Angeles Times called Tim green the renaissance man of sports," Librarian Susie Gutenberger-Fitzpatrick said.  "He does all sorts of things.  He's a sports player and a lawyer and an author.  He's done a lot in his life."


That he has.  Green was an All American football player for Syracuse University and an NFL player for the Atlanta Falcons for eight years.  During that time he earned his law degree and became a practicing attorney and a writer.  He is also a television sports commentator who appears on such shows as Fox NFL Sunday, and has also appeared on Battlebots, Good morning America, A Current Affair, and Court TV.  He has written more than fifteen adult books, and a series of best selling kids books with football and baseball themes.

"I think the reason I enjoy talking to kids so much is that I remember what it was like to be a kid like it was yesterday" Green said.  "When I was your age there were a few things that I was passionate about.  One was that I wanted to be a football player and I wanted to play in the NFL.  The other thing I was equally passionate about was books.  I loved to read.  Because I loved to read so much I dreamed of becoming a writer."

The library gave out copies of Green's books to give to the children who attended, and Green signed them and chatted with the kids after his talk.  Kids could choose 'Football Champ' or 'Baseball Great,' two of Green's best-selling books.  Green said he takes pride in writing books with short chapters that leave you wanting to read more that are also age-appropriate with acceptable language and positive values.  But he also talked about how he based his characters on his own kids, and how they helped him make the books truly for kids.


While writing he read his kids new chapters, and replaced any words they didn't understand with words they knew.  If kids didn't say 'keep going' after he read a chapter he would rework that chapter.  When his first attempts at humor didn't resonate with his children.

"He said, 'Dad, that's so stupid.  I said, 'Tate, tell him that's funny.'  She said, 'Dad, you're lame.'  I said, 'Alright, Troy, you tell me something that's funny.  If you don't think this is funny, and by the way what I wrote is funny, you tell me something that's funny.'"

Troy told him that the part where a character flops on the floor to create a diversion so the kids past the security guards could be a lot funnier.

"Nathan's laying there and he's choking," his kids told him.  "He's choking and turning blue.  The paramedics come rushing in and say they're going to perform a tracheotomy and punch a hole in his throat.  Nathan sees this knife and he just pukes all over everybody."

He took his 'consultants' advice.  That's what went into the story.  He said that the humor in his stories now revolve around vomit and snot and 'things that don't smell very good.'  The audience reaction to that confirmed that that's what kids think is funny.


Green gave the kids a taste of what it is to be a professional author, not only talking about his interests and process, but also a little about the business side.  He talked about some of the kinds of books he would like to write and how that isn't always what his editors are interested in publishing.

He takes the same short-chapter, page-turner approach to writing adult books as he does in his children's books.  Green said his favorite of his adult novels is 'Exact Revenge,' a modern retelling of 'The Count of Monte Cristo.'  The thriller tells the story of Raymond White who is framed for murder on the eve of declaring his candidacy for Congress.  The plot follows the classic as White spends years in prison, is befriended by a cell-mate who gives him the means to exact revenge.  For local readers it is especially fun because the action takes place in Skaneateles, Syracuse, Auburn, and New York City, among other familiar spots.

Green stressed that while sports are great, that reading and studying, and developing good character are the key to realizing your dreams.  He said that doing well in school made him more attractive as an athlete when he applied for college.  He also noted that some of his NFL buddies didn't understand why he would bother to go to law school when he had it made as a football player, but he wanted more from life, knowing he wouldn't be able to play forever.

"Sports are great," Green told the kids.  "But school is more important.  There is something even beyond school, and that is your character.  Being honest and tolerant and kind and being forgiving... those things are really the most important things that you can become."

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