This week, we have our Six Queries with Mike Sielski, the author of a remarkable book called “Fading Echoes,” a story of frienship, football, duty, honor and country, which tells the story of a couple of rival Pennsylvania high school football players who ultimately find themselves bound for war after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. You probably aren’t familiar with the names of the characters but that’s really the best part of the book: Colby Umbrell and Bryan Buckley could be your sons, brothers, nephews or neighbors. In his day job, Sielski writes a terrific column for the Bucks County Courier Times, meaning he is knee-deep in Phillies duty as he takes a few minutes to chat with The Daily Whacks:
Q1: What attracted you to the project in the first place? And at what point did you think it had the chance to be a book?
MS: My first full-time job in sports writing was as the beat writer for the Central Bucks West and Central Bucks East football teams in 1998. In Doylestown, where the two schools were located, this was akin to covering the Giants and the Jets at the same time. I didn’t know anything about Doylestown when I took the job, but I didn’t take me long to become fascinated by the town and its connection to high school football. That same year, I met Bryan Buckley (who played at West) and Colby Umbrell (who played at East). I got to know them just a bit, only in that I would interview them after games that season. They moved on with their lives; I moved on with mine.
Fast forward nine years to 2007: I read a newspaper article about Colby’s death in Iraq, and I ended up writing a narrative newspaper series about his life and death — why he had decided to become an officer in the Army, how his experiences as an athlete had shaped him into a man willing to fight and die for his
country. That topic — the possible connection between sports and the military — interested me. I wanted to explore it more deeply in book form, but to do that, I needed to find a player from CB West who had traveled a journey similar to Colby’s. When I learned that Bryan had, and when he and his family agreed to be part of the project, I knew the book idea might work.
Q2: Did you have a hard time getting a publisher on board with your vision?
MS: I didn’t. I was very fortunate. Once I finished my book proposal, I e-mailed a query letter to 12 literary agencies. Two e-mailed me to ask for copies of the proposal. Nine ignored me. One agent–who happened to be from the Philadelphia area–called me. I sent him the proposal. He sent it to publishers. I got one offer, from the Berkley Publishing Group. I took it.
That said, there was one part of the process that served to motivate me. One day, my agent forwarded me some of the rejection letters and e-mails he had received from various publishing houses. One publisher who turned down the proposal said that my writing didn’t stack up to other journalists-turned-authors from the Philadelphia area: Mark Bowden, Buzz Bissinger, Michael Bamberger. I keep that letter on my office desk at home. Gives me something to shoot for.
Q3: You do a superb job of providing genuine emotion without getting maudlin or over-dramatic, the whole narrative is detached yet full of passion. Was that a difficult dance?
MS: It was a little tricky at times. But the people involved in the narrative — the Buckley and Umbrell families, their friends and loved ones, the people involved with the East-West rivalry, the men who served with Bryan and Colby–were so open, so detailed, and so revealing with me that I didn’t have to force emotion into the narrative. Plus, it’s a story with naturally dramatic elements: winning and losing in sports, life and death in war. I realized early in the writing process that I could tell the story straight and it would still resonate.
Q4: How have the families of the two main subjects reacted to the book?
MS: Very positively. They understood and accepted that I wasn’t out to write a hagiography of Colby and Bryan, and they have been nothing but gracious and grateful in their reactions. (I’m just as grateful to them.) The mothers had a difficult time reading the book the first time, as you might expect, but I think both families are appreciative that a few people will learn about who Colby and Bryan were, what they did, and why they did it.
Q5: What was the best/most fulfilling part of writing this book from your standpoint?
MS: The positive reactions to the book from reviewers and readers have been gratifying, obviously. At some level (and I’m sure this is a feeling you or any writer understands), there’s a sense of validation and satisfaction. “Yes, it was worth all the long nights and hard work.” But the truth is that I was never more nervous during the writing/revising/publication process than I was when the families called me with their reactions. And I was never more relieved and never happier than when they told me I got the story right.
Q6: Have the Phillies surpassed the Eagles yet as Philly’s No. 1 team?
MS: From a performance standpoint, yes. That’s no longer debatable. From a popularity standpoint, it’s hard to say. There’s something about the Eagles and pro football that hits this town at its core; it’s guttural. I’ll say this, though: If the Eagles are still the more popular team, the gap between them and the Phillies is a helluva lot closer than it has been in a long time.
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Ump Ugh: At some point, baseball umpires are going to realize that they no longer hold complete confidence with the public, and they’ll start doing their jobs better, right? Seeing some of these umpires working important games makes as much sense as letting a gaggle of Royals, Mets and Nationals take part in the playoffs
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Break Em Up!: Anyone take a glimpse at the Knicks-Celtics game last night? Nah. Didn’t think so. (Sorry, Berm)
