Goin' Deep: The Life and Times of a CFL Quarterback.

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

The gimmick here is the book jacket: there are four of them, one full colour cover for each CFL team Matt Dunigan quarterbacked during his playing career. Dunigan, now a commentator for TSN (The Sports Network), was a good, not a great, QB during the 80’s and early 90’s. Moving from team to team as he did, Dunigan had the opportunity to play with many good and not-so-good football players, as well as to learn how to adjust to many coaching styles. Jim Taylor has authored more than 10 books, some on his own, others in collaboration with sports and other personalities. He is best known for the thousands of columns he has written for newspapers in Vancouver and Calgary. His humor is legendary and has made him a favourite speaker at many functions.

Goin’ Deep is not by any means the best of Taylor’s efforts. Dunigan’s story is more of a scrapbook of pictures of himself, either alone or with others in the CFL, pictures linked together by chatty and often self-serving prose. Most of the photos are in black and white, many include Dunigan and his family and friends posing for the camera; there is also a centre section of colour photos. There are no formal presentations of statistics, and the chronology that is there is not very clear. Dunigan (as told to Taylor) simply sets out anecdotes, stories of games, and people. Since the player’s active career was ended by a series of concussions, before such head injuries assumed the importance they do today, these encounters with opponents’ knees, shoulders, helmets, or turf (real and artificial) are given prominence in the book. “There was a day,” Dunigan says, “when a hit that separated a man from his senses was considered a great play by the hitter and a job risk for the hitt-ee. In press boxes and broadcast booths, where no one ever gets hit, jokes were made about it, and about what the trainer must be saying to the guy who’s just wobbled his way to the sidelines.” This is an important message, and Dunigan and Taylor explain the dangers inherent in all contact sports.