Tropic of Football

Moneyball, Soccernomics and the Sports Gene have become hugely successful by trying to unravel and explain sporting excellence. The Tropic of Football joins these books by taking an in-depth social and cultural look at the Samoan sporting cultures as found in the Samoan islands, Hawaii and California.

There is huge interest and concern about concussions and other brain injuries incurred by football players in the United States

Several recent projects are hastening football’s Polynesian moment. After its debut at Sundance, In Football We Trust, a documentary about Polynesian players in Utah aired on PBS. In February, SI.COM ran a 17-minute piece on its Underdogs series about Faga’itua High in American Samoa. Troy Polamalu, Pro Bowl center Ryan Kalil, and former Pro Bowl tackle Jordan Gross are developing a film about football in American Samoa.

A distinguished sports historian, Ruck is often invited to screen documentaries at film festivals, and speak at churches, colleges, high schools, museums, community groups, as well as the Pittsburgh Pirates, the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua, and foundations in the Dominican Republic.

He has been interviewed half a dozen times by NPR, and also by a score of local commercial and NPR affiliates.

Serial Targets: Sports Illustrated, ESPN magazine, The Digger, Rolling Stone