You Might Need a Jacket

by Earl Austin, Jr.

Hilarious Stories of Wacky Sports Parents

Behind every successful, young athlete, there is a highly-motivated parent obsessed with the idea of their son or daughter becoming a big sports’ star. Earl Austin, Jr.’s latest book, You Might Need a Jacket: Hilarious Stories of Wacky Sports Parents, is dedicated to those mothers and fathers and other loved ones who go above and beyond the call of duty to ensure their children’s success in the athletic arena. Way, way beyond.

In twenty-two years of covering amateur sports in the St. Louis area, Austin has virtually seen it all from the sidelines and now he is sharing some of those funny stories with you in his new publication. Be ready to laugh out loud.

This delightful book contains nearly two hundred stories and little anecdotes, chronicling the activities of “Straitjacket Parents,” which is the term created to describe these overzealous sports’ parental units. Some of these stories may be hard to believe, but they are all true. They range from the funny and cute to the strange and truly bizarre. Most of them are of the humorous nature, but others take on a more ominous tone.

Straitjacket parents come from all walks of life, yet they all have one thing in common. They want their children to be the best and will do just about anything to make that happen. You Might Need a Jacket provides a small dose of what happens when the parents’ good intentions can sometimes get the best of them. The foreward to the book has been written by St. Louis radio and television Also included are such humorous stories such as:

 *The proud mother who spent thousands of dollars to have bobble head dolls made in her daughter’s likeness when she was a high school basketball player.

  *The crazy father who knocked himself unconscious, banging his head against the door while trying to get inside the referees’ room for a post-game confrontation after a youth hockey game.

  *The nervous mother who would always wet her pants whenever her son trotted onto the football field to attempt a field goal.

  *The out-of-control dad who ended up being arrested, tasered and taken away in handcuffs from his eight-year-old son’s football game.

  “You Might Need a Jacket” will be available in late August, but you can pre-order your copy today by visiting Prioritybooks.com, or www.earlaustinjr.com.

On August 28, you can also order on-line at Amazon, Borders and Barnes and Noble.

  If you have any straitjacket parent stories of your own to share, you can contact Earl Austin, Jr. at eaustin@stlamerican.com.

For more information, Austin’s website is www.earlaustinjr.com.