Re: Every savvy Spartan fan knows....
Crete- Some of us outside insiders knew, but you left out the crux of the story. Back in '99, five years into the streak, Neil Hayes asked Ladouceur if he could embed in the team to write the book. Lad was sure it would upset their mojo and for a half decade politely declined in his most humblest of decorum. He finally relented in '02 when Hayes said, "Listen, I'll give you two dollars for every book I sell...." So every week the envelope arrived from Chicago, some weeks several bills, sometimes just a single Jefferson in it. Lad, fearing some type of penance amongst the Brothers, passed along the bills to the ladies at the folding table at OO each home game with the dictum 'We need to give back to our faithful fans, keep this going,(wink wink.)" The Moms, knowing exactly how things rolled at Winton, knew what to do. Alas, 2004 came along and Lad's fear was realized in Bellevue. Fast forward another decade, before Nike was going to pony up for full unis, and Lad was in transition, he called Chicago. "Listen, Neil, the well is running dry and you know we got to get that second book of Chasing Perfection written and published. We need to renew our $2 cut." Hayes, being ever so grateful to Lad, Terry, Lopoz, DeMarco, et al, that the movie and the ESPN special had essentially funded his two kids' college tuition, allowing him to dump his Sun-Times gig as well, easily capitulated. He wrote the book last year and the $2 bills started up anew. In 2016, however, only $192 as just 96 of the "Perfection" book have been sold on Amazon. I'd suggest the Faithful go to those early games this fall as the pot may be emptying...........NOT!