Bleachers is a sports novel by John Grisham, first published on September 9, 2003. The book focuses on whether the famous Eddie Rake, former coach of the Messina High School football team, was loved or hated by his former players.
Neely Crenshaw was the best quarterback ever to play for the Messina Spartans, the state’s most legendary high school football team. But fifteen years later, with the glory days far behind them, the man everyone remembers is Coach Eddie Rake.
Neely is coming home to Messina to bury the dying Coach Rake, and he’s not alone. One by one, the veterans of the Spartans return to pay tribute to the man who moulded them into an invincible football dynasty, confronting their own broken dreams.
As Coach Rake’s ‘boys’ sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake – or hate him.
For Neely Crenshaw, still struggling to come to terms with his explosive relationship with the Coach, his dreams of a great career in the NFL, and the choices he made as a young man, the stakes could not be higher.
