The Sportscaster’s Daughter

“Michael’s memoir, The Sportcaster’s Daughter, cozies up to you and breaks your heart. It’s a long, deep look at family dysfunction in the suburbs and the devastation of an unrequited love for a family. You’ll find echoes of Karr and Walls–read it.”
—Stephanie Jay Evans, author of Faithful Unto Death

Cindi Michael appears to live a charmed life: she’s happily married, has a successful career, and is a loving mom to two wonderful children. Yet she longs for a father who hasn’t spoken to her in twenty years, and even secretly watches him on TV when the longing becomes unbearable.

When Cindi was eleven, her father fought for sole custody of her and her siblings, raising three children on his own despite being a bachelor and rock ’n’ roll DJ in New York. But with his rising fame as the host of the popular show Sports Machine, his 80-hour-a-week work schedule, and his second marriage, the close relationship Cindi shared with her father began to crack; she did everything to earn his love and attention, but for perfectionist George, it was never enough—and when she was eighteen and a freshman in college, in a burst of anger he told her never to come home again. As the years went on, Cindi struggled to steel her heart while still remaining hopeful that they would one day reconcile, just as her father did with his own dad, and transcend painful family patterns that span generations. Candid, moving, and ultimately hopeful, The Sportscaster’s Daughter is a family story of forgiveness, faith, and strength.

Author: Cindi Michael

Publication Date: August 23, 2016

Categories: Fall 2016, Memoir

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About the Author

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One of the 20 Best Books of 2016, Redbook Magazine

“Cindi Michael’s memoir does not end on the last page. The Sportscaster’s Daughter lingers. It makes you question how a young girl, barely out of middle school, assumes the role of family caretaker… and survives. Thrown out of her house―twice―she manages to go to college, marry, divorce, and finally find unconditional love while trying to heal from her father’s refusal to see her for twenty years. As the daughter of a celebrity sportscaster, Michael engages the written page as if it were her last chance. Woven delicately, this memoir will break your heart until understanding and forgiveness emerge. Then you will cheer.”
—Julie Maloney, Director, Women Reading Aloud

“The Sportscaster’s Daughter is a compelling story about the special love a daughter has for her famous and at times unapproachable father. This is the true story of Cindi Michael, a strong, hardworking, young girl who is at first surrounded by her father’s love, and then, for inexplicable reasons, is cast from the house to live in isolation, confusion and heartbreak. Cindi does not give up. She is a fighter. This is an important story of a daughter’s love for her less than perfect father, about overcoming the childhood pain of being raised by parents who have no tools to help themselves, let alone guide their children to healthy relationships.”
—Leslie Nack, author of Fourteen: A Daughter’s Memoir of Adventure, Sailing, and Survival

“In The Sportscaster’s Daughter, Cindi navigates and reexamines her bittersweet past, the ties and pains of family, her parents’ divorce, and life and love in the shadow of a famous father. This is a clear-eyed, affecting look back, and in the end our heroine emerges into the light.”
—Cullen Thomas, author of Brother One Cell and memoir teacher at New York University and Gotham Writers’ Workshop

“This memoir combines sports, a woman’s unbreakable spirit, and the strength of family. If that isn’t the American dream, we don’t know what is.”
—Redbook

About the Author

After moving from Maryland to Switzerland to Texas to Michigan, Cindi Michael now lives in rural New Jersey, not far from where she spent the golden years of her childhood. She’s happily married to an Englishman and is a die-hard football and swim team mom. Her day job as a technology and big data expert takes her to clients around the world, and she is the author of five business and technology books. She holds a BA in English from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Rice University. She has won two creative writing awards for her short stories.