Goin’ Deep Falls Short

Jesse Beach, volunteer staff

I try to never judge a book by its cover. After all, this simple message is burned into our brains from early childhood, telling us so much more than just how to pick a book. But in the case of Matt Dunigan’s autobiographical Goin’ Deep: The Life and Times of a CFL Quarterback, co-written by acclaimed journalist and author Jim Taylor, it is difficult not to make certain inferences about the message the cover is sending.

At first glance, the cover of Goin’ Deep displays Dunigan in a vintage Bomber uniform, ball in hand, eyes focused downfield. It was cool to see that they had put Dunigan in a Bomber uniform for the cover considering the six different CFL teams Matt Dunigan played for during his 14-year CFL career. However, when I turned the book over, I found a similar pose of Dunigan in a Toronto Argonauts uniform and, when I removed the book jacket, the opposite side featured two other covers displaying Dunigan playing for the Edmonton Eskimos and B.C. Lions. No doubt the book jacket is folded differently in each market to reflect Dunigan’s time playing in that particular area of Canada.

It would be easy to argue that Dunigan simply did not wish to play favourites, equally representing almost every team he played for. But the cover seems symbolic of the direction of the entire book — lamely attempting to please everyone involved, while making various excuses for his rapid team-to-team movement, perpetual injury, and disappointing playoff results.

Dunigan’s book begins where his career ends, with a viscous hit from Reggie Carthon at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton that effectively ended his playing career. The book moves immediately to his Grey Cup victory with the Toronto Argonauts in 1991, arguably the highest point in Dunigan’s career. Dunigan, playing with a collarbone that was broken in two places, was shot up with Xylocaine shots mere hours before the Grey Cup, so he wouldn’t feel pain while throwing the ball. After the Grey Cup victory, the book returns to the beginning of his days in Toronto, recalling the excitement of being around John Candy and Wayne Gretsky, who had bought the franchise prior to the 1991 season. The book then follows a sequential timeline of events, beginning with his childhood in Ohio.

Jim Taylor’s writing style intends to be strong and straightforward, reflecting Dunigan’s own attitude towards playing but, despite Taylor’s best efforts, it comes off as weak and, at times, pleading. The vast majority of the story tries to be an inspirational tale of Dunigan’s leadership on and off the field, repeatedly sounding like he’s begging for the reader’s approval of his political maneuvering between teams.

Dunigan attributes his subpar collegiate career on the coach’s offence, which wasn’t designed around the pass. Dunigan explains how he would have been drafted to the NFL, only he was too small to be considered. In Edmonton, where Dunigan began his CFL career, he was not given enough recognition because he was brought in during the final year of Warren Moon’s dynastic run of five straight Grey Cup victories, never being given a fair chance by fans.

If you put aside the excuses and his plead for compassion, some of the chapters become an interesting read. Matt Dunigan, over a 14-year career for six different CFL teams, played with some of the most dynamic, game-breaking players in league history. Competing head-to-head with a young Damon Allen in Edmonton and with the rookie Anthony Calvillo in Hamilton, handing off to Michael “Pinball” Clemons in his glory days, or drinking and barbecuing with Chris Walby and the rest of the Blue Bomber offensive line — these are the moments that I had hoped to read about — not chapters dedicated to Dunigan’s complaints about long forgotten mistreatment, but of his relationships with former players and emotional struggle with the game. Picturing Dunigan, hours before the 1991 Grey Cup game, trying to play a simple game of catch with coach Adam Rita, just to see if he could move his arm, was genuinely moving. These chapters are too few and far between; his writing fails to form a story line, content to merely list varying excuses as to why the team’s failures were not his fault.

Though it seems almost blasphemous to say, the inferences that can be made about the cover of the book are almost entirely correct. Dunigan, with a few entertaining exceptions, does not seem to write his book with the intent or desire of engrossing the reader. The story becomes, much like the cover, an attempt to appease and explain his actions to the fans of his former teams.