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Sportscaster and former coach John Madden reportedly once observed, “The only yardstick for success our society has is being a champion. No one remembers anything else.”

I’d like to think Madden was a terrible judge of our society’s character, but he certainly seems to understand the world view of former college football players like LSU’s John Ed Bradley, the starting center for the Tigers in the late 1970s and now a highly regarded novelist and sportswriter.

In Bradley’s new memoir, It Never Rains in Tiger Stadium, we gaze into the psyche of an accomplished, successful writer who can’t enjoy life because of a painful inability to put his college football experiences behind him. Or, to put it less charitably, we learn what it’s like when a college football player remains, emotionally at least, an adolescent.

After college, Bradley scores a sports writing job at the Washington Post, later writes important pieces for Sports Illustrated, Esquire and GQ, rubs elbows with famous journalists, athletes and movie stars, and publishes novels.

And yet he can’t enjoy his success. So painful are the memories of his glory days in Tiger Stadium that for more than 20 years Bradley refuses to maintain friendships with his former teammates and coaches.

“There are things we never get over,” Bradley confesses, “and for me, football is one of them.”

Those expecting a book celebrating LSU football will be disappointed. However, those who tend to admire a tortured, self-absorbed man-child unable to cope with his successful life and maintain friendships because of the debilitating effects of his notoriety and athletic success in college will be charmed.