Interesting Autobiography: Carry Me Home: by Ben Cohen

  I (Rob) just finished reading U.K. Rugby star and World Cup Winner Ben Cohen's autobiography called "Carry Me Home."  
   Anyone who knows us knows that we don't follow sports, so you're likely wondering what would make me read such an autobiography.  Well we do admire some athletic events like swimming, weightlifting, but Ben Cohen has also become a gay icon and established a foundation to combat bullying (Called the Standup Foundation). So, not only is he hunky, but he's become the face of Anti-bullying around the world. Having been bullied as kids because we're gay, how could we not respect him?

   Ben grew up in the U.K. and had 2 parents who loved him and his brother and sister. They struggled to make ends meet and worked together. Ben's autobiography was a great read. There was a lot about rugby in it of course, which I didn't follow, but the family challenges, his stand against a bully in school at a young age, his perseverance in rugby and using his fame to stand against bullies is a great story. 
  Of course, Ben has issued calendars to raise money against bullying, and they're filled with hunky pictures which are well-worth enjoying year 'round. 

Ben has done calendars to raise money against bullying

ABOUT THE BOOK: Ben Cohen’s dad didn’t know anything about the sport his young son had taken up, but he was happy to drive him to practice, and was soon helping out at the club. When his business went bankrupt money was tight, but Ben’s hard working parents inspired their son to put his all into rugby. Then, when Ben was 20, his father intervened in a fight in the nightclub where he worked. He was viciously beaten and one month later he died in hospital. Ben was doing an England press conference at the time, and it was down to coach Clive Woodward to deliver the devastating news. But the ordeal was far from over. The inquest lasted five months before the funeral could be held, and it was a year before the family were in court, facing Peter’s assailants. Ben put all of the anger and pain from his father’s death into his rugby. Fast and powerful on the wing, he was soon the best in the world in his position and a cornerstone of the England team, culminating in the legendary World

The very hunky Ben Cohen

Cup win in Sydney in 2003. And yet he always felt like an outsider. Most people didn’t know that Ben is clinically deaf. His sixth sense for the game got him through on the pitch, but off it his poor hearing was often taken for arrogance. This is an inspirational story of passion and pain; of the highs of achieving your goals, and the grief of losing something you can never get back.