How my husband’s unconventional idea materialized into a collaborative labor of love: A novel

AI Turf is Scott and Courtney Conover’s collaborative literary debut.

By Courtney Conover – Whew.
I’m going to be honest: I feel like I’ve just given birth.
But, this time, instead of reveling in that new baby smell, the pride and joy I’m holding has 22 chapters, a glossy cover, and an electronic sibling.
It’s entitled AI Turf: Playing Against All Algorithms, and it’s a novel which centers around shrewd NFL owners, unyielding football players, and a reimagined NFL. The book tells the story of what happens when humanoid football players take to the field after collective bargaining agreement negotiations between NFL owners and their human players go awry.
And this book was a long time coming.
I humbly ask you, my dear Dispatch reader, to travel back in time a bit…
Before the Detroit Lions turned things around.
Before the price of eggs skyrocketed to an amount that rivaled some folk’s car notes.
Before the pandemic, even.
I’m talking more than five years ago.
That’s when my husband of 17 years, former Detroit Lions offensive lineman Scott Conover, corners me in our kitchen one morning and takes me completely by surprise.
“So, I’ve got this idea,” he begins. “Imagine if humanoids could actually play football—NFL-caliber football.”
I don’t remember how I responded to him back then.
Our son and daughter were in elementary school at the time, so it’s likely that my mind was preoccupied with buying more Goldfish crackers, ordering our daughter’s new cheer uniform, and brewing my coffee in time for school drop-off.
I thought that would be the end of Scott’s fanciful thinking.
It wasn’t.
A week or so later, Scott brings up the tech-meets-turf concept again. This time, we’re removing leaves from our yard in an effort to spruce it up for spring.
“I’m serious,” he maintains.
I lower our wheelbarrow that’s overflowing with damp, heavy leaves and push a pesty lock of hair behind my ear. I’m flummoxed. I have a hunch about how he wants me to respond, but I’m not certain.
Some background:
As many of you may well know, I’ve been writing professionally for over 25 years. My work has appeared in the Observer & Eccentric newspapers, The Ann Arbor Observer, and Metro Parent. I’ve written a variety of cover stories for The Wayne Dispatch throughout the years, and the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series will publish my nineteenth story in 2025.
In other words, nonfiction is my jam, and I’ve generally avoided the fiction sector. I write about adulting humans—not football-playing robots.
“Let’s co-write a novel about this,” Scott turns to me and says in earnest.
“Oh,” I reply. “You’re serious.”
By the time the pandemic hits, Scott is all but consumed by all things humanoid.
Anytime a humanoid movie is released on a streaming platform, he’s all-in. Scott also becomes a voracious consumer of technology-based news, which, in retrospect, is compatible with his personality. (He studied technology at Purdue University before being drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1991.) Scott’s information gathering continues for the next year or two.
Fast-forward to a cold, blustery morning in late 2022.
With a piping hot Americano in hand, I sit down at my computer, which is located in a corner of our kitchen nook that I’ve carved out as my home office. It’s nothing fancy—and it’s cluttered as all get-out, but it passes muster.
I’m about to write an article for a client, but Scott has other plans.
He pulls up a chair and gives me The Look. I raise my eyebrows.
“So, I guess this is happening,” I say.
Scott produces a piece of paper bearing a prospective plot, and I’m immediately intrigued.
What ensues is a blur of commonplace activities: Seasons change; holidays come and go; and our children graduate to new schools.
And all the while, Scott and I stick to the plan and write when we can, wherever we can—even while making the four-hour drive Up North to Mackinaw City last summer.
You hear these beguiling stories—that sometimes border on whimsical—about how writers close up shop, head into the mountains, and retreat from public life in order to write and polish their novel.
Scott and I, on the other hand, bantered about deadlines, character development, and historical accuracy between loads of laundry, parent-teacher conferences, and grocery store runs. But, somehow, we got the book published.
In the end, the process was time consuming, unorthodox, and exhilarating.
One of the highlights was sharing our manuscript with old friends and industry folk alike who provided feedback.
A former offensive lineman, Scott played his entire NFL career with the Detroit Lions (from 1991 until 1996) and blocked for famed former running back and Pro Football Hall of Famer Barry Sanders during that time.
He was the first of Scott’s teammates to read our book.
“When my old teammate Scott told me about his idea for this story, I thought it sounded pretty cool,” says Sanders. “The idea of players that could be replaced by robots is mind blowing.”
Next, I’m grateful for the input of my boss and mentor, author Amy Newmark, who is the Editor-in-Chief of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series.
“Could ultra-sophisticated AI robots really replace flesh-and-blood players?” she asks. “This delightful collaboration is filled with football action, an insider look at the life of an NFL player, and a bit of suspense too. Do the good guys win? The readers certainly will. I couldn’t put it down.”
Finally, columnist Neal Rubin of the Detroit Free Press weighed in.
“The football is as authentic as humanly possible in AI Turf,” he says. “As for using robots as players to save a few dollars? Just give the NFL’s cheapskate owners time—or peek into the future, courtesy of ex-pro Scott Conover and his wife and co-author, Courtney.”
I’ll stop there and refrain from spilling any more details. But I will say that AI Turf would make an excellent gift for the man or woman in your life who enjoys NFL football.
I know, I know: That was a shameless plug. Forgive me.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got two loads of laundry to fold.
AI Turf: Playing Against All Algorithms is available now on Amazon in both paperback and e-book versions.