oreojakesters's review against another edition
5.0
Full disclosure: before reading the book, I had an extreme anti-Boston sports bias. They are the evil empire of my sports lifetime with all of the titles they've won. I was, however, a big fan of Bill Simmons and his unapologetic homer brand of sports writing.
This just goes to show how great of a writer Bill is. His romanticism with his team somehow made me not absolutely loathe the Red Sox during their magical curse-breaking run. It's captivating, it's hilarious, with anecdotes of his fandom amongst his buddies and anecdotes of pop culture references, and it just plain makes you love baseball and your community. A great read.
This just goes to show how great of a writer Bill is. His romanticism with his team somehow made me not absolutely loathe the Red Sox during their magical curse-breaking run. It's captivating, it's hilarious, with anecdotes of his fandom amongst his buddies and anecdotes of pop culture references, and it just plain makes you love baseball and your community. A great read.
julibug86's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this, but I'm biased. Not only am I big Sports Guy fan, I'm also a huge Red Sox fan. Oh well.
sarahdivine's review against another edition
5.0
This is a complex book that goes through the history of the NBA through the creation of a new Basketball Hall of Fame. While it ranks players into different tiers, the author systematically gives facts and stories to show the career of the player. Each story compounds the belief that the author did his research as well as showing his devotion to the sport.
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
5.0
I've had this book for a few years, and just finally got around to reading it. I recall having started it once before, but put it down for some reason. Certainly not because it wasn't interesting, that's for sure. Bill Simmons has a style that I enjoy immensely. And his recounting, column by column (by the way, he is a sports columnist for ESPN), of the seasons leading up to the first Red Sox World Series win in 86 years is captivating. To steal the old Wide World of Sports catch phrase, "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat" is a major theme throughout the book. We share a few things in common, one, of course, being a mutual hatred of the New York Yankees. We also share a mutual disdain for all things Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, the two lunkhead announcers for Fox Sports during baseball games. Simmons, however, was not allowed to "make fun" of them in his columns, as ESPN would not permit him to mock announcers from the competition. So all Simmons did was simply quote them at their most absurd and let them illustrate for themselves how ridiculous they can be. For example, McCarver kept calling Bronson Arroyo "Brandon," throughout the season and playoffs in 2004.
Any true Red Sox fan would love this book. Not so much, perhaps, if you're a baseball fan, but love another team. It is a good baseball book (I wouldn't rank it up there with some of my others, such as Game Six, but it's still good and very entertaining), and I enjoyed it thoroughly. And the title says it all for many of us who feared that we would never see the Sox win a World Series in our lifetime. Now, we've seen them win three in the space of ten years! Watch out Yankees! We're gaining on you!
Yeah. As if.
Any true Red Sox fan would love this book. Not so much, perhaps, if you're a baseball fan, but love another team. It is a good baseball book (I wouldn't rank it up there with some of my others, such as Game Six, but it's still good and very entertaining), and I enjoyed it thoroughly. And the title says it all for many of us who feared that we would never see the Sox win a World Series in our lifetime. Now, we've seen them win three in the space of ten years! Watch out Yankees! We're gaining on you!
Yeah. As if.
taylakaye's review against another edition
4.0
Hysterical collection of essays that brings you right back to the lead-up to the Sox win in 2004. Especially good to read as they were struggling at the beginning of this season. Reminds you that good times can be so good. Bill Simmons' style is fantastic and his footnotes run the gamut from obscure to hilarious. If you're a Sox fan at all I highly recommend.
bowienerd_82's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoy the Sport's Guy's column most of the time, especially as he is another die-hard Sox fan. This collection of columns leading up to the World Series win is worth a read if you haven't seen them before (and some of the footnotes are worth reading all on their own), but this much Sports Guy at once can be a bit much to take.
theartolater's review against another edition
5.0
You know what you're getting with Bill Simmons, and this collection of thoughts and old articles about being a Red Sox fan pre-2004 is great whether you like the Sox, like sports, or just like blatant homerism. Good stuff.
jrobin19's review against another edition
5.0
I'm only about halfway through, and already count it among my most favorite books! Bill Simmons takes the reader on the long & convoluted journey that brought the Red Sox to a World Series win in 2004. A collection of his blog posts and ESPN.com articles, Bill truly captures the joy, pain, confusion, disappointment and hope that is experienced by Red Sox fans.
In addition to the actual book content are the footnotes which liter every page. Some a basic and bring the reader up to speed on the pop culture references, they provide history and a tangible connection that really brings the story to life.
In addition to the actual book content are the footnotes which liter every page. Some a basic and bring the reader up to speed on the pop culture references, they provide history and a tangible connection that really brings the story to life.
bosoxamy's review against another edition
4.0
This book is a reprinting of articles the author wrote, with the addition of footnotes that sometimes explain a reference or express his feelings about writing a particular segment. It was worth reading for two reasons: 1) It's about the Boston Red Sox winning their first World Series after an 86 year drought in 2004 and 2)It's incredibly humorous.
If you're a Red Sox fan, you know the story of 2004 and what led up to it. The book goes back over the details starting in October 1998. It was fun to look back and remember the instances Bill Simmons is writing about. It felt wonderful to remember Pedro as the guy that was a guaranteed win, Nomar as the guy you could count on to hit and El Guapo for being known as El Guapo. It was reassuring to read that I wasn't the only person who called Everett "Crazy Carl" or that I thought no city Clemens played for really respected him after he turned his back on them. It's also great to read about the things I didn't know about or couldn't understand since I'm a long-distance Red Sox fan and don't get the daily barrage of the Boston media scene.
The humor is not just in how Mr. Simmons writes about the team, but the references he adds to his articles. He mentions Rocky IV, the New England Patriots, old Italian superstitions, and of course, Shawshank Redemption. And it makes complete sense when he does it!
Mr. Simmons is definitely a regular "sports guy" and it creates a natural connection with the reader. It was like he was talking to me, telling me the stories of how everything happened and how he felt about it as it occurred. I never felt talked down to or that he was claiming to be an "expert". He was simple a fan, just like me.
If you're a Red Sox fan, you know the story of 2004 and what led up to it. The book goes back over the details starting in October 1998. It was fun to look back and remember the instances Bill Simmons is writing about. It felt wonderful to remember Pedro as the guy that was a guaranteed win, Nomar as the guy you could count on to hit and El Guapo for being known as El Guapo. It was reassuring to read that I wasn't the only person who called Everett "Crazy Carl" or that I thought no city Clemens played for really respected him after he turned his back on them. It's also great to read about the things I didn't know about or couldn't understand since I'm a long-distance Red Sox fan and don't get the daily barrage of the Boston media scene.
The humor is not just in how Mr. Simmons writes about the team, but the references he adds to his articles. He mentions Rocky IV, the New England Patriots, old Italian superstitions, and of course, Shawshank Redemption. And it makes complete sense when he does it!
Mr. Simmons is definitely a regular "sports guy" and it creates a natural connection with the reader. It was like he was talking to me, telling me the stories of how everything happened and how he felt about it as it occurred. I never felt talked down to or that he was claiming to be an "expert". He was simple a fan, just like me.
sloreader's review against another edition
4.0
Simmons is an unrepentantly goofy writer, and his repertoire of pop-culture references notoriously fails to age well, but when he gets going on his best subject (even though basketball is his forte, it's the Red Sox, not the Celtics) he can be surprisingly emotive and occasionally profound. This book was made for Sox fans, but followers of any team should understand and appreciate the chronology of despair, hope and ecstacy, unique to sports fandom, described in it.