BOOK REVIEW: GOD SAVE THE FAN

A review of God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (and How We Can Get It Back), by Will Leitch:

This is a perfect example of why a blog is a blog and a book is a book and a blog should not be a book. Someone decided the founder and editor of Deadspin had cultivated a large enough following to warrant the publishing of what is essentially a collection of mildly amusing, poorly crafted essays. The end product is merely good to keep in your bathroom and read while taking a dump.

Glaring examples of the thrown-togetherness of this book are the numerous "glossaries" he uses as filler. They list players, or owners, alphabetically, followed by a three or four sentence summary of his thoughts on said person. He occasionally repeats the same entry in multiple glossaries, which is absurd to me. Come on. Put your glossary at the end of the book.

The other thing that bothered me was his blatant self-aggrandizing attitude. As if his view on the sports world is so radical it's almost dangerous. He even puts "blackballed by ESPN" on the cover of the book. Congratulations, rebel. He did make some interesting points about ESPN being an evil empire; points that were almost good enough to make me question my undying loyalty to and gratitude for the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. But alas, most of his thoughts were just well written versions of the same thoughts had by the average sports fan.

Overall, there are plenty of funny bits, but that's it. Funny bits, no bigger idea. No opening essay laying out his argument for "How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports". No wrap-up with his vision of "How We Can Get It Back." When I read a book, I want to be told a story. Not led down a meandering path by half-baked anecdotes that basically lead nowhere.

I will say the writing is pretty good, and his little essays would be good pieces where they're meant to be--on the internet, where I can read them instead of doing my work. I can't very well sit at my desk and read a book at work. Or maybe I could.