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)
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
- Publisher: ? Harper
- Number Of Pages: ? 304
- Publication Date: ? 2008-02-01
- ISBN-10 / ASIN: ? 0061351784
- ISBN-13 / EAN: ? 9780061351785
Product Description:
ESPN thinks its viewers are stupid. The Olympics claw at your inner sap. Barbaro, after all, was just a horse. So says Will Leitch, founding editor of Deadspin.com, whose God Save the Fan is your new manifesto.
Arch and unrepentant, Leitch is the mouthpiece for all the frustrated fans who just want their games back from big money, bloated egos, and blathering sportscasters. Always a fan first and a journalist second, Leitch considers the perfection of fantasy leagues, the meaninglessness of the steroids debate, and the aching permanence of loyalty to just one team. He’ll tell you why, long before that dogfighting mess, Michael Vick’s undercover STD clinic name was Ron Mexico; why athletes persist in publicly praising God; and what the beer companies really think about you. Share Leitch’s dread as he spends twenty?four hours watching ESPN. Sit and have a beer with John Rocker and his surprising girlfriend. Be inspired by Rick Ankiel’s phoenixlike rise, and fall.
With a voice strengthened by the success of Deadspin and its chorus of commenters, Leitch has written all?new material for God Save the Fan. If you or a fan you love is suffering from the sense of listless dissatisfaction brought on by the leagues and networks, this is your restorative tonic. Packed with lists, glossaries, confessions, and rages, Leitch’s manifesto sings a rallying cry for fan empowerment. The games, after all, belong to us.
Summary: Voice of the Common Fan
Rating: 4
A few years ago, Will Leitch–a former New York Times reporter–traded his press pass and credibility to start a low-paying, low-profile sports blog called Deadspin. Amid rising ticket prices, obscene player salaries, and less than adequate big media sports coverage, Deadspin became a virtual meeting place for fans to read and comment about sports. Leitch became an underground, cyber-hero by providing a forum for the legions of forgotten fans to be heard, and to make fun of ESPN. And then he wrote, God Save the Fan. Parts of the book are hilarious, especially the chapter titled, “Take Out the Second Mortgage: We’re Off to Yankee Stadium”, but with a paperback price tag of $[...], Leitch is just as guilty as “…steroid hypocrites, soul-sucking suits, and [the] worldwide leader, not named Bush, [that] have taken the fun out of sports.” From a comedic standpoint, God Save the Fan is an entertaining read; however, be sure to borrow it from your local library, or buy it at a used book sale for half a buck. In this economy, you’ll need every penny you can save for Yankees tickets!
Reviewed by Joe Kopaczynski
Summary: Too much of a good thing
Rating: 3
The best part of “God Save the Fan” may be its introduction, in which the author explains how the mainstream media’s suppression of the Michael Vick “Ron Mexico” story helped inspire the creation of Deadspin. Of course I can’t tell if the essay was funny because of Leitch’s writing, or because I still can’t read about Ron Mexico without falling over laughing.
Deadspin as a sports blog works best in quick hits. They’re equal parts gossip and investigative journalism; they’re outsiders who often scoop the mainstream press. Leitch’s book is basically a collection of themed essays describing everything that’s wrong with sports today: the players, the owners, the media, and the fans. Most of the individual chapters are worthwhile. However, the media section is largely a series of decreasingly funny put-downs of ESPN’s on-air talent; many other essays are self-serving attempts to explain why the entire sports experience would be better if the blogosphere were in charge. Read all at once, “Fan” just seems bitter and frivolous.
“God Save the Fan” does have a ton of hilarious moments, as well as some genuine insight. The annotated reprint of an interview with John Rocker may well be the highlight of the book, and Leitch’s musings on fantasy football will probably be a classic someday.
Unfortunately, when read all at once, Leitch’s humor tends to grate, and it eventually becomes hard to figure out whether his put-downs are intended to be lightly mocking, or just plain mean-spirited. The odd essay about Leitch’s appearance on Bob Costas’s HBO program (exclusive to the paperback edition) is particuarly confusing.
Best thing to do is set aside “God Save the Fan” for another five years. If the blogosphere has deposed the mainstream sports press by then, Leitch’s book will seem as visionary then as Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game seems today. However, if the blog phenomenon has been neatly folded into the mainstream media, and Leitch winds up hosting an ESPN-style panel show, we’ll know that “God Save the Fan” was meant to serve just one purpose: to get Leitch out of the blogoging world, and into the mainstream press he seems to so vehemently despise today.
Summary: Funny but snarky
Rating: 3
This blogger will never be confused with the immortals of sports writing such as Jim Murray, Tex Maul or Ray Blount. He does exhibit the occasionally nicely turned phrase, that is when he’s not to busy demonstrating the all knowingness that only a twenty-something can muster.
Summary: Hits the Spot, Leaves Wanting More
Rating: 3
Being a loyal Deadspin reader for a couple years now, I was excited to get a chance to sit down with Will Leitch’s book God Save the Fan and delve through his insights into what is going wrong with sports today. Leitch is one of the new breed of writers who has started striking back against companies like ESPN that have turned parts of sports into a mindless cesspool of nonsense.
The book is broken down into sections that target the athletes, fans, owners and media in essay like chapters. The essays that were the best were the ones that really took aim at the media, and the ridiculous spectacle that they’ve turned sports into. The most biting commentary is saved for ESPN as he tears apart their operation giving a voice to the diehard sports fan who is so sick of the antics from the World Wide Leader. He even has sharp criticism for some of the worst owners in sports and what they’ve done to their fans over the years.
But for the power of those essays, there is a lot of needless fluff thrown in. Essays about finding a local bar to watch Cardinal games in New York at, as well as a long piece on his supporting of Rick Ankiel. While these might be interesting blog posts, they contrast with his other essays that take a more biting approach to the topic. These parts aren’t necessarily bad, it’s as a reader you want more written about the negative aspects of sports that Leitch targets so well. I was more fascinated in learning the tactics of ESPN and some dreadful owners than a narrative on his fandom.
Overall though, it’s a good read for any sports fan tired of what sports has turned into. It’s worth noting though that there are a lot of posts from Deadspin reproduced in the book, which means you aren’t getting a ton of new content. As an avid Deadspin reader, it felt more like a trip down memory lane instead of something new. For non-Deadspin fans, it’s a book you’ll thoroughly enjoy and laugh out loud to.
I look forward to Leitch’s future books and hope they are less about his history on the web and more on his thoughts of what the sports world has become (where he excels at explaining).
Summary: A Primer on a Notorious Blogger
Rating: 3
Will Leitch recently gained national fame through an appearance on (Bob) Costas Now and a failed debate on sports blogging with the boorish Buzz Bissinger.
And for fans who want a big helping of what Leitch delivers in the cyber-universe, this is a great venue. But where reading Leitch online – and in smaller doses – can be compelling, sidesplitting, or just plain fun, the style fails to translate well in book form.
But consider it a primer from a notorious blogger, where the journey may ultimately end up on his home turf.
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