Customer Reviews

Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan: Taking the Field with Pro Athletes and Olympic Legends to Answer Sports Fans' Burning Questions

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I loved it. The humor, the facts, the writing style... all of it. Very funny, kept me laughing, easy to read. I am in a book club and I'm gonna recommend it at our next meeting. Perfect gift for the sports nerd in your family!

This book is hilarious and written very well. It's nice to see these questions answered in such a straightforward way. It's great that so many athletes and people working in the athletic field were so open to the idea of the book and so forthcoming with what the sports life is like. Great book! Will recommend it to everyone I know!

Like most books of this type, the editor intentionally puts the better stuff at the front and back of the book, because those are the likely places to make the most impact. Often people will start a book, like it after a short while, and recommend it to their friends. Often people will read the first few pages to decide whether to buy it at the book store.

This book has several hillarious and interesting entries in the first 25% or so, and lots of boring drivel after that, till the last couple entries which are once again fairly good.

Sports are ingrained in the fabric of America, and whether you're a fanatic or a casual observer, you've often pondered the ridiculous and provaocative questions that fill bar rooms, offices and Super Bowl parties across the country. "Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan:..." answers these questions. It is a perfect addendum to the library of any sports fan.

Not only are the questions interesting, but Todd Gallagher has succeeded where so many others have failed. He went out and got the best athletes in the world to test every innane scenario that your typical armchair sportsfan could imagine. Andy Roddick actually playing tennis with a frying pan, Danius Zubrus firing slap-shots at a 1000 pound goalie, and the list goes on. Never before has a book been published that tackles these scenarios in a realistic fashion. Most offer only opinions from D-level celebrities and coaches. I recommend to even the most casual sports fan, to go out and get a copy of this witty, provocative, gripping and ultimately intelligent book.

I saw an excerpt for this book in the Wall Street Journal and my interest was piqued. I can't say I'm a huge follower of sports debates but I was a faithful George Plimpton fan and this seemed to be in that vein. However, the attempts I've seen outside of George's work in participatory journalism have always left me a little unsatisfied. Mostly they're self indulgent, lazy, or simply dim witted.

This book is none of these things. Todd Gallagher, the author, sets out to answer sports greatest questions. And to do it, he pulls out all of the stops and gets a number of very popular pro athletes and sports teams to help him. Roddick plays tennis with a frying pan. The Washington Capitols play hockey against a 1000 pound man. The NL batting champ is decimated in wiffle ball to name a few. This is a remarkable feat in itself for a book. To actually answer these questions in a substantial way is impressive indeed.

But the real story in this book is Gallagher. With his boundless enthusiasm, cynical optimism, and pencil thin mustache, he's a character in a Wes Anderson movie come to life. No matter if he's being beaten by a doggie paddling Olympic swimmer, negotiating with Mike Tyson to fight 10 "tough guys" in one night, or cold calling major league general managers to try to get one to sign a midget for a major league game, he's always giving it his all with a level of commitment and humor that is rarely seen. Beyond the amazing accomplishments of getting multi-millionaire athletes to participate in his hair brained schemes, the writing is impeccable. Every line is packed with information, a witty joke, or a combination of the two. It's not overstating it to invoke the name of Woody Allen, but the jokes are of this quality and while there are a number of "insider" sports jokes (some of which, admittedly, I had to look up to get), this book is not just for sports fanatics.

For any George Plimpton fans out there, fear not, in the realm of participatory journalism, the legacy is in good hands. I can't recommend this book enough.

I wasn't impressed with the first few anecdotes in this book. The attempts at humor seemed forced and juvenile, and the premises and theories didn't seem like they were being tested with any conviction. But the book did eventually relax and get better, and some of the chapters were outright hilarious. Recommended for any sports fans that have ever sat around and bounced silly sports ideas off each other.

The book has its fair share of entertaining moments, but I was let down by the immaturity of the writer. Granted, I know that I shouldn't be expecting a lot from a book titled "Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan", but while some of the chapters (the hockey goalie and the baseball team of midgets) are genuinely funny, others seemed like something off a college fraternity website. I am impressed by the lengths that the author was willing to go to solve some of the questions (including the athletes and people that he managed to convince to assist him in his quest), but some sections of the book were simply not captivating (such as the question where he asks if a competitive swimmer could doggy paddle faster than a normal man could swim). If he could have made every section as interesting and well written as the fat ice hockey goalie chapter, I would highly recommend the book. As it stands now, it is nothing more than a guilty pleasure.

This book is suited for someone who is a fan of multiple sports, or just sports in general. If you are a baseball-only or football-only sort of sports fan, you won't like this book. Each chapter addresses a question that almost every fan has either pondered or argued about, but never examined in detail. Some questions contrast the caliber of world class athletes to average people (racing against an Olympic sprinter, mini-golf vs a PGA golfer, etc), or handicapping pros to play at the level of average players (a tennis pro playing with a frying pan, or a pool pro shooting one-handed). Others questions take pros out of their game an put them into a seemingly related game (a pro dart player shooting beer pong vs frat boys, a MLB batting champ trying to hit a wiffle ball, a PBA bowler playing skee-ball). Another group takes a "serious" look at well-known sports hypotheticals (the effectiveness of a batting order of little people in baseball, or a heavily-obese NHL goalie). Also included are well known mythical sports legends (basketball players making change from the board or street ball players in the NBA). Probably the best question was the relative comparision of female athletes to male athletes. It was fact-based, even-handed, and objective, and examined the question from several angles, inlcuding comparision world records, results of head-to-head competition, and personal testimony from the players themselves. At the same time the author was very clear and careful to distinguish "level of play" from the purely athletic perspective, from "quality of entertainment or enjoyment" from the fan's perspective.

The book does contain some mildly offensive language, and makes several references to Pittsburgh, so it is probably not suitable for young kids.

Nice piece of work from Mr. Gallagher. NOT a book for kids (R-rated language, situations). Best section is on Mr. Roddick, but entire book is worth a read.

The author is very qualified and has done a lot of research on the subjects, he did not just state his opinion. I highly recommend it.