Best Seat in the House: A Father, a Daughter, a Journey Through Sports [Hardcover]

Christine Brennan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 2006

From the best-known and most widely read woman sports columnist in the United States comes a remarkable memoir of a father and a daughter, the story of a girl who would turn her love for sports into a trailblazing career.

Christine Brennan grew up in Toledo, Ohio, spending her summers playing with the boys on her block, memorizing baseball statistics, accompanying her dad to countless baseball and football games, and falling in love with everything about sports. While other girls were playing with Barbie dolls, Chris was collecting baseball cards and listening to the radio for the play-by-play accounts of her favorite teams.

The eldest of four children, Chris was her father's daughter from the beginning. For a girl growing up in the 1960s and '70s, in the days before Title IX changed the playing fields of America, there were few opportunities to play organized sports. But Jim Brennan encouraged his daughter to believe she could play anything she wanted to, and when she couldn't be on the field, he was by her side in the stands -- she always thought the seat next to her father was the best seat in the house -- usually cheering for the underdog, and making sure Chris knew there was a place for her in the world of sports.

In her warm and inspiring memoir, the first of its kind by a female sports journalist, Brennan takes readers from her neighborhood ball fields to the press boxes and locker rooms of stadiums around the world. Guided by her father's unfailing sense of loyalty, honor, and fairness, at the age of twenty-two she became the first female sportswriter for The Miami Herald, and in 1985 was the first woman to cover the Washington Redskins as a staff writer for The Washington Post.

Over the past quarter century, Brennan has reported on many of the biggest stories in sports, and led the coverage of both the 1994 Tonya Harding-Nancy Kerrigan saga and the pairs figure-skating scandal at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics. Her USA Today column on Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters, triggered a nationwide debate about the club's lack of female members.

Told in the spirited, friendly voice that readers of her column have come to love, Best Seat in the House is the heartwarming chronicle of a girl who came of age as women's sports were coming of age, encouraged every step of the way by her beloved father.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Any girl who grew up with a father who told her she could do anything will appreciate Brennan's book as a touching tribute to her own dad. But as a memoir, this book about forging a career as a sports journalist doesn't rise above the ordinary. A lifelong sports addict, Brennan became the first full-time female sportswriter to join the Miami Herald staff in 1981. She moved to the Washington Post in 1984 to cover the Redskins and then the Olympics, and was offered a general sports column in USA Today in 1997. Her account is sprinkled with amusing anecdotes about learning to maneuver through a man's world, such as the secret to interviewing naked guys in a locker room. (Carry a large notebook, so when you look down to write, all you see is paper.) Her father's support is present throughout; when Brennan, along with a crowd of 90,185 girls and their dads, watched Brandi Chastain score the winning penalty kick in the 1999 World Cup, Brennan reached for her phone: "I called someone who... knew exactly what it meant to both of us. Of course I called Dad." Unfortunately, Brennan's book lacks the spirit and imagination with which Brennan accomplished her dreams. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Pioneering sports journalist Brennan's memoir begins in Toledo, where she grew up rooting for the Toledo Mud Hens, Detroit Tigers, and University of Michigan Wolverines. Her father introduced her to sports at age four, and she never looked back. By the time she reached high school, the six-foot-tall basketball player called athletics her "passion and diversion." She landed her first full-time job as a token (in her words) sports reporter at the Miami Herald in 1981. Among a handful of women allowed into men's locker rooms, she took the awkward moments in stride: "I was there to cover the team and report the story." Currently a USA Today columnist and occasional television analyst, Brennan continues to succeed in the cutthroat world of sports journalism. Devoid of sports gossip and written in a straightforward reporting style, this pleasing memoir pays tribute to Brennan's father, who encouraged her love of sports. Should appeal to sports junkies familiar with her work. Sue-Ellen Beauregard
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; First Edition edition (May 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743254368
• ISBN-13: 978-0743254366
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Miscellaneous > Journalism

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dad, Title IX, and a world of sports, May 17, 2006

By 

Michael J. Sopher "Soph" (Green, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Seat in the House: A Father, a Daughter, a Journey Through Sports (Hardcover)

In a world where male dominance in most sports is generally welcome and accepted, stories of women who defy the odds, dodge the criticism, and rise to success are indeed a rarity. The story of Christine Brennan is no exception. A successful writer for USA Today and The Washington Post, Brennan's ascension to a career in sports journalism and broadcasting, which was usually only reserved for men, serves as a role model for those who wish to follow their dreams despite the obstacles. However, the focal message in the book is a tribute to her father, the man who brought her up to love and cherish sports, and the man who continued to encourage her when things seemed impossible. Rather than the typical father-son journey through sports, the tide shifts, in essence, to reveal that daughters too can share that same passion.

Brennan's journey begins in Toledo, home to the Triple AAA Mud Hens and the University of Toledo. The stories of catching a ball game at the Lucas Country Rec Center (aka Ned Skeldon Stadium) or the occasional drive to Tiger Stadium were heart warming and a bit shocking as Brennan was probably the woman in the 1970's that knew how to fill out a scorecard. Baseball brings families together and nothing in the world beats a trip to the ball park to catch a game with your old man. But baseball is one of several sports that the Brennan family endures throughout Christine's childhood. Tennis, swimming, golf, football, and basketball consumed much of their daily lives and it appeared that the father, Jim, was merely along for the ride for it seemed that he was not the one doing the pushing.

On a personal note, Brennan's account of the University of Toledo's Chuck Ealey's thirty-five consecutive victories and Steve Mix's stellar basketball career were nearly tear-jerking. As a Toledo alum and fan, it was about time that both of these remarkable men receive some extra attention for their amazing feats as collegiate athletes. From a university which sees very few of their athletes go on to the professional level, the celebration of perhaps their best two athletes in a nationally acclaimed book puts the icing on the cake.

Brennan admits that the idea to be a sports journalist began at those Toledo football games where Ealey and his teammates rang up win after win. Indeed, watching Chuck Ealey on a weekly basis from 1969-1971 must have been a privilege, an honor, and certainly a launching point for a prospective sports writer. From there Brennan begins the formal training as a journalist at the campus of Northwestern University, and with the summer internships at the Toledo Blade. Northwestern's journalism program was one of the best in the country, and alums Peter McCleery, Brennan, and Michael Wilbon backed up that recognition.

But Brennan's story of becoming a sports journalist is just a fraction of the larger picture. Title IX, the law that essentially gave women an opportunity to play competitive sports, is mentioned throughout the book. However, Brennan's argument on Title IX is not necessarily a cry for women to take over these heavily male-influenced games. Rather, it is advocating for equal opportunity. As evident in her debates with the controversial Hootie Johnson of Augusta National, Brennan refuses to back down to the opposite sex, and chooses to stand up for women's rights. After all, to get to her position in her field, Brennan has always had to fight an uphill battle. Hopefully this serves as a message to young women seeking a career in sports that even though the trail may be bumpy along the way, the end result is certainly attainable.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Memorable and touching, July 17, 2006

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Paul Allaer (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best Seat in the House: A Father, a Daughter, a Journey Through Sports (Hardcover)

When I saw this book, I knew immediately that I'd be interested in it. I mean, Christine Brennan was the Washington Post beat writer for the Redskins in the mid-80s when I lived in DC as well, and as she jokingly puts it, being the Redskins beat writer was the second most important beat, after the White House beat, unless the Redskins played the Cowboys. So I remember well her byline in the Post Sports section from those days.

In "Best Seat in the House: A Father, A Daughter, A Journey through Sports" (283 pages), the author reflects back on how she got into sports writing, and not unsurprisingly, her dad played a major role in it. In fact, the initial third of the book, in which Brennan recounts her days growing up in Toledo, is the most intruiging and touching part of the book. Brennan's dad never pushed her into sports, but definitely supported and encouraged it, taking her to see their beloved Mud Hens AA basebal and the University of Toldedo football teams, and then later when Christine started playing high school sports (in the pre-Title IX days). The love and warmth for her dad shines throughout this book.

After graduating from Northwestern, Brennan went on to cover college football for the Miami Herald in the early 80s and then the Redskins. Brennan has plentyful of memorable anecdotes of what is was like to be a female sportsreporter in that male-dominated world. The latter part of the book drifts a bit, even though Brennan's love for the Olympics, her next big thing, comes through very clearly. But the book finishes on a high, recounting the hard times when first her mom, then her dad pass away, while providing a very moving tribute. If you like sports, and have a heart, this book will move you.

3.0 out of 5 stars Good memoir, December 27, 2010

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bottomofthe9th (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Best Seat in the House: A Father, a Daughter, a Journey Through Sports (Hardcover)

Good memoir by an early female sportswriter, with focus on her relationship with her dad, who taught her about sports and was supportive throughout.