Fanatic: Ten Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die [Hardcover]

Jim Gorant (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2007

The sport lover's ultimate road trip

When Jim Gorant, a Sports Illustrated staffer and lifelong sports fan, discovered that he had never attended a single one of sports' most iconic events, he wondered, What kind of sports fan am I, anyway? And if he had to pick the top ten, what would those events be? The result was a growing obsession, first with determining the events that should make the list and then with actually attending all of them. A personal challenge quickly evolved into a yearlong journey into the heart of sports.

From the Kentucky Derby to the Super Bowl, from a day game at Wrigley Field to a fortnight at Wimbledon, from the NCAA Final Four to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, Gorant takes us along for the ride, evoking the best (and sometimes the worst) sports has to offer. He enters the inner sanctum of NASCAR, watching the decidedly American pomp and circumstance perched atop an RV. He encounters a fire-eating Patriots fan at the Super Bowl. He sees Jack Nicklaus tee off at the azalea-lined Masters for the last time. He walks a fine line between the football rivals Ohio State and Michigan. And in the process he reveals why sports can so affect our lives.

Part adventure, part pilgrimage, Fanatic captures these ten unforgettable sports events in all their color and commotion. The perfect gift for sports enthusiasts, Fanatic is the next best thing to front row seats, and every bit as fun.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

All true obsessives, whatever their object of adoration, love making lists. It's a way of trying to organize (or at least make sense of) the sprawling, life-controlling nature of their obsession. Sports Illustrated editor Gorant, being the kind of self-described "idiot" who has spent far too much of his life watching televised sports (any kind, "the more obscure, in some ways, the better") took his particular list and made it into a book. If Gorant's genial account of attending the 10 ultimate sporting events seems at times like little more than an excuse to get out of the office and make random alcohol-based friendships with assorted strangers, so much the better. As an exercise in vicarious frivolous fandom, Gorant's year-plus-long odyssey—he starts at the Eagles-Patriots Super Bowl in February 2005 and ends with Fenway Park's Opening Day on April 11, 2006—is serenely satisfying reading in the manner of a lengthy magazine article. Gorant's selection trends toward the obvious (a Packers game at Lambeau, the Masters, the Daytona 500) and the decision to include only one non-American event (Wimbledon) comes off as a little lazy. All that to the side, Gorant brings a fresh and appreciative eye to each event, whether it's the days spent lazing around an RV at the Daytona 500 with a self-described "family" of NASCAR fans or discovering how a relaxed afternoon game at Wrigley "could be all the romance a man needs." (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Gorant offers a solid defense of everyone who ever skipped work to catch a day game at Wrigley or tailgated outside Lambeau Field in subzero weather." (Rocky Mountain News )

"If you can't make it to all these great events yourself, I urge you to read this book before you die." (Seth Davis, sports analyst for CBS, and staff writer at Sports Illustrated ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (June 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 061861298X
• ISBN-13: 978-0618612987
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,822,517 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, Interesting, Great Story-Teller, June 7, 2007

By 

Ding "daving313" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Fanatic: Ten Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die (Hardcover)

Jim has a great way of showing how people share their love of sport. Fantastic story-teller, very humorous and laugh-out-loud.
-"Ian"

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Lacking in Heart and Soul..., May 19, 2010

By 

Big D (Auburn, AL. USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Fanatic: Ten Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die (Hardcover)

A good, laudable effort to chronicle, experience and describe some of America and the world's greatest sporting events. (And who among us hasn't had that dream, that a bucket list?) Easy to relate to the idea, but in the end the stories become more about the author than about the event and the aura that surrounds them.

Basically, the events and people around them are described but not the passion, heart and soul of the event itself. It's talked about and described, yes, but not felt and experienced vicariously as it should be in a book of this type.

Even in the chapter on the Masters, he can't help but drift (or slide) back into the world of critical journalists, critiquing verything and everybody in, at least partially, a negative light. But he does save the best for the last. The chapter on Opening Day at Fenway Park is the best chapter in the book (and I'm a Yankee Fan). In it he captures the passion, the commitment, the living and dying loyalty of fans and the events themselves, all of which are iconic in their statue. And all of which are part of what is past, part of what is, and part of what is to come. In this chapter, Mr. Gorant finallys it right.

It's a shame the whole book isn't written in this tone and light. If it would have been an exceptional, exceptional, work. Sadly, it's not.

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read just in time for summer, June 7, 2007

By 

J. Mann "music junkie NYC" (New York City, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fanatic: Ten Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die (Hardcover)

I bought this book being told it would be great even if I wasn't a sports fan. I am told Jim is very funny. After reading this book I realize both are true.
I am not much of a sports fan, but his writing is very engaging and entertaing in the same way Anthony Bourdaine(Kitchen Confidential) and David Searis(Me Talk Pretty One Day) are. He is also the same type of as humor as they are more akin to Bourdaine than Sedaris. I must admit to laughing out loud through every section of the book.
As for not being a sports fan he does a great job at bring you to the experience with his observatioons and gives the reader enough backgroud to get a good sense of the "experience". He keeps himself relatable to both sports fans and non sports fans alike with a great balance of passion and knowledge.
From his time with the people he meets in Daytona to the craziness of the Superbowl it seems he finds somthing that goes beyond just sports. He manages to find and look for a sort of good quality and in fans that is more human and less alienating than I would expect. He is introspective enough really breath in the experience. It's the perfect summer read and just in time for Fathers Day
(My dad is a sports fan)....I could recomend this to just about anyone!