Just Kick It: Tales of an Underdog, Over-Age, Out-of-Place Semi-Pro Football Player (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: postgame prayer, home playoff game, new kicker, Coach Pitt, Pee Wee, Super Bowl (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

At age 37, St. Amant (Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie) joined a football team—the Boston Panthers of the EFL, a semipro league based in southern New England—and narrates that first season with the team. It was a stiff test for a man who hadn't engaged in a minute of serious athletics since college; besides being old and out of shape, Amant played an outcast position, kicker, and was a ghost-white face on a black team drawn from the toughest Boston neighborhoods. Over the Panthers season, Amant tries to gain the respect of his teammates and comes face-to-face with his lifelong fear of choking during the big game. In contrast to the glamour of the NFL, semipro football takes place in obscurity on stony fields, the bleachers empty and the uniforms mismatched. The players are an equally heterogeneous lot, too small or too slow to have had a shot at the pros or kept out by injuries, bad decisions or psychological issues. At times, Amant relies too much on humor, but he gives good insight into the makeup of his fellow athletes as well as into his own motivations. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* As a follow-up to his entertaining examination of fantasy football, Committed (2004), St. Amant thought he would write a book about semipro football: has-beens, wannabes, never-weres, and other oddballs banging each other around on sandlot fields. His first interview was with the coaching staff of the Panthers, based in the predominantly black Roxbury neighborhood of his hometown Boston. Suddenly, St. Amant was writing a different book. His high-school and college soccer experience was enough to land him a job as the Panthers' kicker. In the tradition of George Plimpton's Paper Lion (1967), St. Amant shares the experience of his first year on the Panthers. He's worried about both fitting in and failing on the field, but soon he's caught up in the team dynamic, which is very supportive of a newcomer, any newcomer, even a middle-aged white guy who lives in upscale Beacon Hill. He has some success and the team has some, too, but this isn't a Hollywood story in which the hero kicks the winning field goal to claim the league championship. St. Amant's focus is on his teammates, why they play, and how being a part of something outside their daily struggles enhances their lives. Portions are laugh-out-loud funny, but, at other times, reading through misty eyes will be a challenge. St. Amant documents the timeless magic of team sports, and his words will take former athletes back to the best moments of their sporting lives. A good bet to be one of the year's best sports books. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (October 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743286758
• ISBN-13: 978-0743286756
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,409,196 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful story and laugh out loud funny, November 22, 2006

By	Steven Winnert (New Jersey) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Just Kick It" is an excellent follow-up to Mark St. Amant's first book "Committed". I found myself laughing out loud on the train ride home from work. But it is more than just a funny story of an ex-soccer player becoming a place kicker for a semi-pro football team. Mark St. Amant does a wonderful job bringing the reader close to his teammates, each taking a different path to semi-pro football. In describing their stories, I felt closer to the team. "Just Kick It" is about much more than just a football season. And the members of the Boston Panthers are much more than just football players. It is about decisions, priorities, and looking at life from the perspective of others. Keep writing mark, you have a unique talent.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book I've Read in Years, November 1, 2006

By	The Franchise "The Franchise" (Snow Shoe, PA) - See all my reviews

This is the best book I've read in years. I'm going to give it as a gift to many luck people this holiday. I can't wait to see the movie.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just Read It!, July 16, 2007

By	Beverly Peterson (Uniontown, PA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I picked up this book to read while waiting for an oil change, and I laughed out loud. You wouldn't peg me for a person who would get such a "kick" out of a book on football--I'm a female English teacher. But the author does a great job of describing how he felt when he joined a semi-pro team made up of people who don't run in his usual social circles. I have given copies of the book as gifts to a wide range of people (a lawyer, a college coach, my mother, my aunt, and a friend who also played semi-pro football, for example), and all of them have called to tell me how funny the book is. They each recount a scene or two, laughing as they describe events from memory in great detail.

This book would also make a great birthday gift for any guy who fears he's headed over the hill.