Customer Reviews

Road Swing: One Fan's Journey Into The Soul Of America's Sports

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Steve Rushin writes in a fever, like a sports-mad monologist trying to get in the last word with himself. His style has the heat and bite of great gossip, and his thinking makes it literature. Rushin's prose has a breezy, confidential rhythm that pulls us right into his head. A scary thought, that, but a richly rewarding one.

Steve Rushin is the funniest sportswriter ever, and the fourth funniest travel writer. I haven't stopped laughing since I picked up this book. I can't wait to actually read it.

I've been wanting to read this for awhile, finally did and have mixed feelings about it, the same feelings I had about the author when he was with Sports Illustrated.

Though I miss Rushin's musings in SI (I wonder what he's doing now?), he often gave himself too much credit for his fancy word play and not enough credit for his ability to write excellent, insightful stories. Too often we're left with word play and no insight.

This book is classic Rushin: He's awesome in parts -- the details of the pool players, the story on the "Field of Dreams," and he really hits paydirt with the feature on Tim Couch and his town.

Sadly, he's more into detailing his hotel life, and worse yet, his tricky word play. On page 199 we read this, "How do you take your coffee?" a flight attendant asked. "Orally," I replied. By that time in the book, I was weary of this "Naked Gun" movie lines. At other times, he's very funny. Too often he's questioning bad spelling and grammar on signs instead of going into the personalities of people and the sports that they play.

When Rushin gets to the West Coast you can tell he's tired and I was fatigued with him. Showing typical East or Midwest bias, he barely writes about the West. When he gets to Portland, he doesn't talk about the city, only the rain and something about pro uniforms. His take on Spokane only refers to a story he wrote in Sports Illustrated. Rushin's car wasn't the only thing running out of gas, the writer was, too. He then talks of Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore ... uh, I thought this book was about sports?

I don't understand why Rushin mailed it in the last 50-75 pages. He had a great idea and then bailed on it, opting to write about pro sports, bad grammar, National Parks, the Super Bowl, his family, and ignorning the West Coast.

When I finished, I closed the book puzzled as to why a writer as gifted as Rushin too often plays away from his strengths and writes to his weaknesses.

Books about an author taking a cross-country trip to ''discover'' hidden sports treasures around the fruited plain do not get any better than this.

I've enjoyed Rushin's ''Air and Space'' column for some time now, but never knew he had written a book until I came across it in the library one afternoon. He does not disappoint on either account. Rushin also manages to hit places throughout the country that not everyone has heard of. Heaven help the author that drives cross country and then tries to write meaningful, funny and most important of all fresh and interesting prose about the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore and the Mississippi River.

As a Midwesterner, I appreciate Rushin's dry and self-deprecating sense of humor. Just his musing while in the car were pointed and funny at the same time. And he comes across as someone who can tell you something deep and profound without it sounding like your parents. (I can still laugh out loud just thinking about his day-trip in and around Selma, Alabama or his visit to French Lick, Indiana.)

The only complaint that kept this from being a five-star review was Rushin's ending, which wasn't that funny and almost too hokey to be believed. Too many authors try to wrap up books like this (think a sportsman's P. J. O'Rourke) by answering life's little (or big) questions. Rushin doesn't do that, but seems like he wants to.

(I'll be honest...I'm not to be one of those reviewers who reserves five-star reviews for books like Oliver Twist and anything by William S. I hate those books because I HAD to read them. I enjoy reviewing books I want to read.)

All in all a laugh-out-loud but think quietly book.

Rushin is second on my list of best wrighters,Rushin is the second best sports writer, and the best comedian. I could have sworn I saw him walking down the steets of New York with writer Franz Lidz. I knew this by the "About the Author" page. I ran home told my wife and kids, now mykids are the popularest kids in school. Horray, for Steve Rushin!!

What a great book. If you like sports, and life, buy this book. Nice job Steve!

I purchased this book for my vacation, not actually knowing what it was about. I spent all of my vacation doing nothing else but reading it. I was entranced. "Road Swing" made me want to jump in my car and drive. One of the best books I've read in a long time. I patiently wait for his next adventure. Write on Steve.

I'm only half way through this gem and I find myself thinking "don't read it too fast, man. You don't want it to end."

Rushin meshes sports and americana like well, gretzky and messier, pippen and jordan, torville and dean (okay, that's taking it too far.)

A must read for people with a pulse.

Rushin has a wonderfully engaging style (his SI "Point After" column "Just Tell It Like It Is" from a few years back is the funniest thing I've ever read). Now, with "Road Swing," I was rereading paragraphs just to marvel at his sentence construction. As a rule, I wait for the paperback, but not with "Road Swing." Splurge on Rushin!

Rushin is a genius! This books takes you in the back seat of his Nissan Pathfinder across the bizarre, funny and sometimes very funny American sports countryside. With all the emotion Rushin has used in the past to cover swimsuit models for SI, he now takes you from Cooperstown to a South Carolina Denny's laughing every mile. Don't miss this book! If you are a late-night reader, apologize in advance to your spouse...