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Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad
 
 
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Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad [Hardcover]

Mike Greenberg (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 7, 2006
Meet Mike Greenberg, the popular host of ESPN Radio’s Mike and Mike in the Morning, the highest-rated drive-time sports talk show on the dial. To his three-million-plus listeners, Greeny is the guy who’s equally as comfortable dissecting zone defenses as he is discussing cashmere sweaters. He’s been to Super Bowls and World Series, All-Star Games and Final Fours. He’s interviewed Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, and Wayne Gretzky. He gets paid to enthuse about sports, which means he’s the envy of most men in America.
This is the hilarious, sometimes touching, and endlessly entertaining debut of one of America’s fastest-rising sportscasters, a wry and revealing look at one man’s good-hearted but mistake-prone attempt to grow up before his children do. Marriage, fatherhood, manhood, fame, athletes, crazed aunts with gambling problems, the true significance of sports, the worst possible thing to say in a room full of pregnant women–no topic is beyond his reach. But don’t take our word on it, read what Greeny has to say about:
• Dating: “People who reminisce fondly about dating are blocking out all the disasters and focusing only on the few great nights. If that is all you choose to remember, fine. But be aware that no experience is without good moments. I’m sure during the sacking of Rome there were a few decent nights; maybe they put on a play.”
• Life on the road:
“Wife + television = no sleep.”
“No wife + no television = no sleep.”
“Wife + no television = sleep.”
“No wife + television = porn.”
• Keeping things in perspective: “Never assume you know more than the guy in the camouflage tux.”
• And, of course, marriage: “All of us are married to women who think we’re idiots.”
Whether he’s talking trash on the radio or talking dirty diapers over a fancy dinner, Greeny’s determined to reconcile two halves of a whole. So if your enthusiasm has ever been curbed, or you’re feeling remote without the remote, or you’re just wondering what exactly goes on in a guy’s brain, Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot will be a source of comfort and unadulterated laughter.


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

SportsCenter and ESPN Radio mainstay Greenberg wanted to be a journalist, but changed his mind when he was asked, while working at a smalltown newspaper, to interview the mother of a high school valedictorian who had just tragically died. Greenberg moved on to covering sports and never looked back, believing there's nothing better than "investing everything into something that means absolutely nothing." Indeed, his book resembles Seinfeld, with its lightly humorous yet serious renditions of everyday minutiae. Divided into transcripts from some of Greenberg's radio monologues and journal entries about his family life, the book is another entry in the Men Are from Mars... school of sociological observation. Greenberg's viewpoint on the opposite sex essentially involves his subtitle: describing the things he does that make his wife treat him like an idiot. There's plenty of good material in this alone, as well as in some sidesplitting, borscht belt–style material about his gambling-addicted aunt Ada. Unfortunately, the slightly pompous but desperately charming Greenberg also feels the need to fill readers in on such matters as why he doesn't like going to the supermarket and what designer labels he's wearing.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Greenberg is half of the Mike and Mike in the Morning sports-chat radio show on ESPN radio and is also an occasional anchor and reporter on the same network's SportsCenter TV program. On the air, he is funny, literate, and obviously well read far beyond the narrow borders of sports. Here, examining his public life in the context of his roles as father and husband, he exhibits the same sensibilities that make him an engaging on-air presence. He tackles the inherent absurdity of his job--chatting about sports in a complex, ever-more-troubling world--but also about the perks of his quasi fame and the joy he extracts from his work. It's nice to read about a lucky sports guy who knows he is lucky and unabashedly celebrates it. He also takes many of the things he has observed in a life dominated by sports and explains how he is applying them to the raising of his daughter. There are anecdotes galore that will keep fans reading and laughing. Expect fairly strong demand for this one, especially where Greenberg's morning radio show is available. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Publisher: Villard; 1St Edition edition (March 7, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400064384
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400064380
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

50 Reviews
5 star:
 (23)
4 star:
 (9)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (7)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.8 out of 5 stars (50 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining book about parenting and marriage, March 20, 2006
This review is from: Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad (Hardcover)
I really enjoy listening to Mike Greenberg on the radio and looked forward to reading this book quite a bit. I enjoyed it thoroughly, though it was not exactly what I expected.

The book consists of journal entries he wrote while struggling through some difficult times in his life, mostly revolving around his wife and children. He is very open about his personal life and his feelings about the people that populate it. I found myself often thinking, "He's going to get in trouble when his wife/aunt/neighbor reads this." And I can't help wondering if he did!

This book, I think, is more geared toward parents-to-be and married couples than to hard-core sports fans. There is some discussion of sports, but it is more in the sense of how it affects his personal life. Still, the book is entertaining, Greenberg writes well, and I had a hard time putting it down.

This is a good read for "Mike and Mike" fans, but be prepared to learn a lot more about Greeny's wife and kids than about his radio show and Golic.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars A tale of two Greenies...., June 5, 2006
By 
Jason Mayer (Moscow, ID United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad (Hardcover)
As an avid sports fan that listens to Mike & Mike show, I found myself hooked on the witty banter both bring to the radio. I found myself agreeing with Greeny on many different issues but also was happy to have someone representing the 'every man' point of view in dealing with sports. Greeny is not the former player turned sportscaster and that was something most listeners could relate to. It was with these thougths in mind that I looked forward to reading his new book. This is not the Mike Greenberg I know...

Whomever came up with the notion that publishing a bunch of journal postings was a good idea should be fired on the spot. Everything was loosely tied together and most were just ramblings of a man trying to come to grips with his priviledged life. The readers should feel sorry for you because your nanny/maid took the same week off as your wife??!! Suck it up and change a freakin' diaper!

This book is not for fans of the Mike & Mike show, it will ruin the broadcast. Leave the book on the shelf and DO NOT BUY IT FOR THE SPORTS DAD ON FATHER'S DAY. While they can get through it quickly enough, they'll be worse off having read it.
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73 of 98 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars The Male Paris Hilton, November 8, 2006
By 
Volpsych (Knoxville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot: The Life and Times of a Sportscaster Dad (Hardcover)
I truly wish I had not read this book. I used to love "Mike and Mike in the Morning," but my view of Greenberg has been so damaged by this superficial, shallow, clueless piece of garbage that I have found myself unable to stomach listening to him anymore.

Greenberg obviously plays up the apparently oxymoronic "metrosexual sportscaster" angle, setting a defensive tone early regarding his abilities to discuss sports despite having fabulous taste in clothing, travel, and fine dining. Fine, this is a play on his on-air persona, no problem.

But when he tries to become "everyman," Greenberg demonstrates that he is as out of touch with the common populace as the athletes he covers are (or as Paris Hilton is, hence the title of this review). This is also why his Seinfeldian approach fails: Seinfeld found the common irritants we all face, whereas Greenberg complains that his wife left him alone for a week to raise his children...with their nanny. Excuse me? Are we supposed to chuckle knowingly that he now has to parent two small children with professional assistance? Sorry Greenberg, most of us would actually be single parents in that situation, not pretending. Similarly, he tells a "funny story" about his son's first word being a curse, but it is set up by sharing that this happened in Aspen, in a chalet with cathedral ceilings and chandeliers ("How do they change the lightbulbs in those things" he wonders increduously, as we all do when vacationing in Aspen in gorgeous chalets). Oh, and what used to be six people is now "three couples, three nannies, and seven children." This kind of unnecessary, extraneous detail--which is prevalent throughout the book--reinforces how different he is from me, how unrelatable his experiences are to mine, and breaks any sense of community that good writers are able to develop. For example, he also repeatedly discusses his neighbors--billionaires who throw lavish parties, give him cases of his favorite Vodka, and fly him to Florida in a private jet. Greenberg shares that, if given the option, there is no better way to fly than on a private jet. Thanks for the tip, Greeny, I'll get right on that.

Coupled with his repeated references to $100 ties, Prada backpacks, and expensive clothing, Greenberg comes off as an arrogant, superficial, spoiled little rich brat. His obvious lack of appreciation for what he has, coupled with his assumption that he has anything of relevance to teach a larger audience about parenting ("You cannot get snot off a cashmere sweater" as but one example), makes me view him as completely undeserving of his success and not wanting to contribute to it in anyway. You think your life is hard because your daughter threw up on the tile floor in your spacious kitchen? Try wondering whether you'll have money to pay your bills next month. THAT'S stress.

The title of his book references his belief that ALL women think their husbands are idiots; it's his grand insight into relationships that I guess is supposed to convince us he is thoughtful and has some depth of character. Sorry Greenberg, most women I know--including my wife--have respect for their husbands. Your wife thinks you're an idiot because you are one.

Just like Paris Hilton.
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Third Trip, First Trip, Second Trip, Aunt Ada, New York, White Sox, Michael Jordan, Puerto Rico, Super Bowl, World Series, Alan Swanns, Yankee Stadium, Fern Cohen, John Varvatos, Uncle Mike, Derek Jeter, Coach Well, Main Street
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