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(More customer reviews)Joe Queenan has written the ultimate sports fan book. True Believers is dedicated to the real sports fan. Not fans of the Los Angeles Lakers or the New York Yankees, but the fans of downtrodden teams like the Phillies, the Blackhawks, and the Eagles. Fans who know what it's like to suffer through years of torment, wondering if your team was ever going to be good enough to win it all. Queenan grew up in Philadelphia, and he has a life-long commitment to all of his hometown teams. He says that fan support must be based either on where you grew up, or who your father rooted for. No other form of fandom is acceptable to him. Thus, he has had to live through the Phillies blowing a 6.5 game lead with 12 games to go in 1964, the Flyers blowing a 3-1 lead in the playoffs to the New Jersey Devils (with two of the last three games at home), and other heartbreaks. Loving Philadelphia teams is the epitome of heartbreak, the ultimate love-hate relationship.
Why should this matter to the rest of us? I will tell you right now that, if you have never followed any sports and think that to do so is the ultimate waste of time, then this book is not for you. First, you will not understand it. Secondly, what little you do understand will only reinforce your already formed beliefs. Unless you have experienced the common bond of watching your team blow the big game, or the big series, or just stink up the league in general, you will not get a lot out of this book. (Ok, maybe if you're a Yankee fan, you'll be able to laugh at these idiots he's talking about).
What does this book consist of? Queenan discusses the psychology behind rooting for a team of also-rans. He explores what makes the true sports fan tick. He does this among chapters discussing fair weather fans (those fans who only follow a team when they are good), sports movies (and how most of them are horrible and don't even come close to reflecting reality), sports announcers (both the good and the bad), and misbehaving fans (those idiots in the stands who do the stupidest things and generally annoy the people around them). Some of these chapters are universal, even to Yankees fans, and thus may be enjoyed by everybody. Some (like an entire chapter on the sorry-looking New York Jets) will only mean something to the fan who has been through something similar. All of these chapters, however, share Queenan's sarcastic wit and his extreme commentary. I love the language that Queenan uses and the way he writes, even if sometimes it seems he's using words just to see whether people understand them or not. At times he sounds pompous, but even then he's entertaining.
The fair-weather fan chapter is probably the best, as he itemizes all the different types of front-runners there are, from celebrities who must be seen at courtside of Lakers games, to the mainstream folk who just can't bear to suffer along with the true fan, and thus change their favourite team on the drop of a quarter. As he says, suffering is what makes success taste so sweet. If you haven't been through the dark times, then when they finally do win a championship, you can't truly appreciate it. He loathes front-runners with a passion, and he's not afraid to say it. He certainly takes no prisoners in this chapter, heaping scorn on every type of front-runner there is.
If there is any fault in the book, it is the fact that some of the references are very obscure (though as Queenan would say, if you don't know it, you're probably not a true fan). I love sports and follow a lot of them, but some of the references are so old that even I didn't get them. You could figure them out from the context, but I think some of the humour value is lost there. Sometimes he explains them, or at least gives a year that it happened, but other times he goes on like we should be able to keep up with him. I had no trouble skipping the reference, assuming that it was supposed to illustrate some point, and moving on. However, it is a strike against the book. One other thing I would like to know is what he thinks of fans like me. I grew up in Iowa, where there are no professional sports teams, and my father was not a huge fan of anything either. I have my allegiances that have never died since childhood, but they certainly don't seem to fit his criteria. What does that make me? Unfortunately, Queenan doesn't address that, so it feels like something's missing.
Even so, this book is definitely a winner. At times it's hilarious, at times it's touching (like when he talks about when his father's last days and how they affected Queenan's spectatorship). You may see yourself reflected in it. You may just find other fans to ridicule. Maybe you're not a sports fan but you're trying to understand a husband (or wife???) who is. If so, get this book. You will either laugh at or along with Queenan as he continues his odyssey. And you might even learn something along the way. Yes, even you Yankees fans.
David Roy
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