God Save the Fan, Will Leitch

If you like sports you probably already read Deadspin.com, so you already know all about this book. I've been reading Deadspin forever -- I remember choking on my coffee when You're With Me, Leather broke -- but I didn't want to buy the book in hardcover because I am cheap.

This book is hilarious. It was so damn funny I needed to call my sister and read parts of it out loud to her. Then I went out with friends and made them read it. I breezed through the whole thing in a one-day marathon. It's not sport-specific, by which I mean if you're a fan of any sport -- you own a Jersey, and you go to games, and you have more than once lost your shit over an off-season trade -- you'll enjoy it. Mostly he's commenting on the generalities of sports, but I admit to really loving the parts where he talks about the trials of going to Yankee Stadium. (I'm a Yankees fan, we are always the bad guys, I'm cool with that. I just wish we'd WIN the damn thing. The author is a Cardinals fan, as is my dad.) The glossaries, where he breaks down teams and owners and players, are seriously laugh-out-loud hilarious. 

Because I am a Yankees fan, I will quote the "How to pick out a Red Sox fan" part:

The only ones on earth who still consider the Red Sox "underdogs." Owns four pink Red Sox hats left by BC coeds whose names they can't remember. Still can't figure out how to handle the whole Johnny Damon thing and deeply regrets October 2004 Halloween costume. Secretly loves Fever Pitch.

Grade: A 

Originally posted 2009