True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans Review
Several years ago I listened to the CD abridgment of this book and generally thought it was worth-while, if not necessarily one of Queenan's best efforts. On further reflection I wonder if this wasn't the result of an overly aggressive producer cutting the original effort down to fit two CD's or casettes and omitting some of the best local flair. Like the author, I grew up a mightily frustrated Philadelphia sports fan and I was a bit puzzled to find his treatment of some of the local team management and personnel decisions to be decidedly mild, particularly for a man with Queenan's demonstrated sharp and potent pen. In short, I was looking for serious criticism to push the defamation envelope aimed at people and teams who caused me pain in years past, but the author provided a more mature and thoughtful product, no doubt to his credit.
One point on which Queenan hits the bulls eye is the contrast of true believers with the loathesome nature of "front running" fans who gravitate to the regularly successful plutocratic sports teams in distant cities who engage in the perpetual effort to destroy their respective sports (Lakers and MFY's). Of course that point shouldn't require much more argument than does criticism of priests misbehaving with altar boys, but it does bear constant repetition to emphasize to these self-unaware types just how repellant their attitudes are to the remainder of the world.
In any event, I've reached this page in anticipation of Queenan's impending autobiographical book and decided to pick up an inexpensive remainder copy of True Believers to see if I missed anything critical by not reading the full version originally. In doing so, I realize that I'm engaging in just the sort of masochistic behavior that prompted the book in the first place but, like its subject sports fans, the attraction of an open flame to a moth is irresistable. If I'm correct in my guess, I'll be back here in a few weeks to update 4 stars to 5.
True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans Overview
For Yankee, Cowboy, and Laker fans the answer is fairly clear: the return on investment is relatively high. But why do people root so passionately for tragically inept squads like the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs, and the Philadelphia Phillies? Why do people organize their emotional lives around lackluster franchises such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, the San Diego Padres, and the Phoenix Suns, none of whom have ever won a single championship in their entire history? Is it pure tribalism? An attempt to maintain contact with one's vanished childhood? In True Believers, humorist and lifelong Philly fan Joe Queenan answers these and many other questions, shedding light on-and reveling in-the culture and psychology of his countless fellow fans. Making pilgrimages to such cradles of competition as Notre Dame Stadium, Fenway, and Wrigley Field, Queenan delves into every aspect of fandom in such illuminating chapters as Fans Who Love Too Much (men, like the author, who actually resort to psychotherapy to deal with their unheathly addiction), Fans Who Run in Front (the dreaded front runners), and Fans Who Misbehave (of the beer spilling, mooning, and food throwing varieties). True Believers is a hilarious but also heartfelt look into the world of those fans who realize that it is, in fact, more than just a game.
True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans Specifications
"To me, the Phillies and Eagles are exactly like nicotine:," writes Joe Queenan in his painful and deeply funny book True Believers: The Tragic Inner Life of Sports Fans, "a preposterously noxious semi-hallucinogenic substance capable of giving great pleasure for brief periods of time, but that will ultimately destroy your health." Targets of Queenan's blowtorch mockery in previous books have included Hollywood, chain restaurants, and baby boomers. But here, he shines the spotlight on himself in an extended examination on what it means to join in the unique self-flagellation that is sports fandom. That flagellation is made more painful when, as in Queenan's case, the fan has sacrificed their time, emotional well-being, and regard among family members to following teams that often suck real bad. But True Believers is less a work of psychological research than a ruminative and passionate explanation of the rules of conduct by which the author believes fans should live. These same rules, of course, are discussed all the time by fans on bleacher seats, bar stools, and living room couches around the world as they desperately hope that this will finally be the year the Cubs or Cardinals or Clippers finally get it together. But rarely have the rules been codified in one bound volume. Queenan shines when attacking the dreaded "bandwagon" fan and when describing his decision not to stop the young son of a family friend from ruining his life by rooting for the Mets. And he's poignant and refreshingly void of cynicism in relating the last days of his father and how they overlapped with a pivotal Eagles-Falcons game. This is a lively and entertaining read that should appeal to any sports fan except those incomprehensible jerks that root for the Lakers and Yankees. --John Moe
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Customer Reviews
True Believers - Stacey E. Fagin - Athens, Ohio
Book was in excellent condition when it arrived. It also arrived in a timely manner. I would definitely buy from this seller again.
strange but solid - NA Miles - West Rising Sun, IN
Queenan is a witty fellow---in a serious way, not in a moronic way like John Stewart or Stephen Colbert. Though Queenan makes some silly remarks about race and politics, the book is very creative and clever. He really hits along the lines of why sports fans are the way they are in a very honest way. Those who dislike this book were likely offended by his frankness or just didn't understand his thesis. A good read. And the one or two historical errors do not ruin the book, though some may think so foolishly.
Queenan is an idiot. - M. Philips - Los Angeles, CA USA
I will not read anything this man writes and nor should you - he publicly cries out about and pans Al Gore's documentary "An inconvenient truth" (NPR Movies 6-15-07 - listen to the podcast) using the medium of radio to spread his own ignorant and bitter opinions. As far as Queenan is concerned we should not be paying for documentaries that enlighten us and inform us (but should pay for his books!) He's obviously a humanity hater, a planet hater and a Gore hater and an ignorant idiot. I would not reward this kind of person with purchasing his book.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 13, 2010 22:23:04
