The Football Fan's Manifesto
by Michael Tunison
Overview
From the Publisher
Popular football blogger Michael Tunison of KissingSuzyKolber.com offers the no-hold-barred rules and bylaws that every football fan should know in The Football Fan's Manifesto. With humor and tough love, this book takes readers through the essential rules of fandom, such as picking a favorite team, and teaches them how to be true football fans.
The Football Fan's Manifesto is your very own playbook to the strict rules and bylaws that must be scrupulously observed. After all, trash-talking is an intricate science and running onto the field a dangerous but irresistible pursuit. There are many lessons to be learned, especially that choosing a favorite team to live and die with is not a choice made easily: It's the most important decision of your life!
My thoughts
Note to parents: This book is not for young sports fans. The colorful language is frequently inappropriate for young readers.
I like this book. I can say that because I'd made it to page 19 and there hadn't been a direct slam against my beloved Seattle Seahawks. My sympathies to many other NFL teams in the league! I enjoyed a laugh or two at your expense!
OK, I have mixed feelings about this book. For starters, I'm female! Michael Tunison has a whole lot of fun with female fans! (Thank God I don't own a pink jersey or show up to games naked in Green Bay, though I did pick my team because of its most awesome team colors and mascot and I refuse to apologize for it!)
Which leads me to confess that I'm a Seattle Seahawks fan. Thanks, Michael, for taking it easy on us for the most part! We definitely got off light compared to some other teams. (Nice slam about Alexander's Madden Curse, though you missed an opportunity to showcase our goddess, Mama Seahawk!)
I also happen to love Australia and Australian Rules Football, and might make note of the fact that they wrote their footy rules 30 years before Walter Camp came up with the rules of American football. I did particularly enjoy Listen, you incredibly lighthearted, charming, sunny people...! Oh, and for the record, Hugh Jackman is hot!
Minor squabbles aside, the book is hilarious, inappropriate, accurate, crude, enjoyable, inaccurate and gut-busting funny. It's a guy book. It's a fan book. It's gridiron smack-talk at its finest!
Is it for everyone? Probably not. If the guy in the stands belching, spilling beer down your back, and stepping on your toes while he exits the row to take another whiz and fetch two more beers annoys you, you may not like this book. If you can trash talk with the best of them, this book may well become your Bible.
I pondered for a while whether I should give this book a two star rating or a three star rating. I'm leaning towards two because I think this book is going to be offensive to a number of fans, but I'm going with three because the author does know his stuff, he is funny, and I think the people who like this book will love it. Three stars it is but really, if off-color language is offensive to you or if you're thinking of giving this book to a young football fan, read a few pages (that's all it will take!) to make sure you're OK with it first.
Favorite Passage
Note: This is some hit-and-miss text from the first few pages of the book that I particularly enjoyed!
It’s high time we set the record straight. In doing so, hopefully we can reach these woefully misinformed souls before they do something unforgivable like purchase season tickets to the Red Sox.
Baseball season lasts approximately two and a half lifetimes and feels at least three times that long. A Lord of the Rings movie doesn’t drag on as much. And any sport that considers Bartolo Colon an athlete immediately gets bumped down to second-tier status. At least the fatties in football can block. Unless they play for the Rams.
Note to Author
Thank you, Mr. Tunison, for allowing me to read and review your book.
