Book Review

Hate Mail From Cheerleaders
Rick Reilly

People who write sports columns have a really easy way to write a book every once in a while. All they have to do is take a bunch of their articles, either sort them into topics or not, add a few sentences of commentary here and there, and viola!, they've got a book written. In this case, Rick Reilly has put together 100 articles from his Sports Illustrated column from the past 6 years or so. (He's the guy you find at the back, right next to the vodka advertisement. Or that's what they had across from him back when I was getting the thing.)

I normally like his columns, but over the past 6 years, I've read maybe 20 of them, mostly in doctors offices. The problem with reading a book of columns is that you can sometimes only take them in smaller portions. He's not really a sports writer, he writes stories that somehow tie in to the world of sports: the somehow handicapped kid that participates against all odds, the stories of the people ripping off old sports players, steroids, or the article about some sports person but dripping with sarcasm. Taken in chunks, the book is a nice read.

My theory as to the 100 articles to make up the book? "Let's see, I've got 86 articles here so far. Let's go for an even 100!"

He definitely does not like Barry Bonds. Or Sammy Sosa. Or knuckle headed NBA players.

Article 99 talked about the baseball field that was built in Tel Afar in 2003. I wonder if was still there when Adam was there. (Am I allowed to say that here now?) Were they playing baseball 4 nights a week?