Fever pitch (alkuperäinen julkaisuvuosi 1996; vuoden 1998 painos)

I can remember the exact moment I fell in love with football; and I mean really fell in love with football. I can still remember crying my eyes out as an 11-year-old boy having just seen my team Everton lose in the FA Cup Final to our bitter rivals (They play in red - I still can't even bring myself to utter their name...)

Those tears signified a love affair that still burns strong 24 years later. At that point I realised that life (and weekends in particular) would never be the same again. This football club had my heart, and despite the fact they would break it countless times over the years, I would always go back because, just like a drug addiction, the high you got from the good times were so good that you simply can't ever turn your back on them.

To read the rest of this review please click here: http://stevenscaffardi.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/steves-book-reviews-fever-pitch-by... ( )

I thought I would never finish a book about football (soccer to Americans), and this is really about football, not in any metaphorical, touchy-feely way, but real football. I loved it. Probably NH's least read yet best book, about footbal and real life and growing up. ( )

With football (soccer) season just starting, I thought now was as good a time as any to finally crack open Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. I've only read one football book before since I've only just gotten into the sport within the last year, but I was told this was a seminal text to read on the subject. I liked it enough, especially the parts that transcended football and applied to fandom in general. One particular discussion in which Hornby explains how he nearly panicked when he realized his wife expected him to stay home from some games to watch the kids while she went to the Arsenal games made me laugh quite a bit. Hornby clearly understands how a fan's mind works, in that you're never more than a few moments away from contemplating a player's scoring play or a heartbreaking defeat.

But unfortunately, I'm not British, and I haven't spent much time at all in England to understand the British affect or culture. I found myself constantly consulting Wikipedia to find out what the heck Hornby was talking about (analogizing two clashing worlds by referencing two apparently very different British soap operas, for instance), and while I think it certainly taught me something about Britain as a result, I didn't really go into the book hoping for that. Further, I think I may have tried reading this too early in my budding football hobby, as I don't understand football tactics nearly enough to really get at Hornby's point from time to time.

It was refreshing to read that there are people far worse off than I am when it comes to being a fan of a sport or team. While I have a lifelong passion for the Chicago Cubs, and I can certainly recall vividly some of their worst defeats (and I imagine I'd recall triumphs as well, if there were any to contemplate...sigh), I'm not nearly at the level where I can recollect the score of multiple games, let alone who drove in or scored the runs to begin with.

All in all, a pretty good book, and quite funny at times. I only wish I understood the British and football better. ( )

I like football (soccer), I like passion, I like humour and I like good writing. This ticks all the boxes. ( )