PLEASE BUY THIS
(and no, this isn’t a plea to help us win a Best Blog award)
For the past 18 months or so, I’ve been working hard on the side with some good friends of mine to create and complete a soccer book. It was an exhausting, brilliant, exasperating, challenging, fantastic experience, and, this past Tuesday (May 4th), the book finally went on sale. If it does well we’re hopeful for future projects, and so begins my pleading to you, our beloved UF commentariat.
You may have seen it plugged during those glorious HD broadcasts early on a Saturday morning, or perhaps you’ve seen a video of a man sitting somewhere sunny and leafing through its pages. However, if this is new to you, let me refresh.
It’s called the ESPN World Cup Companion, and, if I may say so, it’s rather quite good.
The great David Hirshey put his blood, sweat and tears into the project and we’re all rather proud of the finished product. 250+ pages of history and insight to the last 80 years of the best tournament in sports, getting everyone up to speed with all there is to possibly know about on the subject. Tons of pictures, tons of jokes, and tons of intense research. Everything from a whimsical look at the evolution of the game to flashbacks of classic games, players, and goals is contained therein. A debate about Pele v. Maradona, whip-smart recaps of every tournament to date, and a look at what it means to be a World Cup fan.
In short, it was an amazing project that yielded an amazing book.
So, I’d ask of you this: please check it out and bag a copy if you can (or here at B&N if you’re particularly loyal to that chain book distributor). Spread the word among your soccer-literate friends (though honestly, the great bit about the book is that it gets anyone up to speed with the tournament’s history and whimsy) or anyone who has a pair of eyes and a reasonable reading aptitude.
Now, back to our regularly scheduled FIFA criticism, in-fighting, and whimsy. May Torres bless you all.
May Torres bless you all.
So you want us to get injured every three months, and have all of our boss’s hopes pinned on us when we’re fit?
Gee, thanks, JT.
he is my deity, crocked as he can be.
The forward is written by Steve Nash. I’m in. Congrats.
I was disappointed to see that the foreword wasn’t written by Hirshey’s mustache. Although I suppose Steve Nash isn’t bad.
I actually went looking for this yesterday, no dice. I’ll have to check at Barnes and Noble over the weekend.
“So paint your face, hoist your vuvuzela, or just grab your trusty remote, but whatever you do make sure The ESPN World Cup Companion is by your side.”
Judging by that blurb, I can’t believe you had anything to do with this project.
Also, I didn’t realize your name was Roger Bennett.
You mean this video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_p37T68OpA
@Goat
my name’s hidden somewhere inside the book (Easter Egg!)… I am not Roger Bennett
@TFA
That’s the video!
@Goat
Also, we don’t get to write the blurbs, else there would be more swearing.
Congrats all the same. My name’s hidden somewhere in this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Playing-Americas-Game-Baseball-Crossroads/dp/0520251431/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1273157906&sr=8-2
cheers. I shall buy your book now too
@Goat – are you Will Leitch in disguise?
Steve Nash: Spurs fan. Get. In. Will have to pick one of these up, I think.
Do you hear that JT? Your blood, sweat and tears mean nothing. The only positive thing about your World Cup book comes from a basketball player. I’d be offended.
Consider the book bought.
Also, I may be missing the vast majority of games this summer due to a hellacious work schedule. However, I will be in DC, so if someone could suggest bars to watch the games, I’d be grateful.
@LE
I’m used to it
@EF
We’ll compile a list in the coming weeks for a post right around the start of the tournament.
@NYK: Nah, I just did some research for the professor who wrote it.
@Jimmy T — will this list encompass multiple US cities? Appears I will be in Portland hanging with the hipsters on June 12th unfortunately. And I’ll likely have my one year old with me….will they be showing these games at the Children’s Museum or Chucky Cheese?
Congrats on the book. I’m sure it will end up at my house somehow
@whiz
yeah, we can make that happen
also, I’m sure 1 year old is the perfect time to be exposed to the fire and brimstone of a USA/England encounter
I’m not buying only because of Nash. I also need to be able to give answers to all the questions my wife is going to ask about these matches, without actually having to stop watching the matches and answer her. Who knew JT had written a marital aid?
@Phil
I’d call myself Doctor J, but that name’s taken
>A debate about Pele v. Maradona,
Asking you to debate anything to do with Maradona is like having Rosie Odonell debate the merits of a blowjob: its a predetermined outcome.
[...] ESPN’s World Cup companion book with familiar help. (Unprofessional Foul) [...]
[...] ESPN’s World Cup companion book with familiar help. (Unprofessional Foul) [...]
[...] ESPN’s World Cup companion book with familiar help. (Unprofessional Foul) [...]
if hershey is such a great author, why did he need you to write it for him? no dis to you, but i have always found his deadpsin columns sad and desperate to be loved, like an old dog that keeps humping your leg or another david, hasselhoff. congrats tho. you should have got your own book!!! or espn should have got someone who knows the game to write it like jeff bradley.
But I didn’t write it for him. That’s the part you’re missing.
[...] to World Cup 2010, and am considering buying the ESPN World Cup companion (mostly because I like the guys from Unprofessional Foul). I’m also planning to purchase both a new England jersey and a new USA jersey to support my [...]
[...] to World Cup 2010, and am considering buying the ESPN World Cup companion (mostly because I like the guys from Unprofessional Foul). I’m also planning to purchase both a new England jersey and a new USA jersey to support my [...]
[...] to World Cup 2010, and am considering buying the ESPN World Cup companion (mostly because I like the guys from Unprofessional Foul). I’m also planning to purchase both a new England jersey and a new USA jersey to support my [...]
[...] to World Cup 2010, and am considering buying the ESPN World Cup companion (mostly because I like the guys from Unprofessional Foul). I’m also planning to purchase both a new England jersey and a new USA jersey to support my [...]
[...] to World Cup 2010, and am considering buying the ESPN World Cup companion (mostly because I like the guys from Unprofessional Foul). I’m also planning to purchase both a new England jersey and a new USA jersey to support my [...]