The book is presented as a "how-to" manual for pro athletes while in actual fact attempting to be a humorous indictment of the excesses of sports and the people who are paid to play those sports. Addressing the reader as the putative professional athlete, the book has chapters covering playing as a job, coaches and management, the media, women, fame and fans, how to handle scandals, money, and more. Magary clearly has a knowledge of how the sports world works but while he riffs sarcastically on all of these topics, he offers nothing special or new. Instead, he perpetuates every negative stereotype out there about professional athletes and manages to be incredibly demeaning to women, gays, and the mentally disabled. While some people will laugh at his commentary, I just can't find much to giggle about in obnoxious and offensive sexism or homophobia. And as if that wasn't enough, the format of the book, with occasional line drawings, asides, and sidebars, was distracting. There are completely fake inset comments from others (athletes, coaches, media figures, etc.) that were annoying and tedious to read through. Over all, the whole thing was not a pleasant reading experience. Satire well done is fantastic and professional athletes are ripe for satire for certain. This book is not only not satire done well, this is not satire at all; it is just juvenile, repetitious, and unfunny.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Review: Men With Balls by Drew Magary
The book is presented as a "how-to" manual for pro athletes while in actual fact attempting to be a humorous indictment of the excesses of sports and the people who are paid to play those sports. Addressing the reader as the putative professional athlete, the book has chapters covering playing as a job, coaches and management, the media, women, fame and fans, how to handle scandals, money, and more. Magary clearly has a knowledge of how the sports world works but while he riffs sarcastically on all of these topics, he offers nothing special or new. Instead, he perpetuates every negative stereotype out there about professional athletes and manages to be incredibly demeaning to women, gays, and the mentally disabled. While some people will laugh at his commentary, I just can't find much to giggle about in obnoxious and offensive sexism or homophobia. And as if that wasn't enough, the format of the book, with occasional line drawings, asides, and sidebars, was distracting. There are completely fake inset comments from others (athletes, coaches, media figures, etc.) that were annoying and tedious to read through. Over all, the whole thing was not a pleasant reading experience. Satire well done is fantastic and professional athletes are ripe for satire for certain. This book is not only not satire done well, this is not satire at all; it is just juvenile, repetitious, and unfunny.
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