Brooks on Books: God Save the Fan

Will Leitch is the creator and former editor of popular irreverent sports blog Deadspin, and this fun, breezy book looks like his way of summarizing as much of his work there as he can before moving on. Because "God Save the Fan" is an extension of that blog, I can't help but view the book in that light. In this medium, the material loses some of the advantages the Internet offers, and it's a little too light to be worth the hardback cover price. But that's not really a knock, as I think just about any hardcover book is overpriced these days. Leitch is an entertaining writer, and "God Save the Fan" is a fast read for a hardcore sports fan willing to laugh at his favorite players, teams, and himself.

It's a collection of short pieces, many of them maybe a bit too short, about various humorous aspects of sports, often expanding on material from the site. Those who aren't familiar with the legends of Ron Mexico or Carl Monday will get the scoop here. You might ask, though, can't you get this all on the Internet? Well, you could get the facts there, yes, but Leitch has done a good job of turning the basic material into an actual book you can hold in your hands and take with you--er, wherever you take books with you. Hey, you're a book person or not, and if you are, you'll appreciate this on some level.

Plus Deadspin somehow became about the comments as much as the articles and links, and wading through the one-upsmanship and efforts to score points in the reader responses gets too much for me (though it's easy to ignore it, of course). Those of you who enjoy Deadspin may miss that interactive aspect here. You may also miss the ability to click on links for more detail, as well as, more importantly, pictures. There are a few photos and illustrations in the book, but when Leitch makes, say, a physical description of news reporter Carl Monday, it begs for visual evidence for those who haven't seen it--or, really, even for those who have. And why is there no index?

The book does resemble the Internet in at least one unfortunate manner: It could have used some tighter editing. Recurring themes like the frequent masturbation references are more repetitive in book form, and some big errors appear, like having the Steelers play the Panthers in Super Bowl XXX.

Leitch's frequent self-deprecation is charming, and he begs off being considered a member of the sports media. In fact, he often seems to avoid the label of "writer," referring to himself as a typist. He's a funny guy, though, and he lays out his opinions and experiences in a smooth, coherent manner. To be sure, he's no traditional sportswriter--he declares that he has no desire to be--and this is no traditional sports journalism. If Dave Kindred or Jimmy Cannon or Shirley Povich ever wrote a paragraph that ended with..

Their back looks like your face did when all you could think of was your algebra teacher while masturbating into a sock (and by "when" I mean "Tuesday").

well, then I don't want to know about it.

That kind of thing aside, Leitch also delivers some provocative but insightful angles on things we take for granted. For example, the standard wise-ass slant on "God in sports" is to mock athletes who thank the Lord in postgame interviews, wondering if God hates the losing team for making them fumble at the 1-yard-line or whatever. While Leitch acknowledges the sarcastic angle, he also spends a chapter laying out the reason why many if not most openly Christian athletes thank God in their interviews, and he does this in an evenhanded yet still compelling way. I don't mean to condescend by highlighting this as an impressive, mature essay in the book, but, you know, I just want to point out there's more to "God Save the Fan" than jokes about why the author swears off reporting after an encounter with future NBA player Robert Traylor's penis.

I'd recommend waiting for the paperback if you're thrifty, but if you enjoyed Leitch's work on Deadspin for years without shelling out any coin, you might want to support him by buying his fun book.