As a football fan myself - though the only one in my family and for years feeling as if the only on in my country actually since i am not an American and only in the last two or three years football finally became an actual sport event in my country as well!- i found this book fascinating!
It offered a view into the other side of the fan sport side of it -the side of a family not only more or less obsessed with the sport but deeply involved in it and with that having specific expectations of it and going with it.
If you are interested in football, this book is worth a read!

I requested this and was accepted, but when I went to download it (2 days later) it wasn't available anymore. I would be happy to review if it becomes available again as it looks like an interesting book. Leaving this review so that it doesn't appear that I downloaded a book and did not review.

Happy to receive a copy at allsportsbooksreviews@gmail.com

Michael McCormack combines a memoir of life in the NFL with his Hall of Famer father with a reasoned study of fandom for a fascinating glimpse at why football motivates us as a nation. From crowd noise to highly identified fans, he buttresses his discussion with psychological studies as to what makes a fan and why. Interlaced with that is his problematic relationship with his father and memories of growing up as a coaches son. Recommended to anyone with an interest in the game.

I am a huge NFL fan, and therefore could relate to a lot of Michael’s points. Clearly it did not affect me like it did him, but I thought it was intersection to read how the NFL affected him as the son of a Hall of Famer and his journey to the edge of darkness and back. I did think that the journey back felt rushed, and maybe because it was still fresh and too painful to discuss, but the author could have spent a little more time with us as he did in the first part of the book. I liked how he tied in his PTSD to current event such as Ray Rice and Colin Kaepernick, and his depictions of how fans reacted to them were spot on. Overall this was a captivating account of Michael’s life and how he tried to run from his dad’s fame but couldn’t.

A fantastic exploration of what it is like growing up in a family obsessed with football, but from a perspective different than your casual football loving family. By framing this journey through the eyes of the son of an NFL star, Hall of Famer, coach, executive, and all around football lifer, the audience gains a perspective several other books can only hope to deliver. McCormick allows the reader a glimpse into his realization about how his obsession shaped his familial relationships as well as how these impacts manifested. Whereas the names McCormick might not register with the casual fan, reading about this family's credentials will quickly vet the author's bona fides with the casual fan, and make the message of this book that much stronger.
a must read for any football fan.