Crazyball: Sports Scandals, Superstitions, and Sick Plays by Barry Wilner

Crazyball: Sports Scandals, Superstitions, and Sick Plays Reviews

• 
  Jennifer Collins

  Much as I was looking forward to this book, it ended up being incredibly disappointing. Full of one-liners and fast overviews of material that most sports fans will already know, there's just not much content here.
  
  Three very telling facts: A) I don't really follow either golf or basketball, but even I knew about many of the anecdotes that related to those sports. B) I consider myself a casual sports fan, and yet, I could give you more detail on some of the scandals and flubs detailed here. C) Perhaps most telling of all: The longest chapter of the book is a collection of sections summing up and outlining highlights from favorite sports movies. (That's right--the longest chapter in a nonfiction book about sports is related to summing up comedies that any reader will have already seen.)
  
  The authors obviously enjoy sports, but when it comes down to it, this book is a running-through of headlines and one-liners, and has very little depth. It's written in more the style of a coffee table book that would sell itself through tons of pictures and the occasional graphic overview of statistics. But those things are missing because it's printed as a traditional book--and, as such, it's a disappointing affair.
  
  On the whole, I just can't recommend it. It might be an entertaining read for the average middle school boy who likes sports, but doesn't know much about past craziness, but for an adult reader who enjoys sports.... well, again, there's just not much here.
• 
  Nick

  Crazyball is an engaging collection of stories about sports and athletes, from baseball to hockey. Some of the storiess are familiar old chestnuts, like the tale of how the Boston Red Sox sold Babe Ruth to the NY Yankees so that their owner could finance "No,No Nanette", a smash Broadway show. Others were new to me, probably because they involved sports I don;'t follow, but all are entertaining and well-told. This is not a book to read straight through, but rather one to dip into for a tale or two from time to time. Reading it was a lot of fun!
• 
  Exapno Mapcase

  A good collection of sports stories covering a wide selection of sports. There are some familiar stories, Ruth to the Yankees, and Bobby Thompson home run, but there are some that have rarely been told, like NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace paying a $5,000 fine in pennies, and the story of the All-American Red Heads, the female equivalent to the Harlem Globetrotters.
  
  Free review copy.
• 
  Matthew Stetz

  Quick read. I read it in a day. A lot of the stories I've heard or read about before. Some were still funny none the less.
• 
  Jennie

  Great book, full of lots of fun sports stories and facts. A real treat to read.