The Die-Hard Sports Fans Guide to Boston: A Spectators Handbook: Book Review

When I first sat down to read "The Die-Hard Sports Fan's Guide to Boston", I wasn't sure what to expect. There are few places in the world with fans as fervent as the ones in Beantown. Boston fans bleed their teams' colors, live and die with their successes and failures, and generally make fans in other parts of the country seem like idle followers. Christopher Klein has managed to put together a nice little compendium of the various sports teams, from the collegiate and amateur levels through the professional ranks, as well as a fairly detailed history behind each. While a lot of detail is given to Boston's professional teams, he does spend a good part of the book on the college and non-pro teams as well. Along with descriptions and histories of the franchises, he gives some insight into how to maximize your sports-watching. He also provides key information about where to get tickets, the best places to eat, fun things for the kids to do, even the accessibility of a given sports complex. All of this creates a book that can make even a casual fan into a die-hard.

And that may be the problem. Most of the information covered in this book is common knowledge to true die-hard Boston fans. While there are some fun facts relating to the history of each sports team, any die-hard worth his salt already knows the best place to score a Red Sox ticket, or which bars to avoid after a Celtics game lets out. The saving grace is that many die-hard fans are often die-hards for only one or two of the teams in town. Some Red Sox fans don't watch the Bruins. Some Bruins fans don't watch the Celtics. So, for those fans, this book can be a great refresher for the other teams in town, and perhaps pique some interest in a sport they wouldn't necessarily follow. Personally, I found the information regarding the college teams interesting, as I've rarely followed non-professional teams in the past. Now that I've read TDSFGTB, a new appreciation for Boston College football and Harvard hockey has been discovered.

Overall, I rate this book a solid 7 out of 10. For a rather short book, it is packed with a wealth of information. And, even if it does contain many tidbits of knowledge that most die-hards already know, I imagine even the most hardcore fan can appreciate this knowledge being gathered into one place. Give it a read, and see how far into die-hard fandom it will take you.

OVERALL: 7/10

Book Site - http://www.bostonsportsguide.com/
Author Site - http://www.christopherklein.com/

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Comments

[Itchy]

My bum is itchy.