Review of "Need One!"

This was a very different type of sports memoir that I had never heard about until the author sent me an email.  When I looked into this book, I thought that this would be a dream trip for any sports fan.  After reading this book, the dream may be wonderful or a nightmare, but it sure made for entertaining reading.  Here is my review of "Need One!"

Title/Author:

“Need One! A Lunatic’s Attempt to Attend 365 Games in 365 Days” by Jamie Reidy

Tags:

Football (American), tennis, bowling, volleyball, baseball, memoir

Publish date:

February 25, 2017

Length:

226 pages

Rating: 

4 ½ of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

Every sports fan has a sports bucket list, places and teams that the fan wants to see at least once in his or her lifetime.  Dubbed “Sports Year”, author Jamie Reidy set out to do just that by attending one sporting even each day for an entire year. He also wanted to align Sports Year with the Wounded Warrior Project and allow wounded veterans to attend games and events on their bucket lists. 

While Sports Year fell short of the goal of one event every day for a year, the book does a fine job of capturing the adventures Reidy encountered while attending events.  He had to do this on a very limited budget as his hopes of obtaining sponsors did not go as well as he hoped (but he did end up sending out some Sports Year koozies for donors as promised).  He talks often about his 10-year-old Saab and the less-than-prime condition it was in to make the long journey.  His tales about his car were quite funny as were many of the other stories he shared.  This humor is the best quality of the book as it is not only entertaining, it kept the book moving along at a good pace.

Another nice touch to not only the book, but also Sports Year, is the variety of sports he attends.  Not only the types of sports, but also the age level of the participants.  During this trip, he becomes a big fan of girls’/women’s indoor volleyball.  He realizes how trivial his troubles during the trip are when he sees a softball game in which all players have had at least one limb amputated.  He gets to take veterans to some of the biggest venues such as Cowboys Stadium and Lambeau Field.  Through it all he maintains not only his sense of humor but also his sanity – at least enough to be able to write a very different type of sports memoir that any sports fan will enjoy reading.   

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Need-One-Lunatics-Attempt-Attend/dp/099808994X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=&dpID=51XfprIyBXL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail