Sunday, November 4, 2018

Review of "Minnesota Made Me"

As a Minnesota native, I was naturally interested in this book when I saw that advance review copies were offered to reviewers. Recognizing many of the athletes on the cover, I picked it up and it turned out to be pretty good.  Here is my review of "Minnesota Made Me"




Title/Author:

Minnesota Made Me” by Patrick C. Borzi

Tags:

Various sports, biography

Publish date:

November 6, 2018

Length:

200 pages

Rating: 

3 1/2 of 5 stars (good)

Review:

Minnesota has produced its share of championship athletes in a wide variety of sports. From curling (Pete Fenson) to motocross (Ryan Dungey) to women’s soccer (Briana Scurry), stories about more than three dozen athletes, or people who have worked in sports such as broadcasters, who have called Minnesota home are told in this book by Patrick C. Borzi.

The format of the book is straightforward – short biographies of more than three dozen athletes in many different sports. They are presented in alphabetical order from golf legend Patty Berg to basketball star Lindsey Whalen. Whalen is in a class by herself as she won championships for her teams in Minnesota at the high school, college and professional level. In addition to the lesser known sports listed above, there are stories about star athletes in major sports that many people know.  Stars such as Larry Fitzgerald (football), Paul Molitor and Tony Oliva (baseball) and Zach Parise (hockey) are also portrayed.

The stories are short but complete as the reader will learn more about the person in their professional and private lives. Some stories are understandably longer than others, but much of that depended on how much the athlete wanted to share with the author. It should also be noted that not every person portrayed is a Minnesota native. For example, the above noted Tony Oliva was born in Cuba but was signed by the Minnesota Twins as a teenager and once he came to Minnesota, it was his home.

While I was hoping to learn a little more about some of these athletes, especially those in the fringe sports that get little or no coverage from the media, this was a decent book that readers who hail from Minnesota (like this reviewer) or want to read about a wide variety of sports will enjoy it.

I wish to thank Press Box Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-Book (Kindle)


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