One on One: Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game

It took me a while to "get" this book. Based on the title and subtitle, I expected it to be a series of interviews with famous athletes. Instead it seemed to ramble all over the place. <br /><br />Indeed there is a plan to this book, but it would be better described by the title, "What It's Like to Be John Feinstein: Behind the Scenes With Me As I Wrote All My Other Books." Feinstein reminisces about writing "A Season on the Brink," "Hard Courts," "A Good Walk Spoiled," "A Civil War," and many others. The last few chapters revisit some of the people he interviewed in those books to find out what they are doing now. <br /><br />While I originally wondered why someone would think we wanted to read this kind of blow by blow view of authorship ("I got an idea. I pitched it to my agent. I got an advance. I started calling people..."), once I relaxed and just went with the flow, I found the book extremely entertaining. Feinstein is at heart a storyteller, and this book is like you are sitting around with him after dinner, and he says, "That reminds me of the run-in I had with the stuck-up officials at Wimbledon," or "Did I ever tell you how I got harrassed by the Czech KGB for researching a story, and got detained and interrogated, and threatened?" or, "You heard Bob Knight had a temper? Well, let me tell you about Bob Knight and his temper." <br /><br />Along the way there are, as advertised, some up-close portraits of great athletes, but the main character remains John Feinstein. But so what? If he were at my dinner table, I would ask him to keep telling another one, and I would invite him back. Boys and girls all over the country dream of growing up to be sports stars. This is a book to make you want to grow up and be a sports reporter, at least if you can be as lucky and privileged as John Feinstein.

This provides a good insight into what drives John Feinstein to be one of the better sports reporters out there. I, like most, have read his Season on the Brink and other books (Good Walk Spoiled, Tales from Q School, Civil War) and thought they were okay. I also thought Feinstein had a bit of ego and wasn't a huge fan of his.<br /><br />Until I read this book. I realized in order to really shine at any profession, you have to be pushy, pompous, over confident, etc. Feinstein admits some of this and I was impressed that, while cutting others at times, he also took shots at himself. I admired him more for that. <br /><br />The book covers his career in writing, starting at the Washington Post and moving on into big time book writing. His humbleness does show when he writes of hearing how well Season on the Brink did in sales and then when his golf book topped the best-seller charts. <br /><br />Feinstein also does not pull punches and can criticize athletes for their boorish behavior and actions. But he's also good enough to rescind if he learns otherwise. He thought golfer David Duval was a turd based on other comments and a brief encounter. But when he actually met him, he realized Duval was okay. I'd hate to have Feinstein write negatively about me if I were an athlete, but I'd also know he was professional enough to know it was not as much a personal jab than an observation that comes with being an athlete. In other words, he could attack an athlete and then enjoy going out to eat with him or her.<br /><br />Despite its 500+ pages, this is a quick, enjoyable read that shows the inside of sports writing. From covering the Masters to watching a basketball game in upstate New York after driving on bad roads during winter, this shows the life as it is. A great read and a great way to start off 2019 in books.

As I've gotten older, I really enjoy watching sports, mostly college, well mostly BYU since it is my alma mater. I had never heard of this author/sports writer/sports commentator, John Feinstein, before and after reading this book, sounds like I live under a rock. This guy knows everyone and anyone involved in college basketball, pro golf, tennis and baseball and all the greats know him. I did enjoy reading a few of his personal interactions with some of the superstars and some not so superstarish men. I got bored with the hundreds of people he dealt with like, agents, administrative guys, trainers, coaches, assistant coaches, etc. Just way too many for my pea brain to handle. <br />I do agree with Mr. Feinstein that a movie should be made about Steve Kerr. Steve Kerr was at UofA when I lived in AZ so I watched him play for Lute Olsen whom my husband admired. Steve Kerr seamed liked such a humble, fun loving, hard working guy back then and I think he hasn't changed. So that part of this book I really enjoyed, learning more about Steve Kerr was a treat but reading over 500 pages of others, not so much.

One on One: Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game by John Feinstein. This book was provided to me free-of-charge by GoodReads, FirstReads. I never got around to marking it as "currently reading" because I read it a little at a time since it was easy to put down and then pick up again. This book has over 500 pages, so doing it that way I was able to read other material during the time span I spent on 'One on One.'<br /><br />I am a sports fan but not a fanatic one. I feel that anybody who is even remotely interested in sports will enjoy this book. It covers lots of sports, i.e., tennis, baseball, golf, football, college basketball, etc. It's obvious that Mr. Feinstein has written about sports for a long time, does lots of research, therefore knows what he is writing about. His access to coaches, players, etc., is amazing! The behind-the-scenes are incredible reading, very interesting and most enjoyable. This book is highly recommended. <br /><br />Since I grew up in southern Indiana, I am a huge fan of Indiana University in Bloomington. The segment about the basketball season spent with Bobby Knight and the IU team was very entertaining for me.

John Feinstein is the greatest author/columnist in sports, just ask him. His ego aside, he does know how to write an interesting book. The first four hundred pages revolve around the first ten books he wrote and the stories behind them. He spends a lot of time on the book that made him, "A Season on the Brink.". Having never read this book, it was really interesting to see how Knight (thank god he isn't here to choke me) ran his program and how self centered and arrogant he was. I found myself on the outside looking in a few times having not read all of John's books, although for the most part the stories stand on there own with a little background from John. The last hundred pages are follow up on the people in his book. I found this section hit or miss. It was frustrating when he teases interviews with Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe, but only goes on to give you the story of the Lendl interview. This epilogue was moving as he spoke about the great bond at the service academies, and how their teams are truly like a family. Overall I like this book, although I could have done with a little less of John's ego.

I received a free copy as part of the Goodreads First Read Giveaway.<br /><br />This is really a book for sports fans. Everyone else will be rather bored. <br /><br />I first heard of John Feinstein when my brother asked for "Hard Courts" for his birthday. My family is obsessed with tennis and everyone plays tennis (except for me). "Hard Courts" is all about tennis and includes extensive interviews with players. It is one of my brothers all time favorite books. So, this book will be re-gifted to that person in my life and I will be the favorite sister. <br /><br />Feinstein includes a section on tennis, including some amusing stories about Ivan Lendl, baseball, golf, football, and baseketball. He really includes details and conversations that the typical fan would never been able to have. <br /><br />I thought this was well done and included information about a wide variety of sports. I liked the tennis section the best and really don't care about the other sports too much although I found the information interesting.

When I signed up to win this book, I had planned on giving it as a gift. That didn't work out however, so I ended up winning it and having it to myself! I was hesitant to read it, because although I watch college sports, I don't believe I'm an avid enough fan to read a 500 page book about it. But I decided to try it anyway, and I am glad I did.<br /><br />This book was not filled with endless statistics, or play by plays that could have been hard for me to get through. Instead, it was a well written memoir of John Feinstein's best encounters in the past few decades. Overall, this book was a good overview of the adventures he most surely goes into more detail with in his other books. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I found this to be a mostly enjoyable listen. <b>Feinstein</b> recounts his early career as a sportswriter, how he came to write <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/75639.Season_on_the_Brink" title="Season on the Brink by John Feinstein" rel="noopener">Season on the Brink</a>, and how its success led to his other books on various sports. The book needed better editing though. There were a couple of rather big errors early on and <b>Dan Dakich's</b> name was mispronounced throughout the audio. The narration was done by <b>David De Vries</b>.

This is a really interesting behind the scenes look at the writing of Feinstein's first ten books, as well as a small update on where some of the major figures from those books have ended up since. I think this book would still have been enjoyable if I hadn't read all of Feinstein's previous books. Having read them, though, this was just an added bonus. Really enjoyed this one.

The "One" in the title is a little misleading. Picking this up I assumed this would be Feinstein going one on the other ones he wrote books about. Not so much. It's really Feinstein talking about the one most important person in the room, himself, as he remembers the work he did on his books. This is not as bad as I make it sound, really, because there is no disputing the author is a top notch writer: interesting, funny, opinionated, and most of all not afraid to go places many would never dare.<br /><br />So what we have here is the director's cut and the director's commentary on decades of famous and infamous books and stories inside sports. Some, to me, was boring and I skimmed right over it (most of the tennis). Other parts were fantastic, like the details surrounding <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/75638.A_Civil_War_Army_vs__Navy___A_Year_Inside_College_Football_s_Purest_Rivalry" title="A Civil War Army vs. Navy - A Year Inside College Football's Purest Rivalry by John Feinstein" rel="noopener">A Civil War: Army vs. Navy - A Year Inside College Football's Purest Rivalry</a>, and of course Tiger Woods (it is impossible to be uninterested in Tiger).<br /><br />Here's a snippet from where the book, and John's work, shines brightest:<br /><br /><blockquote>The ball rolled to the turf while the Army bench celebrated as if it had just won the game.<br /><br />In fact, I distinctly remember Jim Cantelupe turning to Derek Klein and saying, "We just won the game. We just won the f--ing game." In the book, I changed <i>f--ing</i> to <i>damn</i> so Jim's mom wouldn't get mad at him. She got mad at him anyway, so I can now reveal the truth. Jim has since given her two grandchildren, so I think she'll forgive him.</blockquote><br />