Andy Roddick Beat Me with a Frying Pan: Taking the Field with Pro Athletes and Olympic Legends to Answer Sports Fans' Burning Questions

by Todd Gallagher

Book Overview

Massive goalies, midget batters, and Mike Tyson... Todd Gallagher faced them all to answer your questions Every sports fan knows that the debates can be almost as interesting as the games themselves... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307352803
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Fantastic

Sports are ingrained in the fabric of America, and whether you're a fanatic or a casual observer, you've often pondered the ridiculous and provaocative questions that fill bar rooms, offices and Super Bowl parties across the country. "Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan:..." answers these questions. It is a perfect addendum to the library of any sports fan. Not only are the questions interesting, but Todd Gallagher has succeeded where so many others have failed. He went out and got the best athletes in the world to test every innane scenario that your typical armchair sportsfan could imagine. Andy Roddick actually playing tennis with a frying pan, Danius Zubrus firing slap-shots at a 1000 pound goalie, and the list goes on. Never before has a book been published that tackles these scenarios in a realistic fashion. Most offer only opinions from D-level celebrities and coaches. I recommend to even the most casual sports fan, to go out and get a copy of this witty, provocative, gripping and ultimately intelligent book.

entertaining... a great bathroom reader

This book has a very funny premise, it asks ridiculous hypotheticals and proceeds to test them out to conclusion. Sticking a fat man in a hockey goal, pitching to midgits, having an olympic swimmer race a layman with only a doggystyle-stroke. The chapters are written with a great sense of humor and are short enough to be read in one bathroom sitting. I guess it could also be used as a coffee table book (although not my copy).

REVIEW

I loved it. The humor, the facts, the writing style... all of it. Very funny, kept me laughing, easy to read. I am in a book club and I'm gonna recommend it at our next meeting. Perfect gift for the sports nerd in your family!

Great Book!!!

I saw an excerpt for this book in the Wall Street Journal and my interest was piqued. I can't say I'm a huge follower of sports debates but I was a faithful George Plimpton fan and this seemed to be in that vein. However, the attempts I've seen outside of George's work in participatory journalism have always left me a little unsatisfied. Mostly they're self indulgent, lazy, or simply dim witted. This book is none of these things. Todd Gallagher, the author, sets out to answer sports greatest questions. And to do it, he pulls out all of the stops and gets a number of very popular pro athletes and sports teams to help him. Roddick plays tennis with a frying pan. The Washington Capitols play hockey against a 1000 pound man. The NL batting champ is decimated in wiffle ball to name a few. This is a remarkable feat in itself for a book. To actually answer these questions in a substantial way is impressive indeed. But the real story in this book is Gallagher. With his boundless enthusiasm, cynical optimism, and pencil thin mustache, he's a character in a Wes Anderson movie come to life. No matter if he's being beaten by a doggie paddling Olympic swimmer, negotiating with Mike Tyson to fight 10 "tough guys" in one night, or cold calling major league general managers to try to get one to sign a midget for a major league game, he's always giving it his all with a level of commitment and humor that is rarely seen. Beyond the amazing accomplishments of getting multi-millionaire athletes to participate in his hair brained schemes, the writing is impeccable. Every line is packed with information, a witty joke, or a combination of the two. It's not overstating it to invoke the name of Woody Allen, but the jokes are of this quality and while there are a number of "insider" sports jokes (some of which, admittedly, I had to look up to get), this book is not just for sports fanatics. For any George Plimpton fans out there, fear not, in the realm of participatory journalism, the legacy is in good hands. I can't recommend this book enough.

Hilarious!

This book is hilarious and written very well. It's nice to see these questions answered in such a straightforward way. It's great that so many athletes and people working in the athletic field were so open to the idea of the book and so forthcoming with what the sports life is like. Great book! Will recommend it to everyone I know!