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Genealogy Book Store > Genealogy books beginning with A
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An Incomplete and Inaccurate History of Sport: . . . and Other Random Thoughts from Childhood to Fatherhood |
Author: Kenny Mayne
Published: 2008-04-22 |
List price: $24.95
Our price: $16.47
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As of: January 06th, 2009 12:49:38 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Good for ESPN, not for a novel
I get it, Kenny Mayne is the new cerebral host on ESPN. Well, now that Olberman and Kilborn have left and Dan Patrick is doing who knows what. That may work on a one hour program that most of us either watch at 2:00 in the morning or have on as background noise when we are getting ready for work. It doesn't work in this book. If I wanted to read someone's neurotic and jumbled thoughts about everything (sports being one of the more minor topics here) in their life, then I would head on over to see what Oprah thinks I should read.
 More Random thoughts than sports
I am a Kenny Mayne fan and I enjoyed his book. Parts had me laughing out loud. Other parts made no sense. Much like Kenny's segments on NFL Countdown. The drawings by his kids were a great extra.
 Kenny Mayne book
I bought this book because I like Kenny's sense of humor. I was right, it was funny and a quick delightful read.
 Goofy Book That Lacks Focus is for Mayne Fans Only
If you love Kenny Mayne's goofy, dry sense of humor then you may enjoy this humor book. It's not a serious look at the history of sport (though there are a few "relevant facts" tossed in) but rather a humor book in the style of the recent books from Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert. Because it lacks any focus and hyper-actively jumps from thought to thought with little development of any single idea the book ultimately is only for those male readers who have a short attention span and probably don't like to read much.
He covers traditional and oddball sports, including badminton, bocce, rowing, dodgeball and wiffle ball. There's also a section on carnival games. These chapters range from a a couple paragraphs to five pages, so none are really developed enough to make much of a point.
He includes pictures drawn by his daughters, shares some personal information (which we don't know if it's true because so much of the book is written in a mocking style), and even spends time talking about Dancing with the Stars. It may make a good book for dad for Christmas or Father's Day.
Unless you are a huge Kenny fan the book is probably not your thing. There isn't enough solid information in it and the joking tones gets old really fast. It would have been better if he would have truly done some solid research, presented an interesting perspective on sports history and then tossed in some humor along the way. Instead he has written a book that ends up being just one big joke--and it isn't that funny.
Mike Hegan, Spencer Haywood, Lori Beiberstein, and Carolee
...are memories I share with Kenny. I received the book for father's day and finished it sitting in the grandstands at the US Open at Torrey Pines. I enjoyed the book a lot, but it's probably because Kenny and I have fairly parallel memories of Seattle area sports - Pilots (I still have my Pilots Mike Hegan bat day giveaway), Sonics, Seahawks, Huskies, etc. - and because we both went to TJHS (I was a year ahead). Coincidentally, we both were on our honeymoons when Cal Ripken broke the record.
Trying to be objective, I wish there were a few more sports stories and sports memories, even if they were Seattle-centric or solely Kenny's. Kenny does overuse several literary devices, but I doubt that's intentional since he'd probably claim he doesn't know what literary devices are. He certainly didn't learn about them at TJ.
I am going to have my wife read the book to see if she can be more objective/critical since she didn't go to school with Kenny and knows little about Seattle sports (except what I have told her). I'll make sure she posts a review.
Give it a read... if you do, you'll never approach Monopoly trades in the same way again. Nice job Kenny!
Lyle Personette TJ '76
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