A book I enjoyed though it goes into the weeds, at least for a casual and distracted fan like me ... One of the best things about his writing is watching him put his ideas on trial: He’s judge and jury, witnesses and bailiff, prosecutor and defense attorney.
A strange book — an impassioned collection of essays about the game that would make an awkward gift for the fan in your family ... Klosterman often seems inclined to put you off watching the sport ... His command of esoterica generally serves the meatier questions that football engenders.
In Football, the cultural critic Chuck Klosterman sizes up the sport’s 'unrestrained popularity' as 'something unsettling' ... Offers a fresh interpretation of football’s relationship to television, the medium that fueled its growth. Football is a perfect sport for the box because TV viewers see far more of the game than do those in attendance. The point isn’t original, but Mr. Klosterman takes it further ... The book does have worthy insights.
Klosterman is vulnerable and effusive in a way that captures how fandom feels ... But the logic of his arguments falls apart because it stays firmly within that emotional framework ... The thing with obituaries, especially public ones, is that more often than not, they sanitize their subjects. People don’t like to speak ill of the dead. Klosterman’s book is no different: In this public performance of future mourning, he reduces the sport to its clichés.
Klosterman spares no punches and keeps the pages moving. Football features his signature brand of humorous, sardonic and thought-provoking writing ... As the sport changes, Klosterman will once again be the writer who had his finger on the pulse long before anyone else. Football is a book worth keeping around and a great recommendation for the diehard and casual fan alike.
While sometimes meandering, Klosterman’s thoughtful and revealing exploration of his and America’s obsession is insightful and richly infused with his engaging and entertaining perceptions.
Approaching the subject with rigor and drawing on his lifelong fascination with the game, Klosterman sheds light on football’s 'outsized and underrated' role in shaping contemporary culture. The result is a transcendent appraisal of America’s favorite sport.
