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 enlarge | Author: Stefan Fatsis
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $13.00
You Save: $12.95 (50%)
New (33) Used (20) from $12.15
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 31345
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 1594201781
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.449796092
EAN: 9781594201783
ASIN: 1594201781
Publication Date: July 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 4.5 Stars...Must-read for NFL fans: "Paper Lion" for the 21st century October 1, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I must admit that I was somewhat skeptical picking up this book. I mean, hasn't the ultimate "insider" book on this topic (writer gets to taste what the NFL is like) already been written, albeit some 40+ years ago? That would be George Plimpton's "Paper Lion", of course, a book that is mentioned quite a few times in this book as well. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist the urge, and boy, am I glad that I picked this up.
In "A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43 Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL" (340 pages), Wall Street Journal sportswriter (on the business issues of sports) Stefan Fatsis takes us on his journey of what it was like to attend mini-camp and then training camp and the pres-season of the 2006 Denver Broncos as a place kicker. After a tentative start, I quickly found myself turning the pages furiously, not being able to wait what would come next. The author describes what it's like to be an outsider, literally, not to mention an OLD outsider, trying to fit in with the regular Broncos players. His observations regarding the brutal realities of the NFL are quite astute, as are his comments of the Denver players (it reads like a soap opera, frankly), as well as the Denver coaching staff, including head coach Mike Shanahan. Fatsis brings the highs and lows of his adventure fabulously.
Very helpful is the last chapter, in which the author brings us what happened to many of the characters in the book in the two years since he did his stint with the Broncos. This book is a classic, in my opinion, and I am quite surprised that the book didn't do better commercially. A must read for any fan of the NFL, no matter what team you are rooting for.
 Two Stories: One Interesting, One Excellent September 20, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The first story this book tells is about the author's attempt to become a passable kicker. There is some success and some failure in this, and it is interesting (even if you don't care about kicking).
The second story is about what it is like to be a player in the NFL. This story is dark and excellent. I think everyone knows how hard being an NFL player is physically. I think most people are aware of how hard it is mentally. This book shows how difficult it is psychologically.
Fatsis doesn't become a real NFL player, but he gets a lot closer than most people will. He gets close enough that the real players are willing to tell him what it's like (and close enough to understand what they say). And that, for me, is close enough...
Much more than a sports book (but a great sports book!) September 14, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A Few Seconds of Panic is a fast-paced mix of all-American male fantasy, fear, guilty pleasure and gentle stab of "might have been" - while offering more laughs per page than any sports book in years.
While the plot involves Fatsis improving his kicking to the point of non-embarrassment as part of the Denver Broncos, the deeper stories revolve around issues of belonging and achieving, of men proving themselves to themselves, and of the sacrifices we are willing to make to have done something extraordinary.
While Fatsis endures initiation and a brutal training regimen, humiliating public failures and private doubts, the book isn't really about him. Rather, we see through his sharp and empathetic eyes the arc of young lives enriched and betrayed by a business that masquerades as a game.
I'm reading the book AS Fatsis - imagining myself in his (size 6 1/2) shoes, taking a ribbing from my teammates, being ordered to sing my college fight song in the locker room, facing intense performance anxiety, and worst of all - getting into a jacuzzi filled with 47 degree water for 15 minutes.
That's only fitting, since the central theme of the book is how we men measure ourselves, against other men, against great tasks, against pain, and against fate itself.
What are my Few Seconds of Panic?
My takeaway, several weeks after finishing the book, is a series of questions:
What glorious, outrageous claim to greatness have I not dared to dream?
What self-imposed rules have kept me on the sidelines?
What fears of ridicule by the "in-crowd," in whatever setting, have limned my ambition?
So thank you, Stefan, for bolding going into the breach and paving the way for this reader, at least, to look for my own Few Seconds of Panic.
Great insight into the game September 5, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Stefan Fatsis takes us inside the game of football and also takes us into his struggle to be accepted by these Sunday warriors, who battle pain, fear of failure and fear of what success may do to them.
Fatsis reminds us that most football players aren't stars who are set financially for life. Instead, they play a game that is run like a business.
I really got a "kick" out of this book (pun intended) August 26, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Even the most dedicated fan of the National Football League (NFL) can't possibly know what goes on "behind the curtain." Most of us know only what we see on Sundays or what we read in Monday's newspaper. Sure, we think we know our favorite players and all their foibles. You can lay all that aside after reading this book.
Stefan Fatsis suceeds in infiltrating the most sacred of grounds: the NFL locker room and the strange world that surrounds it. We get a glimpse of what it is like to know that your very job hinges on the next play in training camp. Players come and go like the tides. Coaches rule like tyrrants and the pecking order among them becomes painfully evident. So does the stress created in this bubbling cauldron they call professional football.
Reading about the personalities of the players--from the lowly undrafted rookie free agent to the highest paid super-star--reminds us that these people are only human. In fact, Fastis' colorful writing creates a word picture that surely is the way these players really are. Some are real characters, some are sad reminders of how cruel life can be. I found myself identifying with one partiular play and this gave me great insight into my own place in life.
It must be terribly frustrating to be a professional football player, where the glamor of game day gives way to utter despair when the "turk" comes to visit.
The only downside I see with this book is that it is so captivating that I let my usual workload pile up while I sat glue to the book. Oh, well.
Stefan Fatsis provides a ticket to a game seldom of us see--the game withing the game. Though he stands only 5 feet 8 inches, this work is gigantic. May all of his kicks in life sail thorugh the uprights.
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