Value that team above all else, even yourself.
- The Football Fan's Commandment No.2 from The Football Fan's Manifesto by Michael Tunison.
The back cover of the new book, The Football Fan's Manifesto, says it's a playbook to the strict rules and bylaws that must be scrupulously observed by true football fans. As you can probably guess from the numbering above, there are ten football fan commandments, and I've only republished No. 2.
What is your football commandment? What is it about fair weather or bandwagon fans that drives you crazy?
Post it in the comments and you'll have a chance to win a signed copy of The Football Fan's Manifesto.
My review of the book is after the jump.
If you're not familiar with Michael Tunison, he's one of the writers at Kissing Suzy Kolber, which is a NSFW site filled with NFL satire, some vulgarity, and many cheesecake photos of cheerleaders. Basically it's nothing like Acme Packing Company. That I would review his book, or run a book giveaway contest, is like Bob Costas commenting on an MMA fight.
It's not a book meant to be a sociology thesis on how people build relationship with sports players or teams, instead, it's a roast of professional football. It's from his point of view, or a fictional die-hard NFL fan. I'd imagine Tunison is himself a die-hard football fan, but if he had done all of the drinking and fighting he suggests in his book, he'd either be dead of alcohol poisoning or serving time for aggrevated battery. Although he suggests that the NFL is the only sport worth following, he then details all the reasons why every NFL team sucks and you're probably a fool for following them. But it's not criticism to be taken personally; the insults are comic and it's all good male bonding. It's not the type of book I normally read, I'm more likely to go for a book on NFL history or statistics, but I know not everyone can sit around and read text books like I can. This is a book for NFL fans who hate DVOA and just want to watch a game with a beer.