2024 the best soccer player in the world of all time review

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(as of Dec 09, 2024 08:52:21 UTC - Details)

The essential guide to world soccer—the history, the players, the fan culture—from the phenomenally popular duo from NBC Sports.

The Men in Blazers are two English-born, soccer-obsessed broadcasters who have savored the dizzying growth of the game along with millions of Americans. Now they immerse fans and novices alike in the history and culture of the world’s game with Encyclopedia Blazertannica. Examining fan culture, from the famous stadium chants to the tactical variations of scarf tying, exploring the complex physics and ethics of both celebratory knee slides and fights between players, reliving the careers of legendary players, classic matches, and colorful World Cup history, and sharing a deep appreciation for the athletic brilliance and ill-judged neck tattoos that dominate the sport, this indispensable tome gives readers a front-row seat to all the action of football madness.

A New York Times Bestseller!

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Knopf; Illustrated edition (May 15, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1101875984
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1101875988
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.7 x 0.9 x 9.3 inches
Reviewer: Ken Barr
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Roger Bennett and Michael Davie have written a guide to their extremely warped sense of humour as well as their love for "The Beautiful Game
Review: The Men in Blazers have brought their brand of "suboptimal crap" to the world of literature. Roger Bennett and Michael Davie have written a guide to their extremely warped sense of humour as well as their love for "The Beautiful Game," warts and all. Interspersed among the laughs are touching stories about growing in England and coming to America as immigrants, experiences that need retelling in this age of intolerance and xenophobia. Never preachy, always entertaining, The Men in Blazers poke fun at themselves, the world wide phenomenon that is football and the accompanying hype and hoopla. Come meet Lady Lowe (pronounced "low-veh") , Crap Cat and the predictive power of pies. Also skewered are such characters as disgraced FiFA officials Sepp Blatter and Chuck Blazer (no relation to the House of Tweed worshipped by Rog and Davo). "Encyclopedia Blazertannica" is a must for all who can see the funny side of the world's most popular game and sport. As it says on its cover, it is the definitively suboptimal guide to soccer, America's "Sport of the future" since 1972! Viri Recte Vestiti (Men Dressed Well)

Reviewer: Leandro Teixeira
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The best soccer (footbal) starter kit for Americans!
Review: Excellent book! As a Brazillian expat living in Wisconsin finding you guys in the US was the best surprise.I was introduced to the MIB around 2012-13 thanks to a free Sirius XM radio subscription that came with a new car.I would drive to work listening to you guys and more than once I hang out in my parked car a few minutes more than I should have just to listen a little bit longer. I am sure to this day, there is a very confused Sirius XM radio executive that tells the story about this email complaining about the MIB radio show cancelation where, with the full power of my fresh-off-the-boat naïveté, I might have mentioned that you were the reason I kept my subscription and that I thought this was an awful business decision that would cause them to lose many more subscribers that might otherwise be exposed to other Sirius XM upcoming programs like the Howard Stern Show, which they seemed to be going out of their way to promote.This book for me is a trip down memory lane, but it is also a great soccer starter kit for Americans, or, as the boys usually say, anyone that is "soccer-curious".

Reviewer: Mark C Haigney MD
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Cometh the Hour; Cometh the Balds
Review: As an American growing up in the post-war US, my interest in England was limited to the things which could be appropriated and made better by combination with our own Borg-like culture (e.g. the Beatles and James Bond). My visits to the UK confirmed my suspicion that there was nothing valuable in Britain we hadn't stolen. If the British were satisfied with tea, bovril, and vegemite, then so much the worse for them, I thought.When NBC started broadcasting the Premier League, though, I was startled to find that it was I who had been living on marmite and two veg, at least sports-wise. The EPL provides 90 minute episodes of the best in athletics without commercial interruption (except the very brief halftime) and a level of commentary that I associated with the high table at Cambridge or the Hogwart's faculty combination room. I could watch two EPL matches in the time it took to endure one NFL game, and still have time left over for a deep-tissue massage. But there was over 100 years of tradition and history to catch up with, and I have so many questions. What's with all the singing? Where the hell in Middle Earth is Tottenham? How come they say "Darby" when they mean "Derby?" This fine book provides the answers to questions that I should not give a damn about.Like a pair of above-average House Elves, Rog and Davo have been my guides to the mysteries of the EPL. Ex-pats now living in the states, they know exactly what we Yanks find absurd and incomprehensible about their native land and the beautiful game. Escapees from a dead empire (that faded into obscurity in no small part due to its obsession with football), they are helping provide Safe Passage to Americans as we dismantle our own empire. They, and this book, are a reminder that the world is an older and a better place than our current masters will ever know. Courage.

Reviewer: Stan Szobinak
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Engaging read (and cool design) for soccer fans new and old
Review: This book makes a great gift for the hardest of hardcore soccer fans, or those just now jumping aboard the bandwagon. The authors do a great job of illustrating (with words and great graphics) the passion and excitement of soccer without coming off too condescending towards a American audience (well, maybe just a little condescending....)Overall, I would recommend this book if you want to learn a bit about the history of soccer both in USA and across the globe while having a nice chuckle. Or, if you're like my wife, just ogle at the photos of soccer mullets from the 80s 🙂

Reviewer: Neil Chasan
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Purchased Against My Better Judgement.
Review: I am a pre comb over bald denier who against my better judgement, paid real money for not one, not two but three copies of this "book" so I would be able to actually name a book if asked by Jimmy Kimmel.In a fit of Arsenally insanity, I gave the book to my Arsenal mad sons too, noting that if they still could not read, they could use it for toilet paper, fire starter or to prop up a table if needed.Here's the thing, in a world where "fake news is the news de jouer, when you read that Sam Allardyce "resembles the bastard offspring that would result if a hippopotamus made love with a steak and kidney pie", you realizes that you have struck literary gold. Move over Ernest Hemingway.To be sure, this "book", a truly encyclopedic encyclopedia of football nonsense is required bathroom reading. It's all the news thats fit to print. Well done lads, a truly sub-optimal effort. Balds win.

Reviewer: Ian A Giggal
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A must read for any GFOP (Great Friend of the Pod), a wonderful introduction to the Men In Blazer universe for any aspiring GFOP, or just the soccer curious. Roger "Rog" Bennett and Michael "Davo" Davies have written what will forever be known as the most sub-optimal book of crap on soccer ever written.The perfect antidote to the often too serious and reverential tone of many books on sport, this encyclopedia treats it's subject with the mockery and humor that it truly deserves. Yet in every joke their deep love and dedication to the sport and the clubs they support shines through.If you have ever loved a professional team from any sport, you will relate to their passion. If you love the game, you will enjoy this book.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excellent Nothing so good published this side pf the Atlantic

Reviewer: Ward
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Total crap. A worse person for having bought and read it. Most valuable experience of my life.

Reviewer: John Gillespie
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Fantastic. Very enjoyable. If you love the podcast. You will love this book!

Reviewer: Ian King
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Very enjoyable read. I will be rereading this for years to come.