I am an editor and spend all day reading and rewriting, so after a long day at work, I'm not likely to pick up a book unless it's something that I'm really enjoying. I always thought it would be awesome to get to read for a living, but once I actually started doing it as a job and realized that poring over less-than-stellar copy every day can be not so fun, my love of reading definitely took a sad hit.
That's my long way of saying, it took me so long to finish reading the book because it wasn't very good. I loved the concept behind it, but I wasn't thrilled with the execution.
Rich Wolfe, who compiled dozens of stories about Harry from friends, colleagues, ballplayers and others, says in his preface:
This book is designed solely for other sports fans. I really don't care what the publisher, editors or critics think. I'm only interested in Phillies fans having an enjoyable read and getting their money's worth. Sometimes a person being interviewed will drift off the subject but if the feeling is that Phillies fans would enjoy their digression, it stays in the book.
Wolfe says there was minimal editing done, mostly involving commas and merging paragraphs, and that shows. Some of these stories ramble on and don't get to a point. Others have barely anything to say about Harry (I'm looking at you, Tim McCarver). A few are from friends who hadn't seen or talked to Harry since high school or college. Many of the essays tell the same story, and despite Wolfe's acknowledgment of that and assertion that they bring different perspectives, they just sound repetitive.
In addition, there are these random factoids at the bottom of many pages. They don't have anything to do with Harry Kalas, the Phillies or baseball. They didn't add anything of interest and definitely could have been left out.
Worst of all, there are basic mistakes throughout the book, the kind that make me cringe. Misspellings, missing punctuation, missing words, sentences and phrases that don't make any sense. I'm not a perfect writer or editor, but I also don't have a book deal. These kind of sloppy errors shouldn't be found in any book.
There were some interesting tales I hadn't heard before, and some tributes were touching. But I think Wolfe should have taken into account that maybe Phillies fans can be editors and critics too and would have appreciated a better product.
I don't like being harsh, but because Wolfe says that he's the least likely person to write a book, that he can't type, that he's never turned on the computer and that he's never seen the Internet, I think that it's probably fair to say he's out of touch with many Phillies fans today anyway.
Next on the list: I need to finally read my Gary Matthews-Scott Lauber Phillies Confidential about the 2008 season. I enjoy Lauber's writing, so I'm sure this will be a much quicker read. It will be fun to revisit the World Championship season after some time and with a little more perspective. And come on - it has Sarge! Can't go wrong with him.
Greg is in the middle of Doug Glanville's The Game from Where I Stand, which I bought him for his birthday. He's enjoying it so far. [It's not a tell-all, but gives enough insight to make it interesting. And, we've always enjoyed Glanville's op-eds.]
And at some point we'll probably check out Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas by Randy Miller. The excerpts we've seen have been juicy.
At the movies: Greg sent me this fun tidbit this afternoon:
These were the DVDs in the Philadelphia visitor's clubhouse: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard; Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Semi Pro. Obviously the Phillies are hoping the opposition will pop one in and sleep through the game.
We're highly amused that the home team provides DVDs for the visiting clubhouse. I'm also trying to figure out if there's some kind of hidden message behind providing these particular movies, if they were in the discount bin at Walmart or if they were just left behind in Brett Myers' locker.
I wonder if the Red Sox provide a complimentary copy of Fever Pitch for their visitors. [Or, do home teams leave that disaster for the Red Sox when they visit to get in their heads?]
Tonight: The Phillies were off from playing a game but participated in their annual ALS festival. They open a series in New York tomorrow night.
The Red Sox are handling the AL East leaders and are up 6-0 on the Rays in the 4th inning.
The Flyers, up 3-1, are about 18 minutes away from the finals.
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