Recent Arrivals chronicles the books that have made their way onto the Today, I Read… bookshelf. Here’s the latest arrival: A Sportscaster’s Guide to Watching Football by Mark Oristano

First line: Well, I watched football for a living. I had a thirty-year [...]

Initial thoughts: When I was a little girl, I played peewee football. As I grew up, my love of football didn’t wane; instead it grew to near fanatical proportions. But, that was a while ago.

After a few anonymous meetings with other addicts, I swore off the stuff…until I was presented with an opportunity to read A Sportscaster’s Guide to Watching Football.

I was just too curious to pass it up because I wanted to see what I was missing through my fanatical eyes and I’ve always been curious about the intricacies of the game.

Book description:

Want to know what everyone is cheering about? Learn to enjoy and understand the game with the football fanatic in your life. This book is the ultimate football guide for the novice fan. You will get answers to such complex questions as: What is that yellow line on the field and why does it keep moving? What down is it and why do I care? What is a ‘T formation’? Laced with hilarious and insightful anecdotes from Mark Oristano’s thirty-year career as a pro football sportscaster, A Sportscaster’s Guide to Watching Football will turn you into a football-watching pro, or at least, let you fake it. Time Out: I was in the locker room before a game, and I saw an Oilers linebacker furiously drawing on his shoes with a permanent marker. This player, like many, had his ankle tape applied over the outside of his shoes instead of inside, which obviously covered the shoe logo. And he was drawing the logo of his shoe contract on the tape. "Wouldn’t it be easier," I asked him, "to get taped inside and not have to do the artwork?" "Yeah, it would," he replied, "but then I’d actually have to wear their damn shoes, and I hate ‘em. So I wear the brand I like and do it this way instead."

Book Details: 160 pages; Synergy Books; Pub. August 1, 2009