Sports from Hell, Rick Reilly
Sports from Hell, Rick Reilly
3 Rating(s)
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Sports from Hell
My Search for the World's Dumbest Competition

Author: Rick Reilly

Narrator: Mike Chamberlain

Unabridged: 6 hr 52 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/04/2010


Synopsis

The most popular sports columnist in America puts his life (and dignity) on the line in search of the most absurd sporting event on the planet.

What is the stupidest sport in the world? Not content to pontificate from the sidelines, Rick Reilly set out on a global journey—with stops in Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, England, and even a maximum security prison at Angola, Louisiana—to discover the answer to this enduring question.

From the physically and mentally taxing sport of chess boxing to the psychological battlefield that is the rock-paper-scissors championship, to the underground world of illegal jart throwing, to several competitions that involve nudity, Reilly, in his valiant quest, subjected himself to both bodily danger and abject humiliation (or, in the case of ferret legging, both).

These fringe sports offer their participants a chance to earn a few bucks and achieve the eternal glory that is winning—even when the victory in question might strike some as pointless, like the ability to sit in an oven-hot sauna for the longest time. It's debatable whether these sports push the body or just human idiocy to the outermost limits, but one thing is for sure: Sports in Hell is laugh-out-loud hilarious and will deliver plenty of unabashed fun.

About The Author

RICK REILLY has been voted National Sportswriter of the Year ten times. Formerly a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, he now writes a column for ESPN: The Magazine and ESPN.com and appears on the TV network. He is also the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including Who's Your Caddy?


Reviews

Goodreads review by Frank

Good beach read. Some of the “sports” are dated, but that is not important. Rick Reilly can write in a style that emphasizes sports and the characters with a humorous touch.......more

Goodreads review by Adam

Reilly's sense of humor is tasteful and optimistic, even when he's covering stuff that is far from the former, as with the chapter on drinking games. I laughed out loud frequently while reading this book. Reilly has a gifted ability to raise the lowbrow to something Shakespearean with his elevated a......more

Goodreads review by Ellis

Meh. Not as funny as I thought it would be. There are some weird shadings that make some of the stories uncomfortable - the ferret legging isn't very funny once some woman gets horribly bitten, for instance. Prison rodeo is okay if you can suspend your disbelief & care about the rodeo adventures of......more

Goodreads review by Steve

I was going to give this 3stars because of the sport of “Drinking Games,” but then I got to the chapter on Baseball and his roasting of the game was worth several extra stars! Fortunately baseball has rectified most of his complaints about random glove adjustments and infinite throws to first and so......more


Quotes

Praise for Who’s Your Caddy?
“Reilly could write about lawn bowling and make it funny, informative, and entertaining. You never know what the next page is going to bring.” —Los Angeles Times
 
 
“Good, wacky fun—and the primo Father’s Day gift of the year” - Fortune
 
 
 
Praise for Missing Links
“You don't need to know your bogeys from your birdies to find at least three laughs per page in this novel.”
-The New York Times Book Review

“Part Damon Runyon, part Raymond Chandler, and part Caddyshack...I was hooked for the full 18.”
-Entertainment Weekly

Praise for Shanks for Nothing
 
“The most entertaining golf novel not written by Dan Jenkins. This is a must read for any fan of golf—or of good humor.” -Star Telegram

“Showcases the underrated eloquence of male banter…fast-paced, hilarious (and often raunchy) hijinks…Reilly can add another stroke of genius to his scorecard” -Rocky Mountain News


Praise for Slow-Mo
“A splendid comic device whose literal telling of his NBA career says more about pro sports than he could ever know.”-Chicago Tribune

"[An] inspired satire, a laugh-a-minute, sometimes bawdy, over-the-top riff on everyone and everything associated with professional basketball. If you don't find something to laugh at with Slo-Mo!, run out, don't walk, and find a sense of humor." -Denver Post