Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN’s Sports Guy Found Salvation, With a Little Help From Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Red Sox - By: Bill Simmons

This book is a collection of articles from Bill Simmons' "Sports

Guy" column found in various places in ESPN. This book has its good points, and bad points. The recap format allows you to read about the events leading to a championship as they happened. None of the opinions are changed by history. You know exactly what Simmons was thinking, and complaining about, in real time. He also adds footnotes, detailing how those thoughts might have been right or wrong. All of it is well written, and is a great example of Simmons’s humor and writing style.

The only downside comes from the format of the book. It’s a collection of articles from a five-year period. A joke or reference that Simmons was making in an article once every few months, is crammed in next to another one. So, jokes about the Bad News Bears, or Shawshank are only an hours worth of reading apart, instead of months. It makes the jokes a little stale. Also, the footnotes tend to disrupt the reading. I wanted to read the information, I just couldn’t decide when to read them without losing the flow. Overall, a worthwhile book, that I’ve already read multiple times. But, really more of a reference book than a page-turner. Maybe reading it is short doses, as was originally intended would be a good idea. Limiting yourself to one article a week will keep the material fresh.

I’d rate it at 3 bases…with maybe a wide turn at third.