Chuck Culpepper was a veteran sports journalist edging toward burnout . . . then he went to London and discovered the high-octane, fanatical (an... read full description
reviews
Jan 11, 2009
Jennifer
rated it: 
Inconsistencies in the scope of Culpepper's knowledge throws the reader off from truly enjoying what could have been a humorous look at soccer/football through the eyes of a new American fan. Culpepper goes from choosing a team based on their name (Aston Villa) or for seemingly no reason at all (Newcastle and Portsmouth) to quoting facts and details from previous seasons. Culpepper also relies too much on the gimmick of his, "Oh, I'm from Virginia, we don't do those sort of things," wa
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Oct 05, 2008
Darin
rated it: 
Culpepper's aim in this text is to convince people who don't know anything about the world of international soccer that it's a great product, and worthy of an American's time. The problem is, unfortunately, that he skips from "soccer know-nothing" to the worst kind of American soccer fan--the pretentious, condescending know-all who is fully convinced that other countries play soccer because it is everything true and right while the Yanks represent everything stupid and wrong. And tha
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Oct 30, 2008
Jennifer
rated it: 
I wanted to enjoy this book a lot more than I actually did. The premise is brilliant (an American sportswriter immerses himself in English soccer, and system he knows nothing about) but the execution was, well, a lot like English Premiership Football: a lot more complicated than it really needed to be.
I had a hard time following the narrative. With so many teams and matches and players to follow it was hard for someone like me who was truly clueless to get a sense of who was who and More...
I had a hard time following the narrative. With so many teams and matches and players to follow it was hard for someone like me who was truly clueless to get a sense of who was who and More...
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May 27, 2011
Sarah
rated it: 
I can see, quite clearly, why a lot of football (soccer) purists would be upset with this book. First of all, he calls it soccer (as he should), second -- he never really mentions MLS (who can blame him, it's about England and football) and third, he talks about American sports. All of these things are positives, no matter what others might think. This is not for the hardcore fan (unless you're an open-minded fan who wants to know what it's like for non-expats just getting into the sport or some
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Jul 30, 2010
Brian
rated it:
As an immersive account of being a soccer fan in England, this book was highly entertaining and enlightening. Culpepper proves very adept at effectively communicating the feelings and impressions of each experience he has as he immerses himself in the 2006/2007 season of Portsmouth FC.
It is also frequently very, very funny.
The only problem I had with this book was that it occasionally proves its pedigree as a book written for a British audience (its UK title was Up Pompey More...
It is also frequently very, very funny.
The only problem I had with this book was that it occasionally proves its pedigree as a book written for a British audience (its UK title was Up Pompey More...
Jun 05, 2010
Matt
rated it:
Bloody Confused! enlightens and entertains the reader with the idiosyncrasies of English soccer and its fans. English soccer is something Culpepper tried to present as winningly different from American sports, particularly in terms of its fans. He was right about the fans, but I'm not so sure about the rest. For example, I never knew about the "Big Four" of the English Premier League - Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, and Arsenal - who finish the season ranked 1-4 in the league
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Jan 24, 2009
will
rated it:
You've got to lurve the title of this book just for its ability to use the word "bloody" in the title. Of course, there is something ironic (in a 10,000 spoons type of way) that the title announces the author's cluelessness (and why doesn't this word exist?) and then follows it up by calling English football, "soccer". Hey, ho.
I'm on a sort of American-sports-writers kick at the moment. I do love my sport, and I do like good writing about sport. In many ways I hav More...
I'm on a sort of American-sports-writers kick at the moment. I do love my sport, and I do like good writing about sport. In many ways I hav More...
Mar 11, 2009
Jan
rated it:
Chuck Culpepper is an American sportswriter who, disillusioned in his career, moved to England and fell in love with the beautiful game, aka soccer.
I found this book to be slightly tedious, which is why I'm giving it only 3 stars. I felt that he repeated himself rather frequently, and you could clearly see his sportswriter's background in his obsessive blow-by-blow detailing of games that happened a year prior to the book's release.
However, I also felt that Mr. Culpepper More...
I found this book to be slightly tedious, which is why I'm giving it only 3 stars. I felt that he repeated himself rather frequently, and you could clearly see his sportswriter's background in his obsessive blow-by-blow detailing of games that happened a year prior to the book's release.
However, I also felt that Mr. Culpepper More...
Mar 23, 2011
Jacob
rated it:
Culpepper oversells his jokes and analogies to the point where the reader is driven with frustration. Shame cuz it takes away what is, when stripped of its dull attempts at humor, a pretty good story about an American trying to get into the Premiership. The writer provides a neat enough perspective on being the stereotypical "clueless Yank" trying to navigate English soccer. Some of the stories are fun. The repetitious "The English do it this way while their dunderheaded, narrow-m
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Jan 17, 2011
Lew
rated it:
Overall this is an interesting book as an American sportswriter who I think has moved to England and he describes how he begins following English football (soccer)as a fan and not a writer with eventually deciding to become a Portmouth (Pompey) fan and his following the team in what turns out to be it best premiership season in club history. I enjoyed most of the book and at times was informative even for an American who has followed English football since the late sixties.
What I didn't More...
What I didn't More...
Sep 30, 2009
Brian
rated it: 
In a nutshell, this is an American version of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. The differences between the two are substantial, but those differences are what make this the "American" version.
Instead of a lifelong devotion to Arsenal, the author decides to support Portsmouth Football Club almost on a whim when he moves to England. And instead of an agonizing account of year after year of ups and downs, watching your team climb and plummet in the tables, the author just takes a More...
Instead of a lifelong devotion to Arsenal, the author decides to support Portsmouth Football Club almost on a whim when he moves to England. And instead of an agonizing account of year after year of ups and downs, watching your team climb and plummet in the tables, the author just takes a More...
Jul 23, 2011
Bryan
rated it:
This book was awful. Horrid. The author, Chuck Culpepper, paints himself as that foulest of sports writers -- the cynical insider who knows all owners are rich fools, all players are cheats and all fans are dupes. He's the type of guy who should get out of the biz, but never does, usually because he loves the attention he gets for covering sports. The reader gets to follow his transformation into a soccer fan -- if you can get through his sickly fawning over all things English, usually done at t
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May 17, 2011
Dana
rated it:
Honestly, this book was a little obnoxious at first. Culpepper kept repeating things that didn't really need repeating (Did you know America is a younger nation than England?!), as well as some things that I could understand repeating if this were a series of articles published separately rather than short chapters of a single book. I even did a tiny bit of research (read: checked the verso page) to see if the chapters had been published separately, but alas, they've always been part of the same
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May 13, 2009
Laura
rated it:
I finally finished this book! Culpepper is a very funny guy. I would love to join him in England to take in a Portsmouth game and a post drink pint or two. But only if the blue bear tags along! I am somewhat of an English Premier League follower, and this book did give me a better understanding of the passion of the fans in this league, and the excitement generated by relegation and promotion of the bottom teams in the divisions. It's not just about who is in first place. I thought it was
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Feb 11, 2012
Brian
rated it:
As an English football fan of only three months, I felt that I was the perfect audience for this book. But while I enjoyed some of the wide eyed wonder that Culpepper approached English football with as reminiscent of what I too was experiencing, it couldn't escape the fundamental problem many sports books have, namely that unless you are heavily emotionally invested in a team it becomes somewhat boring to read about one of a team's seasons. I am not a Portsmouth fan, and even if I were, I would
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Sep 04, 2011
Brad
rated it:
This is the best insight into English soccer around, particularly for Americans. It could have been much more, though, on par with A Fan's Notes, but there is little self reflection. Regardless, the author really knows how to turn a phrase. In terms of structure, the book follows the burnt-out sportwriter through a season cheering on his newly discovered favorite soccer team in the UK.
The book is funny throughout, primarily driven by the author's understated tone. The best Chapte More...
The book is funny throughout, primarily driven by the author's understated tone. The best Chapte More...
Oct 28, 2009
Tonja
rated it:
I read this book in preparation for my football tour of England. It was perfect! The author explains the English Premier League (as well as the lower level leagues) very clearly. It was actually written for an American audience. (He wrote a different version of the book for the British that compared English football to American sports -- and he focused there more on an explanation of American sports.) Really, though, it's his odyssey of choosing, and then following, an EPL team over the cou
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Nov 22, 2011
Tad
rated it:
After becoming a big Sounders FC fan in recent years, it was fun to read a bit more about fandom in the EPL. I just read that a regular season EPL game had about double the TV audience of the MLS Cup game I just attended in LA, proving that the MLS still has a ways to go to catch up in popularity.
The notion that you need a ticket buying history to buy tickets to away games is just amazing to an American fan. This was a very enjoyable read and made me appreciate the EPL more, although I More...
The notion that you need a ticket buying history to buy tickets to away games is just amazing to an American fan. This was a very enjoyable read and made me appreciate the EPL more, although I More...
Nov 04, 2008
Kevin
rated it:
I get it, Chuck. You hate American sports fans, and you aren't that keen on Americans in general. Thanks for taking 272 pages to let me know that.
I am an enormous fan of English Football. It isn't that hard to follow. As a reader, I am asked to believe that someone who is paid to follow and write about sports for a living took over two years to figure out how the game works. Fine, I guess. But it damaged his credibility with me.
Luckily, while regaling the reade More...
I am an enormous fan of English Football. It isn't that hard to follow. As a reader, I am asked to believe that someone who is paid to follow and write about sports for a living took over two years to figure out how the game works. Fine, I guess. But it damaged his credibility with me.
Luckily, while regaling the reade More...
Oct 18, 2008
Turi
rated it:
I've always been a bit fascinated by English football, as a sport, fan fixation and general cultural phenomenon. I read Fever Pitch and Among the Thugs years ago, and learned that there was no way that I could possibly understand the game, let alone the nuances, rivalries, and everything else that makes it such a rich experience. Chuck Culpepper's book reinforces that - an American sportswriter, he finds himself in London, and falls into football fandom. Well, actually, he goes about it syste
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Jun 29, 2010
Christian
rated it:
I really liked this book. English futbol can be quite confusing with all the leagues, titles, etc. and Culpepper did a nice job describing an attempt to navigate the complexity (although there were still instances when I was confused) and describing the challenges of trying to establish a team identification later in life. If I ever teach my summer abroad class, I will most likely make this book a required reading and probably even use it to plan field trips - or to be futbol appropriate - pit
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Jul 11, 2009
Carre
rated it:
This is a hilarious inside look at the world of British Premiership football, for the...well, bloody clueless beginner! Culpepper accidentally falls into the mysterious world of football when he moves to England as a disenchanted American sportswriter. This is a record of his gropings through the complex maze of teams, rules, relegation processes, fan ettiquette (never speak to the stranger next to you at a match. It's okay to hug them, though. And don't feel obligated to eat the terrifying meat
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Mar 16, 2009
Brad
rated it:
So. Culpepper becomes disillusioned by American professional sports, so he goes to England to be follow soccer as a fan rather than a sportswriter. Overall, I enjoyed the book. At times, however, he seems to work rather hard to ingratiate himself with his English readership, going a bit overboard with the self-depecrating "Hey, I'm an Uncultured American....So Please Forgive Me Motherland" caveats.
May 13, 2009
cheeseblab
rated it:
This really resonated with two of the mes I used to be: the ex-sportswriter leaving behind obligatory impartiality to reembrace lunatic fandom, and the callow American setting out to become a follower of what the world calls football. Culpepper does a fine job of describing both journeys, especially the steep learning curve of clean sheets and relegation and what it takes to get to Europe from England.
Feb 10, 2009
This was enlightening. I've always wondered how Europeans, South Americans, etc. can be so crazy about a sport that is so boring- I mean soccer. This writer taps into the spirit that makes the British professional leagues so popular there. I get it! And if I ever have the chance (in Europe or SA) I'll go to a game.
Nov 28, 2008
Eric
rated it:
Burnt-out, cynical sportswriter (redundant?) flees to England, adopts a Premiership soccer team for one year, and follows it somewhat religiously. Extremely funny, filled with observations about English (football) culture. You don't have to be a soccer fan to enjoy this, although soccer fans will love it a bit more.
Jan 03, 2011
Frank
rated it:
For reasons beyond my own comprehension, I have become intrigued by England's Premiership soccer league. Not watching it, just learning about it. After all, it is the most popular sports league in the world (which, I suppose, makes my interest a bit easier to comprehend.)
Anyway, what I found here is one of the best sports books I have read. Well-written (some passages struck me as Vonnegutian, not something I throw around lightly), funny, and insightful, it addressed the issue of uni More...
Anyway, what I found here is one of the best sports books I have read. Well-written (some passages struck me as Vonnegutian, not something I throw around lightly), funny, and insightful, it addressed the issue of uni More...
Mar 16, 2011
Bryan
rated it:
As an American who loves English football, I think I enjoyed this book simply from the point of view that the author is also an American who discovered the joys of the sport. I enjoyed being reminded of some events and my own feelings as I became a supporter a few years ago. At times Culpepper's writing is amusing and engaging as he relates various anecdotes and describes some of his experiences. But there are too many times that he goes back to the well of reminding the readers he's the "c
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Nov 20, 2008
Mitch
rated it:
A funny but also informative take on English soccer from an American sports writer. Really intended for those not that familiar with the European soccer obsession but want to learn; as a mad Liverpool supporter, I really enjoyed it.
Aug 02, 2011
Brandon
rated it:
As an aspiring Premier League (and Pompey) fan, this was a very pleasant read. It serves as a good primer on the EPL and the insanity that surrounds it. I would have liked a more thorough read, but all in all an enjoyable experience.
