An Outside Chance: Classic & New Essays on Sport

by Geoffrey Wolf (Introduction), Thomas McGuane

The author offers a personal account of a life of sporting adventure from the Florida Keys, to the plains of Montana, to the streams of Michigan

Genres: Essays, Sports, Nonfiction

294 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Richard Gorelick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, very good, when I knew what was going on (only sometimes in the fishing essays). I’m not a sailor or a hunter or an angler or a biker or a fan of rodeos or motorcross. But I am a fan of good righting, so I enjoyed them all, but “Roping from A to B” is amazing, his or anybody’s best.

[Allan MacDonell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Men writing about the correct way to be men is a genre that will never go away, although right now it’s out of vogue in many literary circles. There’s a lot of fishin’, and huntin’ and horseback ridin’ and a small amount of motorcycle daredevilry in Thomas McGuane’s Outside Chance: Essays on Sport, all of it presented in a manly voice that presumes to know best the beliefs and behaviors of real men. I plucked a first edition of this book out of a tiny mini-library outside a house that I pass walking my dog every morning. My dog is a very manly dog, and he is invariably heeled and curbed in a way that displays very correct manners. On top of that, when I pinch a first edition for free, I feel obligated to read the book, and I’m glad I honored that completion principle once I started Outside Chance.

[Peter Gooch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great fun! Early essays on sport. Oh for a Vincent Black Shadow!

[Chris Pariseau · Rating 4 out of 5]

While at times one can get lost in the jargon of some of McGuane's more eclectic writing topics (the differences in the styles and training of cutting horses and the ins and outs of ranching being some of the most impenetrable sections for this particular angler-reader), the passages in which his writing reaches into the core motivations for man's connection with sport are some of the finest one will ever come across in this genre. In short, this river of words yields some true keepers.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book was well-written, but the material was not my cup of tea. A ton of stories about fishing that I found little interest in. There were a few parts that kept my interest, but overall was not a book I enjoyed.

[L.C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book based on a reference to it in another book I thoroughly enjoyed, but I only enjoyed a few essays.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read my thoughts here:
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