Where Am I and Who's Winning?: Travelling the World of Sport

by andrew-baker

To the armchair fan, the life of the sports writer is one of unalloyed all-expenses-paid trips to the most exciting events in the world, the best seats in the house, and one-on-one interviews with Anna Kournikova... Well, up to a point.Where Am I And Who's Winning? describes what it's really like to make your way through the world of sport, always on deadline, always between time zones, on a frantic, chaotic and hilarious tour of the planet's most famous and most bizarre sporting venues. There's football to be watched. And Formula One. And tennis. And two Olympics, two Commonwealth Games, ocean racing, curling, and of course the queen of sports - synchronised swimming.Permanently handicapped by jet-lag and ignorance, Andrew Baker travels by bullet train, bobsled, go-kart, and (most dangerous of all) bus in his constant quest to arrive at the match/race-meeting/mountain-top on time. Between soul-enhancing visits to the Dead Goat Saloon and the Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum, he breakfasts with Steve Redgrave, dines with Sebastian Coe and even takes in a game or two.Because nothing - not Brazilian muggers, nor Chinese security services - shall stand between him and his noble to bring the great British public its daily sporting fix.Andrew Baker's brilliant comic debut will appeal to the armchair traveller and the armchair sports fan alike. But most of all to anyone who enjoys the misfortunes of others...

Genres: Travel

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This occasional memoir of a sports journalist for a British paper had me laughing aloud several times. Our journalist doesn't take himself or sport too seriously, although he acknowledges that for competitors and sponsors it can be serious indeed.

From Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to Formula 1 in Austria and Monaco, off to Japan, China, Sydney, and dredging up on a Brazilian shore getting promptly mugged and waiting for Ellen MacArthur to come along with her racing catamaran, the life portrayed is occasionally made of glamour - but on a working, not a social basis - and more often confusion about local issues and camaraderie with other hacks. Baker, as he refers to himself on the phone to the copy centre in Leeds, has two small kids whom he phones and misses. Wisely he tries to see the local sights wherever he is assigned. He seems not to belong, to me. This is because he doesn't give us recollections of having played the sports or followed a particular sport as an expert. He just covers what his editor wants covered. Train timetables permitting.
No equestrian sports are included.

I borrowed this book from the Dublin Business School Library. This is an unbiased review.

[Jo Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life as a sports journalist covering mainly sorts he knows nothing about in far flung places.