An Accidental Sportswriter audiobook

Robert Lipsyte, one of the most recognizable sports columnist and writers, details his life as a young boy to his early interactions with the sports world's most influential faces. We watch Robert grow as a person, while he freaks out meeting new stars every week. The memoir An Accidental Sportswriter, is an enjoyable read because of the relatability to Lipsyte's upbringings, and his very detailed storytelling. Right off the bat Lipsyte is having the readers connect to his story, from being bullied on the playground to his relationship with his father. We certainly can all think of a moment that someone belittled us and we stood up for ourselves, that moment for Lipsyte came when he fought his childhood bully. Lipstye details the account in his memoir as a moment of “There were no rules in my mind, just survival and payback. All in or don’t bother,”(Lipsyte, page 20). As a young adult, I known most of us have had that moment where we restrain ourselves from going “all in”, while reading Lipsyte is that charter we wished to be but never were and we cheered him on as he stood up to his bully. The amount of reliability to Lipsyte is shown through his endless amounts of being starstruck or admiration towards sports icons. He mentions the likes of Muhammad Ali, to Wilma Rudolph but the one man who he founded his own writing on was Howard Cosell, an American sports journalist. He credits Cosell on his often controversial standpoint, Lipsyte says “I took his credo ‘you can't always be popular and right at the same time’ as a moral lesson and sometimes as a shelter when I was attacked for being a contrarian. In those days, it was rare for someone on TV or radio to stand up to public opinion. Cosell stood up. He was often called conversational because he wasn’t Bland,”(Lipsyte, page 80). We often as people live by the words of others of inspired us or those who have an influence on our lives, we take those words to heart because we’ve seen what those people have done and imagine what it can do for us. One thing every human being can relate to no matter the situation is the relationship with your family. Family seems to be the the first priority to most, so when we read about other families we can make a connection quickly. Lipsyte doesn’t mention much of his family till the end, this chapter revolves around this father, a man who you can tell from just a few sentences means everything to him. Lipsyte writes, “Whenever disaster struck, from illness in the family to carnage on the evening news, I’d call him. In 1963, when President Kennedy was murdered, I called Dad to make sure he was okay. After all, the old man was pushing sixty. I called him after 9/11 to make sure I was okay. After all, I was in my sixties. Being a frequent subway rider in New York, I even called him after the 2004 train bombings in Madrid. I said I was calling him to tell him we were all okay. I knew he would calm me down. After all, he was 100,”(Lipsyte, page 231). Lipsyte very easily is able to connect to the reader because we all get the worry when disaster strikes, as humans our intuition is the worry and call our families as soon as tragedy strikes. Robert Lipsyte's growth in character is relatable to all readers. Robert Lipsyte’s influence from his sports writing translates into his story telling, detailed and to the point. Lipsyte was able to encounter many different personalities on his journey, when he describes moments you can clearly picture the moment and people evolved. While meeting the one and only Muhammad Ali, who lipsyte credits for his career, you feel as if you yourself has met Ali. He states “Muhammad Ali was my first big story. He put my name on page one. He made me a columnist. He was also the single most important sporting lens through which I learned about politics, religion, race, and hero worship. I've written far more about him in any other subject, and then watching him change and grow from fifty years I watched myself.---Loving Muhammad Ali has been easy. It's grasping what he stands for at any given moment that's been hard. Our journey began as a sheer Joy. The first time I ever saw him, I was standing with the Beatles,”(Lipsyte, page 61). As Robert talks about Ali, he almost defines, what makes Ali himself, which gives a reader more of an insight on their friendship and partnership. Not only was Lipsyte able to use diction to have the reader truly understand his ideas, he was straight to the point an wasn’t afraid to cause a little controversy. Lipsyte tells his adventure of writing Nigger, with Dick Gregory, he writes “ Once we decided on the table title, Nigger, he held his ground against the Publishing House. I love this dedication: ‘Dear Mama wherever you are, if you ever hear the word Nigger again remember their advertising my book,’---- The book has been in print for more than 45 years, and although the reviews were mostly good to great, thought title didn't help sales. Most blacks and fair-minded whites hated the title and found it hard to ask for the book by name. The right to like the title weren't about a by a black man's book. In retrospect I think it was a mistake, the destructive Defiance on both our parts these days, it's even harder to mention the title,” (Lipsyte, page 56). As he tells this anecdote, we see the hard cold reality that was the 60’s, no white man would've around advertising a book with that title, and he wouldn't ask for it either. Lipsyte's writing told the truth of racism and sexism, his take on the 1960 Olympics was a key point in the book. He states, “We covered a few women sports events at the Times then, except in the Olympic years; the Cold War with the Soviet Bloc was measured in medals as well as missiles, and women's medals counted as much as men. Thus, right after the willowy sprinter Wilma Rudolph won 3 gold medals in track and field at the 1960 Rome Olympics, she was brought to the Times office to be interviewed by the rookie on rewrite, me. She was a real story; an African-American polio Survivor and one of the most beautiful women in the world,”(Lipsyte, page 96). As a white male he was able to see the greatness in a women of color completing in the olympics, he says it straight up that women are just as important to the sports world than men are. Lipsyte’s writing is straightforward and to the point, afraid of no repercussions with his creative way of storytelling. The content within a book is what makes a book good, either it’s character development, the imagery the author uses, a good developing plot and other traits. Robert Lipsyte in An Accidental Sportswriter, has the contente needed for a good read. He has a character that we can grow with a love, his rawness in character that makes him enjoyable and his storytelling. Overall, An Accidental Sportswriter is a good read for anyone looking for a different perspective on the sports world.

Whereas I dragged out reading Ms. Gilbert's bestseller and never finished it, I read An Accidental Sportswriter in 3 days. It is a superb retrospective of an amazing rollercoaster ride of a life, and I enjoyed every page. I was never a sports fan but Lipsyte showed how sports infiltrated my life without my being aware of it. I found out everything I ever wanted to know about the major names, how they fit into the scheme of things; and got a great feel for the big swings in the evolution of sports and their historical dependencies on politics and finance.But most impressive of all was Lipsyte's insistence that family and upbringing inform a man all his life. The final chapter, summing up his father's attitudes and influence on him, was simply amazing. I'm sure no other biography ends with a chapter on the subject's parents, and it works! A great ending to a terrific book. I recommend it to all sports fans, but also to readers who couldn't care less about sports. It is an excellent autobiography for everyone to enjoy.

A sort of biography through interactions with figures, both sports and not. Lipsyte has always approached sports writing from the outside, trying not to settle for the easy story, and this book explains why. He resented the jock culture, as he saw it, because he saw the locker room as full of bullies. He still thinks that way, it's clear, but he has found subjects to admire.My favorite chapters were the later ones where he kind of steps back and takes a look at the state of sports journalism, for what it's worth, and the last chapter where he steps back even further and looks at his life and that of his father's. Very poignant.

smart and entertaining writer Father of sam lipsyte, robert lipsyte was a long time ny times sports reporter, but looked closely at the industry, at it's politics, money, drugs, racism, sexism, foolishness, human interests, labor relations, and even some box scores. Author was main man of dick gregory, Ali, cossell, the althlete "revolution" of the 1970's, billie jean king, and has lots of entertaining stories about baseball, boxing, and even hockey. Sports remineses for people who don’t like sports.

Much like the Brad Paisley memoir I read earlier this year, Robert Lipsyte writes about his life by writing about other people, in this case the people he's written about. Done poorly, this could be a dull exercise in celebrity anecdotes, but Lipsyte traces how his relationships fit into or changed the way he approached his own life. I enjoyed both the stories and the insights.(The last chapter about his father is especially touching, and it sounds like Sidney Lipsyte could have been a book all on his own.)

A fascinating look at a self proclaimed non-fan's look at his life as a sports journalist.Lipsyte got a job as a NY Times copyboy in the sports department and turned it into a full time job as a sportswriter. As an outsider, his look at sports is different than sportswriters who are also fans (at least in his own mind).The best parts of the book were about non-big time sports. The story of Chief Oren Lyon was fascinating. I also was taken by Gerard Papa and the Flames basketball story.

As a sports fan, I appreciate how well this book toes the line between sports, history, and the journey of a writer. Lipsyte's thoughtful writings on the stories behind the athletic events tell a tale of the bigger issues beyond the athletes and owners themselves. And more than anything, the reader is rewarded with insights into the progression of the career of a writer throughout the transformational 60s, 70s and 80s.

This book approaches sports journalism from an interesting angle. Lipsyte is smart and obviously socially aware. He's also very clear about how it was his duty to bring that awareness out in his writing. I didn't know much about him before reading this book, but it was very informative and illustrated the big pull that today's journalists feel between informing and entertaining.

This is a wonderful memoir by one of the foundational authors of YA literature. In addition to publishing THE CONTENDER in 1967, Lipsyte always was at the crossroads of most of the major sporting events in the last half of the 20th century.

funny & concise, this memoir gives a little personal & NY Times history. fun to unknowing read a book by father of one of my favorite current authors.

Really enjoyed this. The sort of book that makes me want to become a better writer.

Excellent questions about sportswriter's role in sports entertainment machine