Drawing on rare access to an NFL teamâs players, coaches and facilities, the author of The New York Times bestseller Word Freak trains to become a professional-caliber placekicker. As he sharpens his skills, he gains surprising insight into the daunting challengesâphysical, psychological, and intellectualâthat pro athletes must master
In Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis infiltrated the insular world of competitive Scrabble® players, ultimately achieving âexpertâ status (comparable to a grandmaster ranking in chess). Now he infiltrates a strikingly different subcultureâpro football. After more than a year spent working out with a strength coach and polishing his craft with a gurulike kicking coach, Fatsis molded his fortyish body into one that could stand upâbarelyâto the rigors of NFL training. And over three months in 2006, he became a Denver Bronco. He trained with the team and lived with the players. He was given a locker and uniforms emblazoned with #9. He was expected to perform all the drills and regimens required of other kickers. He was unlike his teammates in some waysâmost notably, his livelihood was not on the line as theirs was. But he became remarkably like them in many ways: He risked crippling injury just as they did, he endured the hazing that befalls all rookies, he gorged on 4,000 daily calories, he slogged through two-a-day practices in blistering heat. Not since George Plimptonâs stint as a Detroit Lion more than forty years ago has a writer tunneled so deeply into the NFL.
At first, the players tolerated Fatsis, or treated him like a mascot, but over time they began to think of him as one of them. And he began to think like one of them. Like the other Broncosâlike all elite athletesâhe learned to perfect a motion through thousands of repetitions, to play through pain, to silence the crowdâs roar, to banish self-doubt.
While Fatsis honed his mind and drove his body past exhaustion, he communed with every classic athletic typeâthe affable alpha male, the overpaid brat, the youthful phenom, the savvy veteranâand a welter of bracingly atypical players as well: a fullback who invokes Aristotle, a quarterback who embraces yoga, a tight end who takes creative writing classes in the off-season. Fatsis also witnessed the hidden machinery of a top-flight football franchise, from the God-is-in-the-details strategizing of legendary coach Mike Shanahan to the icy calculation with which the front office makes or breaks careers.
With wry candor and hard-won empathy, A Few Seconds of Panic unveils the mind of the modern pro athlete and the workings of a storied sports franchise as no book ever has before.
Stefan Fatsis is The New York Times bestselling author of Word Freak. He is a sports reporter for The Wall Street Journal and a regular guest on National Public Radioâs All Things Considered.
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc
Imprint: Penguin Press HC, The
Distributor: Penguin Group USA, Inc
Publication Date: 07-03-2008
Pages: 352
Measurements: 9.32in X 6.30in X 1.22in X 1.31lb
