Home and Away: Memior of a Fan | 
 enlarge | Author: Scott Simon
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $19.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 297607
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0786886528
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.323640977311
EAN: 9780786886524
ASIN: 0786886528
Publication Date: June 13, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In a beautifully written narrative that runs from childhood to adulthood through times of war and peace, Scott Simon movingly tracing his life as a fanof sports, theater, politics, and the people and things he holds dear. Sports Illustrated columnist Ron Fimrite says Rarely do you find in books of this genre a clearer look into mysteries and confusions of childhood moving and often amusing portraits.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Home and Away strikes home March 10, 2008
Home and Away : Memoir of a Fan is a great book and not just for sports fans. Like Scott Simon I am a "Chicagoan Away" living in the Washington, DC area. He evoked the nostalgia and the connection of many a boy, and more than a few girls, to their hometown sports connections in their adult lives. Add to that, for Chicagoans, the bittersweet Chicago fan experience of intense loyalty through decades of defeat and disapointment.
Like him, I was a northsider and a Cubs fan, though I spent a few contrary years as a White Sox fans. As a political appointee both at the federal level and for the Mayor of Chicago I experienced the collision of feelings and connections in a town that is both a sports and a political town. Like him, I experienced special connections to my father through sports, since we were both Northwestern alums. Unlike Scott I wasn't much of a sports fan, but it became a part of me nevertheless. It came up when I lobbied a Republican House Committee chair from Chicago, using the White Sox as a common reference point despite a wide gulf in our politics relating to civil rights issues. Home and Away is full of personal recollections both while he lived in Chicago and away when it allowed him to bridge differences that would've otherwise been enormous with sports recollections.
He writes about sitting alone as a new Washingtonian in a largely gay steak house in DC and sharing the experience of a Chicago sports fan away from home with a stranger. I've been there, actually to the same restaurant. So many of us have made those sorts of connections. And while the Chicago experience is unique, the special feelings we develop for the sports teams that we follow in our youth keep us connected as we travel far away from our neighborhoods, literally or merely symbolically.
He talks about Michael Jordan, a superstar and a Chicago winner standing above a lifetime of sports letdowns. He talks about the Mike Ditka's Bears who won the Superbowl in the 1980's and how it affected him (I worked for the Mayor at the time). I remember getting my hopes up, which Chicago fans do only cautiously, only to hear, while traveling in Japan, that after winning two playoffs, my Cubs were knocked out by the Padres. We revel in our winners, in sports and politics, though we will stand by our losers as well because we are Chicagoans. Is it any wonder that Barack Obama is our current political superstar!
Scott Simon's writing is as personal as his pieces on NPR. He has just written a new novel, Windy City, about Chicago and its ethnic politics. It will feature a South Asian alderman who becomes acting Mayor in a turbulent time. Much like the death of Mayor Harold Washington that I lived through,though as an Asian American I must note that there have never been any Asian American aldermen, Congresspeople or state representatives in Illinois despite rapidly growing communities. I hope Scott is just a little ahead of reality. I can't wait to read it.
Chicago Sports, History & Life July 14, 2005
Scott Simon does an excellent job recreating the atmosphere in Chicago during his childhood, and up to the end of the Michael Jordan era.
Having grown up there (10 years behind Scott), I could really relate to his storytelling and history. His vivid descriptions brought back lots of great memories.
I enjoyed the way he tied the sports into larger issues going on in his life, in society, and in the world. I really got a good feeling how American sports create good will around the planet.
This book is mandatory for any Chicago sports fan, and will be enjoyable for anyone who ever related to their father via sports.
 Great Narration, Bad Facts March 23, 2002
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Any sports fan (especially from the Chicago area) will definitely enjoy this story of growing up as a fan in Chicago. The only thing that keeps me from giving this book 4 stars is the inaccuracies. In several instances, Simon gives incorrect scores, dates and places. You would think it would be easy for someone in his position to have the correct info, so this unfortunately distracted me from an otherwise fine read.
For any sports fan! March 3, 2002
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I admit, as a transplanted Chicagoan and die-hard sports fan, its hard to be objective about this book. Scott Simon cleverly weaves his own personal remembrances of growing up in Chicago, into an historic timeline of sports and politics, which amounts to must read for anyone who wants a true glimpse into the soul of 'the city with big shoulders'.
I laughed hard and often at the family anecdotes, its easy to see where Simon gets his sense of humor, thrilled at reliving the Cub season of '69 and saddened, once again, at Brian Piccolo's courageous battle with cancer.
After finishing 'Home and Away', I was compelled to send copies to a few of my sports buddies...less fortunate souls having grown up in cities of less character.
I am a fan of the city, its teams (except the Sox...go Cubbies), and this writer ,who embodies it all so well in this book.
Bravo.
 Starts Superbly, Oozing with Sap by the End March 7, 2001
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I picked up Home and Away because I like to read books on sports by sophisticated minds. And initially, I wasn't disappointed. Scott Simon delivers a vivid depiction of his childhood and his childhood love for sports, offering touching and revealing personal moments in the process. When he discusses his father and stepfather, we see the fan in a context larger than just the game, which I appreciated and admired.But after the stepfather's criminal conviction, the narrative transitions into the story of the recent Bulls dynasty. Here is where book's self-indulgent love for Chicago turns to insufferable, sentimental cheese. In addition to slathering extra layers of sentimental goo on the Bulls--more than Simon previously appropriated for either Butkus's or Ditka's Bears--Simon covers ground already covered expertly and thoroughly by David Halberstam in Playing for Keeps. Only unlike Halberstam, Simon all but kisses Michael Jordan's behind, assessing no blame and even offering excuses for the star's occasional bad behavior. To me, the blatant sycophancy (is that a word?) on the part of the author makes me wonder if he willfully compromised his journalistic integrity or if that occurrence was inadvertant. Either way, I was thoroughly disappointed and had to stop reading. As do most Chicagoans, Simon simply got unBearably self-indulgent in his love for his city.
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