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A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL | 
 enlarge | Author: Stefan Fatsis
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $12.95
You Save: $13.00 (50%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 13543
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 1594201781
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.449796092
EAN: 9781594201783
ASIN: 1594201781
Publication Date: July 3, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Drawing on rare access to an NFL teams 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 challengesphysical, psychological, and intellectualthat pro athletes must master
In Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis infiltrated the insular world of competitive Scrabble players, ultimately achieving expert status (comparable to a grandmaster ranking in chess). Now he infiltrates a strikingly different subculturepro 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 upbarelyto 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 waysmost 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 Plimptons 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 Broncoslike all elite athleteshe learned to perfect a motion through thousands of repetitions, to play through pain, to silence the crowds roar, to banish self-doubt.
While Fatsis honed his mind and drove his body past exhaustion, he communed with every classic athletic typethe affable alpha male, the overpaid brat, the youthful phenom, the savvy veteranand 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 I really got a "kick" out of this book (pun intended) August 26, 2008
Even the most dedicated fan of the National Football League (NFL) can't possibly know what goes on "behind the curtain." Most of us know only what we see on Sundays or what we read in Monday's newspaper. Sure, we think we know our favorite players and all their foibles. You can lay all that aside after reading this book.
Stefan Fatsis suceeds in infiltrating the most sacred of grounds: the NFL locker room and the strange world that surrounds it. We get a glimpse of what it is like to know that your very job hinges on the next play in training camp. Players come and go like the tides. Coaches rule like tyrrants and the pecking order among them becomes painfully evident. So does the stress created in this bubbling cauldron they call professional football.
Reading about the personalities of the players--from the lowly undrafted rookie free agent to the highest paid super-star--reminds us that these people are only human. In fact, Fastis' colorful writing creates a word picture that surely is the way these players really are. Some are real characters, some are sad reminders of how cruel life can be. I found myself identifying with one partiular play and this gave me great insight into my own place in life.
It must be terribly frustrating to be a professional football player, where the glamor of game day gives way to utter despair when the "turk" comes to visit.
The only downside I see with this book is that it is so captivating that I let my usual workload pile up while I sat glue to the book. Oh, well.
Stefan Fatsis provides a ticket to a game seldom of us see--the game withing the game. Though he stands only 5 feet 8 inches, this work is gigantic. May all of his kicks in life sail thorugh the uprights.
 okay book but nothing exciting August 20, 2008
I have been a huge Broncos fan for many years, and when I saw this book was being printed I ordered a copy right away. I think I was looking for a book that would give some real insight into what a player goes through to play in the NFL, and I was anxious to read about interesting things involving the Broncos. This book provides only small amounts of both.
First off, I must give the author credit for having the guts and determination to train and participate in the Broncos' training camps. He does give some glimpses into what life is like for players trying to make the team, and he gives slightly more detailed descriptions about some of the individual players he interviewed. But most of his book seems to focus on himself and his efforts to perform like an NFL kicker. After a while it gets boring reading about him practicing, missing kicks, wanting to perform better, standing around watching others practice, wanting to kick in a preseason game, whining because the NFL won't let him play in an exhibition game, blah, blah, blah. I would much rather have read more about the other players and what trying out, training, and/or playing for the NFL was like for them.
If you are a die-hard Broncos fan you may enjoy reading most of this book just to read about some of the players with whom you are surely familiar. Anyone else will likely get bored after the first 40 pages or so.
 This ain't no Word Freak August 16, 2008
Jason Elam, the Broncos' most successful place kicker described a kicker's experience in the NFL as "hours and hours of boredom surrounded by a few seconds of panic."
A few seconds of panic set in the moment I realized Mr. Fatsis was barred by the NFL from participating in even a pre-season game. A few more seconds of panic followed as I read Mr. Fatsis' bitter and unjustified complaints about why the NFL was steadfast in its refusal to allow him to kick in a pre-season game. According to Mr. Brian McCarthy, an NFL PR personnel, "people are paying seventy, ninety, a hundred and twenty dollars and then having someone from off the street come in - it could have the appearance of an exhibition, which we fight. I wouldn't use the word joke, but..." In response, and a shameful one at that, Mr. Fatsis proceeds to call the NFL a fraud for forcing fans to buy tickets to pre-season games, and a joke because all the run-ins NFL players have had with the law and the criminals who are allowed to play. Yet, he, who has worked "assiduously" for months to prepare for this glorious moment is made to feel like a joke.
Granted, Mr. Fatsis worked assiduously to play in the NFL, but he also assiduously shanked balls in practice, particularly during moments of pressure when players and fans were watching. Mr. Fatsis' length of experience in place kicking didn't extend beyond a few months. By his own admission, he was missing thousands of hours of repetition and observation that transforms athletes into experts. Just why he felt like he was so deserving of a chance to play in the NFL is baffling.
Whereas in "Word Freak", Mr. Fatsis' participation in Scrabble and ultimately his rise to the rank of "expert" made the book a delightful read, in "A few seconds of panic", everything but his participation in Football took centerstage.
"A Few Seconds of Panic" provides a glimpse of "what players endure to get there, and what they experience once they arrive. And it revealed the deep disconnect between what fans see on gameday and what happens the rest of the week.", but it fails to deliver on its promise of showcasing the efforts of an average Joe playing with the pros.
"Paper Bronco" - A Real Kick! August 15, 2008
Wall Street Journal sports writer and uber-nerd Stefan Fatsis does a latter day George Plimpton as he becomes a 40-something place kicker for the Denver Broncos. What results is an absorbing on the inside narrative of what it is like playing in the NFL.
Fatsis doesn't exactly have us (or at least me) feeling sorry for these athletes, but he portrays the grinding monotony, pain and job insecurity of a system that is always reminding the players of their expendability. Of course, mostly these guys are getting paid six or seven figures to put up with such hassles.
Fatsis is a superb writer. (If you haven't read his book WORD FREAK on the world of elite Scrabble, you owe it to yourself to do so!)
Whether you are a Denver Bronco fan or not is beside the point. If you enjoy pro football, you will find "A Few Seconds of Panic" a tasty delight!
Fatsis kicks it straight through the uprights here....
Highly recommended! August 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In "A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL," Stefan Fatsis chronicled his journey to become a professional kicker for the Denver Broncos. Fatsis, a journalist with the Wall Street Journal, wanted to know how it was like to be a professional football player, and the Denver Broncos agreed to let him participate in their training camp. One of the things he learned was that he needed to kick like a kicker, and not like a soccer player. Fatsis provided insightful information about how it was like to be a kicker in the NFL.
What I like most about "A Few Seconds of Panic" is that the author was able to show the "human" side of the players. Most of the time, we learned about the players from a statistical point of view, but we don't know much about the intense pressure that they faced, or how competitive the sport really is. The author also focused on the players we don't usually read about such as the fourth string quarterback or the third string kicker. In addition, Fatsis provided an insider view of the organization, from the perspectives of a player and a reporter. The author was able to cover the team in a comprehensive manner that makes this book such a delight to read. "A Few Seconds of Panic" is highly recommended for those who are curious to know how it's like to be a NFL player, and to learn more about the workings of a professional football organization.
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