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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: $14.00
You Save: $11.95 (46%)
New (31) Used (6) from $14.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 7450
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
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Brand New Gift Quality Book - No Remainder Marks
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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 6 more reviews...
 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. Just why he felt like he was 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 a successful story 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
1 out of 1 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.
 Fascinating Book August 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This concept is reminiscent of George Plimpton's "Paper Lion," but Fatsis takes the idea to a whole different level. He's not just an observer but a real participant, going through the stress and strain of trying to make an NFL team. He gives you a greater appreciation for how hard these guys work, and how despite all that effort, the difference between success and failure is so slim. It's a great story told by a talented writer.
A FEW SECONDS OF PANIC is an even-handed and balanced look at what is today the greatest sports industry in the world. August 4, 2008
From James Thurber to George Plimpton, literature has often focused upon the dreamer, the man who contemplates an imaginary moment in the spotlight. Plimpton, the late journalist and editor, made a cottage industry of living the dream of sports in baseball, golf, football, boxing and hockey. PAPER LION, his account of training camp with the Detroit Lions, is considered by many to be one of the classic sports books of all time.
A FEW SECONDS OF PANIC by Stefan Fatsis brings readers once again to the training camp world of professional football. It is a world far different from 1963, when Plimpton spent his weeks with the Lions. Perhaps it is that difference that makes Fatsis's account so remarkable. Any sports fan who recalls professional football in the 1960s, when there were 12 teams and the NFL played second fiddle to major league baseball, can only be struck by how far the sport has come in the past four decades. The differences are remarkable and superbly enumerated by the author.
To be precise, it was not George Plimpton who pioneered the writer as athlete. Paul Gallico of the New York Daily News entered the boxing ring against Jack Dempsey and golfed against Bobby Jones. Regardless of who established the tradition, through his writing Fatsis is clearly the heir to the throne once occupied by Gallico and Plimpton.
Plimpton was able to masquerade as an NFL quarterback because he was over six feet tall. In the present-day NFL only one position, kicker, is available to a man 5-feet-8-inches tall. It makes for interesting reading because looking at professional football from the viewpoint of the kicking game tells readers a great deal about the modern game.
At one time, NFL kickers were simply regular players who also could kick with a modicum of skill. Two of the all-time greatest kickers, George Blanda and Lou Groza, played regular positions as did Hall of Famer Paul Hornung. Even today, only one full-time kicker, Jan Stenerud, is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Fatsis shows readers how the kicking game is one specialized aspect of the various components of a professional football team. Working with the Denver Broncos and their outstanding kicker, Jason Elam, Fatsis learns how fleeting the life of a kicker can be. One bad kick at a crucial moment in a game can send a kicker to the ranks of the unemployed. Todd Sauerbrun, the Broncos punter, serves as an interesting foil to the Renaissance Man lifestyle of Jason Elam. Elam is an author, big-game hunter and pilot, while Sauerbrun cares for nothing other than punting the football. In his zeal to gain any physical advantage he can, the punter tests positive for a banned substance and is suspended for four games resulting in $325,000 in lost salary.
A FEW SECONDS OF PANIC is far more than a story about the players in the NFL. The league is its own society where teams must be created within a salary cap that sounds as complicated as any explanation of the Federal budget. Fatsis does an extraordinary job in explaining the machinations of the cap and how it affects the composition of a team. In Plimpton's era, players worked real jobs during the off-season and came to training camp to get in shape for the regular season. Now, players earning well into six figures and beyond work out, train and practice all year long. Training camp is for refinement, not for getting into shape for the season.
Fatsis has given football fans at all levels a wonderful look behind the curtain that is maintained by the National Football League to protect the image of its game. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry with its own television network. A FEW SECONDS OF PANIC is an even-handed and balanced look at what is today the greatest sports industry in the world. As teams report to training camp in preparation for the 2008 season, fans will want to read this book for the insight it offers into the world of professional football.
--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
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