In fairness, I've been to Mexico, and the best Mexican food I've ever had was at the Desesperado restaurant in San Jose (about 2 blocks from Spartan, it's a restaurant/dive bar next to a liquor store and a car dealership IIRC).
The best Mexican food I ever had in the US was in LA. The best Mexican food I've ever had anywhere was in Mexico City.
I add my praise for the book. It's extremely detailed, to the point I felt like I was along for the ride. Now, I'm even more mad that I didn't try to go to Korea. And I'm even more motivated to go to Germany.
Alright a bought a copy. . haven't gotten to read it yet, but I'm hoping it'll be better reading then "Fever Pitch", but I'm assuming it'll be better b/c its from an American perception. Don't let me down, book.
Mike, be honest. As polluted as we were, they could've been feeding us gravel and dog food and convinced us it was filet mignon.
There's not really any difference between Mexican food in Mexico and in the US (Taco Bell, Chili's, etc don't count, altho I do know someone who once ate at a Taco Hell in Mexico City), in fact it might be better here since better-quality meats, vegetables, etc are used...it's not like Chinese food, where you go to China and get completely different dishes (which is both good and bad, the food over there is damn good but the Commie fuckers don't have General Tso's Chicken)
Wow! Go to France for a week and a half and all h*ll (no Tim Howard here--funniest thing I've read in a long time, not including my book-shameless plug) breaks loose and I am attacked from all directions. Let me just put this whole thing to rest and clear up thing by saying, I have never been to Mexico, but have not heard good things about the food. I can say that the burrito I ate in SF was one of the best things I have ever eaten anywhere! It was loaded with guacamole, spicy chicken, refried beans-man, I am craving one right now. I do hope to make it to Mexico soon to check it out for myself. Splarg, glad you liked page 31, I poured my heart and soul into that page, it was my reason for writing it and am sure I could never duplicate is sublty, profoundness, and its all around literary greatness. That said, should I add a chapter covering France entilted "Sam's Army Has the Clap"?
Andy, I wasn't attacking you. I was joking around. The sentence about going to San Francisco for Mexican food just struck me as really funny.
Mike, I know you weren't attacking me, I was trying to be funny drawing a parrallel between your joke about Mexican food and another poster who recommended nobody waste their money on the book. You should have recognized my lame humor from the book.
I still wonder how we manged to leave that restaurant without being asked to leave or escorted out....
My Review The last page has been turned and it is now time for the review.....This will become the sentinel book of American soccer fandom. It is the prototypical saga of an experience quite a few of us have taken over the years, yet never captured on paper to this extent. Andy was fortunate to embark on this endeavor at the right time. He was lucky enough to have the futtie gods bless him with a marvelous run by our squad and he was astute enough to capture the spirit and color of the trip in a manner that was true to the journey. Best of all, he did it with enough insight and introspection as to give some angle of appreciation to the whole experience. For those of us who were there, Korea will always be a pretty darn good memory and a pretty darn cool country. AG paints it well and that includes the blemishes as well. Not every Yank over there was a knight and not every Korean was a saint and these combinations often make for the best anecdotes and, definitely, makes a fun journey. The book should age well. The attention to prices will be a curiosity in the years to follow. Surely, 2006 will have us longing for the days of wan. By accident, too, it sets forth a remarkable template of how to plan and execute a soccer excursion of this magnitude. Some criticisms...more typos than one usually finds in a book of this size. The first person diary-style gnaws a tad at times. Purely a stylistic preference. The parallel story of our hero's longing for Ivy is sugary at times, but, hey...we should all be that lucky (and truthful....maybe not in print, but you get the idea). This book has now set a standard for the future in this genre. All subsequent travel logs even remotely related to a US soccer fan experience will need to measure up to this publication. Bravo, AG.
Look for my review of the book in the next issue of the Emerald City Gazette. I mean, it will be there if I stop procrastinating in time for the deadline...
Bravo AG! I throughly enjoyed your book! It was fascinating reliving the World Cup through your experiences in Korea! Thank you!
fuckity fuck fuck! Totally good book. I got through it and was like Wam! Bam! What the fuck just happend. Nice writing and thanks for the read.
Let me throw in my 2 cents here and jump on the bandwagon as well. Very entertaining book, and like others have said, it's a quick read because you don't want to put it down. Great stories about the food, beer, and the games. AG, if you go to Germany in 2006, I hope you'll consider writing another book about your travels.