Book Review #15: Game Of Shadows

Game Of Shadows (2007)

Game Of Shadows is about BALCO and the impact that it had on the sporting world at large from Baseball (Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, Gary Sheffield, Benito Santiago, etc...) to Track and Field (Marion Jones) to Football (Bill Romanowski). But the main crux of this book focused squarely on Barry Bonds, detailing his steroid use starting in 1999.

If Hollywood ever decides to make a movie about BALCO, this is the book they will no doubt use as it's blue print. I for one would love to see it happen because this book was a gripping, fantastic read. I could not put this book down for one second and that's saying a lot since I knew pretty much the entire sordid story before even reading it.

With all the knowledge of what's been happening in real life concerning BALCO, the more I read the book, the more I devoured what was happening in the pages here. Knowing how it all ends, it was fascinating watching, er...reading about this group of people and associates that comprised BALCO as they were building their house of cards. A very shaky house of cards at that. It amazes me that the house didn't collapse sooner than it did with Victor Conte at the helm. He is nothing more than a spoiled little child, crying out for attention. He never amounted to anything in life so the only way he could feel like "someone" was to hang on to celebrities.

I can recommend this if you want an excellent read that will have you flipping page after page, even if it is "incomplete" in that Barry Bonds was never convicted in a court of law or that the book came out before his assault on Hank Aaron's all-time Home Run record which is not documented within'.

On a personal note not related to the book itself, I think Barry Bonds is a dick and an asshole and does not deserve to go into the Hall Of Fame. Period. Even though he was never convicted, I (along with everyone else that doesn't live in San Francisco) think he was on the Juice and tarnished the game of Baseball that will take years to recover from. Fuck you Barry! And that goes for you too McGwire and Sosa!

Since I am on a rant...why stop now? Pete Rose....you suck!

Rant over. :)

Rating: 5 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1

Book Review #6: Juiced

Juiced (2005)

Taking a break from reading music related books and changing gears a bit to read about another passion of mine....Baseball.

Before I dive head first into reviewing this book, I have to prefaced it by saying that I am a huge fan of Baseball. So back in the day when this cat Jose Canseco exploded onto the Baseball stage, I, along with everyone else, saw the ungodly things he was doing to a baseball.

I can't say that I was ever a fan of his as a player or a celebrity personality. But he definitely couldn't be ignored with what he was doing at the time. So, that brings us to his book...

...Juiced. I never really felt the need to read the book. Everything has pretty much been laid out there by news media for all who are fans of Baseball or sports in general. But I decided to go ahead and give this book a shot at long last and see what all the hype surrounding it was. Good and bad.

Having just finished reading the book yesterday, my immediate thoughts were that this was a really fast read. I blew through it in just a day and a half. I couldn't put the book down. Does this mean that the book itself was that good? No. It was a page turner because it reads like that of a gossip magazine when dropping names of some of the biggest stars in the sport that didn't think twice about shooting up to give themselves an unfair advantage over those that chose not to do steroids.

The other thing that came across my mind at the end of the book was in how funny it was. Unintentional of course. I couldn't stop laughing at the man's stupidity and ignorance about steroids and himself. I knew he had an ego. What I didn't know was just how inflated his ego was *insert steroid joke here*.

Hearing him talk about what a stud he was/is and how awesome he is and how all the women want him was just a bit too much to take. I love how he says that he rejected Madonna. Uh huh. Okay, bub. Sure you did. I found it very humorous in that Jose was pissed that MLB, i.e. the commissioner didn't approach him specifically. Had he done so, Jose would have single handily stopped the strike of 1994. Delusional? Perhaps.

As for his writing skill, he is extremely repetitive throughout the entire book going on and on about the merits of steroids. And the way the pages were constructed, it came off disjointed at times, not being able to fully flesh out what he was trying to say. 

I can recommend the book if you have it at your local library and want a good laugh and a fast read. But I certainly wouldn't pay for this book. I was lucky to have it at my library as I would have been pissed to spend money on this one.

Rating 3 1/3 Stars out of 5

Review by Chiprocks1