Saturday, July 27, 2013

Now here's something you don't read every day

Anne put a book in my box at work called Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies, a collection of essays by Chris Kluwe, who is best known as an NFL punter--recently with the Vikings, now with the Raiders.  I haven't read the whole thing, but I've read a lot of it, and here's what I think so far.

1.  Chris Kluwe is everything people think a punter should be--athletic, intelligent, and quirky.

2.  He writes well, although like any collection where some of the essays have been previously published, there are (perhaps) too many repetitive riffs on pet subjects, which in Kluwe's case is marriage equality.  I'm actually on board with him philosophically, but by the time I reached the third or fourth essay, I went ENOUGH ALREADY.

3.  I love that he's a gaming geek.

4.  I love that he loves Kurt Vonnegut.

5.  I especially like the essays dealing with football.  As someone who has never played (except on the front lawn) (obv) I like to know how football feels on the inside.  That's one of the reasons I liked the movie Invincible so much.  While it's very true I have a tiny crush on Mark Wahlberg, I loved how it got right down on the ground with the game so that a person like me felt a part of the action.

If you're interested I do feel obliged to mention that there is language.  Quite a bit of it, actually.  My mentioning this would probably irritate Kluwe, who has a few things to say about people who take offense on that front.  Still.  Some readers want to know.