Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer | 
 enlarge | Author: Chuck Culpepper
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $8.07
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Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 5601
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0767928083
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3340942
EAN: 9780767928083
ASIN: 0767928083
Publication Date: August 5, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081121221340T
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Product Description
Chuck Culpepper was a veteran sports journalist edging toward burnout . . . then he went to London and discovered the high-octane, fanatical (and bloody confusing!) world of English soccer.
After covering the American sports scene for fifteen years, Chuck Culpepper suffered from a profound case of Common Sportswriter Malaise. He was fed up with self-righteous proclamations, steroid scandals, and the deluge of in-your-face PR that saturated the NFL, the NBA, and MLB. Then in 2006, he moved to London and discovered a new and baffling world—the renowned Premiership soccer league. Culpepper pledged his loyalty to Portsmouth, a gutsy, small-market team at the bottom of the standings. As he puts it, “It was like childhood, with beer.”
Writing in the vein of perennial bestsellers such as Fever Pitch and Among the Thugs, Chuck Culpepper brings penetrating insight to the vibrant landscape of English soccer—visiting such storied franchises as Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool . . . and an equally celebrated assortment of pubs. Bloody Confused! will put a smile on the face of any sports fan who has ever questioned what makes us love sports in the first place.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Couldn't Put It Down November 16, 2008
I have recently become a fan of European soccer and heard Chuck Culpepper promoting his book on World Soccer Daily. It peaked my interest and I decided to check it out. The book was amazingly funny! I could not put it down. When I finally finished I was actually depressed because I knew I would miss vicariously living through Chuck's stories. I have already passed it onto a friend to spread the joy.
Explaining the English Premier League, for Beginners and ... October 21, 2008
Bloody Confused is a well written autobiography of what the English Premier League is all about, from an American's point of view. It explains the various concurrent competitions, and the real mind-set of the English, through both winning and losing. It's a great book for anyone who loves sports yet quite put a finger on English football.
 american version of real football October 16, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this book because i thought it was going to be like "Fever Pitch". At first the author goes on to explain about american sports, as i thought he was just trying to make his point. Throughout the whole book the author keeps comparing english football to some experience he had encountered in american sports. If i buy a book about english football, i want to read about english football, not american sports. Needless to say, i did not finish the book.
 Clueless, Pretentious, and Awful! October 5, 2008
Culpepper's aim in this text is to convince people who don't know anything about the world of international soccer that it's a great product, and worthy of an American's time. The problem is, unfortunately, that he skips from "soccer know-nothing" to the worst kind of American soccer fan--the pretentious, condescending know-all who is fully convinced that other countries play soccer because it is everything true and right while the Yanks represent everything stupid and wrong. And that's the text that Culpepper writes here--he misses no opportunity to tell you how enlightened he is and how stupid you and everyone else is who doesn't agree with him, and this attitude completely overshadows the good stuff that's hidden here. He takes "the beautiful game" and makes it as attractive as two political pundits throwing mud at each other on Sunday morning television. The author comes across as completely unlikeable, and he makes sure that you know how smart he thinks he is at every opportunity. Unfortunately, this approach doesn't make for much of a book.
This is, by far, the worst soccer book I've ever read (and Jamie Trecker, the author of the last worst-ever book, probably thanks him for it), and by no means should you spend a red cent on it. There are so many good options out there in soccer books that this one isn't worth it.
Culpepper Ain't No Joe McGinnis October 3, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Bloody Confused is a typical American approach to the World's Best Sport. Culpepper constantly repeats himself while "explaining" to US readers what the rest of the world understands with ease. Why all the comparisons to American Sport? And the nerve to even imply that the Premiership should have two divisions as MLS does here. If he had actually had to purchase a ticket to a sporting event he would have known that many of the teams, including Aston Villa, use UK Ticketmaster. And sorry about the Charlton story - I've been treated royally by them - if the folks at the Valley didn't sell him a ticket - there were none to sell. I slogged through the entire thing (skipping over the American stories - who cares?). Miracle of Castel di Sangro was much more of an intelligent and adult accounting of a fan's season as another reviewer has indicated. As a woman who travels to football (soccer to Chuck) games and competitions all over the world I would say that this doesn't give justice to the sport. Was it written for the money? For the chance to live abroad? Possibly for serialization? Go Arsenal! Go Charlton!
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