One Lucky Fan: From Bleachers to Box Seats, Chasing the Ultimate Sports Dream to Visit All 123 MLB, NBA, NFL & NHL Teams

Sports *is* weird! I mean, the things people will do for sports -- wow! O'Malley is up front about the insanity of his project, seeing a home game in all 123 venues: baseball, basketball, football, and hockey. The heart of the book covers O'Malley's final push to visit 39 venues in 53 days, a feat that is difficult to fathom. Even after the planes, trains, and automobiles, the hotels and airbnbs, and a fair amount of "venue ennui" (one of my favorite phrases from the book), I'm still left wondering, "How in the hell did he pull this off?!" What elevated the book for me was O'Malley's sincerity and humility; he doesn't take a second of this seemingly life-long project for granted. The journey is not all first-class travel, penthouse suites, and box seats, but an everyman's journey that is deeply relatable, from buses to the cheap seats. I loved the sections on O'Malley's long-suffering adoration of St. John's basketball and the New York Jets: he more than establishes his fan bona fides. The prose is conversational with hilarious parenthetical and italicized asides that will make you feel like a co-conspirator in this madness. A fun read with a lot of heart! Read this book, then get yourself to a venue, buy a cheap seat, and have a walk around -- enjoy a craft beer while you're at it!

Talk about the ultimate fan experience... a gauntlet-running road trip to complete a quest to see one home game for each team in the four major U.S. professional sports. This book goes beyond a mere road journal and explores what it means to be a true sports fan rather than just a fan of a particular team. It's a great read that leaves you feeling like you road shotgun with a friend on a crazy (long) road trip. And it's also a reminder to stop every once in a while and really, truly look around your favorite sporting venue and appreciate the sights, sounds, and people that make it special in your memories.

I'd like to spend some time with the writer, his wife and their dog, because they all contributed to an amazing fan feat of epic proportions. The writer is truly a man after my own heart and I enjoyed the positivity, the recommendations and the insight. I feel that this book will serve as a reference manual of sorts for the places he's visited, so as tempted as I am to lend the book to some family members, I want to keep it handy. And I agree, MetLife Stadium is the worst.

A great read for bucket list folks like me that have traveled to see games in many out of town cities along with many different sports. I wish I had written something like this book.

"One Lucky Fan" is an example of why I like reading books. It's wonderfully written, personal, and funny. The Journey – one of literature's great metaphors for life. And this is a hoot of a journey.

the book was extremely boring

A great read. The book feels like a friend sitting at a coffee shop sharing his trip, his experiences and his love for all sports.

For someone who is a newspaper editor for one in the LARGEST city in the US, this is a terribly written as well as poorly edited book. Much of it is a mad jumble of thoughts and musings. Some of the arenas/stadiums he visits he doesn't even comment on instead talking about his Air BNBs, lugage issues, driving rental cars, transit, etc.Also, super self-indulgent. I get this is a trip of a lifetime and it'll be about "you" but to veer off and give us huge swaths on his history as a New York Jets football and St. John's basketball was boring as hell. Who did he think would care about this? I gave up about three pages into the Jets' tale because do I need to hear about every single significant gut punch to his team? In a book about touring around to different sports venues?These types of books are great in fans' minds but the reality is we need better observers and writers to do these sorts of books. Visiting these venues seem more a drag than my method which is to pick a city/venue/team I want to see then go there. The idea you need to see "all" these venues is great in theory but a complete waste of time and money in relaity. Trust me. I did all MLB ballparks back in the '90s. Was thinking to do all NHL arenas but after the ballpark tour and rethinking the enjoyment I got from just a handful really, I now opt for events like March Madness, World Cups, etc., over groundhopping as the Brits call this.The author of From Dodger Dogs To Fenway Franks has a lot to answer for...and his book is halfway decent written way back in 1988 as it has spawned too many of these poorly written sports venue tour books.

I love books regarding fans trips to sports venues so I knew I’d like this. And I did, very much. I wouldn’t recommend reading it in 1 hit as it gets a bit samey, but in reasonable chunks, CRACKING