This Tuesday, my new book, Are We Winning? Fathers and Sons and the New Golden Age of Baseball, is unleashed upon an unsuspecting populace. Since you probably don't actually have questions about it, I'll make some up and answer them.
I'll be popping up a lot on the site over the next couple of weeks, so I apologize in advance. On Monday, we'll have the tentative tour schedule, and Tuesday AJ is running an excerpt. Then, a week from Monday, May 10, I am going to do my first ever Deadspin chat. It will go like Sarah Silverman's except the exact opposite of that. I'm sure AJ will still destroy me in a post later that day anyway, regardless.
What's the book about?
It's about baseball, and fatherhood. It takes place during a Cardinals-Cubs game at Wrigley Field in September 2008, attended by myself, my father and my old college friend Mike Cetera (a Cubs fan). Each chapter constitutes a half-inning of the game, and each chapter is about the game both on the field and off. And it's about how humans use sports to communicate with their fathers or, more accurately, to avoid it.
I'm not sure that made sense.
I'm bad at copywriting. It flows together better in the actual book, honest.
How many pages is it?
288. That's not that many, not really.
Is it just for Cardinals fans? Will Cubs fans hate it?
No, and no. It's actually not really about the Cardinals at all. It's about rivalries and fellowship and fatherhood and how we use baseball as a substitute for real life, and why that's a great thing.
That sounds like something George Will would say.
You're probably right. Sorry. But I swear it is funnier than George Will. Not to sound all cocky.
I'm not sure I trust your judgment. Do other people like it?
Publisher's Weekly gave it a very positive review (scroll halfway down the page), and hey, Mose Schrute really likes it. Chuck Klosterman is our primary blurb, writing: "Are We Winning? has to be the best book about Midwestern fatherhood ever written by a childless man in Brooklyn. It's also one of the last good arguments for baseball's cultural import. Will Leitch remains an American original." Also, some pregnant lady on the subway yesterday said she liked the cover. To be fair, I was shoving the book in her face, demanding she say something nice in exchange for my seat.
How is it different than God Save The Fan?
Well, it has a narrative, for one thing: It's not a series of essays about sports. It has a beginning, middle and an end. It's also probably a little sappier. It's difficult to fit much Capital-E Emotion into a book with a foam middle finger on the cover. It's still funny, though, I hope.
The Amazon page doesn't have a Kindle option. Is it available on Kindle?
Yes. It's a tech issue at Hyperion that should be fixed by next week.
This seems like a book I should get for my father.
Yes. Yes, that's the idea. Father's Day is a little more than a month away.
Will your Dad read it?
Lord, I hope not.
It will be at bookstores everywhere?
Yes, on Tuesday. And of course Amazon and BN.com and Borders.
Will you talk more about all this in your chat?
More than Silverman?
More than this.
Yes. I'll get better questions then, I'm sure.
I hate you so much.
The feeling is mutual.