Wait Till Next Year

For sports fans all across the country their worst nightmare is missing the big game. Now imagine a fan not only missing a year's worth of big games, but also in that time everything even remotely related to sports. No ESPN, no sports-talk radio, no reading the sports page, no fantasy football, and especially not any seats in the bleachers. Would it be possible in our sports-obsessed society to avoid it all for a year - let alone survive the ordeal? This was the monumental question Mathew DeKinder, a certifiable sports nut, took on and chronicled in "Wait 'Till Next Year: A Die-Hard Fan's Year Without Sports."

Having found that being a sports fan took up a massive amount of free time, not to mention the life-or-death reactions to the games themselves, the author hoped to gain a healthy dose of perspective - or at the very least the ability to stop punching holes in the walls of the den after a soul-crushing loss, by avoiding the world of fan culture for a year.

This undertaking, which even the most casual sports fan would consider damn-near herculean, was at times discouraging, surprising, hilarious and even satisfying. But more than anything, the result is a book for all those embittered souls who have ever turned off their television or stormed out of a stadium vowing "never again!" after having their hearts broken by a tough loss. This book provides a better understanding of the emotional roller coaster fans willingly place themselves on and proves that ultimately if you can keep the insanity in check, it is all worth it - win or lose.