The Soccer Diaries

May 15, 2014

Agovino (The Bookmaker; contributor, Atlantic and New York Times) has written a new memoir about his lifelong love of soccer. The book traces a path from his childhood in the Bronx watching World Cup matches on television to his career as a journalist covering soccer on a global scale. While telling his life story, Agovino discusses what was going on in the soccer world at the time and relates personal anecdotes of matches he saw or stadiums he visited. For readers already knowledgeable about soccer and its history, this book will be like spending time with a kindred spirit, eager to share his experiences. However, for those who aren't in the know the material will be more than a little tedious as the descriptions of minor players and events come fast and furious and detract from the book's ability to entertain as a memoir. VERDICT Recommended for soccer fanatics looking to deepen their love of the game.--John Helling, Bloomfield-Eastern Greene Cty. P.L., IN

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
One man's experience of American soccer's years of bust and boom.As a teenager, Agovino (The Bookmaker: A Memoir of Money, Luck, and Family from the Utopian Outskirts of New York City, 2008) fell in love with the beautiful game. Born and bred in the Bronx, where the typical American team sports of baseball, football, basketball and hockey reigned, the author nonetheless found himself captivated by a game that most Americans disdained when they acknowledged it at all. By 1982, when Agovino attended his first real soccer match, an all-star game at Giants Stadium featuring some of the world's elite players, the luster of the North American Soccer League's New York Cosmos was fading and the United States men's national team had not made the World Cup since 1950 (and would not do so until 1990). Agovino played for his high school team, went on to New York University, where he covered the varsity team for the school paper, and upon graduation, found a series of jobs in journalism and as a freelance writer covering soccer as much as he was able. Agovino's passion rings clear throughout this well-written book, but it is difficult to discern his intended audience. His personal journey through the sport is idiosyncratic, and the book is neither a history nor a traditional memoir-though it is closer to the latter than the former. Newcomers to the sport may find themselves a bit lost, and while the author purports to hate a common breed of exclusive and elitist American soccer fans, he betrays his own version of off-putting elitism and condescension. Nonetheless, those readers who buy in will see the growth of soccer in the United States in a deeply felt, personal journey.Soccer has taken its place in the American sporting constellation in no small part due to fans and writers like Agovino.

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June 1, 2014
Agovino fell in love with soccer on August 7, 1982, in an unlikely place: Giants Stadium (where he saw an all-star game with global greats). From that day, he was hopelessly infatuated, watching obscure games on a snowy TV, hunting down match tickets, and, ultimately, making pilgrimages overseas. Though partial to Italy's AS Roma and their national team, the author is ultimately a fan, not of teams, but of the game itself, its culture, its context, and, above all, its people. Within sections charting soccer's evolution in the U.S. ( The Dark Ages, The Renaissance, The Enlightenment ), chapters chronicle games watched, trips taken, and people met, as well as books, articles, and films voraciously devoured. Throughout, Agovino (The Bookmaker, 2008) clearly wants to make his own contribution to the canon, and now he has one, a thoughtful and enjoyable narrative of his passion for the game.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)