Home and Away: Memoir of a Fan by Scott SimonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I enjoyed parts of this, though not the parts I expected before I began reading. This book sat on my TBR pile of baseball books, as I had the impression that that was what this was about. But here, Simon interweaves personal stories of his family with stories of recent Chicago sports teams. And I found Simon’s family stories, and the sports stories where he is a character were more interesting than his perspectives on, for instance, Bull’s management during the winning seasons that were so long ago. I most enjoyed his descriptions of hanging out with some people who might be considered one step removed from athletic greatness – like family friend Jack Brickhouse, and Luc Longley, who Simon befriends and kind of becomes one of his posse members. Simon doesn’t appear to have the personality to be the kind to hang out with your Jordans or Pippens or Ditkas or Graces. It comes across as nerdy humblebragging. Overall, this was at its best when Simon talks about his family. The reportage on the Chicago pro sports teams of the 80s and 90s was a nice trip down memory lane for a Chicago sports fan, but was about what you’d expect from a reporter.
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