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Football
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Could this be the best book on football ever?” —Tyler Cowen
"Another masterwork from one of our greatest minds.” —Esquire
“[An] essential playoff-season read.” —People
A hilarious but nonetheless groundbreaking contribution to the argument about which force shapes American life the most. For two kinds of readers—those who know it’s football and those who are about to find out.
Chuck Klosterman—New York Times bestselling critic, journalist, and, yes, football psychotic—did not write this book to deepen your appreciation of the game. He’s not trying to help you become that person at the party, or to teach you how to make better bets, or to validate any preexisting views you might have about the sport (positive or negative). Football does, in fact, do all of those things. But not in the way such things have been done in the past, and never in a way any normal person would expect.
Cultural theorists talk about hyperobjects—phenomena that bulk so large that their true dimensions are hidden in plain sight. In 2023, 93 of the 100 most-watched programs on U.S. television were NFL football games. This is not an anomaly. This is how society is best understood. Football is not merely the country’s most popular sport; it is engrained in almost everything that explains what America is, even for those who barely pay attention.
Klosterman gets to the bottom of all of it. He takes us to a metaphorical projection of Texas, where the religion of six-man football merges with America’s Team [sic] and makes an inexplicable impact on a boy in North Dakota. He dissects the question of natural greatness, the paradox of gambling and war, and the timeless caricature of the uncompromising head coach. He interrogates the perfection of football’s marriage with television and the morality of acceptable risk. He even conjures an extinction-level event. If Žižek liked the SEC more than he liked cinema, if Stephen Jay Gould cared about linebackers more than he cared about dinosaurs, if Steve Martin played quarterback instead of the banjo . . . it would still be nothing like this.
A century ago, Yale’s legendary coach Walter Camp wrote his unified theory of the game. He called it Football. Chuck Klosterman has given us a new Camp for the new age, rooted in a personal history he cannot escape.
“Could this be the best book on football ever?” —Tyler Cowen
"Another masterwork from one of our greatest minds.” —Esquire
“[An] essential playoff-season read.” —People
A hilarious but nonetheless groundbreaking contribution to the argument about which force shapes American life the most. For two kinds of readers—those who know it’s football and those who are about to find out.
Chuck Klosterman—New York Times bestselling critic, journalist, and, yes, football psychotic—did not write this book to deepen your appreciation of the game. He’s not trying to help you become that person at the party, or to teach you how to make better bets, or to validate any preexisting views you might have about the sport (positive or negative). Football does, in fact, do all of those things. But not in the way such things have been done in the past, and never in a way any normal person would expect.
Cultural theorists talk about hyperobjects—phenomena that bulk so large that their true dimensions are hidden in plain sight. In 2023, 93 of the 100 most-watched programs on U.S. television were NFL football games. This is not an anomaly. This is how society is best understood. Football is not merely the country’s most popular sport; it is engrained in almost everything that explains what America is, even for those who barely pay attention.
Klosterman gets to the bottom of all of it. He takes us to a metaphorical projection of Texas, where the religion of six-man football merges with America’s Team [sic] and makes an inexplicable impact on a boy in North Dakota. He dissects the question of natural greatness, the paradox of gambling and war, and the timeless caricature of the uncompromising head coach. He interrogates the perfection of football’s marriage with television and the morality of acceptable risk. He even conjures an extinction-level event. If Žižek liked the SEC more than he liked cinema, if Stephen Jay Gould cared about linebackers more than he cared about dinosaurs, if Steve Martin played quarterback instead of the banjo . . . it would still be nothing like this.
A century ago, Yale’s legendary coach Walter Camp wrote his unified theory of the game. He called it Football. Chuck Klosterman has given us a new Camp for the new age, rooted in a personal history he cannot escape.
10 pages, Audible Audio
First published September 11, 2010
520 people are currently reading
5388 people want to read
About the author
Chuck Klosterman
112 books5,131 followersCharles John Klosterman is an American author and essayist whose work focuses on American popular culture. He has been a columnist for Esquire and ESPN.com and wrote "The Ethicist" column for The New York Times Magazine. Klosterman is the author of twelve books, including two novels and the essay collection Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto. He was awarded the ASCAP Deems Taylor award for music criticism in 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
October 16, 2025
No one who doesn't already read sports books will believe me about this, but I genuinely believe this is a great book both for people who adore and abhor football alike. Klosterman often takes such an interesting, out of left field approach that it frequently feels like a book entitled Football is about almost anything else. A part of me wishes this was twice as long.
January 23, 2026
My favorite writer currently doing it. Klosterman possesses a rare combination of knowing ball (I've watched multiple hours of football every weekend since I was like eight and I learned a few things about the game reading this) and being willing to go down intellectual rabbit holes (nobody is better at forcing Bill Simmons out of his comfort zone on his own show). I will say there are points where he chases his own tail (there's a bit about the metric system near the end of the book that just felt sort of pedantic) but I think he's earned that right given his previous body of work. Would recommend for anyone who even tangentially cares about football.
January 27, 2026
Of course I wouldn't give anything less than five stars to a new Chuck Klosterman book.
I can easily quantify my enjoyment of the big dog's writing, but the challenge here is to qualify it. Football did not make me want to watch more football, but it made me concede that it's of considerable importance beyond the confines of the sport itself in American culture. While I couldn't relate to the more specific historical reflection, I did to the cultural consideration on the importance and interests of sports in the abstract. There's notably an essay at the end about the inverted socioeconomic logic of why football is called football and why football is called soccer in the US that was both clever and personal. Klosterman always keeps the most personal stuff for the end of his books.
But self-examination is what I responded to the most, I believe. Although it's clear from reading this book that Chuck Klosterman loves football and doesn't plan to stop watching it for as long as he breathes, a lot of Football is about why America loves such a violent, idiosyncratic and culturally conservative sport. So when people review this book and say "this is for people who either love or hate football", this is what they're talking about. The loving, but thoroughly cerebral analysis of this extreme devotion to a sport only Americans could love the way they do from concussions to the patriarchy of coaching by the way of racial prejudice, there's a thorough gut check of American identity that's being operated here without any political judgement. That always been Klosterman's biggest strength. Talking about something without talking about it.
I will probably read this book several times and own it in different formats like I did with the others and I invite you to do the same on the basis that it's a great idea to use a cultural proxy to have a pleasant and detached conversation on topic you're now demanded to urgently side on. Chuck Klosterman's still got it.
I can easily quantify my enjoyment of the big dog's writing, but the challenge here is to qualify it. Football did not make me want to watch more football, but it made me concede that it's of considerable importance beyond the confines of the sport itself in American culture. While I couldn't relate to the more specific historical reflection, I did to the cultural consideration on the importance and interests of sports in the abstract. There's notably an essay at the end about the inverted socioeconomic logic of why football is called football and why football is called soccer in the US that was both clever and personal. Klosterman always keeps the most personal stuff for the end of his books.
But self-examination is what I responded to the most, I believe. Although it's clear from reading this book that Chuck Klosterman loves football and doesn't plan to stop watching it for as long as he breathes, a lot of Football is about why America loves such a violent, idiosyncratic and culturally conservative sport. So when people review this book and say "this is for people who either love or hate football", this is what they're talking about. The loving, but thoroughly cerebral analysis of this extreme devotion to a sport only Americans could love the way they do from concussions to the patriarchy of coaching by the way of racial prejudice, there's a thorough gut check of American identity that's being operated here without any political judgement. That always been Klosterman's biggest strength. Talking about something without talking about it.
I will probably read this book several times and own it in different formats like I did with the others and I invite you to do the same on the basis that it's a great idea to use a cultural proxy to have a pleasant and detached conversation on topic you're now demanded to urgently side on. Chuck Klosterman's still got it.
January 27, 2026
Book 7 of 2026.
4.25 stars
There are some writers that I will automatically read regardless of the topic, and Chuck Klosterman is one of them!
Chuck tackles (see what I did there! lol) Football like only Chuck can.
He covers varying aspects of the game.
If you like Klosterman’s stuff and Football, then this book is a must read!
4.25 stars
There are some writers that I will automatically read regardless of the topic, and Chuck Klosterman is one of them!
Chuck tackles (see what I did there! lol) Football like only Chuck can.
He covers varying aspects of the game.
If you like Klosterman’s stuff and Football, then this book is a must read!
January 27, 2026
Always love reading Chuck. Getting to read him discuss my favorite sport and one of my favorite things in the world — football — was a true joy.
9/10
9/10
January 27, 2026
Excellent. Not necessarily because of the subject matter, but because of the style that is Klosterman. He has a way of making anything interesting, doing so by weaving society, humanity, nostalgia, and family, in seamless ways. I’ve read everything written by CK in bound form, and I can only say that he continues to evolve as a writer. Pretty impressive actually.
Thank you to Goodreads for the advance copy of this book.
Thank you to Goodreads for the advance copy of this book.
January 26, 2026
The problem with having listened to Chuck Klosterman for dozens of podcast hours is that he’s been working on this book for years and these ideas aren’t novel.
January 18, 2026
I will straight up tell you that unless you are a Chuck Klosterman fan or you like discussing football on a philosophical/sociological level, this book is not for you. Luckily I’m a fan of both Klosterman and football so I’m an obvious target for this long but worthwhile read.
In the way that only he can, Klosterman writes extensively on the rise, prominence and eventual decline of football in the United States. And yes, it tangents off into pop culture discussions at times as you would expect from him but it addresses the difficult issues around football at the same time including discussions of race, concussions, financial implications and the cultural hegemony it has in this country.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the opportunity to read and review.
In the way that only he can, Klosterman writes extensively on the rise, prominence and eventual decline of football in the United States. And yes, it tangents off into pop culture discussions at times as you would expect from him but it addresses the difficult issues around football at the same time including discussions of race, concussions, financial implications and the cultural hegemony it has in this country.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Press for the opportunity to read and review.
January 26, 2026
Too unabashedly liberal. Not what I was expecting.
January 28, 2026
I argued my way through this book. It was great fun.
This is the most thoughtful book about football. Klosterman wrestles with questions like, what will people think of football in fifty years? or would football be better if there were five or three downs to get a first down? or should players have the freedom to play football no matter how dangerous we learn it is?
Klosterman gets at these questions with his special mix of personal stories, ruminations on games he has seen, consideration of large philosophical questions, history and just quirky things to consider. Sometimes he tips into nerdy abstract talk as in, "The rise of football is the epiphenomenal result of how America works, though not in the way we typically insinuate." or "If there's no universal path to self-actualization, a path must be creatively forged by every individual, and anything that exists can be transformed into a vessel of meaning.".
Other times he has great fun dragging in stuff from all over the place. Looking under "C" in the index we get Catholicism, "Call of Duty", James Carville, "Cheers", Noam Chomsky, "Citizen Kane", Eric Clapton, Cocoa-Cola, colonialism, comic books, and The Book of Corinthians in the Bible. It is great fun following him down these paths.
I had some serious disagreements with him. Jim Thorpe was not the greatest football player of all time. On of my pet theories is that arguments about the GOAT are always really arguments about what do you mean by the GOAT. For example, in the NBA, if we say the goal of the game is to score points so the GOAT is the one who is best at that, then Chamberlin is the GOAT. If we say the goal is to contribute the most to winning the most championships, the GOAT is Russell. The argument is about, what do we mean by Goat.
Klosterman starts by saying that a GOAT in any field is the one who first establishes what greatness is like. The Beatles in pop music or Citizen Kane in movies. The problem is that his choice for GOAT didn't do that in the NFL.
Jim Thorpe was the greatest American athlete. He was a great hall of fame football player, but he didn't change or revolutionize the game in any great way. Running backs didn't change their style because of Thorpe. No new schemes or plays were introduced because of him. He was the most famous NFL player of his day because of the Olympics and many of his contemporaries said that he the best player in the NFL for most of his career, but he was not the GOAT.
Tom Brady is, of course, the NFL Goat. Klosterman's GOAT definition doesn't work for NFL players. They don't revolutionize the game in the NFL. Coaches do. Paul Brown, Sid Gilliam or Bill Walsh, for examples, changed the game the way no player has. In the NFL the Goat should be the player who contributed the most to winning the most Championships. That is Tom Brady.
It is also worth mentioning that, as far as I can tell, Thorpe's NFL stats were not GOAT level impressive. The stats from the 1920s are scant but the Football Hall of Fame site says that he played 52 games in the NFL, and he scored 6 rushing TDs and 4 passing TDs. To give some context, Jim Brown played 118 games. He scored 106 rushing TDs and 20 receiving TDs. Thorpe's college numbers were unprecedented. He scored 53 TDs in 44 games as well as being the best kicker in football. His NFL numbers, as far as I can tell, were very good but not close to GOAT level.
I disagreed with Klosterman on several of his other theories but each time his case was entertainingly and well made. He says many things that make me stop and think.
"Describing how the NFL transpires on a play-by-play basis is like trying to explain the incremental mechanics of a nuclear reactor." or
Watching an NFL game because your fantasy football future depends on what numbers a single player gets is "like eating a seven-course meal and only paying attention to how much paprika was added to the potatoes." or
"Football is a chaotic replication of bureaucratic life. Life is a means for watching football (so that our bureaucratic life can be better understood.)."
I agreed with Klosterman more than I disagreed and I enjoyed arguing with him when I didn't.
I was moved by a personal story he tells near the end of the book. Klosterman was 12 in 1984 when he saw the 1984 Flutie -Phelan pass in the BC-Miami game in his living room with his father. I was thirty and I saw it at home. My father called me seconds after the play. Klosterman and I will never forget the play because of what it showed us about our fathers.
This is the most thoughtful book about football. Klosterman wrestles with questions like, what will people think of football in fifty years? or would football be better if there were five or three downs to get a first down? or should players have the freedom to play football no matter how dangerous we learn it is?
Klosterman gets at these questions with his special mix of personal stories, ruminations on games he has seen, consideration of large philosophical questions, history and just quirky things to consider. Sometimes he tips into nerdy abstract talk as in, "The rise of football is the epiphenomenal result of how America works, though not in the way we typically insinuate." or "If there's no universal path to self-actualization, a path must be creatively forged by every individual, and anything that exists can be transformed into a vessel of meaning.".
Other times he has great fun dragging in stuff from all over the place. Looking under "C" in the index we get Catholicism, "Call of Duty", James Carville, "Cheers", Noam Chomsky, "Citizen Kane", Eric Clapton, Cocoa-Cola, colonialism, comic books, and The Book of Corinthians in the Bible. It is great fun following him down these paths.
I had some serious disagreements with him. Jim Thorpe was not the greatest football player of all time. On of my pet theories is that arguments about the GOAT are always really arguments about what do you mean by the GOAT. For example, in the NBA, if we say the goal of the game is to score points so the GOAT is the one who is best at that, then Chamberlin is the GOAT. If we say the goal is to contribute the most to winning the most championships, the GOAT is Russell. The argument is about, what do we mean by Goat.
Klosterman starts by saying that a GOAT in any field is the one who first establishes what greatness is like. The Beatles in pop music or Citizen Kane in movies. The problem is that his choice for GOAT didn't do that in the NFL.
Jim Thorpe was the greatest American athlete. He was a great hall of fame football player, but he didn't change or revolutionize the game in any great way. Running backs didn't change their style because of Thorpe. No new schemes or plays were introduced because of him. He was the most famous NFL player of his day because of the Olympics and many of his contemporaries said that he the best player in the NFL for most of his career, but he was not the GOAT.
Tom Brady is, of course, the NFL Goat. Klosterman's GOAT definition doesn't work for NFL players. They don't revolutionize the game in the NFL. Coaches do. Paul Brown, Sid Gilliam or Bill Walsh, for examples, changed the game the way no player has. In the NFL the Goat should be the player who contributed the most to winning the most Championships. That is Tom Brady.
It is also worth mentioning that, as far as I can tell, Thorpe's NFL stats were not GOAT level impressive. The stats from the 1920s are scant but the Football Hall of Fame site says that he played 52 games in the NFL, and he scored 6 rushing TDs and 4 passing TDs. To give some context, Jim Brown played 118 games. He scored 106 rushing TDs and 20 receiving TDs. Thorpe's college numbers were unprecedented. He scored 53 TDs in 44 games as well as being the best kicker in football. His NFL numbers, as far as I can tell, were very good but not close to GOAT level.
I disagreed with Klosterman on several of his other theories but each time his case was entertainingly and well made. He says many things that make me stop and think.
"Describing how the NFL transpires on a play-by-play basis is like trying to explain the incremental mechanics of a nuclear reactor." or
Watching an NFL game because your fantasy football future depends on what numbers a single player gets is "like eating a seven-course meal and only paying attention to how much paprika was added to the potatoes." or
"Football is a chaotic replication of bureaucratic life. Life is a means for watching football (so that our bureaucratic life can be better understood.)."
I agreed with Klosterman more than I disagreed and I enjoyed arguing with him when I didn't.
I was moved by a personal story he tells near the end of the book. Klosterman was 12 in 1984 when he saw the 1984 Flutie -Phelan pass in the BC-Miami game in his living room with his father. I was thirty and I saw it at home. My father called me seconds after the play. Klosterman and I will never forget the play because of what it showed us about our fathers.
January 24, 2026
This is the most I've ever thought about football, and paradoxically I'm not really a fan of football, but I am a fan of Chuck Klosterman. I would say my interest in football extends primarily to the intellectual sphere, and so this book happened to fall within the range of my interest level.
The thing I like the most about Klosterman, and this is the way I first thought about him when I read him back in high school, is that his writing is a portrayal of what the inside of my head sounds like. This may sound extremely narcissistic, but I would say I think about popular culture in this cerebral, analytical way about 80% of the time. And in a very Klostermanian fashion, I try to practice lateral thinking when I do it, connecting discrete topics together. A coworker recently compared my brain to an encyclopedia, which made me incredibly happy.
To that same extent, that's what I would say this book is, an example of lateral thinking using football as its focal point. Klosterman connects football to postmodernism, television, the metric system vs. imperial system debate, popular music, and more. And he does this in a way that's incredibly clear and lucid. It's a very unorthodox book in this way. Klosterman says in the book that he's not using football to write about something else, even though he does that frequently, but he always brings the point back to football. Even still, that unorthodox nature is what makes this gripping for a non-football fan like me. I may not have a grasp of all the technical details in the book (the different plays elude me, as does some of the terminology) but he makes things clear enough to where you don't need to understand all of it. One of the essays is about the experience of playing football videogames, and the meaning of football videogames as a kind of simulation of the actual experience. Another essay connects football as a simulacrum of the traditional American mindset in microcosm, examining the inherent conservatism of the sport. It examines football in a way that is antithetical to what one might want a football book to be about. Which semi-leads me to the other thing I like about Klosterman that I see in myself: contrarianism.
Klosterman is a contrarian writer by nature. Where others zag, he zigs. Take for example the essay about the greatest football player of all time. He makes an argument for Jim Thorpe, which is not a take that many would have. Even if this might seem technically wrong to seasoned football fans, the nature of the contrarianism is what makes it interesting. He's less interested in being correct as he is interested in the conversation happening from the contrarianism. He's a writer who seemingly believes that continued discourse is what matters more than the end result. I am very much the same way; maybe it's the nature of being an English teacher, but I am less interested in correct answers than I am in conversations that happen through questions and dialogue.
Another interesting thing about this is how much heavier on memoir and sentimentality it is. Klosterman incorporates autobiographical details about his family and his childhood than in any other book. While he analyzes his experiences in an almost distant fashion, those moments are an inescapable tone shift, and these parts of the book become incontrovertibly sad in a sort of nostalgic way, like how one might look back on fond family memories and wondering where the time went.
As it stands, I love 90% of this book; the 10% I don't like isn't explainable in any meaningful way, I just know there's something about it that irks me. Probably because it's about football.
The thing I like the most about Klosterman, and this is the way I first thought about him when I read him back in high school, is that his writing is a portrayal of what the inside of my head sounds like. This may sound extremely narcissistic, but I would say I think about popular culture in this cerebral, analytical way about 80% of the time. And in a very Klostermanian fashion, I try to practice lateral thinking when I do it, connecting discrete topics together. A coworker recently compared my brain to an encyclopedia, which made me incredibly happy.
To that same extent, that's what I would say this book is, an example of lateral thinking using football as its focal point. Klosterman connects football to postmodernism, television, the metric system vs. imperial system debate, popular music, and more. And he does this in a way that's incredibly clear and lucid. It's a very unorthodox book in this way. Klosterman says in the book that he's not using football to write about something else, even though he does that frequently, but he always brings the point back to football. Even still, that unorthodox nature is what makes this gripping for a non-football fan like me. I may not have a grasp of all the technical details in the book (the different plays elude me, as does some of the terminology) but he makes things clear enough to where you don't need to understand all of it. One of the essays is about the experience of playing football videogames, and the meaning of football videogames as a kind of simulation of the actual experience. Another essay connects football as a simulacrum of the traditional American mindset in microcosm, examining the inherent conservatism of the sport. It examines football in a way that is antithetical to what one might want a football book to be about. Which semi-leads me to the other thing I like about Klosterman that I see in myself: contrarianism.
Klosterman is a contrarian writer by nature. Where others zag, he zigs. Take for example the essay about the greatest football player of all time. He makes an argument for Jim Thorpe, which is not a take that many would have. Even if this might seem technically wrong to seasoned football fans, the nature of the contrarianism is what makes it interesting. He's less interested in being correct as he is interested in the conversation happening from the contrarianism. He's a writer who seemingly believes that continued discourse is what matters more than the end result. I am very much the same way; maybe it's the nature of being an English teacher, but I am less interested in correct answers than I am in conversations that happen through questions and dialogue.
Another interesting thing about this is how much heavier on memoir and sentimentality it is. Klosterman incorporates autobiographical details about his family and his childhood than in any other book. While he analyzes his experiences in an almost distant fashion, those moments are an inescapable tone shift, and these parts of the book become incontrovertibly sad in a sort of nostalgic way, like how one might look back on fond family memories and wondering where the time went.
As it stands, I love 90% of this book; the 10% I don't like isn't explainable in any meaningful way, I just know there's something about it that irks me. Probably because it's about football.
January 25, 2026
Author and life observer Chuck Klosterman is a Renaissance Man. No other term might be appropriate for the author of nine nonfiction books --- including THE NINETIES and SEX, DRUGS, AND COCOA PUFFS; two novels; and the short story collection RAISED IN CAPTIVITY. In addition, Klosterman has written extensively for notable newspapers and magazines and served for three years as the Ethicist for The New York Times Magazine. Beyond his writing career, he and Bill Simmons were original founders of the website Grantland.
Klosterman is also an avid sports fan. By his own calculations, he has been daydreaming and wanting to write a book about football for 40 years. While FOOTBALL is that book, it is more than a “Why I Love Football”-style presentation. Please do not be fooled; there is a great deal of material here for football fans. For someone like me, growing up in the era when football imprinted its culture upon my life, there are countless references to and recollections of sports history.
In the concluding portion of the book’s introduction, Klosterman observes, “I’m not claiming football is good for everyone because it was good for me, nor is this some attempt at justifying my truth.” FOOTBALL is a tribute to the game, published before it becomes further unrecognizable to its millions of fans and presented by a writer who hopes to explain why the sport matters so much to so many people.
Football as an athletic event is exclusionary. The game itself is so complicated and rigidly structured that it cannot be replicated recreationally. Tackle football is played by a million people in high school, 80,000 in college and 2,700 at the professional level. While there has been some international expansion, the total amount of organized participation in the US is .002 percent of the population.
Still, football has become ingrained in America’s culture. In 2023, 93 of the 100 most-watched television shows in the US were NFL games, and three of the remaining seven were college games. Annually the numbers fluctuate, but the reality of American media is that football is on the air basically every day. As Klosterman observes, it is the one sport that is better on TV than in person. Television broadcasting has become its own industry. Games that were once aired using two or three cameras now boast nearly a hundred cameras, along with drones and countless other pieces of technology.
Klosterman’s ode to the game he loves includes plenty of musings. Along the way, he covers his own memories of a personal football career of insignificance, some recollections of the greatest games in history, and a long chapter discussing football’s GOATs and why such an exercise is difficult and probably unanswerable. There are many sections that are intellectually stimulating, covering Texas football, video games devoted to football, and football coaching. As the parent of a football coach, Klosterman’s observations are thoughtful and perceptive, and they hit close to home.
The book ends with a remarkable explanation of how football got its name. Here Klosterman incorporates the acknowledgement that, for the rest of the world, football is what Americans refer to as soccer.
As I complete this review, it is only the beginning of the third week of 2026. I will not be compiling a list of this year’s best books for another 11 months. But I can say with great confidence that FOOTBALL will be on there at the end of the year.
Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
Klosterman is also an avid sports fan. By his own calculations, he has been daydreaming and wanting to write a book about football for 40 years. While FOOTBALL is that book, it is more than a “Why I Love Football”-style presentation. Please do not be fooled; there is a great deal of material here for football fans. For someone like me, growing up in the era when football imprinted its culture upon my life, there are countless references to and recollections of sports history.
In the concluding portion of the book’s introduction, Klosterman observes, “I’m not claiming football is good for everyone because it was good for me, nor is this some attempt at justifying my truth.” FOOTBALL is a tribute to the game, published before it becomes further unrecognizable to its millions of fans and presented by a writer who hopes to explain why the sport matters so much to so many people.
Football as an athletic event is exclusionary. The game itself is so complicated and rigidly structured that it cannot be replicated recreationally. Tackle football is played by a million people in high school, 80,000 in college and 2,700 at the professional level. While there has been some international expansion, the total amount of organized participation in the US is .002 percent of the population.
Still, football has become ingrained in America’s culture. In 2023, 93 of the 100 most-watched television shows in the US were NFL games, and three of the remaining seven were college games. Annually the numbers fluctuate, but the reality of American media is that football is on the air basically every day. As Klosterman observes, it is the one sport that is better on TV than in person. Television broadcasting has become its own industry. Games that were once aired using two or three cameras now boast nearly a hundred cameras, along with drones and countless other pieces of technology.
Klosterman’s ode to the game he loves includes plenty of musings. Along the way, he covers his own memories of a personal football career of insignificance, some recollections of the greatest games in history, and a long chapter discussing football’s GOATs and why such an exercise is difficult and probably unanswerable. There are many sections that are intellectually stimulating, covering Texas football, video games devoted to football, and football coaching. As the parent of a football coach, Klosterman’s observations are thoughtful and perceptive, and they hit close to home.
The book ends with a remarkable explanation of how football got its name. Here Klosterman incorporates the acknowledgement that, for the rest of the world, football is what Americans refer to as soccer.
As I complete this review, it is only the beginning of the third week of 2026. I will not be compiling a list of this year’s best books for another 11 months. But I can say with great confidence that FOOTBALL will be on there at the end of the year.
Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
January 28, 2026
Proof that I'll read anything Klosterman cares to write about.
I don't give one fuck about football, I think it's pretty boring, and I also don't feel like I have time in my life for it. Don't get me wrong, I waste a shitload of time, I'm not saying I'm BETTER because I don't watch football, I'm just a stupid idiot asshole in a different, specific way from the stupid idiot assholes who watch tons of football.
I don't give a fuck about any sports, if I'm being thorough. I mean, I think I'm supposed to probably be a little more actively disdainful of football for various reasons, but I can't really say I think football is any worse for society than ice hockey or MMA or the fact that it's totally legal to just buy a truck, lift it to a height that ensures any collisions will be fatal for all other parties, and then to just drive it around because that's fun somehow.
But I still love this book.
This isn't a book where Klosterman is writing about football, but he's REALLY writing about something else. I mean, he meanders a bit in a way that'll be familiar to fans, and some of the sections are more fanciful than others, but I think overall this is genuinely a book about football. I guess this is where I should tell people not to pick this up unless they're expecting a football-y book, but I won't say that, because I think most readers will like it, even if they don't like football or even care about it.
It's not a ton of bullshit about, like, stats or dynasties and so on, it's not a book that's like watching a game with your football-loving fan who is nice and willing to explain things to you, but by the end of the first quarter, you can tell he's just like, "Jesus Christ, just watch the fuckin' game!"
It's totally readable and comprehensible for people who don't know anything about football and have probably consciously avoided it most of their lives.
It's a tough sell, a football book that's not really for people who hate football and everything about it, but not necessarily for huge fans, either. But I think that's why it works: Rather than being a book that was written because it's market-able, it seems like a book Klosterman wanted to write because HE was interested in it. It's like the antithesis of a new Hunger Games book or something (which might be unfair, for all I know, Suzanne Collins LOVES writing them shits) that gets cranked out and sells 1.5 million copies.
Football, the book, is almost like what big directors always say they're doing, like they'll do a big payday studio movie, then they'll do more personal projects. And then those little projects never seem to materialize, somehow. Probably because you do the big studio project, then you do another one of those, and before long, that's what you do, and your mortgage is insane because you bought the kind of house that appears on Selling Sunset, a house where you have expectations that the real estate agent will show up in heels, in a shiny Mercedes, and a needle drop of sort of weird, overwrought, romantic-ish dubstep(ish) will hit as they walk up the front steps.
I'm suspicious Klosterman does NOT live in a house of this type and that he perhaps never will. Partially because I don't know that's his style, mostly because the world is unjust.
I don't give one fuck about football, I think it's pretty boring, and I also don't feel like I have time in my life for it. Don't get me wrong, I waste a shitload of time, I'm not saying I'm BETTER because I don't watch football, I'm just a stupid idiot asshole in a different, specific way from the stupid idiot assholes who watch tons of football.
I don't give a fuck about any sports, if I'm being thorough. I mean, I think I'm supposed to probably be a little more actively disdainful of football for various reasons, but I can't really say I think football is any worse for society than ice hockey or MMA or the fact that it's totally legal to just buy a truck, lift it to a height that ensures any collisions will be fatal for all other parties, and then to just drive it around because that's fun somehow.
But I still love this book.
This isn't a book where Klosterman is writing about football, but he's REALLY writing about something else. I mean, he meanders a bit in a way that'll be familiar to fans, and some of the sections are more fanciful than others, but I think overall this is genuinely a book about football. I guess this is where I should tell people not to pick this up unless they're expecting a football-y book, but I won't say that, because I think most readers will like it, even if they don't like football or even care about it.
It's not a ton of bullshit about, like, stats or dynasties and so on, it's not a book that's like watching a game with your football-loving fan who is nice and willing to explain things to you, but by the end of the first quarter, you can tell he's just like, "Jesus Christ, just watch the fuckin' game!"
It's totally readable and comprehensible for people who don't know anything about football and have probably consciously avoided it most of their lives.
It's a tough sell, a football book that's not really for people who hate football and everything about it, but not necessarily for huge fans, either. But I think that's why it works: Rather than being a book that was written because it's market-able, it seems like a book Klosterman wanted to write because HE was interested in it. It's like the antithesis of a new Hunger Games book or something (which might be unfair, for all I know, Suzanne Collins LOVES writing them shits) that gets cranked out and sells 1.5 million copies.
Football, the book, is almost like what big directors always say they're doing, like they'll do a big payday studio movie, then they'll do more personal projects. And then those little projects never seem to materialize, somehow. Probably because you do the big studio project, then you do another one of those, and before long, that's what you do, and your mortgage is insane because you bought the kind of house that appears on Selling Sunset, a house where you have expectations that the real estate agent will show up in heels, in a shiny Mercedes, and a needle drop of sort of weird, overwrought, romantic-ish dubstep(ish) will hit as they walk up the front steps.
I'm suspicious Klosterman does NOT live in a house of this type and that he perhaps never will. Partially because I don't know that's his style, mostly because the world is unjust.
January 25, 2026
Klosterman is a classic bullshitter (excuse my French), the ultimate late night dorm room argument in human form. But I generally like the way his mind works; his racing thoughts and relentless self-consciousness made for compelling, if neurotic, commentary.
This book is a rather disjointed series of essays that explores what football means in modern American culture. He makes the interesting argument that while football is (and deserves to be) the most popular sport in the country (it has objectively done a better job marketing itself and perfecting the sport than other leagues), he also thinks it will decline and possibly collapse by the end of the 20th century. He argues that football is becoming so big, and its success is so tethered to TV, that as the way Americans live changes, it will lose relevance. It will become a game played by ever fewer people and watched not because people can relate to it, but because it's a perfunctory cultural exercise (i.e., it is what you do on Sundays and Saturdays). There will likely be a catastrophic strike and work paralysis as TV commercials (which is why pro football exists and makes money) become less significant as a form of advertising/media. And greater awareness of the human cost of the game (and the high likelihood that a pro or high-level college player will die on the field at some point) will erode its credibility.
I'm not sure if I even agree with this argument. It's not consistent with the rest of the book, which argues that football is awesome and that is succeeds as a form of American exceptionalism. But it's the most plausible prediction path I've heard on how football might someday lose its relevance. After all, the strange double appeal of football is that you can't really play it at the recreational level like you can basketball or soccer, which makes it completely unrelatable. So the question is whether its unrelatability is a strength (as in: these are superhumans doing something akin to levitating that I'll never do) or a weakness (this is so foreign to me that it doesn't make sense). It seems like that quality is a strength now but could be a weakness.
Anyways, Klostermanian arguments are usually semi to non-persuasive, but he is funny as hell and pretty darn smart and I love over-intellectualizing sports. So if you dig those things, check this out.
This book is a rather disjointed series of essays that explores what football means in modern American culture. He makes the interesting argument that while football is (and deserves to be) the most popular sport in the country (it has objectively done a better job marketing itself and perfecting the sport than other leagues), he also thinks it will decline and possibly collapse by the end of the 20th century. He argues that football is becoming so big, and its success is so tethered to TV, that as the way Americans live changes, it will lose relevance. It will become a game played by ever fewer people and watched not because people can relate to it, but because it's a perfunctory cultural exercise (i.e., it is what you do on Sundays and Saturdays). There will likely be a catastrophic strike and work paralysis as TV commercials (which is why pro football exists and makes money) become less significant as a form of advertising/media. And greater awareness of the human cost of the game (and the high likelihood that a pro or high-level college player will die on the field at some point) will erode its credibility.
I'm not sure if I even agree with this argument. It's not consistent with the rest of the book, which argues that football is awesome and that is succeeds as a form of American exceptionalism. But it's the most plausible prediction path I've heard on how football might someday lose its relevance. After all, the strange double appeal of football is that you can't really play it at the recreational level like you can basketball or soccer, which makes it completely unrelatable. So the question is whether its unrelatability is a strength (as in: these are superhumans doing something akin to levitating that I'll never do) or a weakness (this is so foreign to me that it doesn't make sense). It seems like that quality is a strength now but could be a weakness.
Anyways, Klostermanian arguments are usually semi to non-persuasive, but he is funny as hell and pretty darn smart and I love over-intellectualizing sports. So if you dig those things, check this out.
January 30, 2026
It’s hard to explain just how big a part of my life the NFL once was. From 1977 to 2011, I rabidly followed the league. It was how I bonded with my grandfather, and being a Raider fan was how I identified myself for a very long time. Then I walked away cold turkey. I went from knowing almost everything about the league to ignoring it completely. This happened for several reasons, but I haven’t regretted it or been tempted to go back. So why the heck did I read this book?
Well, for starters, Chuck Klosterman is always a must-read for me. I’ve grown a little cooler on his work recently, but when I saw he was dropping a new book, I knew I’d read it regardless of what it was about. He is also my age, so I knew he’d be swimming in waters I was very familiar with. The real thesis of Football is that the sport is the perfect lens through which to view America, and, like America, it is probably past its peak. I can come really close to recommending this one to people who have no interest in the sport. There are some deep dives that might bore the uninterested, but most of it is about why the sport is so popular here and nowhere else, and how it reflects our culture, for better or worse. Unlike me, Klosterman is still a devoted fan. But like me, he can see a future where football is no longer our national pastime and passion.
For my money, the absolute peak of the league was the Saints beating the Colts in the Super Bowl in February of 2010, cementing the city’s resurrection from Katrina. Klosterman argues that the peak might have been much earlier. Either way, it’s so far ahead of the other sports played here that its decline, while in progress, won’t be evident to the casual consumer for quite a while. The book is a thought-provoking read, and for my money, his best work since his debut, Fargo Rock City. He wanders here and there and sometimes gets a little too deep into academic philosophy, but I still think most people would get something out of it and enjoy the ride. If you’re Gen X or older, you’ll smile at the references to players and events you haven’t thought of for ages, like Flutie’s Hail Mary win over Miami or the glory days of the wishbone formation. For me it’s a solid 4 outta 5 stars.
Well, for starters, Chuck Klosterman is always a must-read for me. I’ve grown a little cooler on his work recently, but when I saw he was dropping a new book, I knew I’d read it regardless of what it was about. He is also my age, so I knew he’d be swimming in waters I was very familiar with. The real thesis of Football is that the sport is the perfect lens through which to view America, and, like America, it is probably past its peak. I can come really close to recommending this one to people who have no interest in the sport. There are some deep dives that might bore the uninterested, but most of it is about why the sport is so popular here and nowhere else, and how it reflects our culture, for better or worse. Unlike me, Klosterman is still a devoted fan. But like me, he can see a future where football is no longer our national pastime and passion.
For my money, the absolute peak of the league was the Saints beating the Colts in the Super Bowl in February of 2010, cementing the city’s resurrection from Katrina. Klosterman argues that the peak might have been much earlier. Either way, it’s so far ahead of the other sports played here that its decline, while in progress, won’t be evident to the casual consumer for quite a while. The book is a thought-provoking read, and for my money, his best work since his debut, Fargo Rock City. He wanders here and there and sometimes gets a little too deep into academic philosophy, but I still think most people would get something out of it and enjoy the ride. If you’re Gen X or older, you’ll smile at the references to players and events you haven’t thought of for ages, like Flutie’s Hail Mary win over Miami or the glory days of the wishbone formation. For me it’s a solid 4 outta 5 stars.
January 30, 2026
This book affirms my overal issue with the current state of sports commentary. Every chapter presents a banal point to any football fan thats then explained in random detail with weak subjective arguments and the occasional dubious statistic shoehorned in to try establish some semblence of an objective truth.
I've read all of Chuck Klosterman books multiple times and I dont find anything nessecairly wrong with his overall thesis. The takes in this book are fairly simple opinions about football presented through the mind/voice of Chuck Klosterman.
This is best suited for new or aspiring football fans, but to anyone that is invested in the sport it can be a little tedious and rage inducing. I don't think it presents any unique or exciting ideas.
I gueinely enjoyed the second half of chapter 7 that focused on Kappernick. It was the most thoughtful take and the best arguement made in the book.
His point about soccer, completely ignores that the English Premier League, both revenue sharing and stadium experience were directly based on the miami dolphins and the nfl. also it's widely accepted that the premier league playing on Saturday and sunday mornings was massively crucial to the growth of the viewership in the us for the simple reason that no other live sports are ever on at that time. there is a book called the club that goes into detail in this.
I have a hard time believing the anecdote about the mossed sticky note. Not for nothing but he never mentions the fact that espn has had a segment called "you got mossed" for about a decade. That's why people say that.
Chuck is a fantastic narrator of his audiobooks. I originally rated this one star and was frustrated throughout listening to the audiobook but upon reflection that wasnt fair. The end really made me realize I've went from someone like Chuck who cared deeply about sports to the person that he mentioned being jealous of not caring much anymore.
I've read all of Chuck Klosterman books multiple times and I dont find anything nessecairly wrong with his overall thesis. The takes in this book are fairly simple opinions about football presented through the mind/voice of Chuck Klosterman.
This is best suited for new or aspiring football fans, but to anyone that is invested in the sport it can be a little tedious and rage inducing. I don't think it presents any unique or exciting ideas.
I gueinely enjoyed the second half of chapter 7 that focused on Kappernick. It was the most thoughtful take and the best arguement made in the book.
His point about soccer, completely ignores that the English Premier League, both revenue sharing and stadium experience were directly based on the miami dolphins and the nfl. also it's widely accepted that the premier league playing on Saturday and sunday mornings was massively crucial to the growth of the viewership in the us for the simple reason that no other live sports are ever on at that time. there is a book called the club that goes into detail in this.
I have a hard time believing the anecdote about the mossed sticky note. Not for nothing but he never mentions the fact that espn has had a segment called "you got mossed" for about a decade. That's why people say that.
Chuck is a fantastic narrator of his audiobooks. I originally rated this one star and was frustrated throughout listening to the audiobook but upon reflection that wasnt fair. The end really made me realize I've went from someone like Chuck who cared deeply about sports to the person that he mentioned being jealous of not caring much anymore.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
It happens every time I read a Chuck Klosterman book, and I've read every single one of his non-fiction books. He annoys the hell out of me as I start the book. His opinions are seemingly contrarian by design, and he goes so far up his own rabbit holes that he's in danger of losing my understanding and interest.
But I stick with the books primarily because I just like the way his mind works, and if I fall into his rhythms and his state of mind, I invariably learn a lot and look at things with new eyes. Plus he's sneaky funny.
Such is the case with Football, which clearly was a joy for football nut Klosterman to tackle. He has unique, challenging takes on everything from why football commands the American fascination (and why that may not be a perpetual state), what it means to be the Greatest of All Time, why football can only be understood through and as television, and, oh, race in America.
At the risk of sounding like a blurb, if you love Klosterman or football, you'll love Football.
Many thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for the advance copy.
But I stick with the books primarily because I just like the way his mind works, and if I fall into his rhythms and his state of mind, I invariably learn a lot and look at things with new eyes. Plus he's sneaky funny.
Such is the case with Football, which clearly was a joy for football nut Klosterman to tackle. He has unique, challenging takes on everything from why football commands the American fascination (and why that may not be a perpetual state), what it means to be the Greatest of All Time, why football can only be understood through and as television, and, oh, race in America.
At the risk of sounding like a blurb, if you love Klosterman or football, you'll love Football.
Many thanks to Penguin and NetGalley for the advance copy.
January 26, 2026
The author is a good writer and the dude's pretty smart (like in a: "your honor, I object" kinda way) ... The odds are that you're gonna hate him ... He goes to great lengths to define what the book's about and what it's not about; what he believes and what he doesn't believe ... If you choose to read this, you should do so without any expectation of learning why the author wrote it or what his agenda is ... Regardless of that agenda, which we all know is "hidden", what the book actually is is a quirky, maybe intellectual view of football painted by examining the sport's oddities and exagerrating it's flaws ... Chuck wants you to think he's a footbal savant, and maybe he is ... It's a bit shocking that he did not include a subtitle, but I know what it is, "The shocking, dirty little secrets about your sport, why you're addicted and how it all ends badly" ... But once you survive the 100-page hazing period, you warm up to Chuck, he's clever, funny sometimes; there are memories here and anecdotes and fun facts and, holy fuck!, the guy wrote a book about football - sign me up!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is Chuck Klosterman at his best, writing about the sport he loves most in what amounts to a series of essays. This guy is a deep thinker and does an exceptional job of substantiating his out-of-the-box takes. He also sprinkles in plenty of clever references, usually pop culture related.
I have read almost all of his books and this is his best yet. He says he is writing it for people who don’t exist yet and, in a roundabout way, explains why football as the behemoth we know it as today will not be there 40 years from now. He makes so many strong and convincing points, always backed by facts. Violence and injury risk are the root cause to football’s predicted decline, which will cause people of the future to be disconnected from the game itself. His comparison to how this compares to the actual decline in the sport of horse racing was fascinating.
A great book that was a lot of fun to read.
I have read almost all of his books and this is his best yet. He says he is writing it for people who don’t exist yet and, in a roundabout way, explains why football as the behemoth we know it as today will not be there 40 years from now. He makes so many strong and convincing points, always backed by facts. Violence and injury risk are the root cause to football’s predicted decline, which will cause people of the future to be disconnected from the game itself. His comparison to how this compares to the actual decline in the sport of horse racing was fascinating.
A great book that was a lot of fun to read.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you to PRH Audio for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.
Football is a collection of essays about the sport you think you know. I’d consider myself a football fan, especially college football, but I’ll readily admit there’s a lot I don’t know. While the history of the game appears throughout these essays, this is not a comprehensive history of football. You won’t find a step-by-step account of how the game is played, its invention, or its earliest beginnings.
Instead, Klosterman examines football through its relationship to Texas, its impact on television and media, gambling, its overwhelming popularity, and even its potential impending doom.
As with most essayists, his opinions and predictions are woven throughout. There were moments I wasn’t sure I agreed with him, but I still enjoyed the stories he told and the collection as a whole.
Klosterman also narrates the audiobook. While I don’t always love an author narrator, I found his narration easy to listen to, and it worked well for this kind of book.
Football is a collection of essays about the sport you think you know. I’d consider myself a football fan, especially college football, but I’ll readily admit there’s a lot I don’t know. While the history of the game appears throughout these essays, this is not a comprehensive history of football. You won’t find a step-by-step account of how the game is played, its invention, or its earliest beginnings.
Instead, Klosterman examines football through its relationship to Texas, its impact on television and media, gambling, its overwhelming popularity, and even its potential impending doom.
As with most essayists, his opinions and predictions are woven throughout. There were moments I wasn’t sure I agreed with him, but I still enjoyed the stories he told and the collection as a whole.
Klosterman also narrates the audiobook. While I don’t always love an author narrator, I found his narration easy to listen to, and it worked well for this kind of book.
January 31, 2026
Is football doomed? that’s argued for a portion of this book, all about live tv and ads no longer being viable leads to it crumbling all because the funnel is broken since college is doomed with NIL and CTE concerns break the youth system (I would argue we are getting safer than ever, and direct to consumer is probably the future packaging but sure), same as how horse racing used to be a top sport in America (there used to be a 3:1 horse to people ratio!), how many QBs should be black? he could not insert Tua Tagovailoa into the national championship game?!? he says to understand football, you have to gamble. The TV camera is the best viewing experience? Jim Thorpe is the goat? Best incompletion is Tom Brady to Randy Moss for 70 yards at the end of the Super Bowl? And ain’t no way is the nfl going to 22 regular season games.
November 1, 2025
Klosterman posits that football has already peaked in popularity and there is nowhere to go but down. As someone who stopped watching football ten years ago, this is an appealing postulation, but one I don't see that much evidence for (maybe Chuck is wrong). I enjoyed the first chapter the best, particularly when Klosterman details what the book is not going to be. Like many people, Klosterman knows that football is a blood sport that can not be played without players getting injured (which is part of the reason I stopped watching), but he is unwilling to stop. I always enjoy Klosterman's writing even if some of his ideas seem half baked.
Read
January 23, 2026Read this pretty quickly after getting it because of its coincidental release right around the IU CFP victory, so my interest in football is likely at its apex. The ideas in the book range from very compelling to amusing, often both. His prediction about the eventual fall of football puts to words an inevitability that seems like it might not have any solutions that will make everybody happy and that no one has the power and prerogative to change it. However, if it happens like it does in the book, it won’t really feel like much of a loss to the people who might actually care about it. I wonder what’s next?
February 2, 2026
Like Klosterman I believe basketball is a better sport but think more about football and while his ghosts and obsessions are not my ghosts and obsessions (neither Jerry Kramer or Leo Nomellini are mentioned in the book and I clearly think more about punters than Mr. Klosterman.) Football is nonetheless a great and thoughtful book that will be with me a long time. In the acknowledgements Klosterman writes that this was the most he has enjoyed writing a book and you really feel it as you work through the book. Killing Yourself To Live will always be my favorite of his books but Football ranks right up there.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
This was really interesting! As much as I've been around football over the years, I don't know that much about the rules of the game, nor do I recognize the names of many of the players beyond the biggest of the big names. However, this book was about more than nuts and bolts details of the sport. It's a history and an examination of the cultural impact of the game. The most interesting part was Klosterman's predictions of the future of the sport.
You don't need to be a football fan to enjoy this book. Highly recommended!
You don't need to be a football fan to enjoy this book. Highly recommended!
January 24, 2026
I like football in fact, I enjoy it quite a bit, but I’m not a student of the game and Chuck’s book does an incredible job of opening up some insight into the game that I wouldn’t have gotten any other way. This is just a spectacular sports book. I love his sardonic, and I love the way in which he approaches the history of this game and the reasons why it has taken over the culture of the United States
January 24, 2026
Chuck on the BS Pod said he's never written a perfect book, but he believes this is as close as he's come (paraphrased)...
I'd have to agree. Only, to me, this was a perfect piece of art. (I'm obviously not as smart as Chuck) I devoured and enjoyed every word--wanting it to never end.
I was so excited about this, and it lived up to the hype‼️
I'd have to agree. Only, to me, this was a perfect piece of art. (I'm obviously not as smart as Chuck) I devoured and enjoyed every word--wanting it to never end.
I was so excited about this, and it lived up to the hype‼️
January 25, 2026
Klosterman takes on all the big questions around football--who's the GOAT? Why's it called foot-ball? Can we morally continue to enjoy a sport that is proven to damage the brains of (likely all of) its participants? His arguments are always sound and yet open the door to debate. The beat part is is breakdown of the eventual fall of football as America's defining collective activity.
January 31, 2026
If Chuck Klosterman writes a Chinese food menu, I’d still read it because he’ll get into the life and times of General Tso and explain the origin of the number 65 in Chicken 65. I don’t care much about football or the author’s theories and arguments, I read it for the entertainment and for finding out new facts and trivia. I wasn’t disappointed.
February 1, 2026
Klosterman always does a good job of writing thought-provoking essays, and this series has the added benefit of being about a subject matter I'm quite familiar with. I did think he tied himself in some philosophical knots more than he usually does, which slowed things down a little, but in general another good read by him.
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