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A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL
The author of Word Freak recounts his experience of becoming a placekicker for the Denver Broncos, an effort during which he gained rare access to top NFL players, coaches, and facilities while enduring the grueling process of professional-level athletics training. 50,000 first printing.
338 pages, Hardcover
First published July 3, 2008
40 people are currently reading
1608 people want to read
About the author
Stefan Fatsis
12 books66 followersStefan Fatsis is an author, reporter and familiar voice to public-radio listeners nationwide.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 195 reviews
March 2, 2009
Since I rarely read nonfiction books, when I do I expect them to be real winners just like this true story of a 43-year-old sportswriter who decides to experience the life of an NFL football player by going through Broncos training camp as a field goal kicker. Not only was it the story of one man's attempt to be a professional athlete, it was also an inside look at the players and management of professional football.
Just like when I read a book that was a year in the life of the Professional Bull Riding Association - I was tempted throughout the book to Google the various players to find out how they were doing today. Many of the players Fatsis encounters are trying to overcome the odds to secure one spot on the team's final roster. Along with the physical toll the game takes on the players' bodies, the mental games that are played by coaches and team owners is depicted.
Not only do I have a different view of professional football players -I also wonder what I could do if I showed the determination of Fatsis. Professional bowling, maybe? Well, I probably should just aim for a consistent 200 game. That would be amazing enough.
Just like when I read a book that was a year in the life of the Professional Bull Riding Association - I was tempted throughout the book to Google the various players to find out how they were doing today. Many of the players Fatsis encounters are trying to overcome the odds to secure one spot on the team's final roster. Along with the physical toll the game takes on the players' bodies, the mental games that are played by coaches and team owners is depicted.
Not only do I have a different view of professional football players -I also wonder what I could do if I showed the determination of Fatsis. Professional bowling, maybe? Well, I probably should just aim for a consistent 200 game. That would be amazing enough.
October 14, 2014
I can't remember the last time I watched a football game. I think it was when I was in elementary school.
Even though I can't claim a team or quote stats, I was fascinated by this book.
The biggest takeaway was this: Professional football players are just people.. They're great athletes, but have insecure jobs and tons of stress. Fatsis's title, "A Few Seconds of Panic," can be applied to the entire cadre of pro ballers, as long as it's changed to "A Lifetime of Panic."
Fatsis is a great writer, an even better reporter, and a really innovative researcher. His book is a insider's scoop to the NFL. Few others have been or will be able to create anything similar.
Even though I can't claim a team or quote stats, I was fascinated by this book.
The biggest takeaway was this: Professional football players are just people.. They're great athletes, but have insecure jobs and tons of stress. Fatsis's title, "A Few Seconds of Panic," can be applied to the entire cadre of pro ballers, as long as it's changed to "A Lifetime of Panic."
Fatsis is a great writer, an even better reporter, and a really innovative researcher. His book is a insider's scoop to the NFL. Few others have been or will be able to create anything similar.
January 20, 2026
Loved it, and I’m barely a casual football fan. Very insightful. Review to come.
July 24, 2017
I read Stefan Fatsis's "Word Freak" a few years ago and enjoyed it, and I'm a casual football fan, so when I saw this at the library, I thought it might be a good read. I was right.
In addition to the interesting inside look at the running of a football team, I also got a humbling reminder that football players are human. They get frustrated with their bosses and with the repetition of the daily grind, just like we all do. They struggle with the capriciousness of the NFL when it comes to their employment. Most surprisingly, I discovered that they're not all spoiled millionaires; many of the "unknowns" earn only a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, and the ones who bounce from practice squad to practice squad sometimes earn less than they could make flipping burgers at McDonald's.
Even if you don't know the first thing about American football, read it for the universal stories of chasing dreams and of realizing that sometimes hard work and perseverance *doesn't* mean you get the prize.
In addition to the interesting inside look at the running of a football team, I also got a humbling reminder that football players are human. They get frustrated with their bosses and with the repetition of the daily grind, just like we all do. They struggle with the capriciousness of the NFL when it comes to their employment. Most surprisingly, I discovered that they're not all spoiled millionaires; many of the "unknowns" earn only a couple hundred thousand dollars a year, and the ones who bounce from practice squad to practice squad sometimes earn less than they could make flipping burgers at McDonald's.
Even if you don't know the first thing about American football, read it for the universal stories of chasing dreams and of realizing that sometimes hard work and perseverance *doesn't* mean you get the prize.
September 9, 2008
Fantastic story about a sportswriter who spent three months with the Denver Broncos organization, as a kicker. Hilarious, true, and often heartbreakingly sad about the realities of professional football as a career.
May 13, 2016
This was a great book to listen to. It gave great insight into the lives of the average NFL players, not the multi-millionaires, and the daily pain involved in the life of a professional athlete. Plus, the author is extremely entertaining.
October 16, 2021
[8.0/10] I would recommend Stefan Fatsis’ book to any professional football fan. His “embedded reporter” take on the inside of an NFL training camp is part story of personal challenge, part snapshot of a particular team at a particular time, and part broader look at the machinations of the wider National Football League. The three parts don’t always work in sync, but each is interesting on its own terms. And more to the point, they’re illuminating about the sheer difficulty of the NFL, the rigors and Catch-22 like frustrations of NFL team management tropes, and the steady, uncaring clank of pro-football’s endless machine.
If there’s a prime mission to A Few Seconds of Panic, it’s to humanize the larger than life figures who occupy our television screens every Sunday (and Monday, and Thursday, and Saturday when it gets late enough in the year, and watch out other days of the week, too!) In that, it succeeds. The results aren’t always pretty. Salty Todd Sauerbrun, despite a late-book apology, seems like a real piece of work. Kind, friendly Jason Elam is blithely described writing a novel about how upstanding Christian football heroes defeat evil terrorists and is also taking classes at Jerry Fallwell’s university. The character flaws of even the good guys in this story are on display.
But so is the pain, the hardship, the struggle and suffering of the players Fatsis joined in the Broncos 2006 training camp. You feel for the back-up punters and quarterbacks fighting for a job. You hurt for the guys playing through pain and even injury so that they’re not tossed out of contention for “not wanting it enough.” You sympathize with the guys who live under the mercurial edge of the NFL’s cuts, where whether you have a job in a week or a month or a year depends on the whims of folks who withhold praise and even information.
In short, Fatsis makes the standard state of the NFL locker room sound terrible. Everyone, from the young punter just hoping to make the team, to the veteran QB who’s stayed steady under pressure, ends up getting a raw deal. And the players interviewed talk as though the Broncos are one of the *better* organizations in the league about this sort of thing. As in so much of sports and real life, there’s little in the way of happy endings, with most of the personal tales feeling good if they’re in spitting distance of “mixed blessing.”
It’s too much to call A Few Seconds of Panic an expose. It doesn’t have that aim or that tone. Instead, Fatsis just writes honestly about what he sees and hears. The NFL is a harsh business, one where careers are (to use one of the quality Scrabble words the author sprinkles throughout the book), practically evanescent. Players exist at the whims of coaches and GMs who treat them like cogs in a machine, whose humanity and well-being seems to be regularly ignored in a brutal competitive process, amid the constant grind to do the one thing that matters in this multi-billion dollar enterprise -- win.
And yet, at the same time, Fatsis captures the sense of camaraderie and joy that can suffuse a lockerroom and the game itself. I didn’t play football past high school, but it’s remarkable how the esprit de corps Fatsis describes -- the questions of whether the lingering aches and slog of practice is worth the thrill of playing and the rush of success, all bound up in a sense of brotherhood -- are super-sized yet recognizable in the context of an NFL locker room. When his pre-season tour is over, Fatsis admits to watching the Broncos’ games wistfully, wanting to be down on the field, not to share in the glory, but to support his teammates. He notes the cliques and rivalries on the team, but also draws into focus those bonds that hold grown men from different backgrounds together through difficult experiences.
I have a keen respect for Fatsis for what he did. He joined the Broncos’ roster (despite his official non-rostered status) as a back-up back-up kicker. He knows from the jump he doesn’t have the chops to make an NFL team, but he aspires to be a talented amateur, someone who might not be able to hack it in the league, but who can go through the rigors his teammates do while carrying himself with the same commitment and professionalism. In that, he succeeds, meeting the players where they live (literally and figuratively) and giving a look at the inner-working of a professional team with something beyond mere access -- credibility.
The catch is that there’s not a natural trajectory to Fatsis’ personal story. The NFL won’t let him kick even in a preseason game (provoking a huffy, self-righteous rant in the middle of the book). So while following the author’s process, learning about how he works with a kicking specialist and gets professional treatment and practices with the pros is interesting, it lands with a bit of anticlimax.
And yet, Fatsis hangs the drama of his personal story on a few key practice kicks that come with some added pressures I won’t spoil here. Suffice it to say, what his quasi-professional quest lacks in stakes, it makes up for in poetry, as Fatsis beautifully describes the transcendent moments of experience, giving verse and form the mysteries of brilliant athletics subsisting in a commodified world.
Therein lies the supreme tension at the center of A Few Seconds of Panic. If you are a football fan, Fatsis’ stellar prose will give you a new appreciation for the almost mystical beauty of the game. It will make you sympathize with the players on your favorite team, with a greater knowledge not just of the difficulty of what they accomplish on the field, but in the stress and strain they go through off of it. It will enhance your understanding of just how difficult success is in the modern NFL, for teams, players, coaches, executives, and determined journalists who want to prove they’re serious and not just tourists. You will walk away with a deeper love for the game and those who make it possible.
But you’ll also kind of hate it. It’s hard to hear about the mind games players deal with, the physical pain they ignore so as not to lose a roster spot, the way individual careers and fortunes turn on a dime or a whim, and not think this is a garbage way to deal with human beings. Fatsis suggests that it’s not the money that keeps these gluttons for punishment coming back, but rather the fact that they can do something unparalleled and want to stoke that flame as long as it still burns.
Still, it’s hard not to see their relationship with football as a nigh-abusive one, tantalized by the promise of not just financial reward, but recognition and achievement, dangled in front of so many and snapped away from even more. There’s an ugliness to the meat-grinder of training camp and NFL roster management, approached with appropriate journalistic distance in this book, which nonetheless comes in as clear as a clarion call.
It’s a call worth hearing. I’ll confess to reading more analysis than broader-lens journalism about football. It’s easy to be caught up in the “horse-race” aspect of the pros, for lack of a better turn. And efforts to explore the human side of the sport tend to be either sensationalistic talking head soundbytes or inspirational, trope-ridden sap. But A Few Seconds of Panic falls into neither category.
Instead, it offers an unvarnished look at what goes on behind the scenes of a professional football team. It treats the players with respect without being uncritical, shines a light on the reasons behind team decisions without excusing them, and tells a tale of hard-fought personal experience without being self-aggrandizing. If more football journalism were like this, we’d all be better off as fans, and we might even have a better, more humane version of our favorite sport to enjoy.
If there’s a prime mission to A Few Seconds of Panic, it’s to humanize the larger than life figures who occupy our television screens every Sunday (and Monday, and Thursday, and Saturday when it gets late enough in the year, and watch out other days of the week, too!) In that, it succeeds. The results aren’t always pretty. Salty Todd Sauerbrun, despite a late-book apology, seems like a real piece of work. Kind, friendly Jason Elam is blithely described writing a novel about how upstanding Christian football heroes defeat evil terrorists and is also taking classes at Jerry Fallwell’s university. The character flaws of even the good guys in this story are on display.
But so is the pain, the hardship, the struggle and suffering of the players Fatsis joined in the Broncos 2006 training camp. You feel for the back-up punters and quarterbacks fighting for a job. You hurt for the guys playing through pain and even injury so that they’re not tossed out of contention for “not wanting it enough.” You sympathize with the guys who live under the mercurial edge of the NFL’s cuts, where whether you have a job in a week or a month or a year depends on the whims of folks who withhold praise and even information.
In short, Fatsis makes the standard state of the NFL locker room sound terrible. Everyone, from the young punter just hoping to make the team, to the veteran QB who’s stayed steady under pressure, ends up getting a raw deal. And the players interviewed talk as though the Broncos are one of the *better* organizations in the league about this sort of thing. As in so much of sports and real life, there’s little in the way of happy endings, with most of the personal tales feeling good if they’re in spitting distance of “mixed blessing.”
It’s too much to call A Few Seconds of Panic an expose. It doesn’t have that aim or that tone. Instead, Fatsis just writes honestly about what he sees and hears. The NFL is a harsh business, one where careers are (to use one of the quality Scrabble words the author sprinkles throughout the book), practically evanescent. Players exist at the whims of coaches and GMs who treat them like cogs in a machine, whose humanity and well-being seems to be regularly ignored in a brutal competitive process, amid the constant grind to do the one thing that matters in this multi-billion dollar enterprise -- win.
And yet, at the same time, Fatsis captures the sense of camaraderie and joy that can suffuse a lockerroom and the game itself. I didn’t play football past high school, but it’s remarkable how the esprit de corps Fatsis describes -- the questions of whether the lingering aches and slog of practice is worth the thrill of playing and the rush of success, all bound up in a sense of brotherhood -- are super-sized yet recognizable in the context of an NFL locker room. When his pre-season tour is over, Fatsis admits to watching the Broncos’ games wistfully, wanting to be down on the field, not to share in the glory, but to support his teammates. He notes the cliques and rivalries on the team, but also draws into focus those bonds that hold grown men from different backgrounds together through difficult experiences.
I have a keen respect for Fatsis for what he did. He joined the Broncos’ roster (despite his official non-rostered status) as a back-up back-up kicker. He knows from the jump he doesn’t have the chops to make an NFL team, but he aspires to be a talented amateur, someone who might not be able to hack it in the league, but who can go through the rigors his teammates do while carrying himself with the same commitment and professionalism. In that, he succeeds, meeting the players where they live (literally and figuratively) and giving a look at the inner-working of a professional team with something beyond mere access -- credibility.
The catch is that there’s not a natural trajectory to Fatsis’ personal story. The NFL won’t let him kick even in a preseason game (provoking a huffy, self-righteous rant in the middle of the book). So while following the author’s process, learning about how he works with a kicking specialist and gets professional treatment and practices with the pros is interesting, it lands with a bit of anticlimax.
And yet, Fatsis hangs the drama of his personal story on a few key practice kicks that come with some added pressures I won’t spoil here. Suffice it to say, what his quasi-professional quest lacks in stakes, it makes up for in poetry, as Fatsis beautifully describes the transcendent moments of experience, giving verse and form the mysteries of brilliant athletics subsisting in a commodified world.
Therein lies the supreme tension at the center of A Few Seconds of Panic. If you are a football fan, Fatsis’ stellar prose will give you a new appreciation for the almost mystical beauty of the game. It will make you sympathize with the players on your favorite team, with a greater knowledge not just of the difficulty of what they accomplish on the field, but in the stress and strain they go through off of it. It will enhance your understanding of just how difficult success is in the modern NFL, for teams, players, coaches, executives, and determined journalists who want to prove they’re serious and not just tourists. You will walk away with a deeper love for the game and those who make it possible.
But you’ll also kind of hate it. It’s hard to hear about the mind games players deal with, the physical pain they ignore so as not to lose a roster spot, the way individual careers and fortunes turn on a dime or a whim, and not think this is a garbage way to deal with human beings. Fatsis suggests that it’s not the money that keeps these gluttons for punishment coming back, but rather the fact that they can do something unparalleled and want to stoke that flame as long as it still burns.
Still, it’s hard not to see their relationship with football as a nigh-abusive one, tantalized by the promise of not just financial reward, but recognition and achievement, dangled in front of so many and snapped away from even more. There’s an ugliness to the meat-grinder of training camp and NFL roster management, approached with appropriate journalistic distance in this book, which nonetheless comes in as clear as a clarion call.
It’s a call worth hearing. I’ll confess to reading more analysis than broader-lens journalism about football. It’s easy to be caught up in the “horse-race” aspect of the pros, for lack of a better turn. And efforts to explore the human side of the sport tend to be either sensationalistic talking head soundbytes or inspirational, trope-ridden sap. But A Few Seconds of Panic falls into neither category.
Instead, it offers an unvarnished look at what goes on behind the scenes of a professional football team. It treats the players with respect without being uncritical, shines a light on the reasons behind team decisions without excusing them, and tells a tale of hard-fought personal experience without being self-aggrandizing. If more football journalism were like this, we’d all be better off as fans, and we might even have a better, more humane version of our favorite sport to enjoy.
May 16, 2022
I've had perfect reading weather and lots of time the past few days and was all in for this book. Stefan Fatsis definitely cemented himself as one of my favorite authors with this one. Spent almost a whole day reading in a hammock over the weekend and finished up while at the desk at the gym on an early morning when no one needed to check out equipment. It was so fun reading about how quickly he integrated himself into the Broncos locker room and how much the players opened up to him when he actually put himself through the difficulties of minicamp. The interviews with players showed how team locker rooms are made up of players with a whole range of motivations, and it seemed like he connected with really emotional and thoughtful guys.
The nfl workplace was described as a physically and mentally unhealthy place and I won't be able to watch football the same way after reading the book. It didn't turn me away from being a fan, but made me more thoughtful about the lives of the players and what they sacrifice to play each week. Many of them are not having fun, and are obsessed with the game only because they're good at it. The coaching culture was not supportive and it seemed like from the head coach down to the assistants and players everyone just did their job out of fear.
I love book where the author really lives the life of the people they are writing about, and it was awesome how close he got to the team... but they still didn't let him kick a preseason field goal! Crazy to think about how he went from going all-in on the world of scrabble to fully jumping into such a different, but still competitive, culture. I appreciated the references he made to scrabble too when he played with a few teammates. I couldn't get enough of this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes sports, or who wants to learn about what it takes to become an expert at a skill as unique as kicking field goals.
The nfl workplace was described as a physically and mentally unhealthy place and I won't be able to watch football the same way after reading the book. It didn't turn me away from being a fan, but made me more thoughtful about the lives of the players and what they sacrifice to play each week. Many of them are not having fun, and are obsessed with the game only because they're good at it. The coaching culture was not supportive and it seemed like from the head coach down to the assistants and players everyone just did their job out of fear.
I love book where the author really lives the life of the people they are writing about, and it was awesome how close he got to the team... but they still didn't let him kick a preseason field goal! Crazy to think about how he went from going all-in on the world of scrabble to fully jumping into such a different, but still competitive, culture. I appreciated the references he made to scrabble too when he played with a few teammates. I couldn't get enough of this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes sports, or who wants to learn about what it takes to become an expert at a skill as unique as kicking field goals.
August 17, 2009
The guys have been passing this one around... it was very interesting. It definitely shed some new light on the sports industry in general, especially the NFL. It made me feel differently about the "average" NFL player (that is, those whose names you will probably never hear of).
September 16, 2009
Fantastic. Fatsis has managed to do what few writers accomplish. He has combined significant analysis of the culture of football with an account of an interesting sports story. Even the most mouth-breathing of football fans will find something to bring them closer to their athlete heroes in this book, and will really be rooting for Fatsis with every kick he takes in practice. If you are interested in something more than a feel-good story, it gets even better. Fatsis explores the norms, culture, marketing, and even social criticism of football with a journalistic eye that is painfully absent in most sports media.
Fatsis establishes early that his loyalties lie with the players, in contrast to his rather cold feelings for the NFL and the system it perpetrates. He describes unflinchingly the firings and life-altering debilitations of football, which we fans sanitize by calling cuts and injuries. Fatsis repeatedly brings home the point that these athletes are people, and people who are constantly fighting for their job. Job security doesn't exist in the NFL for any but a very few players, a point which is most strongly enforced in the epilogue, as we go through a laundry list of the players discussed in the book, and note that in two short years from the events of the book to the publication, many of the players are out of football, and those that remain are mostly on different teams. In other words, most of them have changed occupations or employers, and very few of these cases were voluntary.
I read this book only a short two weeks after finishing George Plimpton's Paper Lion and comparisons are inevitable. Fatsis himself titles one of his chapters "I'm no George Plimpton." However, Fatsis' self-deprecation does him a disservice. Fatsis has penned a book every bit as revealing and easy to read as his predecessor, and has even outstripped Plimpton in relevance and journalism. Plimpton brought an earnest and eager naievete to the game, and his writing often reflected his lack of football knowledge. Fatsis, on the other hand, is coolly reflective throughout, and although he takes time to make sure the reader can understand the terminology used, he also is candid and able to use his knowledge to provide a deeper look into the game, and one that is ultimately more satisfying.
This is a must-read for anybody who complains about player salaries or refers to NFL players as "dumb jocks." They will be given a dose of cold realism. Similarly, it's also a must-read for serious football fans who have an interest in the inner workings of the sport.
Fatsis establishes early that his loyalties lie with the players, in contrast to his rather cold feelings for the NFL and the system it perpetrates. He describes unflinchingly the firings and life-altering debilitations of football, which we fans sanitize by calling cuts and injuries. Fatsis repeatedly brings home the point that these athletes are people, and people who are constantly fighting for their job. Job security doesn't exist in the NFL for any but a very few players, a point which is most strongly enforced in the epilogue, as we go through a laundry list of the players discussed in the book, and note that in two short years from the events of the book to the publication, many of the players are out of football, and those that remain are mostly on different teams. In other words, most of them have changed occupations or employers, and very few of these cases were voluntary.
I read this book only a short two weeks after finishing George Plimpton's Paper Lion and comparisons are inevitable. Fatsis himself titles one of his chapters "I'm no George Plimpton." However, Fatsis' self-deprecation does him a disservice. Fatsis has penned a book every bit as revealing and easy to read as his predecessor, and has even outstripped Plimpton in relevance and journalism. Plimpton brought an earnest and eager naievete to the game, and his writing often reflected his lack of football knowledge. Fatsis, on the other hand, is coolly reflective throughout, and although he takes time to make sure the reader can understand the terminology used, he also is candid and able to use his knowledge to provide a deeper look into the game, and one that is ultimately more satisfying.
This is a must-read for anybody who complains about player salaries or refers to NFL players as "dumb jocks." They will be given a dose of cold realism. Similarly, it's also a must-read for serious football fans who have an interest in the inner workings of the sport.
January 16, 2010
Fatsis is a professional writer and journalist whose first book Word Freak (a documentary about the subculture of competitive Scrabble, professional Scrabble players, and Fatsis’ attempt at succeeding at competitive Scrabble) I enjoyed. A Few Seconds of Panic follows the Word Freak mold: put yourself in the shoes of the people you are covering in order to better understand their mindset and their world. Fatsis joins the Denver Broncos in 2006 as a kicker and spends preseason camp and training camp learning the ins and outs of kicking field goals, and in the process gives us a first-hand account of what life is like as a marginal NFL-player. Fatsis succeeds in his endeavor, as I found the book very engaging and informative. From the idea of the book (inspired by Plimpton’s Paper Lion) to initial efforts to learn the basics (hiring a local professional kicking instructor) to training camp to leaving the team right before the start of the real season, Fatsis was able to draw me into his personal journey. He fills the book with character profiles of both the famous (Jake Plummer) to the anonymous (practice squad players and fourth-string kickers). He does a sound job of conveying the harsh reality of an NFL training camp – both the physical demands and the mental demands (the stress of competing with others for a job, the fear of being cut, the way NFL coaches and front office personnel make the players feel like disposable widgets, etc). Fatsis draws the reader in so well that during one scene where he is asked to kick a field goal in front of the whole Broncos team, I was personally invested in whether or not he was going to make the field goal. In Word Freak, I felt like he put himself too much as the central figure of the book; in A Few Seconds of Panic, that isn’t so much as true – football as a game and as a business is clearly the central figure. Great balance in his writing, a good mix of both personal insight and objective observation, and engaging writing – everything you want in a non-fiction read. Highly recommended.
December 15, 2014
A few years ago, Stefan Fatsis set out to become a Scrabble champion. Now he is trying to be a player in the National Football League. In A Few Seconds of Panic, Fatsis sets out to be an active participant in a National Football League training camp. Given his physical size, athletic prowess and reconstructed knee, he sees the role of kicker as one that may work for him. Fatsis quotes Jason Elam, the Denver Broncos incumbent kicker during that training camp, describing the role of kicker as "hours and hours of boredom surrounded by a few seconds of panic."
The book is far from boring. If you enjoyed Wordfreak, Fatsis' book on Scrabble, you will also enjoy this book. Even if you are not a football fan. When Fatsis is not competing at Scrabble or football, Fatsis is a sports writer for the Wall Street Journal.
Fatsis convinces the National Football League to let him join a team in training camp as long as he can find a team willing to let him in. This is not an easy task in the very controlling NFL. He finally convinces the Denver Broncos to let him participate in training camp. Fatsis participates in training camp and even suits up for a pre-season game against the Detroit Lions. Although the NFL refuses to allow him to participate in the game.
Fatsis tries to make some comparisons between football and Scrabble:
Both great football players and great Scrabble players say that when they're in the proverbial zone, the game decelerates and the instantly see the answer. I, for one, think that's easier to accomplish without the continual threat of being steamrolled by a charging goliath, which is not a major concern in Scrabble.
A Few Seconds of Panic is full of insight to the psyche of a football and football players. It is a great exploration of the psychology of competitive athletes.
The book is far from boring. If you enjoyed Wordfreak, Fatsis' book on Scrabble, you will also enjoy this book. Even if you are not a football fan. When Fatsis is not competing at Scrabble or football, Fatsis is a sports writer for the Wall Street Journal.
Fatsis convinces the National Football League to let him join a team in training camp as long as he can find a team willing to let him in. This is not an easy task in the very controlling NFL. He finally convinces the Denver Broncos to let him participate in training camp. Fatsis participates in training camp and even suits up for a pre-season game against the Detroit Lions. Although the NFL refuses to allow him to participate in the game.
Fatsis tries to make some comparisons between football and Scrabble:
Both great football players and great Scrabble players say that when they're in the proverbial zone, the game decelerates and the instantly see the answer. I, for one, think that's easier to accomplish without the continual threat of being steamrolled by a charging goliath, which is not a major concern in Scrabble.
A Few Seconds of Panic is full of insight to the psyche of a football and football players. It is a great exploration of the psychology of competitive athletes.
October 1, 2012
Really enjoyed this chronicle of the writer's training camp with the Denver Broncos as a place kicker. It's explicitly a follow-up to George Plimpton's Paper Lion experiment of an earlier generation.
The Broncos coach at the time was current Redskins' coach Mike Shanahan, but with that exception I had no particular interest in any of the individual players or the team. It's recent enough that I've heard of lots of them and knew they were a good but not terrific team. Since it's preseason, though, the actual events aren't that crucial anyway. It's more the personalities, the insider view of what practice routines are like, and the 2 steps forward, one step back process of training and trying to perfect one difficult motor skill (kicking field goals) under tremendous external and internal pressure.
Author does a great job of conveying the meaning behind "it's a business", "training camp is a grind", "roster cuts are a numbers game" and associated cliches. I was struck especially by how many of the players he describes don't even really enjoy football anymore by the time they've been pros for a few years. Reminded me of talking to a college swimmer once, who sed she'd always loved her event until getting a college scholarship to do it, at which point it became a grind and a job.
The players still knew this guy was a writer, and nothing is revealed here that would really shock anyone (unless you were unaware that some of them drink a lot, smoke grass in the offseason, or curse), but it's still quite a different perspective on the league and the game than you get from daily journalism. He's tremendously respectful of their physical skills, work ethic, and ability to master complex information about game plans and the like, without being fawning. Excellent read.
The Broncos coach at the time was current Redskins' coach Mike Shanahan, but with that exception I had no particular interest in any of the individual players or the team. It's recent enough that I've heard of lots of them and knew they were a good but not terrific team. Since it's preseason, though, the actual events aren't that crucial anyway. It's more the personalities, the insider view of what practice routines are like, and the 2 steps forward, one step back process of training and trying to perfect one difficult motor skill (kicking field goals) under tremendous external and internal pressure.
Author does a great job of conveying the meaning behind "it's a business", "training camp is a grind", "roster cuts are a numbers game" and associated cliches. I was struck especially by how many of the players he describes don't even really enjoy football anymore by the time they've been pros for a few years. Reminded me of talking to a college swimmer once, who sed she'd always loved her event until getting a college scholarship to do it, at which point it became a grind and a job.
The players still knew this guy was a writer, and nothing is revealed here that would really shock anyone (unless you were unaware that some of them drink a lot, smoke grass in the offseason, or curse), but it's still quite a different perspective on the league and the game than you get from daily journalism. He's tremendously respectful of their physical skills, work ethic, and ability to master complex information about game plans and the like, without being fawning. Excellent read.
March 31, 2016
Like almost all books about journalists inserting themselves into situations, the author isn't nearly as interesting as the people who surround them. Did I care about Stefan Fatsis's personal journey to be a kicker? Not really (aside from his battle with the NFL to let him kick in a game). I'm not a forty year old dad with two knee surgeries, though.
However, I found his portraits of the players to be very illuminating. It became clear that when we watch games as fans, we basically have no idea what's happening outside of a basic surface appreciation. Then we blame the players or the coaches, pretending that we are the experts. Some players were meatheads, others were brilliant, others were headcases, etc. At the end of the day, they were all very human.
There is a line in the book from the player who says that football is a really shitty job that pays really well. I think that's my new favorite description of it.
It's weird to read about Jay Cutler being the next big thing because in the year 2016 we all know he sucks.
However, I found his portraits of the players to be very illuminating. It became clear that when we watch games as fans, we basically have no idea what's happening outside of a basic surface appreciation. Then we blame the players or the coaches, pretending that we are the experts. Some players were meatheads, others were brilliant, others were headcases, etc. At the end of the day, they were all very human.
There is a line in the book from the player who says that football is a really shitty job that pays really well. I think that's my new favorite description of it.
It's weird to read about Jay Cutler being the next big thing because in the year 2016 we all know he sucks.
December 7, 2021
This was such a well-written book. Fatsis really takes the time to humanize the players. They're not just video game characters that help win and lose fantasy games for fans - they are real human beings who endure constant injuries, playing through pain, being lied to by coaches and ownership and feeling the constant non-stop pressure of their jobs always being on the line. Fatsis' committment is admirable as he really dedicates himself to being a kicker as well as getting to know his Broncos teammates as well as ownership amd the front office. Fatsis does a great job if showing the reality of one of the most glorified sports in America - there's a lot more to football than running out of the smoke filled tunnel on Sunday with 70,000 fans screaming for you. Fastsis shows the boredom, tediousness, reptition, torturous 2 a days, over the top training camps, unforgiving fans and often unfair media. By the end of the book, you have a better understanding of the actual reality of the NFL. It's not nearly as glamorous as Sunday Night Football makes it appear.
March 5, 2012
In 2005 author and sportswriter Stefan Fatsis decided to emulate writer George Plimpton’s achievement in attending the training camp with the 1963 Detroit Lions. He did so in 2006 with the Denver Broncos; and I very much enjoyed reading this, his book about his experience in the NFL.
Fatsis had already determined that his best option, given his age, size, and experience, would be as a kicker. When he arrived at his first mini-camp (after intensive kicking training with a private coach), the players at first treated him like a mascot, but by the time the regular training camp was well underway, the players were treating him as one of them, even with his notebook.
This book tells a great story, but more than that, it shows a view of the NFL that few fans (and sportswriters) get – the viewpoint of the players themselves. For that viewpoint alone, this book is a great book.
Fatsis had already determined that his best option, given his age, size, and experience, would be as a kicker. When he arrived at his first mini-camp (after intensive kicking training with a private coach), the players at first treated him like a mascot, but by the time the regular training camp was well underway, the players were treating him as one of them, even with his notebook.
This book tells a great story, but more than that, it shows a view of the NFL that few fans (and sportswriters) get – the viewpoint of the players themselves. For that viewpoint alone, this book is a great book.
July 30, 2011
Great peek into the inner workings of an NFL football team (Denver Broncos). I have a much greater appreciation for the politics that dictate player issues. I can't imagine living one's worklife never knowing if or when you'd be cut. And, those two-a-day training camp workouts sound brutal. I was amazed at how the author went above and beyond the role of a journalist and actually did a fairly good job kicking field goals in mini and training camp....at 43! The author's work ethic resulted in trust from the players which allowed him to learn about unique insights into the life of an NFL player. One of the better sports non-fiction books I've read. And, I never miss Fatsis' stories in the WSJ.
January 2, 2020
This is a fun book, and an engaging inside look at an NFL locker room. I have to admire Fatsis's guts in taking on this project, and the way he did it. And as he surely hoped when the project began, he did manage to find out a good deal about individual players as well as the whole NFL culture. A bit surprisingly, but nicely, he was eventually accepted by the "real players,"not quite as one of their own but certainly if nothing else as a honorary member of the club. Just like his hero and predecessor George Plimpton discovered when he carried out the participatory experiment for his famous Paper Lion book, Fatsis learns that the players are not at all the one-dimensional simpletons or icons that fans or detractors might want them to be. I highly recommend.
August 1, 2008
A wonderful, insightful book covering the author's stint as an aspiring kicker with the pre-season Denver Broncos. Fatsis writes about his struggle to develop his kicking skills, the business of football, the players, coaches and their personalities, and generally the NFL life. I (who, admittedly don't know much about football) learned a lot.
April 18, 2021
If you love football and love books you will be first and goal with this insiders look at training camp and the daily struggles of a professional football career.
March 1, 2024
Over sixty years ago, George Plimpton took a few snaps with the Detroit Lions and came away with a literary masterpiece in "Paper Lion." Living with the team during training camp and forbidden from playing in an actual game but permitted to take part in a couple of plays in a scrimmage, Plympton lifted the lid on the insular world of professional athletes, showing them as human beings (albeit significantly talented ones). Some forty years later, sports reporter Stefan Fatsis took the Plimpton route again, this time as a kicker with the Denver Broncos. The result is this charming, fun, and eye-opening look at the NFL in a time of transition.
"A Few Seconds of Panic" shows that, even for the relatively lowly profession of "kicker," expectations can be sky-high and the perks of the job can rise and fall based on your ability to send the ball between the uprights. Fatsis puts his forty-three-year-old body through the ringer in order to get in shape for the training camp, a grueling experience for professional NFL players much less a moonlighting writer. He gets close to some teammates, including legendary kicker Jason Elam, Jake Plummer, and other names who may not be as familiar but who all contribute to the verisimilitude of Fatsis' narrative.
Seeing the game from inside allows Fatsis to recognize the contribution of even the most no-name role player, not to mention the world of pressure put upon the all-star quarterback or the HOF-worthy coach. He attends meetings, breaks down plays, and learns the back stories of the men whose names adorn jerseys on Sunday afternoons and Monday/Thursday nights. Barred from kicking in even a measly preseason game (the NFL really is the No Fun League for him), Fatsis does get some reps in training camp and earn the respect of some (though not all) of his teammates. When the preseason is over, he returns to.his day job, with insights about football that not all reporters can share.
This is an entertaining book that doesn't sugarcoat some of the cruelties of the NFL life (the arbitrary whims that can send someone to the exits for the flashy new object, the grueling physical demands that can affect players for years long after their careers end, the NFL's inconsistent penalties for crimes both petty and large). Stefan Fatsis emerges not as an apologist for the most popular sport in America, but as a clear-headed realist who does harbor some more romantic notions of how the sport should treat the men who play it, even as he knows how unlikely those notions would be relieved at NFL HQ. "A Few Seconds of Panic" is pretty good reading, even for a kicker.
"A Few Seconds of Panic" shows that, even for the relatively lowly profession of "kicker," expectations can be sky-high and the perks of the job can rise and fall based on your ability to send the ball between the uprights. Fatsis puts his forty-three-year-old body through the ringer in order to get in shape for the training camp, a grueling experience for professional NFL players much less a moonlighting writer. He gets close to some teammates, including legendary kicker Jason Elam, Jake Plummer, and other names who may not be as familiar but who all contribute to the verisimilitude of Fatsis' narrative.
Seeing the game from inside allows Fatsis to recognize the contribution of even the most no-name role player, not to mention the world of pressure put upon the all-star quarterback or the HOF-worthy coach. He attends meetings, breaks down plays, and learns the back stories of the men whose names adorn jerseys on Sunday afternoons and Monday/Thursday nights. Barred from kicking in even a measly preseason game (the NFL really is the No Fun League for him), Fatsis does get some reps in training camp and earn the respect of some (though not all) of his teammates. When the preseason is over, he returns to.his day job, with insights about football that not all reporters can share.
This is an entertaining book that doesn't sugarcoat some of the cruelties of the NFL life (the arbitrary whims that can send someone to the exits for the flashy new object, the grueling physical demands that can affect players for years long after their careers end, the NFL's inconsistent penalties for crimes both petty and large). Stefan Fatsis emerges not as an apologist for the most popular sport in America, but as a clear-headed realist who does harbor some more romantic notions of how the sport should treat the men who play it, even as he knows how unlikely those notions would be relieved at NFL HQ. "A Few Seconds of Panic" is pretty good reading, even for a kicker.
June 9, 2017
I really enjoyed this book because the concept is unlike anything I have ever read or even heard about. This novel is a true story about a sportswriter, Stefan Fatsis, who actually tries out for an NFL team and participates in training camp. Everyone expected him just to hang out with the players to write his stories, but he actually wanted to work at his kicking craft and even worked with one of the premier kicking teachers in the world. This book was very interesting to read because even though I am a huge football fan and try to get my hands on any NFL knowledge I can, it's hard to get a true inside look on the dynamics of a real team.
February 8, 2022
Audiobook, Really enjoyed this one, the title is a little misleading as the footballs underdogs is what makes this book so good. The stories of players that are not the stars and the authors own experience really packs a one two punch. Eye opening to the back working of the NFL, definitely give this a read as it goes over so many players stories which I love. Will be looking for more like these, enjoyed the whole time listening to it.
February 2, 2023
Stefan Fatsis is a great writer and maybe even more talented at selling himself as a super-everyman, the Charles Atlas the public wants to be, a guy who can go from being mildly athletic to kicking 40-yard field goals and from a sheepish writer to a guy who can hang around real pro athletes. The book is a good read if you're like me and like the intersection of sports, industry and (to some extent) politics.
February 20, 2023
I saw a whole different side of football in reading this book. Actually, I listened to it and it was a great list, especially because the author narrated it. I will think twice about how I look at a football player and watch my critique of their play. What goes on between Sundays and between seasons is grueling, mentally as well as physically. Adds and drops are as random as they are justified. Infused in this is a love for a game and the competition.
September 1, 2021
This was some interesting insight into what life in an NFL camp is like. Fatsis does a good job not over inserting himself. Even though the main impetus for this story is him learning to be a kicker, he focuses a lot more on the athletes, their stories, and what life in training camp is like, especially for a bubble roster player.
June 20, 2018
Insightful inside look into professional football from a writer who got the opportunity to kick for the Denver Broncos in their training camp and pre-season. Really interesting perspective into the ups and downs of being a professional athlete.
September 27, 2019
Even though this was over 10 years ago, it all seems relevant today. My favorite parts were about how kickers are the joke of preseason even though they score a significant amount of team points during the regular season.
August 28, 2021
While not life-changing, this is a really fun book that I'd never heard of before stumbling on to it in the library. I read a lot of NFL books, but maybe by being about the Denver Broncos, it just didn't have regional awareness. Anyway, this is a great slice-of-life NFL book.
February 18, 2022
This is good and fun, despite infrequently showing its age. Fatsis presents a look at something that most of us will never see, and from a perspective I can identify with more than a former player born with some incredible athletic gift (or born into the right circumstance).
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