Raw: My 100% Grade-A, Unfiltered, Inside Look at Sports

by Colin Cowherd

In his no-holds-barred, unapologetically controversial voice, New York Times bestselling author of You Herd Me! and ESPN radio show host Colin Cowherd gives an insider’s look into every aspect of sports, including behind-the-scenes scandals, inter-team rivalries, and players’ lives on and off the field.There’s a lot you don’t see or hear sitting high up in the stands. But Colin Cowherd knows what really goes on—and he’s not afraid to share the vivid details of everything ESPN doesn’t show. From hotel parties for athletes and other industry professionals, to gossip from the road between games, to what happens behind closed doors, Cowherd—who has interviewed everyone from President Barack Obama to Kate Upton—draws on personal experiences to offer you an exclusive look into the rarefied, outrageous, ego-mad sports world. With unparalleled candor and the signature, brazen voice his fans have come to know and love, Cowherd offers a unique vantage point of places and events otherwise curtained to the general sports audience, while weaving in his opinions on aspects of competition, tradition, and all things refereed. If you want honest, unvarnished opinions on current sports rivalries, scandals, and statistics, it’s all in Raw—from one of America’s most outspoken sports broadcasters on air today.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 18, 2015

Reviews

[Preston Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personally loved this book; as a sports lover and enthusiast, it was the perfect book for me to read. Cowherd has been my favorite radio/tv host for a year, and now he is one of my favorite authors. This book offers a great insight and perspective of the sports world from the media side. I highly recommend this book to a sports lover that is interested in reading an intellectual explanation from a highly renowned sports personality.

[Justin Engle · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a self-professed Cowherd fan boy, this was perfect for my flight to Frankfurt. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. Lots of interesting takes on both sports and being an adult. Well worth the quick read.

[Dom · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would not say I am a fan of Colin Cowherd, but I do like to listen to what he has to say sometimes on his show. As for the book I was interested, not entirely sure what it was going to be about. Cowherd made it seem like it was an in-depth look into the sports world with insider stories. All it really was: vague big media occurrences and his opinions on it. SO it was his radio show in a book. The insider stories were, "hey athletes drink ALOT". Wow really who knew (sarcastic voice). Some of his opinions were interesting others you could tell he was just taking digs at people. It was interesting enough for me to finish reading the book. It was okay. Definitely nothing special. In my opinion kind of disappointing.

[Ciaran Mills · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Colin talks about sports, the book is enjoyable. Fast paced, funny and some good points are made by the author.

When Colin DOESN'T talk about sports, he's like a drunk no-one listens to in a pub no-one goes to. Rambling, unfunny and often downright wrong, the book drags along.

I just wish the author had spent more time talking about sports, his area of expertise, and less time proselytising about other walks of life.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Colin Cowherd on the radio or TV, then you will love this book. Reads like an extended version of his radio show and he doesn't dance around the topics - gives it to the reader as he sees it.

http://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/201...

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book from a giveaway. I was not familiar with the writer or a big fan of sports but my son is. He loved the book. Found it funny and thought provoking. He said it was a great and easy read.

[Joe Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the honesty of Cowherd. I don't agree with everything he writes, but his differing opinions make me think about what I think is right, and my knowledge. Minus one star for not being able to read the bonus chapter in this edition.

[Ray Grasshoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cowherd shares his strong opinions -- about the sports world and some other elements of modern life -- with which I find myself generally in agreement, hence my four-star rating for his Raw. Can't say that this book is great literature, but it's written lightly, clearly, and and enjoyably. Cowherd's observations are reasonable and often based on solid evidence he's found, although his statement that Vanderbilt is the only top-100 university in the Southeastern Conference is simply wrong; SEC schools Florida, Georgia, and Texas A&M also belong to that club. Despite that factual flaw, and my hope that others aren't left unrecognized, I recommend this book, especially to most of today's sports fans.

[Liana Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Colin Cowherd has been my favorite sports media personality for a decade. He’s intelligent, bold, and just the right level of snarky. I read his first book “You Herd Me” when it first came out. Now I’ve read his second.

“Raw” is a book of random “takes” and follows a consistent formula throughout - one that his radio listeners are familiar with - he starts with a story seemingly unrelated to sports and works his way to an opinion about sports. (He sprinkles stories in about his personal life, as well.)

I bought the book to support “Uncle Colin” but… I didn’t particularly enjoy this read, and I wouldn’t recommend the book either.

[Zack Davoodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do love me some Cowherd. As always, Colin is there with a bunch of really great analogies, or crazy, yet apt, comparisons, which is what I enjoy most about him. I tend to operate on a similar wavelength so I definitely tend to get where he's coming from, and agree more times than not. I enjoyed his first book, but I found this one to be a big improvement. Just like others have remarked, you either love him or hate him. If you're like me and are into The Herd, definitely give this one a read.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was always a fan of Colin’s work on sports radio so it was interesting to read how his personality and unapologetic takes on sports/life/culture translated to this book. I thoroughly enjoyed his style of writing and his unique method of blending his personal life experiences to situations and stories within the vast world sports, which is exactly what initially drew me in to becoming a fan of Colin’s show on FS1 The Herd. Great read

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve listened to a lot of Colin Cowherd over the years. I find him well-connected, smart and funny. For his show and books, though, there’s about 10% that’s makes me cringe for being unnecessarily mean and condescending. I have no problem with honest takes that are mean, but he seems to occasionally enjoy offending athletes’ and audiences’ personal and political beliefs.

[Samuel Mueller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this would be all about sports and his knowledge of sports. He goes off on tangents about things that for one are not that interesting and for two he does not have the knowledge to discuss. Stick to sports Cowherd.

[John Chancey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of essays and musings from one of my favorite sports personalities. Most are rehashings of his radio rants. Some more interesting than others. Cowherd is good at connecting real life to sports and making you think deeper about sports.

[Malin Friess · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy read for a sports junkie!

[Ty Dykema · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colin is someone whose story and intellect I really admire. I listen or at least watch clips of his show every day Monday through Friday. So to find his book was a treat because it kind of meant I got a little more Colin for about a week. The book reads like his show is run. It's just a whirlwind of his opinions on sports and how they imitate life. To me there's no one else in sports media that does a better job of formulating and backing up those opinions with fact and reason and holds himself accountable when he is occasionally wrong. The book is a huge series of 5 page vignettes. The stories he uses to illustrate his points are often funny, and are always razor sharp and detailed. Colin is, as far as I'm concerned, a wizard with words, but Raw lacked cohesiveness and that's probably on me. It feels like the book is meant for coffee table reading, not marathoning like I read it. I am glad I got an extra dose of The Herd for a week though.

[Barry Martin Vass · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to be middle-of-the-road when talking about Colin Cowherd. People either respect his rabid truth-seeking in the world of sports, or they despise him for finding fault with their heroes, their teams, or their views. Sports fans are generally so set in their ways, and their worship of the home team, that there's not a lot of space in between. In this, his second book (he recently bolted from ESPN to Fox for a substantially larger contract, so I'm assuming most of these articles were either written in a series of hotels, or at the new home he bought in LA), he discusses everything that has been happening in sports these days, and the reasons (as he sees them) WHY they happened. From Deflategate, to domestic violence in the NFL, alcoholism in MLB, the role of the media in sports, Adrian Peterson whipping his son, the Richie Incognito mess in Miami, what he perceives as the incredible greasiness of Pete Carroll, Jim Harbaugh's ugly divorce with the San Francisco 49ers. And many more. Just to give you an idea of how he sounds when he goes on a diatribe, here's what he said about Harbaugh: "Did Harbaugh lose his job because he was gruff and intense, or did he get whacked because general manager Trent Baalke expected Harbaugh to be someone different from the guy he originally hired? Because if there's one thing you can say with certainty about Harbaugh, it's this: his personality has never been a secret. Several coaches who either worked with or competed against Harbaugh told me of his bug-eyed, borderline-scary intensity - and I didn't even have to ask. It was a matter of record that Harbaugh was a walking migraine during his years at Stanford University except for those three of four hours he spent on the sideline every fall Saturday." Dude. Read this book if you want a view of the reality of sports, rather than what you think they should be.

[Mainon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had an uninformed but mostly negative opinion of Colin Cowherd before I started this book. From what I had heard, he sounded like kindof a jackass. (Of which there are many on the radio. So he certainly isn't alone in having that reputation.)

He's less of a jackass in writing. I disagreed with him on some things (I'm not nearly as bothered by attempts to be politically correct as he is), but agreed with him surprisingly strongly on others (sports generally would benefit from having more female participants on all levels, including coaching). Mostly he just doesn't soft-pedal his opinions, and I can respect that.

Also, title and cover photo notwithstanding, be forewarned that this is emphatically not a memoir about how he took his sports media job and somehow discovered a passion for butchery or slow food or farm-to-table or just a love of tartare. There's really nothing about food or cooking or ingredients here. (Oh, was I the only one who was misled? Everyone else figured that out from the subtitle? Okay, fine.)

My only other criticism would be that this series of essays (some of them quite short) aren't really linked thematically or any other way. It pretty much seemed like he gathered up a bunch of articles or columns that he'd already written and submitted them as a book proposal. Which, maybe he did. That's not to say some of them aren't worth reading, but it doesn't feel like they're meant to be read one after the other in a single sitting, or even in any particular order.


Note: I received a complimentary copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

[Michelle Arredondo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colin Cowherd...my hubby is a fan and because of that I wanted to get the book. I have to admit my husband is not a reader but one of our favorite things to do is hang out together on the sofa while I read aloud from whatever book I am reading at the moment while he listens. Seeing this book..I knew it was a great idea.

To get to it...I was skeptical that I would like Raw: My 100% Grade-A, Unfiltered, Inside Look at Sports...and I am pleasantly surprised that I actually did enjoy it for the most part. Not gonna go all out to say that I absolutely loved it and am now a huge fan but I can give a pretty solid "I liked it" as far as that kind of book goes. I liked the witty humor, insightful thoughts, and from what my husband says "He is true to form on paper to what his personality is on radio" and that actually is a good thing because I hear he is quite the character.

It's a quick, funny read. Something you can get through in a day or two, it's not heavy with boring details like I was worried about. Yes, even a woman (or man) that is not extreme in the sports scene (but whose husband is)can still find some good moments in the book. My husband enjoyed listening to me read it and I'm glad to have done so. Also, I really dig the cover.

Thanks to the peeps that made it possible, Colin Cowherd, Gallery Books, and goodreads for my free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Gayle Slagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Raw: My 100% Grade A Unfiltered Inside Look at Sports by Colin Cowherd. I am a sports fan, but until recently had not listened or watched Cowherd. I have to admit that I do not often listen to sports commentators; I just watch the games and form my own opinions. I am sure that part of that is the fact that I am a female and I don't think most females pay a lot of attention to sports analists.....or perhaps it is the fact that most sports commentators today are still male and we just don't listen to males. However, several months ago my grandson, a 14 year old sports junkie, was visiting and he was tuned in to Cowherd and Cowherd grabbed my attention While I did not agree with all that he said, I did find his views to be intelligent and interesting. I then saw this book offered on Good Reads and I was fortunate enough to win a copy. As I said, I totally enjoyed it. I still don't agree with everything he says, but his insight and his passion for sports override any differences of opinion I might have with him. The man knows his stuff and presents it in a way that kept my interest from start to finish. He not only gives insight into sports, but into life as well in an interesting and sometimes hilarious way. If you love sports, I am most certain you will enjoy this book, and even if you don't follow or enjoy sports, the book is worthy of your time. I know that I am now officially a Cowherd fan.

[Peter J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps I read it too fast. Colin's flowing prose and the short essays, when coupled with an extremely slow night of work, made the book go quickly. However, perhaps as a result of spending so much time in it at once, I found myself tiring of it in the books' second half and, in particular, the final quarter. This knocked it down from four to three stars.

Otherwise, I enjoyed it. I don't agree with everything he says and, sometimes, I didn't really have an opinion one way or the other. But I like the plain, matter-of-fact manner in which he lays out his opinions, often drawing parallels to other areas of life to which it is often easier to relate.

I'm certain I would have enjoyed it more if I were a true "sports" guy. I don't follow anything in particular and, there are a fair amount of areas in which I could have little interest. But, even not being a sports guy, I've listed to Colin's radio shows while driving (I get too upset during Political Talk Radio and I can only hear the top 40 for so long before I feel like there are only 40 songs in existence) and have come to appreciate his views and takes on things.

[Hal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colins' second book, much like the first with his heavy dose of Cowherdism. You either like Colin or you hate him. No one is neutral, except me. I generally tune in daily because I like to hear what he has to say on some of the hot sports topics. Some of his viewpoints I could care less. He is spot on with some of his takes and in the ozone on others. But that is just my opinion. Not a sports nut but follow a lot of them. Colin has his pet themes, loves the Patriots and Brady, has a hard on for Aaron Rodgers, likes soccer, does not like hockey, heavy into basketball, etc. etc. At times his views transcends sports into the political or social arena and some of those topics are certainly interesting, he could easily evolve into a general talk show type host but for now is about sports. He is at times provocative and controversial, which draws attention and as I have said makes him interesting.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a hit piece, which is refreshing

Most of the books I’ve read from people with many years in sports share one dramatic bombshell to sell books and create false controversy. Colin didn’t resort to that, and he didn’t need to. Don’t get me wrong, some of his takes from the book aren’t in line with the way I see things, and he owns his positions unapologetically. He isn’t soft by any means. But being able to bring heat and share life lessons without causing grief for people from his past is a balance I’ve seen few other sports writers able to accomplish. Props for that, Colin.

[Nina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not enough new ground here to really interest me - this was a series of vignettes more than a book. Some of the stories were amusing and made me laugh out loud, but overall a lot of it was pretty shallow and not too enlightening. Still, I've had his books on my to-read list forever, so it feels good to check them off!

One thing I will give credit for is that his books are well-edited and free of any typos. When was the last time you read a book that didn't have a typo and was concisely written?

[Writemoves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy Cowherd's sports show on FS 1. He offers perspective, primarily on sports, that I may not have thought about. He also blends in a little history, culture, psychology and politics into his thinking. He's not afraid to name some names – – for example, he said that Bobby Knight treated his ESPN staff the way that he treated some referees. He also has some interesting things to say about other high profile athletes like Aaron Rogers, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Pete Carroll and others that the reader may find interesting. Very enjoyable read. Looking forward to future books by Colin.

[Devin Stagg · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a regular listener of The Herd, I connected well with this book. Cowherd's humor is spot on, as well as his sports to real life connections. With that being said, the title can be deceiving. Yes, the book speaks largely of his insight to the sports world, but some chapters have no connection or "real insider" info on sports.

Overall, I like Colin's opinions even when they differ from my own. I would recommend this book to any sports fans. Informational, witty and easy to read. What more could you ask for?

[Benjamin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book for $3 at Ollies last weekend. "Get Good Stuff Cheap." Well, I would have to agree with Ollie on this one. This book is an amalgam of sports stories and personal stories in the life of Colin Cowherd. At first I did quite get into the book but as it progressed I found myself enjoying my viewpoints being challenged. The book would be well suited as a bathroom reader seeing as most of the chapters are simple 5-10 pages chapters.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the previous book a little more probably due to Colin's narration of the first (audio book). This was kind of a classic quick follow up at the urging of the publisher. Still, there are a few points where you ask yourself "did he just write that?" I liked his trashing of the 49ers front office.

[Brian Saville · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Good Easy Read

Overall I liked this book. Although I enjoyed Colin's first book more, this book was also interesting and he gave you some insights into his life.

I'm a fan and if you are too this is a good read. If you like opinions on sports and life, you'll likely enjoy this too. Even if you don't agree with Colin, he makes you think.

[Ian Yarington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to listen to his radio show a few times because I'm a sports talk radio fan and I just don't like the guy. I know that isn't very nice but I'm just not a fan. I'm glad I gave the book a go however because the book is much different from his radio show. it has a lot of more real stories and stuff that isn't represented in the show. I like it and if you enjoy sports its worth a read.