Outtakes: Dan Patrick

by Dan Patrick, Pete Sampras, John Hassan (Editor)

Take out the trash with Reggie Miller, ride the bus with Jerome Bettis, and get to first base with Mark some of the bestand funniestinterviews from ESPN's favorite sports authority Dan Patrick is never at a loss for words. Whether he's offering his own brand of irascible commentary on SportsCenter or taking on today's superstars in his enormously popular column in ESPN The Magazine, he always manages to offer refreshing insight that's as outrageous and entertaining as the world of sports itself. This hilarious collection of never before published "Outtakes" from his popular column features 25 interviews with some of today's most famous sports personalities, such as Mark McGwire, Wayne Gretzky, and Barry Sanders, each preceded with new and colorful introductions that offer Patrick's uncensored reflections. Dan Patrick's no-holds-barred approach to interviewing captures the players like no one can, and in this collection of new and greatest hits he is certain to win more fans than ever before.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published May 10, 2000

Reviews

[Joyce]

Probably proves how shallow I am, but I've enjoyed Dan Patrick's Outtakes column as much as any sports interviews I've ever read... so even though they're dated, I pull this volume of early greatest hits out occasionally. I especially enjoyed the baseball players, especially David Cone, so the book often gets hauled out during the World Series. Hard to imagine Hideki Matsui telling Dan Patrick he had his room key in his ass crack... but wouldn't it be great if it did happen?

[Marin · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, I've read it before, a long time ago, but I ran out of Bill Bryson the other night and was perusing my shelves for something worthy and relatively light for before-bed reading...

Anyway, I landed on this.

Now, I love Dan Patrick. It's an unnatural love. I once took an online quiz (you know the kind) that was a sort of twenty-questions-and-we'll-guess-your-celebrity-crush. It asked male or female. It asked if the crush was on TV. It asked a whole pile of questions and finally gave up on me. When I typed "Dan Patrick" into the "OK, then who is it?" box, it turned out that out of a couple million responses, only one other person had picked Dan Patrick.

Just a little background.

I think this book is published evidence that Dan Patrick may be a complete ass. His smarmy intros to each interview make me want to smack him. His smug, know-it-all tone and constant hijacking of the spotlight make me want to bury him.

Dan's best medium is probably radio. The same thing that reads as egotistical and forced in this book comes across as competent and even self-effacing (how does he do that?) when spoken.

I'm kinda hating the book, though some of the sports figures are delightful (Oh, Shannon Sharpe, how I miss having you on my team!). So I won't tank it in the ratings, but I truly wish it didn't tarnish my Dan love quite so bad.

Update: George Carlin lost me when I got more sophisticated, so did Dan Patrick.

[Marc Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dan Patrick is an ESPN favorite and the format of this book makes it an easy read. It was written in 1999/2000 and is a collection of interview material with the top athletes of the day, about six pages worth for each athlete.

Reading it 12 years later, I enjoyed hearing some of the thoughts of the athletes with the benefit of a decade of sports history since their comments. For example, Brett Favre saying that he cries all the way home when he loses to the Minnesota Vikings (he ended up playing for the Vikings), Charles Barkley calling Penny Hardaway a cry baby, Tim Duncan saying he's not a big fan of Michael Jordan, Mark McGwire talking about getting to 700 home runs (he ended up with 583), Barry Sanders telling stories about napping on the sidelines when their terrible defense was on the field, Gary Payton saying that Scottie Pippin was the best player in the game of basketball, and lastly, my favorite, Dan Marino saying that Peyton Manning "... is going to be a good quarterback for a long time."

Because of the format, this book is an easy one to pick up for a few minutes and put back down. If you're not a sports person, it will bore you to tears, but if you generally follow sports, it's enjoyable.

[Jay Ward A.K.A. Chris Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome. Just as you’d expect. Wish it was a little more “dishy” tho Dan...c’mon, you know all the good secrets!!!

[Michael Rothfuss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting