Lucky Bastard: My Life, My Dad, and the Things I'm Not Allowed to Say on TV

So funny and such an easy read that it may be the fastest I've finished a book....well, ever? The writing and editing make for an entertaining perspective on the life of a devoted son, good friend, loving father, and consummate professional. Hats off to Joe Buck for being able to put together an amazing compilation of his life while, at the same time, exposing a vulnerable side to the great person he is.

I've lived in St. Louis for most of the 80s and 90s. To me and many others, the voices of Jack Buck and Mike Shannon were synonymous with summer. I was there when Joe Buck started his career. I was one of those complaining that Joe only got the job because of his father. But as Joe writes in his book, name recognition will only get you so far. You still have to deliver.I've been impressed with Joe's ability to handle major sporting events with such ease. His behind the scenes take on how he has gotten to this level is an entertaining read. I especially enjoyed his humor. I laughed out loud throughout this book.One particular pregame skit, which wasn't in the book but has stayed with me nonetheless, involved Joe and his football partner Troy Aikman. Troy and Joe are getting ready to go on air. A group of people attends to Troy: fixing his hair, brushing his suit coat, applying makeup. Joe is shown standing all alone. "Can I get a bottle of water," Joe asks someone offscreen. A water bottle comes flying into the shot and hits Joe in the chest. It's that kind of self-deprecating humor that permeates this book. Here are just a few examples: Joe talks about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with his daughter and how he wasn't the outdoors type. "If you see me going for a hike, I am probably looking for my golf ball." In the same section, he talks about how the trip to Africa will keep him away from his future wife for two weeks. "A two-week trip does not sound long, I think we've had commercial breaks during the Super Bowl that lasted that long." Joe also knows how to tell a funny story. He talks about interviewing a couple of Seattle defensive players before the Superbowl with Denver. Joe said he had a sense that things were not going to go Denver's way. At one point one of the players said, "We don't care what Peyton Manning does at the line of scrimmage. He can say 'Omaha' five hundred times. We're not moving." I can hear Peyton yelling "Omaha" right now in that lopsided loss.Joe also gives some insight into what it's like to be a sports announcer in today's politically correct climate. He describes how his fear of backlash on social media had affected his on-air performance, always careful not to make a comment that might stir up a controversy.If you have watched any major sporting event over the last fifteen-plus years, you have listened to Joe Buck. He is one of the best at what he does. I do think, however, that the US Open should be left to the golf analysts who cover the game week in and week out.

Joe Buck was in my ear for two of the most memorable moments of my life: The Red Sox’ 2004 World Series triumph over St. Louis; and the Chicago Cubs' recent Series win over Cleveland. His voice swept away the Bambino and the Billy Goat; “curses” that had plagued two of my favorite sports franchises. He was there as I witnessed both of these events while on business travel, away from family and friends. If through talent and sweat a person can make their own luck (yes, he also benefitted from some fortunate bloodlines), Joe Buck is one Lucky Bastard.This read might make you both jealous of him, and sorry for him. You’re probably a fairly serious sports fan. Many within this book’s likely audience have fantasized doing play-by-play for a living. Hey, I’ve occasionally turned down the sound and “done the games for myself” when no one’s around. And, Joe Buck is a celebrity. He has celebrity friends and a celebrity lifestyle; he seems to want us to know this. Maybe you would envy his A-list of friends.Joe Buck also does not shy from the underside of his celebrity status: insecurity that drives him to (painfully) engineer hair into just the right places on his scalp; his struggles to let critics’ slings and arrows roll off his back. The marriage that his life of celebrity, travel and busyness helped to ruin. You might detect a strand of self-doubt that runs through “Lucky Bastard,” as if the author is trying very hard to convince us (or himself) that his life is really in a good place now.As an author, Joe Buck is at his best when painting the relationship between himself and his dad, legendary St. Louis and national broadcaster Jack Buck. There was lifelong magic between father and son. Reading about it challenged me to reconsider my parenting approach: Oh, if only I could love my own, the way Joe Buck was loved by his father! Here’s a sampling: Joe has just worked his first ever deciding World Series game. He calls home to ask father Jack what he thought about his broadcast on the night when the Yankees became world champs. Not many words from his dad, and soon the phone had been handed to his mother.“The next day, I called home again. My mom answered.“I said, ‘Why was Dad so short with me?’“She said, “He was crying so hard, he couldn’t talk. He was just that proud.’ ”Joe Buck is at his most human and endearing as he writes about his relationship with his daughters, and his experience of his father’s death.“Lucky Bastard” could have been a smoother read. Buck’s footnotes, many of them meant to be funny, were worthless distractions. It seemed like Buck tried very hard to relate to his readers as though he were talking to us over a brew at the local pub. Or occasionally, in a locker room. Sometimes it worked; other times, eh...But Joe Buck is not now, and most likely will not ever, derive his primary income stream from writing books. In that context, “Lucky Bastard” succeeds as a book that will satisfy and entertain people who know Joe from his broadcast work and who will enjoy getting to know the man, his triumphs, and his struggles, on a more intimate level.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and I feel like I have a better understanding of the person behind the public image of Joe Buck. Based on the free sample, I expected the book to be a lot of stories "from the inside" of the broadcast book. However, the book is a lot more about his childhood, professional struggles and successes outside of the broadcast booth itself, and personal fears.If you're looking for a tell all book like NFL Confidential or Slow Getting Up, this book probably isn't what you looking for. If you're looking for a more conventional autobiography of Joe Buck than it. What is special about this book, most biographies I've read provide historical information about a person but feel very detached. Reading this book felt more like getting to know someone over a couple of drinks at the bar.From a writing perspective, it's easy to read and each chapter has a main theme. The only issue is it can be hard to figure out what happened at the same time as each chapter weaves throughout his life differently. Additionally, for piecing things together it assumes the reader knows a lot more about sports (such as when two teams faced each other in the World Series) than I did. That said, I could look up any missing information easy.

Détente

very good. on time.

I'm a very tough critic . I read a lot. I loved this book. Sad when it ended. Read it!

Great read! Some funny and touching stories.