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Love and Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans, and Freaks
by Jamie Trecker
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Harvest Books (2007-10-01)
ISBN: 0156030985
EAN: 9780156030984
Dewy Decimal #: 796.334668
Paperback: 272 pages
SKU: BA08032435
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Exactly as shown, Covers flat and shiny, Spine uncreased, Text clean with NO marks.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Every four years the thirty-two-team, sixty-four-game World Cup captivates the planet’s populace for a month. Work absenteeism skyrockets. Political campaigns grind to a halt. Fans mortgage their houses to buy tickets. And teams employ every means possible—even consulting witch doctors and astrologers—in their quest for national glory.
Veteran soccer commentator Jamie Trecker traveled to Germany for FIFA World Cup 2006. Here, reported from the restaurants, trains, bars, town squares, hostels, press boxes, and brothels, is his unvarnished account of the games and parties, great plays and fistfights, gossip and tacky souvenirs that turn the largest sporting event on earth into a true world bazaar. With equal measures insight and irreverence, Trecker captures the passion, politics, controversies, and economics that make soccer a reflection of the world.
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Customer Reviews
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A Little Whine With Your Soccer?
Rating  (4)
Date: 2008-12-10
In "Love & Blood" Jamie Trecker describes events involving the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Along the way the reader is introduced to players, coaches, officials, journalists and fans that had a part in the events of that summer.
As a novice soccer fan I enjoyed the stories about the various personalities involved, the rabid fans, and I particularly enjoyed Mr. Trecker's descriptions of the venues for the 2002 cup and his wanderings in Germany during the summer of 2006.
I did enjoy "Love & Blood," but I have serious reservations about recommending it for two reasons. First, I'm afraid that true soccer fans have probably heard many of anecdotes concerning players and the 2006 matches before.
Secondly, Mr. Trecker's writing has a very negative tone to it. He rants on FIFA officials throughout the book and spends time also railing on specific players, coaches, fans, his fellow journalists, and his accommodations. Some of this whining was for comic effect, but all the negativity began to wear me down after 200 pages.
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Love and Blood
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-06-28
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Not bad. Gives you good insight to being there and was enjoyable. However some of the best books I've read in this arena are The Miracle at Castel Di Sangro and Among the Thugs.
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This book is boring
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-06-20
This is one of the most boring Football books that I have read in a long time. Go and see if you can get it at the library so you don't have to pay for it.
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if you follow world soccer you can skip this one
Rating (1)
Date: 2008-01-16
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
When I got this book, I had very high expectations because I was at the 2006 world cup and was hoping to relive some memories. Sadly most of the book is about past world cups, german history and events leading up to the world cup. His sections about the scene around the world cup are very interestng and entertaining. I wish there had been more sections like those.
I would say the book is 1/3rd world cup 2006 and 2/3rd history. One other thing i didn't like was all the footnotes (they don't add much at all). Being a big soccer fan, I know all the rules and history. This book is written more towards a casual or new fan of soccer.
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Pleasure and Substance
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-12-27
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I had no grasp of how little I knew of US Soccer, much less the world cup, until reading Trecker's book. It is a "stay up all night 'cause it's so engaging" flight through the politics, sociology, finance, underbelly and countless freaks which color the world football stage. It doesn't just tell the story (and it does, with great entertainment value); it gives you an understanding of all the forces behind the story, and why it matters.
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