Thursday, October 8, 2015

Review of "Raw" by Colin Cowherd

This was one of those books that I decided to read only because of the author.  As I mention in the review, I enjoyed listening to Colin Cowherd's radio show when he hosted a midday ESPN radio show.  So when I saw this title available on NetGalley, I jumped on the chance to read it - and I wasn't disappointed.  Here is my review of "Raw." 


Title/Author:
“Raw: My Grade-A, Unfiltered Inside Look at Sports” by Colin Cowherd

Tags:
General, broadcasting, musings

Publish date:
October 13, 2015

Length:
320 pages

Rating: 
5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:
On occasion, I would turn on Colin Cowherd’s radio show “The Herd” when I needed a sports fix during some downtime in the office when he had a midday show on ESPN Radio.  I liked the show because even if the topic was one in which I didn’t have much interest or he expressed an opinion with which I strongly disagreed, he would be honest about it, give reasons for his viewpoint and tell it in a manner that wasn’t overly critical or patronizing.

So, when I saw he was coming out with his second book on his views of various sports topics, I jumped at the chance to pick up a review copy and dig in. As hoped, the book was written in much the same manner as his radio show. He has strong opinions on a variety of sports topics and he tells how he feels about them in a no-holds-barred style.

Just about every major sport and topic from the past two years in sports is covered here. He talks a lot about football and basketball on both the college and professional levels, which only makes sense given they are the two primary sports covered by his former employer, ESPN (He is now broadcasting for Fox Sports).  From the NFL’s attitude toward domestic violence to the saga of LeBron James returning to Cleveland, he shares his perspective on these topics with the readers in the same manner as listeners has heard. 

Social and political hot-button topics such as race relations and same-sex couples are also addressed.  He mentions that he has a way to take any topic and somehow turn it to make it relevant to sports as well – that is what he does with this as well.  Whether it was the saga of Michael Sam in NFL training camps or race relations with his super-hero character “Claiming Racism Man” I found these topics covered fairly and balanced.  Also, if someone is looking to find out Cowherd’s political leanings, I won’t mention them here, but I will just say that some of the views you read about will not fit neatly into one political position.

Overall, this was a very entertaining and enlightening read. If the reader enjoys Cowherd on the radio or television, then he or she will certainly enjoy this book as well. If the reader can envision those words being heard on the car radio or streaming online instead on the pages of the book, the essence of Cowherd’s broadcasts will be captured.

I wish to thank Gallery Books for providing an advance review copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


Buying links: (pre-order at time of posting)


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