Review of Don't Put Me In Coach by Mark Titus

Don't Put Me In, Coach
By: Mark Titus
Amazon

Summery from Amazon:

An irreverent, hilarious insider's look at big-time NCAA basketball, through the eyes of the nation's most famous benchwarmer and author of the popular blog ClubTrillion.com (3.6m visits!). Mark Titus holds the Ohio State record for career wins, and made it to the 2007 national championship game. You would think Titus would be all over the highlight reels. You'd be wrong.
 
In 2006, Mark Titus arrived on Ohio State's campus as a former high school basketball player who aspired to be an orthopedic surgeon. Somehow, he was added to the elite Buckeye basketball team, given a scholarship, and played alongside seven future NBA players on his way to setting the record for most individual career wins in Ohio State history. Think that's impressive? In four years, he scored a grand total of nine—yes, nine—points.

This book will give readers an uncensored and uproarious look inside an elite NCAA basketball program from Titus's unique perspective. In his four years at the end of the bench, Mark founded his wildly popular blog Club Trillion, became a hero to all guys picked last, and even got scouted by the Harlem Globetrotters. Mark Titus is not your average basketball star. This is a wild and completely true story of the most unlikely career in college basketball. A must-read for all fans of March Madness and college sports!



My Review:

 I’m not a big sports fan and of the few sports I do watch basketball really isn’t even on the list.  (*Cringe* Sorry but I’m more of a hockey girl) That being said I wasn’t sure if I’d like it at first or not. But I do have to say Don’t Put Me In, Coach turned out to be an interesting book.  In short it is a memoir of his rise to bench sitting stardom and how he turned his minor status on his team into Club Trillion, thereby giving hope to the average Joe everywhere.

Mark Titus’s humor is very sarcastic. It seems he doesn’t care which of his former teammates he exposes or throws under the bus in his sordid tale of how he became the #1 bench warmer, but underneath you get the impression that even his joking is all in good fun and he and his ex-teammates probably have a much better relationship then he implies. 

Of course I could be horribly wrong and he could just be an egomaniacal, name dropping ass. *shrug*

Meh. Doesn’t really matter to me either way. The book itself is fascinating and funny. His humor as I said before is sarcastic and sharp, it also might not be appropriate for those easily offended.

As for the basketball aspect of it…honestly I thought that was going to be a deal breaker for me on this one. I repeat I am not a big sports fan.  I do have my ‘teams’ that I am loyal to…but it’s mainly in name only…I one of those who only watches the super bowl for the commercials.  But even when Titus get’s into the more technical points of the game and the season itself I didn’t find myself phasing out or skipping ahead. While I’m sure I didn’t grasp all the finer details, I did understand what he was saying and the occasional (who am I kidding constant is more like it) quips that he would throw in throughout his explanations kept it from getting mired in technicality.

Overall I think this is a good book. It’s funny.  Especially with the holiday season approaching I think it would make a great present or stocking stuffer for the basketball, sports, or Mark Titus fan on your list.

****In compliance with FTC guidelines, I'm disclosing that I received this book for free through GoodReads First Reads. ****

(I recommend everybody should go check out all the awesome first read giveaways they have!)