"I jump into a sand pit for a living"
Sportonomics
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Gavin Newsham, London, Carlton, 2013. ISBN 978-1-78097-265-7
I love sports trivia so I was delighted to read this book.
The introduction sets out is aim: ?So if you'?ve ever wondered what it would be like to run a Formula 1 car as a family runaround, or what might happen if everybody decided to adopt the diet of a sumo wrestler
(apart from the obvious,then this is the book for you?.
It has 35 short chapters dealing with a random collection of sports trivia from what sportspeople earn to the relative economic merits of a racing pigeon, a racehorse and a greyhound.
I was interested to learn that statistically your best change of playing international football is to be born in a small country like San Marino. I
was more concern to read that I have ?got more chance of being killed in a road accident than of making a hole-in-one at golf? ? as I have managed two holes in one.
Other topics discussed include whether teams wearing red are more successful, what officials in different sports are paid, which sports produce most injuries and the ratio of followers to following on Twitter. I know I should get out more.
Finally have you ever wondered about pies served at sports events ? No, I thought now. Gavin Newsham has and this book has a claim to be the definitive guide to pies. There are regional variations, you know -? steak and kidney in the
south but they like a bit of potato in their pie up north, not to mention Balti chicken in the midlands. Then there are the vegetarian pies.
Supporters of Rotherham buy more pies per spectator that any other football club. But then again pies in the south can cost three times as much as in the north.
An entertaining read full of ammunition to bore the pants off your friends.