Now I Can Die in Peace : How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation, with a Little Help from Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank, and the 2004 Red Sox

by Simmons, Bill

• ISBN13: 9781933060132
• ISBN10: 1933060131
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2006-09-05
• Publisher: ESPN

Summary

???The Red Sox won the World Series.??? ???? To Citizen No. 1 of Red Sox Nation, those seven words meant ???No more ???1918??? chants. No more smug glances from Yankee fans. No more worrying about living an entire life???that??'s 80 years, followed by death???without seeing the Red Sox win a Series.??? But once he was able???finally???to type those life-changing words for ESPN The Magazine, Bill Simmons decided to look back at his Sports Guy columns for the last five years to find out how the miracle came to pass. And that??'s where the trouble began. Why didn???t he see it coming? Why didn???t it happen sooner? (Will it ever happen again?) What was the key deal, the lucky move, the funny bounce, the sign from above that he failed to spot???Pretty soon, The Sports Guy was second-guessing himself, re-writing history, sniping at his own past predictions, pounding the table???that??'s what sports guys do, right? And doing so, he let himself get sidetracked by the suffering of the Boston Bruins, frustrated by the false promise of theCeltics???and driven into a state of ecstasy by the dynastic New England Patriots. The result is Now I Can Die in Peace, a hilarious and fresh, new look some of the best sportswriting in America, with sharp critical commentary (and fresh insights) from the guy who wrote it in the first place.

Table of Contents

Prologue	1	(22)
Rejuvenation
October 1998--December 2000
Duquette's Big Move	23	(6)
Why No-mah Is a Keep-ah	29	(4)
Putting on a Happy Face	33	(6)
See Ya, Fenway	39	(4)
The Lost Weekend	43	(10)
Pedro Saves the Day	53	(4)
Escape From New York	57	(6)
The Buzz	63	(4)
Foul Ball	67	(4)
Pedro and the Pantheon	71	(6)
Come Feel the Guapo	77	(4)
The Other Shoe	81	(4)
Date With Destiny	85	(6)
Wrestling With Shadows	91	(6)
The Red Sox Are for Sale	97	(6)
Here Comes Manny	103	(6)
Outside the Lines: The Manny Signing	109	(10)
The Abyss
March 2001--December 2003
Curse Words	119	(6)
The Other Side of Nomar	125	(6)
The Nomar Redemption	131	(6)
Cleaning Up	137	(6)
Is Roger the Anti-Christ?	143	(8)
Enjoy the Game!	151	(6)
Do I Have Anything Left?	157	(6)
That Game	163	(8)
Silence of the Rams	171	(8)
End of an Era	179	(4)
Blood Feud	183	(4)
They Don't Have It This Year	187	(6)
Here Comes Your 19th Nervous Breakdown	193	(8)
Paradise Lost, Again	201	(6)
Funeral for a Friend	207	(8)
A Long December	215	(10)
Hope is a Good Thing
February 2004--October 2004
Chasing A-Rod	225	(4)
The Electric Fence	229	(8)
Pins and Needles	237	(6)
Panic Button	243	(4)
The Great Divorce	247	(4)
Thrill of the Chase	251	(6)
Stiletto	257	(8)
Down Goes Schilling	265	(4)
Alternate Ending	269	(6)
Power of the Poop	275	(8)
First Blood	283	(8)
Daddy Deja Vu	291	(10)
The Great Escape
October 2004--April 2005
Seat Change	301	(4)
The Surreal Life	305	(6)
Losing Baggage in the Bronx	311	(4)
Dream Job	315	(6)
Hey, Why Not Us?	321	(4)
The Brink of the Group Hug	325	(8)
Destination: Destiny	333	(10)
Zihuatanejo	343	(10)
Afterword	353