Lucky Bastard: My Life, My Dad, and the Things I'm Not Allowed to Say on TV

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About Lucky Bastard: My Life, My Dad, And The Things I'm

Product Description In this New York Times bestselling memoir, the announcer of the biggest sporting events in the country—including the 2017 Super Bowl and this century's most-watched, historic, Chicago Cubs–winning World Series—reveals why he is one lucky bastard. Sports fans see Joe Buck everywhere: broadcasting one of the biggest games in the NFL every week, calling the World Series every year, announcing the Super Bowl every three years. They know his father, Jack Buck, is a broadcasting legend and that he was beloved in his adopted hometown of St. Louis.   Yet they have no idea who Joe really is. Or how he got here. They don’t know how he almost blew his career. They haven’t read his funniest and most embarrassing stories or heard about his interactions with the biggest sports stars of this era.   They don’t know how hard he can laugh at himself—or that he thinks some of his critics have a point. And they don’t know what it was really like to grow up in his father’s shadow. Joe and Jack were best friends, but it wasn’t that simple. Jack, the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals for almost fifty years, helped Joe get his broadcasting start at eighteen. But Joe had to prove himself, first as a minor league radio announcer and then on local TV, national TV with ESPN, and then finally on FOX. He now has a successful, Emmy-winning career, but only after a lot of dues-paying, learning, and pretty damn entertaining mistakes that are recounted in this book.   In his memoir, Joe takes us through his life on and off the field. He shares the lessons he learned from his father, the errors he made along the way, and the personal mountain he climbed and conquered, all of which have truly made him a Lucky Bastard.  Review Praise for Lucky Bastard “[Buck] unleashes his inner stand-up comic, sprinkling the text with surprisingly funny and often self-deprecating wit.”— Booklist “With a comic yet reverent approach to his life and broadcasting, Buck effectively captures the merging of his career and the popularity of American sports.”— Publishers Weekly “Honest, poignant, and full of fun and heart, this is the kind of sports book any fan will love reading.”—Bustle “With light humor and darker emotion, Buck candidly calls the game of his own life.”— Kirkus Reviews “A steady flow of humor, love, pain, loss, and genuine human emotion.”— Sports Illustrated“Emmy Award–winning sportscaster Joe Buck pulls back the curtain on both his public and private lives in the entertaining, but poignant autobiography Lucky Bastard. . . . This is a quick, captivating read.”— The Missourian About the Author Joe Buck grew up in St. Louis, where he still lives. He has two daughters, Natalie and Trudy, and is married to fellow sportscaster Michelle Beisner. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Part 1   Can You Hear Me Now?   Chapter 1   Uh-Oh   If you bought this book just to confirm that I am anidiot, I have bad news for you:   You will have to wait a few pages.   Hang in there. You can do it.   In 1994, I started broadcasting NFL games on FOX. I hadnever broadcast a football game in my life, yet FOX liked me enough to give mea chance.   With live broadcasting, you can prepare as much as youwant, and that can make it a little easier, but at some point you just have todo it. You never know what situations might arise, and you don’t even reallyknow what skills you have. I quickly learned that the good Lord blessed me withone of the most important physical gifts for any sportscaster: a good bladder.   You have probably never thought about this. You probablywatch game after game, night after night, eating and drinking without anyconcern at all for when the guys doing the game get to pee. But we’re human. Wepee. I don’t think Bob Costas and Al Michaels will mind if I tell you this.   I suppose that, like with everything else, each announcerhas his own style. Jim Nantz may unzip and say, “Hello, fri