Why My Wife Thinks I'm an Idiot

October 31, 2005
SportsCenter
and ESPN Radio mainstay Greenberg wanted to be a journalist, but changed his mind when he was asked, while working at a smalltown newspaper, to interview the mother of a high school valedictorian who had just tragically died. Greenberg moved on to covering sports and never looked back, believing there's nothing better than "investing everything into something that means absolutely nothing." Indeed, his book resembles Seinfeld
, with its lightly humorous yet serious renditions of everyday minutiae. Divided into transcripts from some of Greenberg's radio monologues and journal entries about his family life, the book is another entry in the Men Are from Mars...
school of sociological observation. Greenberg's viewpoint on the opposite sex essentially involves his subtitle: describing the things he does that make his wife treat him like an idiot. There's plenty of good material in this alone, as well as in some sidesplitting, borscht belt–style material about his gambling-addicted aunt Ada. Unfortunately, the slightly pompous but desperately charming Greenberg also feels the need to fill readers in on such matters as why he doesn't like going to the supermarket and what designer labels he's wearing. Agent, J. De Spoelberch.

December 1, 2005
Greenberg is half of the " Mike and Mike in the Morning " sports-chat radio show on ESPN radio and is also an occasional anchor and reporter on the same network's " SportsCenter" TV program. On the air, he is funny, literate, and obviously well read far beyond the narrow borders of sports. Here, examining his public life in the context of his roles as father and husband, he exhibits the same sensibilities that make him an engaging on-air presence. He tackles the inherent absurdity of his job--chatting about sports in a complex, ever-more-troubling world--but also about the perks of his quasi fame and the joy he extracts from his work. It's nice to read about a lucky sports guy who knows he is lucky and unabashedly celebrates it. He also takes many of the things he has observed in a life dominated by sports and explains how he is applying them to the raising of his daughter. There are anecdotes galore that will keep fans reading and laughing. Expect fairly strong demand for this one, especially where Greenberg's morning radio show is available. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)