Rating: 
Summary: Great look into the "business" side of sport
Review: A fascinating look at the many forces at work within the world of Italian soccer. While one gets annoyed at the continued translation of select italian words used in the story (we get it after a few times already!) as well as the ever increasing ego of the writer, who by the end, believes himself to be the greatest soccer strategist alive, it doesn't distract too much from the story. A great look into a world most wouldn't become a part of. A good read, could've been better.
Rating: 
Summary: Ignorant in the extreme
Review: Too bad that it had to be an ignorant American to write this story. Joe McG shows a total lack of understanding about the game throughout what could have been a sensational story about a small club's battle to stay among the big boys. Instead, he goes off on an ego trip which puts the subject matter in the background and Joe in the spotlight.Even failing to understand the basic terms of the game (since when did 'offense' mean 'attack'. And what is a 'strikeout'? It's called a 'draw' in the rest of the world), McGinnis, it seems, has more written this book to be able to prove to his mates back home what a football expert he is than to give a good description of Castel di Sangro's season in Serie B. Berating coach Jacoby is ridiculous. Berating even Arrigo Sacchi, one of the most-winning coaches in the modern game, for not playing Roberto Baggio is downright pathetic. McGinnis writes as though he was the only Castel di Sangro supporter in the ground at every match, ignoring completely those true fans that probably travelled to each and every game in the entire season. The focus for McGinnis is himself, not the team. It's obvious this book was written for an American audience, with their lesser general knowledge of what football is about. While McGinnis may get away with it across the pond, a European audience will see through his scam. Shame, really. I enjoyed parts of the book when McGinnis concentrates on describing the going-ons in the town, the atmosphere at the training fields, and so on. Sadly these are mere parenthesis in a tale which, for all intents and purposes, is about a daft, annoying, middle-aged American. And Joe, mate. If you consider yourself a real fan after spending one season watching a bad team: Try doing it for twenty years.
Rating:
Summary: Very funny !!
Review: This book has no pretension to be a classic but it is very funny. McGinniss manages to involve the reader in the story and the characters, a struggling team of soccer players in a small Italian town who manage to temporarily advance in the national ranking. The depiction of the Italian lifestyle and personalities is very amusing. McGinniss inserts himself in the life of the town and becomes a consultant to the team, even if his advice is not always sollicited. The book loses some of its light-heartedness due to some events in the end (can't give it away) but I highly recommend it to anyone who likes Italy or Italians or soccer.
Rating:
Summary: Intercultural discoveries & embarrassments
Review: The title and cover of this book (paperback) intrigued me for weeks as it lay on our sofa table waiting to be read by my partner, who was recovering from surgery and had received it from a friend. I knew that this friend cared little about soccer, but as a world traveler and professional in international affairs, she obviously had come upon something she had found interesting. Since my partner is also no great soccer fan - though while channel-surfing he'll pause for a look at any TV screen on which figures are moving around a ball in a seemingly deliberate way - I figured that our friend must've found something worthwhile in this book. Once I started reading The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, I couldn't put it down. To me, this book is a chronicle of a year of intercultural discovery and embarrassment, much the same as the various years I spent living in different cities and towns, large and small, in Europe during my student years. In this case, soccer is simply the context for an account of the display of the same kinds of culturally-biased behaviors, judgements, projections, realizations, embarrassments and discoveries that anyone who has been more than a tourist in a different culture is familiar with - and that anyone who has had a guest from another culture will recognize. The relationships between the people in the book were what I found most interesting; I appreciated soccer as the framework of the interaction and an important cultural component, but skipped most of the technical soccer stuff. Anyone who is involved with intercultural activities will find this book worthwhile, in my opinion. Don't let the "soccer talk" get in the way of a good read about engaging intercultural encounters.
Rating: 
Summary: A GREAT BOOK ABOUT ITALY AND THE ITALIAN PEOPLE
Review: THIS IS A VERY FUNNY BOOK, WITH GREAT INSIGHTS INTO HUMAN NATURE. IT IS ALSO AT TIMES A VERY SAD BOOK. THE CHARACTERS ARE BEAUTIFULLY SKETCHED, OUT WITH MUCH LOVE AND PASSION CAPTURED BY THE AUTHOR. JOE MC GINNISS, IS MORE ITALIAN THAN THE ITALIANS WHO LIVED OUT THIS STORY WITH HIM IN CASTEL DI SANGRO, ABRUZZO, ITALY. I PREDICT THAT THIS BOOK WILL SOME DAY BE MADE INTO A BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE WHICH WILL RESULT IN THE MOVIE AND IT'S ACTORS WINNING MANY OSCARS. FURTHERMORE THE MOVIE'S SUCCESS WILL RESULT IN THE BOOK BECOMING THE BEST SELLER THAT IT DESERVES TO BE NOW!
Rating: 
Summary: Sucks the Life Out of a Great Story
Review: I agree with the other reviews - McGinniss takes one of the greatest sports stories of our generation, misses the point completely and turns it into a travelogue of an egotistical American's time in Italy. Okay, one star for recognizing there is a story here. However a monkey would have seen that. It IS possible for an American to write a decent football book - see Geoffrey Douglas' "The Game of Their Lives." If only the subject matter here would have received similar treatment. There are at least 11 stories that should have been told that will forever be lost thanks to McGinniss' hack job. The only thing that is clear by the end is that Joe continues to marvel in the fact that he is an American that knows a little about soccer. Avoid unless you want the game explained to you from this perspective and anectdotes about Joe's time hangin' with Alexi Lalas. Blech.
Rating:
Summary: View from a soccer mom
Review: With two young kids who play soccer and an upcoming trip with them to Italy, I was looking for a book about Italy that had nothing to do with Tuscany or Italian villas. This proved to be an excellent choice. It is nominally about an American author's year with a professional soccer team from a small Italian village which, through various "miracolos", had risen in the rankings from bottom of the barrel to "B" stature ("A" being the top teams from big cities, such as Milan). But it is more than just a book about a team or a sport. It is an excellent insider's view of the daily life of the individual mid-level professional player who practices daily, goes home to family, suffers personal and professional triumphs and failures, rides the bus to Sunday's game, and does it all over again the next week. It also provides a startling account of a dark side of Italian (or perhaps European?) soccer of which I had never heard and which the author was apparently naive about as well. The writing at times is a bit slow; but overall this book was far better than other 'sports' books I've read, which too often glamorize or oversimplify their subject. Indeed,labeling this as a "sports" book is too limiting; this book would be equally at home in the social studies or travel department.
Rating:
Summary: A year in the life of Joe McGinniss
Review: Agree entirely with the previous review. A good tale spoilt by a self-indulgent author.
Rating:
Summary: Come on guys, lighten up
Review: After having read several of the other reviews, I felt compelled to put in a good word for this wonderfully colorful account of the Italian "minor league" soccer world. This book is important because it reveals the underbelly of a sport that has only recently been embraced here. The patronage, secret deals, mafia involvement, and day to day lives of the players are all described skillfully. As far as the actions of the author are concerned, would you expect anything less from an American? Give it a try, especially those of you who generally stick to fiction and wouldn't dream of reading a "sports book."
Rating: 
Summary: Sapping the energy from a beautiful sport
Review: When I first heard about this book, I could not wait to devour it cover to cover. McGinniss' writing style really did capture me and had me intently finish the 400 page "ego stroke". I would tend to wholeheartedly agree that this was a perfect example of a good book about a great group of characters living an unimaginable dream all the while being laid conquest to by "an ugly American". While the fairy tale was not candy-coated from top to bottom, this book exhibits an inordinate amount of personal psychiatric overlay from the author. I do not question his displeasure with negative events in the Italian society however, I take great exception to the liberties exercised with regard to the management of the team. McGinniss not only contributes to dissention amongst the team but he ends up coming off as an oaf looking for the "Fountain of Middle Age" in a fantasy camp type atmosphere. I cannot imagine the arrogance this man must have displayed in trying to tell the manager of the team what strategies and lineups he must use and then exhibit random tirades of insanity posting propaganda in the team's office, locker room and in public. It is one thing for the Italian sports writers to do so and another for an insensitive American to do so. It's of no surprise that he is no longer welcome in Castel di Sangro. Thanks for giving us Americans a bad name. If only this book were not about the author...it would have been much more compelling (not to mention objective). A true shame.
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