A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL » (Unabridged, 1 MP3 CD, 12 hours)

Stefan Fatsis is "The New York Times" bestselling author of "Word Freak," He is a sports reporter for "The Wall Street Journal" and a regular guest on National Public Radioas "All Things Considered,"

In Word Freak, Stefan Fatsis infiltrated the insular world of competitive Scrabble players, ultimately achieving expert status (comparable to a grandmaster ranking in chess). Now he infiltrates a strikingly different subculture - pro football. After more than a year spent working out with a strength coach and polishing his craft with a gurulike kicking coach, Fatsis molded his fortyish body into one that could stand up - barely - to the rigors of NFL training. And over three months in 2006, he became a Denver Bronco. He trained with the team and lived with the players. He was given a locker and uniforms emblazoned with the number 9. He was expected to perform all the drills and regimens required of other kickers. He ws unlike his teammates in some ways - most notably, his livelihood was not on the line as theirs was. But he became remarkably like them in many ways: he risked crippling injury just as they did, endured the hazing that befalls all rookies, daily gorged on 4...

The Washington Post - Steven V. Roberts

…give the guy credit. When George Plimpton attended an NFL camp in 1963 and wrote his famous account of that experience, Paper Lion, he was more observer than participant. Fatsis worked hard to become a passable place kicker, and because he shared their training camp regimen—the pain and pressure, brutality and boredom—he won the confidence of his teammates. That intimacy produces some candid insights, particularly about the marginal players, the walk-ons and spear-carriers in the NFL's "moneymaking machine," as one Bronco calls it…Fatsis might not be a real Bronco, but he's a real sportswriter, and this book tells you what brings real Broncos to tears.

Prologue: Martin Gramatica's Dad     1
I'm No Plimpton     5
Chippin' and Skippin'     16
I Go with 9     32
There's No Sorries     50
I Just Lost My Punter     61
Toddworld     77
There It Is     93
Someone Else's Game     116
A Few Seconds of Panic     140
Here's Your Rope     158
Groundhog Day     171
The Bottom of the Trickle     192
If It's In, It's In     210
My Dogs Adore Me     223
Nice Form, Though     236
The Gladiators March into Battle     248
How Far Was That?     258
It's Part of a Sickness     275
One from Here for Everything     290
This Ain't Good-bye. This Is Life     300
Epilogue: No, I'm a Bronco     312
Author's Note: Among Giants     334
Sources: Secrets of Kicking the Football     339