PREFERRED LIES AND OTHER TALES: Skimming the Cream of a Life in Sports

By Jack Whitaker and Eden O'Neill

The entertaining reflections of Jack Whitaker--sports TV's answer to Charles Kuralt and Charles Osgood--draw on his long and stellar career at the heart of the action in televised sports. There isn't a major sporting event Jack Whitaker hasn't covered, and this charming raconteur takes us along on a 45-year spin through sports history. photos.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684842726
• ISBN13: 9780684842721
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

One of Greatest Sports Commentators Comments on Career

Whittaker will also remain in my memory for his outstanding sports essays given in summary fashion at major sporting events, especially those he gave at golf.This book is full of a broadcasting career rich in its breadth and depth of sport at the highest level.Among my favorite Whittaker sampling are: Japanese guest asking for directions from pro George Fazio to the first tee and his response: If he can find Pearl Harbor, he can find the first tee The time in Stuttgart when the rent-a-car place gave him a new Porsche he had trouble shifting the gears, the citizens screaming and whistling in protest of his violation of such a vehicle and his writing: "In total disgrace, I managed somehow to get up the hill and, at long last, gratefully onto the Autobahn before the citizens laid hands upon me." The story of Bob Rossburg and the man telling him that he kicked Tony Lema's ball inbounce, and Rosburg's reaction.It's all here: horse racing, auto racing, tennis, golf, track and field (great stories behind the Iron Curtain), boxing, etc.This is a true joy to read from one of the greatest and most articulate, passionate commentators of the game. Truly enjoyable read, which I'm sure I'll do again. You should as well.

Whitaker writes who he is.

Jack Whitaker spins stories not only about exotic people and places; he also reveals a great deal about himself. His content and style clearly communicate a man who deeply appreciates the important things in life, a perspective that allows him to keep his long professional career, with its legion chance-of-a lifetime experiences, in perspective. Whitaker's book is a testimony to gratitude, not ego. "Preferred Lies and Other Tales" is, ultimately, stories less about sports, and more about life. In a culture flooded with hype, Jack Whitaker is a voice of hope.