ON THE DL

Mike Tunison Talks About The Football Fan’s Manifesto

We are happy to bring back Mike Tunison -- Xmas Ape from Kissing Suzy Kolber -- to plug his book, The Football Fan’s Manifesto, and talk about his new gig at The Sporting Blog.

First, the book. I’m always fascinated with the process of getting a book published and how that book is promoted so we discuss the strategy for

The Football Fan’s Manifesto. Tunison explains that the publisher seems to be relying far more on his internet presence than he expected, and while he’s doing a good amount of radio, he expected there might be more of a push to get the book into the hands of the average sports fan than just those who dwell on the internet with us.

We talk about the audience for the book. Is this book for the internet dwellers who read his stuff every day at KSK? Is the book a first-person take on football fandom or is it really a fan’s manifesto that anyone -- even someone who doesn’t know his work at KSK -- can appreciate.

Tunison is quick to explain that a book about him would be full of Steelers references most people wouldn’t find interesting. The target audience is for any football fan. So if you consider yourself one, consider buying this book.

We discuss the timing of putting out a football book at the start of the season when other football books are dropping. Is that a concern? Is

there a limited book audience, or do books have a longer shelf-life -- pardon the pun -- so the timing of the release doesn’t really matter as much?

And we get into some book topics. Tunsion has a video where he literally throws the book at people for crackpot ideas of fandom. We debate a few of them, most notably if I can switch allegiances to my local team after being a fan of a different team for years. He says no, which means I’m screwed. I’m in NFL limbo, stuck rooting for storylines and my fantasy team.

If you haven’t heard, Tunison is starting next week at The Sporting Blog so I formally welcome him to the family (that I just joined a few months ago -- ah, the internet). Will his style have to change at TSB? Were they concerned about his aggressive writing style translating to their more, well, professional approach? Was he concerned? And is it hard to write in different styles for different audiences, or is that part of what keeps the writing fresh?

We talk about his time at Washington Post and discuss how one of his KSK partners, Josh Zerkle, is writing for The League blog over at WaPo. Was Tunison upset about this, considering he was basically fired for writing at KSK and now the same paper has asked one of his colleagues to write for them? We discuss the conflict of interest, or if there is one.

We actually talk some football. Who do we hate more, Vick or Favre? He thinks Favre, as it was inevitable that Vick was going to return. The only thing in question was the city, which is what’s causing some of the backlash because nobody in Philadelphia expected him to end up here. But Favre has held the league hostage for three years running now.

We discuss how Andy Reid was right, and all of the sudden, from a

national perspective, Vick is just a football player again. Sure, there will be some attention to it when he first plays in preseason, and the season, but it won’t be day after day of thousands of protesters. Now we know why Andy Reid was smirking at that presser. Thanks Brett Favre, you couldn’t even give it a week.

We discuss why we hate Favre so much, and if that hatred is solely the product of the mainstream media, or a product of Favre playing that media to his benefit.

And what the hell was Cris Carter talking about yesterday? He’s meshuginah.

We talk Big Ben, his civil suit and why not reporting the details, like ESPN famously decided, might have been the right way to go. This woman seems imbalanced, and the allegations (again) SEEM erroneous. So how are we supposed to cover these things?

Speaking of Ben, he was on Shaq Vs. last night. That show is an HOUR long? Great. I was actually excited until I heard that. But we spin Shaq’s ubiquity to football. Is there anyone in football who is as widely known, and liked, as Shaq? Could an NFLer get a show like this?

Last, with the season coming in less than a month, which is worst to wait through, the off-sesaon or the pre-season?

GO BUY MIKE’S BOOK.

Thanks for listening.