Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer

Bloody Confused is a well written autobiography of what the English Premier League is all about, from an American's point of view. It explains the various concurrent competitions, and the real mind-set of the English, through both winning and losing. It's a great book for anyone who loves sports yet quite put a finger on English football.

I bought this book because i thought it was going to be like "Fever Pitch". At first the author goes on to explain about american sports, as i thought he was just trying to make his point. Throughout the whole book the author keeps comparing english football to some experience he had encountered in american sports. If i buy a book about english football, i want to read about english football, not american sports. Needless to say, i did not finish the book.

Culpepper's aim in this text is to convince people who don't know anything about the world of international soccer that it's a great product, and worthy of an American's time. The problem is, unfortunately, that he skips from "soccer know-nothing" to the worst kind of American soccer fan--the pretentious, condescending know-all who is fully convinced that other countries play soccer because it is everything true and right while the Yanks represent everything stupid and wrong. And that's the text that Culpepper writes here--he misses no opportunity to tell you how enlightened he is and how stupid you and everyone else is who doesn't agree with him, and this attitude completely overshadows the good stuff that's hidden here. He takes "the beautiful game" and makes it as attractive as two political pundits throwing mud at each other on Sunday morning television. The author comes across as completely unlikeable, and he makes sure that you know how smart he thinks he is at every opportunity. Unfortunately, this approach doesn't make for much of a book.

This is, by far, the worst soccer book I've ever read (and Jamie Trecker, the author of the last worst-ever book, probably thanks him for it), and by no means should you spend a red cent on it. There are so many good options out there in soccer books that this one isn't worth it.

Bloody Confused is a typical American approach to the World's Best Sport. Culpepper constantly repeats himself while "explaining" to US readers what the rest of the world understands with ease. Why all the comparisons to American Sport? And the nerve to even imply that the Premiership should have two divisions as MLS does here. If he had actually had to purchase a ticket to a sporting event he would have known that many of the teams, including Aston Villa, use UK Ticketmaster. And sorry about the Charlton story - I've been treated royally by them - if the folks at the Valley didn't sell him a ticket - there were none to sell. I slogged through the entire thing (skipping over the American stories - who cares?). Miracle of Castel di Sangro was much more of an intelligent and adult accounting of a fan's season as another reviewer has indicated. As a woman who travels to football (soccer to Chuck) games and competitions all over the world I would say that this doesn't give justice to the sport. Was it written for the money? For the chance to live abroad? Possibly for serialization? Go Arsenal! Go Charlton!

I thought this was a great book to read. Even though i've been following the EPL for several years, this book brought a bird's eye view of the weekly grind of being a professional sports fan. Great bar stories as well!

I also found it helpful to get a few tips on watching the EPL in person as an American traveler. I've always assumed you could just show up to a match that had seats available, declare your non-allegiance to any particular side and get in. Not so it seems. A little advanced planning is worth the effort or you'll be watching the fixtures like the author did; out in the street looking through holes in the fences.

Only drawback is Culpepper's American political rants here and there but they're sporadic enough to tolerate for an overall great read. I've shared the book w/ several other soccer friends and they've all enjoyed it as well.