Can't Beat It

Like I was saying, Andre Agassi's autobiography was spectacular.

Honest as hell, well written, and offering up truths about his life you may never have guessed.

Like he hated tennis. Fucking hated it.

I got turned on to the book through a conversation I saw/heard on TV a while back. Can't remember if it was a sports talk show, or the Illustrated History of Pornography, but what caught my attention was that the talking heads said not only was the book a great sports autobiography but a great autobiography in general.

They were correct.

Typical childhood prodigy story - his Dad decided before Andre was born that he was going to be a tennis superstar. He built his own ball machine, and at a very early age, had Agassi hitting 2,700 balls a day. The theory was that anybody who is hitting 1 million balls a year will make it as a pro.

Obviously he had no childhood and he grew to hate tennis because of it. But his Dad was a tyrant and would not let him quit. What blew me away is that even as a pro, Agassi hated tennis. Hated it. You would think the success and the money and the fame would ease the pain. Nope. He hated it over the course of his entire career.

He talks about conversations he had throughout his career with close friends and people of trust, when he would tell them he hated tennis. Every time the other person would say "You don't mean that? You don't really hate it, do you?" And he would always respond "I am serious. I hate it."

But in press conferences he would tell reporters what they wanted to hear: "Yes, I love this sport." And it would tear him up because he was forced to lie.

I don't want to harp on the hatred thing. There is so much more to the book.

His internal stuggle as a human being to find himself because his Dad forced him to be a stranger to himself. His relationship with Brooke Shields. His marriage to Steffi Graf. His relationships with various coaches and trainers. His relationships and rivalries with other tennis players. His descriptions - very detailed - of specific matches; some that broke him, some that made him. The inside stuff from the tennis world. Becoming a father.

Spectacular book. Honest book. Fascinating life.

Segue: I read Steven Van Zandt's autobiography many months back. Spectacular. I have barely talked about it because I can't. I cannot do it justice. I love the man, I love his music, I love the history of his life.

I can't do it justice because music means so much to me that I can't reduce it to words. Suffice it to say it is another brutally honest book. He says what he means, what he feels. About musicians, about the music industry, about his career, about his life.

About his relationship with Springsteen.

It's just fucking delicious.

It made me laugh, it brought tears, it taught me stuff, it surprised me, it made me love the man even more.

I listen to his station on Sirius XM - Little Steven's Underground Garage. The funkiest radio station you will ever listen to.

On his show he tells detailed stories between songs. Tremendous stuff. He has this little, understated laugh that cracks me up. He's telling a story, he laughs a bit - you have to wait 30 seconds or so for him to get past the laugh. Love it.

Two spectacular autobiographies. Two spectacular lives.

Can't beat it, baby.