Rick ReillyBesprekingen

Poignant anecdotes from Reilly's life as a sportswriter and golfer. Plenty of good stuff that will touch your emotions and funny bone.

A funny, but truthful look at the greatest cheater, liar, philanderer, and downright most despicable character to ever sit in the Oval Office. Reilly uses first-hand witness testimony and anecdotes to show how Trump's various ways to cheat on the golf course explains all one needs to know about his (lack of) character.

Funny moments, throughout. The Donald comes off a scam artist, as well as, the best presidential golfer in history. Of course, Reilly explains that Trump cheats on just about every hole and exaggerates, misleads, brags, and seemingly lies to everyone. Even with all that, his fellow golf freaks love him. Quick read and I thought it was fab.

"Commander in Cheat" is a book about President Trump, told mostly through Trump's approach to golf. The author, Rick Reilly, a golf lover and one who respects the game, has no respect for anyone who doesn't treat the game with that same respect. Golfers who have played with Trump point out how Trump, or his caddie, are notorious for kicking his ball from rough to fairway, and sometimes doing the opposite to his opponent's ball, assuming his putts are "gimmies", throwing his ball out of sand traps, miscounting his strokes, and any of a variety of miscues on the golf course. Reilly, a golf purist, wonders if Trump cheats at golf, as has been widely reported, and lies about his scores, will he be that much different in how he leads the rest of his life? The author then proceeds to try to make that very point, giving examples which show the parallel between Trump's approach to golf and his approach to life.

While clearly giving a harsh review of Trump, as a person and as the President, there were passages which humanized Trump, and gave insights into why many Trump golf buddies easily overlook his abrasive traits, his lies and what he says to and about his enemies. Many male athletes are accustomed to "locker room" behavior, macho posturing, good-natured name calling and insults. That sophomoric type of behavior while playing games can be isolated and treated as just playing a role, even if it's not a behavior which is socially acceptable on the outside. But there is a lot of teasing and insults which take place in sports, with boys just being boys, and in those circles, most don't take it too seriously. The NBA is notorious for all the trash-talking which goes on between players during the game, little of any of it carries over afterwards.

Trump's fellow golfers recognize that Trump may not count all his strokes, or have his caddie kick a ball back into the fairway from the rough, or use his "hand wedge" to get a ball out of a trap and onto the green, or simply take "gimme" puts which aren't warranted. But they excuse it as Trump being Trump. They're just having a good time, and since they play on Trump owned courses, it's all just part of the game. To most, it's just harmless fun, knowing in advance that it'll all happen, and that Trump will "win" when the day is over. But Reilly, being a golf purist, things these Trump traits are serious character flaws.

Of course, what makes things less palatable are stories told by many about Trump taking that "must win" behavior to his business dealings. Especially troubling is Trump's propensity to stiff small-business owners who work for him. This has been documented for years, going back to his real estate development and casino owner career. Too often, Trump fails to pay vendors their full contracted amount, and forces them to take only a percentage of what is owed. Trump has his team of lawyers, already on the payroll, who are happy to tie up any lawsuit in court, leaving the small business owner with unpaid bills for years. When the vendor has spent money on supplies, and has employees to pay, and overhead costs, and works for many months on a Trump job, he will go out of business without full payment for his services. Facing that dilemma, vendors often are willing to take something, anything, to at least cover part of their losses. And Trump knows that he can always win that battle, since the little guy can't tolerate the loss. Reilly makes the point that cheating at golf may be harmless fun by the owner of a golf course, but a serious character flaw which will prove harmful to anyone who deals with Trump in business, trade, or political matters as well.

Ich denke, wie man sich beim Spiel verhält, sagt viel über einen Menschen aus. Dabei ist es wohl ganz gleich, ob es sich um „Mensch ärgere dich nicht“ handelt oder um das Golfspiel. Der Autor dieses Buches, Rick Reilly, hat Donald Trump über 30 Jahre beim Golfen beobachtet. Was er dabei entdeckt hat, ist wirklich erschütternd. Kaltschnäuzig und skrupellos, dabei noch stolz auf sich, verschafft sich dieser Mann Vorteile, denn er kann nicht verlieren. Er lügt und betrügt beim Golf genauso, wie wir es auch sonst schon so oft erlebt haben, wenn er Reden hält und Tweets loslässt. Würde er doch nur bei seinem Golfspiel bleiben.
Das Buch liest sich sehr angenehm und bringt einen manchmal zum Lachen. Doch dann fällt einem gleich wieder ein, dass diese Stories aus dem Leben des amerikanischen Präsidenten stammen, und es macht einen dann doch eher wütend und fassungslos.
Was ich auch nicht begriffen habe ist, dass ihn die Menschen, die ihn offensichtlich durchschaut haben, mit diesen Eskapaden immer wieder durchkommen lassen. „Frechheit siegt“, sagt man – aber so sollte es nicht sein.
Amüsant zu lesen und daher umso erschreckender.

The most depressing thing you will read about Trump. It makes clear that his dishonesty, dishonor, and corruption was all right there for the world to see, and he ended up president anyway. His conduct since then makes total sense considering his conduct before. What a disgusting human. Also, I never cared about golf before, but Reilly makes a good argument for it to be taken out of the hands of people like Trump and given to the people.

The author poses a hypothesis that to truly understand Donald Trump one need only look at his history with his favorite pastime - golf. There are numerous funny stories of how Trump cheats and lies when playing, as well as influencing others to cheat for him! While these stories have a light side, when one considers his role in our nation, they take on an ominous note.
As the author says, "If you'll cheat to win at golf, is it that much further to cheat to win an election? To turn a Congressional vote? To stop an investigation?
"If you'll lie about every aspect of the game, is it that much further to lie about your taxes, your relationship with Russians, your groping of women?
"If you're adamant that that the poor don't deserve golf, is it that much further to think they don't deserve health care, clean air, safe schools?"
Frightening thoughts indeed, but we need to really think about them. Loved this book for those reasons.

If it only it were not so frightening, this book would be hilarious!
Reilly digs deep into the persona of Donald Trump, revealing his true character (or lack thereof). Trump's passion is golf. I think everyone knows that. But what kind of person would diminish his life's passion by constantly cheating, bragging, and lying? The author shows explicitly that that kind of person would be Trump.
The man is completely incapable of telling the truth. He lies about his score. He kicks the golf balls into a better space (or has his lackey do it for him). He lies about the championships he's won. He lies about everything.
You might think that the author is another member of the "fake news" group that Trump rails on, however he documents incident after incident, as told by upstanding members of society who have golfed with him. It's a running gag among golfers everywhere how bad Trump cheats and lies.
And if you can't believe anything he says about his passion, how can you think he is going to tell the truth about anything else? You would have to be completely gullible.
Someday, just like our parents warned us, the lies will catch up to you. And the day of reckoning will be painful. Evidently Trump's parents didn't impress that upon him. How he has made it this far is amazing (and frustrating). When that day comes, I just hope that he doesn't take us all down with him!

I couldn't put this book down. Amazon delivered it yesterday afternoon and I spent all evening at my local watering hole devouring this book. I've never picked up a golf club or been a fan of Donald Trump but I've read books on both topics and this book takes the cake. Rick Reilly uses golf's Trump techniques (cheating and lying) to explain his terrible practices in office. Trump has been a notorious cheater in golf for decades, something he can't argue against; it's on film, hundreds of athletes, celebrities, and politicians will attest to it, he's admitted it, and his caddies joke that "Trump doesn't cheat... because we do it for him." Trump boasts that he's won 18 golf tournaments, although not ONE can be verified (16 are easy to disprove). He usually bullies course managers to put his name up on the trophy plaques because he "plays better than most other players all the time (most tournaments he never even played in!). Reilly then elaborates on Trump's business practices: specifically with his golf courses (lawsuits galore), his fight against paying contractors in full, and his failure to ban any Muslim countries that he had golf interests in. The book also discusses all presidents and their attachment (or lack thereof) to golf and how it influenced their presidential terms. "Obama wound up playing 306 rounds in office, or once every 9.5 days. Trump is on pace to, over eight years, to obliterate Obama's number - 759 rounds, which goes to show you that bone spurs do heal very nicely." The humor, the insight, the golfing parallels, and the writing make this book a showstopper. It was eye opening and golf was the perfect lens to view Trump and his "ethics" through. "In life, we're defined by the obstacles we overcome. That's the stuff we hang on our inner wall. But if you cheat to get around those obstacles, you never know the thrill of actually beating them. It's like buying a trophy in a pawn shop. You can shine it up and show it off and pretend you won it, but when you get close to it, it only reflects the face of a loser." make this book your most read political/sports book of 2019!

Rick Reilly goes searching for the dumbest sport in the world. His guidelines for what sports count include that people must consider it a sport and not be doing it because they know it is stupid. I found some of the chapters to be hilarious such as the sauna championships and the nude bicycling. Other chapters such as the on on homeless soccer were touching. Overall a good book though I don't agree that drinking games is a sport.

A great find at a used book store in CT.
As a regular reader of Reilly's columns, many of these were familiar but I really appreciated the follow ups on many of these. I also loved re-reading some old favorites. Thumbed the non-sports ones: stick with what you're good at.

Apparently, Reilly was inspired to write hits after a trip to a golf course of the same name in the book and the weird characters he met there. I don't care much for golf -- "A good walk, spoiled," is Mark Twain's famous line -- but this book is laugh out loud funny filled with the most bizarre characters. There is the guy who always keeps a coat hangar in his glove compartment in case he locks his keys in the car. When asked how he gets the hangar out if his keys are locked in the car, the answer is simple, he has an extra key hidden under the bumper. Or the guy who hires some thugs to rob aq restaurant and then require everyone in the restaurant to have sex with the person next to them because he plans to be in the restaurant with a girl he can't get into bed and this is the only way. Geez. Lots of funny golf jokes, but a very enjoyable, wacky plot.

Great collection of stories. Some of them were incredibly moving and some were hilarious. The editor should be shot, though... Who puts a tear jerking story about a kid with MS who runs cross country and has his team run his final laps with him back to back with a 9/11 story? REALLY? If I wanted to be a mess of tears during a lunch break at work there are many other things I could do. Not the best choice of order, but still a great book overall. Glad I found it in the Kindle store for next to nothing and decided to buy it.½

Slo Mo is basically a long running joke about a dorky white kid, who grew up in a cult in a cave, who joins an NBA team because he is 7'8" tall. Reilly puts him with some colorful characters drawn from real life, including Charles Barkley, Bryant Reeves, Mahmous Abdul Rauf, and Phil Jackson. He is pursued by representatives from Nike, McDonalds, and other franchises to be a spokesperson, but he likes the shoes he already has and prefers to eat at Whey To Go. There are some funny scenes, but not much of a story line. Rick Reilly is one of my favorite sports columnists. He needs to keep his day job.

If you are a golf nut you will most likely enjoy this book. It is a collection of stories about some celebrity golfers, and some just plain celebrities, told from the perspective of a sportswriter who finagled an opportunity to caddy for each of them for a day or a tournament. The stories and the writing are hilarious. I dipped into the paperback version in my car whenever I had flat time waiting for something. Another reviewer has said he cracked up at the John Daly chapter. I cracked up at most of them and I really liked Jill McGill - she would be a wonderful dinner guest. There are a couple of serious observations about the game that are worth considering but, for the most part, the book is pure entertainment.

Missing Links by Rick Reilly is a phenomenal golf book. This book is a page turner and will keep you flipping the page. Rick Reilly does a great job ending a chapter while setting up the following chapter causing the reader to want to flip the page. This is not one of your typical golf books. This book is not completely focused on golf it incorporates romance gambling long time friendships and complicated family relationships. The book opens up describing what is supposed to be the “worst golf course in America” Ponky. Reilly uses a large variety of of imagery to describe this golf course in such detail that you feel like you have played it every day of your life. He then goes on to introduce you to a mishap of misfits that he plays golf, gets drunk and gables with almost every day of his life. It is through their drunken gambling that cause a fight on the 16th hole. Hoover rips a hole in the 12 foot hedge separating the worst golf course in America to the finest golf course in America. It is from this fight that the ultimate bet derives. The group of misfits from Ponky make and bet to see who could get into to nicest most private golf course in America and play 18 holes. Throughout the bet friendships, character and loyalty are tested only to reveal a shocking outcome.

By: Austin Cooke

I used to always turn to the last page of Sports Illustrated first, to see what Reilly had to say. It's a shame we can't get a weekly taste of his writing anymore. This collection is a fine sampling of his style - humorous, self-deprecating, compassionate, witty, sarcastic, and heartfelt. My favorites: a riff on cheerleading and a tribute to the science teacher (and coach) at Columbine High School.

Humor and Insight

Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated has the best job in the world and he knows it. If you're a collector of Sports Illustrated magazines, you'll probably have no need for this book. For everyone else, this book is a must have and must read as the editors and Reilly himself have done a great job picking out the best of the best of Reilly including his updated comments after each column.

In my opinion, Reilly is the finest sports essayist of our time. His combination of satire, wit and insight is truly unmatched in the sports writing field. He's one of the few writers where his style is indistinguishable from anyone else.

Some of his best columns in the book include: "Getting by on $14.6 Mill", on Latrell Sprewell's now infamous "I gotta feed my family" statement. "The Ceremonial First Sales Pitch", a spoof on MLB advertising. "Corrupting our Utes", on the ridiculousness of NCAA regulations regarding gifts. "Fear Factor", on the example of over-bearing fathers in the Sean O'Hair story. "Turning Losing into a Science", on Caltech men's basketball team's dubious honor of losingest team in history.

Some stories will make you laugh, others will tug at your heartstrings, all will make you glad your read this book. You will not find a finer collection of intelligent sports commentary anywhere else.

Listened to it on audio book, read by the author. Pretty funny. Some of his time with John Daly was hilarious.

A really wonderful book on what it feels like to play golf