Book Review: Tailgate to Heaven

Adam Goldstein and myself at Wembley in 2009

Back on a dull, wet and pretty damn miserable October Sunday in 2009 I met NFL super fan Adam Goldstein just outside the entrance to Wembley Park station in London.
I was handing out cards to NFL fans ahead of the third match of the International Series between New England and Tampa Bay plugging my book, Touchdown UK, when I spotted Adam's famous Chicago Bears hat.
We had a quick chat and I got to meet his lovely girlfriend Steph and that was that, he mentioned his book that he was writing about what will one day be his legendary trip around the NFL in the 2008 season and that was it, he had to go off and speak to a Sky TV reporter.
Adam was actually doing a similar trip that following season and that Wembley game was just another match for him.
As I took my seat high up behind one of the sidelines and waited for kick off I saw Adam do likewise just in front of me. I naturally contrasted our journeys to Wembley that day. I'd traveled about 100 miles for the game, Adam had jetted back to the UK for it. It was my fourth NFL game ever, the price I've paid for taking too many trips to American in baseball season, while for Adam he'd equaled my small  number of games in just a few weeks. This was what he did.
Fast forward three years and the book, Tailgate To Heaven, is out.
Adam's amazing and unique trip - I wonder if one day there will be similar homage trips - certainly set the bar high. An 18-week trip, 40 games, 65,000 miles of travelling. Surely it will never be repeated?
The book breaks down the trip on a week by week basis, not only do we get the details of each game, but more importantly the journey between venues and the inside track on the 'sport' of tailgating.

Great book, certainly enjoyed it.

The book really tells how Adam embraces the world of being a fan of different teams and the best part is how Adam develops from being slightly apprehensive about pitching up at different stadiums and trying to fit in with different fans to being a full out master tailgater.
Early on Adam tells the story of attending a Packers/Vikings game and being asked outside Lambeau Field if a cameraman could film his ticket for an opening segment for the TV coverage in exchange for Adam being caught on camera.
"He showed my game-day ticket to the world, while I was somewhere in the background, bobbing up and down like one of those fans."
Fast forward an NFL season and Adam's sharing a jar of Branston Pickle with some hardened Cheeseheads.
"They nervously spread the black gooey goodness onto the cheese and took a small bite. They winced with the vinegar kick. I was surprised at just how much I cared and wanted them to like my addiction."
In a book that started as a dream, a challenge and then a quest, it's the bonding and exchange of cultures that  warms the heart more so than the actual action on the field.
For anyone who has ever taken a trip to an NFL stadium in America or for anyone who wonders what it would be like to throw it all in and jet off around the US for nigh-on six months, this book is for you.
Even if you haven't, you can't help but laugh and smile at Adam's brilliantly written story of how something we'd all probably dismiss as a silly idea, turned into the trip of a lifetime.