unhappycarrie's Full Review: Jeremy McGrath and Chris Palmer - Wide Open: A Lif...
Wide Open A Life in Supercross is a 297 page book that my husband received as a gift for Christmas. I am also interested in Supercross, so after he finished reading it, I snatched it up.
Wide Open A life in Supercross is a biography about Jeremy McGrath, “The King of Supercross” and is co-written by Chris Palmer, a staff writer for ESPN magazine.
Jeremy McGrath has had a love for bikes since he was four years old. He started out on a Big Wheel, graduated to a BMX bike and finally settled on a dirt bike when he turned fourteen. He was eventually able to turn his love for bikes into a career. He became a professional rider and over sixteen years, celebrated 102 wins and 12 combined championships.
I have mixed feelings about this book and Jeremy McGrath as well, but I will get to that later, as this is a book review, not a personality review.
The Good Stuff
This is an interesting story! I feel that people interested in motocross would especially enjoy this book. Jeremy not only shares his stories about what happened on the track, but also some interesting and funny stories about things that happened while on the Supercross tour. One of the funniest stories is about the time he is supposed to be at a National race near Rochester, MN and somehow ends up in Rochester, New York! Another story he shares is about the day his friend, Jimmy Button, took a spill from his bike at the track that ultimately ended his career.
There are tips spread throughout the book for riders on how to get through ruts, jump like a pro, clean your air filter, etc. This could be very good for someone looking to improve their riding skills or looking to begin riding.
Another thing that I really liked about this book, are the pictures. There are black and white pictures of Jeremy as a kid with his buddies and their BMX trophies, his family, and Supercross pictures. In the middle of the book, there are a bunch of color pictures as well.
The Bad Stuff
This book is much like a Supercross track itself, in that there are jumps, ruts, and whoops around every corner.
Jumps: It would have been a lot easier for the reader if this book was written in chronological order. The stories jumped from one time period and subject to the next and back again without any warning. Sometimes I would read to the end of the page, turn it, read the first couple of sentences on that page, and then flip back just to make sure that I didn’t accidentally skip a page or something. It seems as if this book was written in a hurry. Either that, or Jeremy crashed and hit his head too many times and actually has no idea when any of these things occurred.
Ruts: Personally, I don’t think it is interesting to read about how to clean an air filter. This is a biography, not a dirt bike owner’s manual. Okay, and not to be a total biyatch or anything, but when was the last time Mr. Jeremy McGrath actually cleaned his own air filter? Plus, these little tips and tricks are thrown in right in the middle of the page in the middle of a thought. Sure, they are boxed out, but you still have to skip over it, and then come back to see what it was all about, otherwise you would get lost (again!) and forget what you had been reading about in the first place. This is very distracting and not interesting for someone (like me!) who does not own a bike and does not intend to ever own a bike or clean a friend’s air filter.
Whoops: What is with all the typos? Typos in books and magazines where someone is actually paid to go through and double check it, annoy me to no end.
More Whoops: It seems like maybe this book was Jeremy’s way of letting out a little built up aggression he has been feeling. He cuts down practically everybody in this book that isn’t related to him. He even goes as far as to insinuate that some of the other pro riders are dirty and take cheap shots and don’t care about anyone else as long as they come out ahead. Hmmmm…. He gets digs in on Mitch Payton of Pro circuit, Jeff Emig and Rick Johnson, who were great riders in their time, and Alyssa Milano for Pete’s sake! The list goes on and on.
It Gets Worse
Oh, the whining and the sex! Yes, you heard me correctly. I will start with the whining. The guy spends chapters on the years he was without a factory ride. He keeps talking about all the races all over the country he has to pay to get to and ride in and he finishes second and third place most times yet he is getting no love from the factory sponsors. The biggest factory sponsors are Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and KTM. When you get really good, and I mean REALLY GOOD, they will sign you and give you a nice factory ride. Well, what does Jeremy expect? He was finishing second and third place most of the time, not first!
Okay, on to the sex. I know you have been waiting, but it’s not even half as interesting as you and I want it to be.
Does Jeremy want us to think that he is some kind of sex addict or something? Why does he keep mentioning all the girls he has crawling all over him and his house? He talks about them liking him because of his fame and him basically using them much in the same way. He mentions this repeatedly throughout the book. Being female, I actually felt like while innocently walking through the story I would turn a corner and find myself standing in the middle of a men’s locker room. I feel like Jeremy was trying to make himself look deep, by telling these stories and wanting us to feel sorry for him because he hadn’t found his true love yet, but it just made me realize the shallowness of him that I had previously suspected was there.
The Conclusion
I have had the honor(?) of meeting Jeremy McGrath on two separate occasions. The first time was at the Minneapolis Supercross in 2000. He was super nice and talkative and laughed when I asked him to sign the butt of my pants – the pants I was wearing. I have a picture of him signing my butt so to speak, and he is smiling and his mechanic, Skip Norfolk, is in the background laughing. It’s a great picture, really. Anyway, the second time I met him was on his farewell tour, which, incidentally, is where this book ends, and he was arrogant and rude. I have a lot of respect for his riding skills and for getting more outside sponsors interested in the sport, however, if it wasn’t for the thousands of fans that come out every weekend to see these guys race, Jeremy never would have gotten such a large paycheck and a factory ride in the first place, so I think he could have been a little nicer. I feel that his arrogance shows through in his writing and it makes me lose some of the respect that I did have for him.
In conclusion, I wouldn’t recommend this book unless you are a die-hard Jeremy McGrath fan. If you are on the line, like I was when I first picked up this book, you will end up disliking not only the book, but Jeremy McGrath as well.
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