Hi, I'm Melissa Adwarnie, and this is NPR's book of the day. Imagine this. You and your best friend on a road trip, going to as many sporting events as possible. Football, basketball, dart tournaments, WrestleMania, exploring fandom in all of its forms. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, it's exactly what sports reporter Joe

Posnansky and Michael Shore, the TV writer behind Parks and Rec and the Good Place, did.

And the result is their book called Big Fan, which celebrates people and the things they

really love all across America.

They talked with NPR Scott Simon about the book and all the fun they had writing it.

You know, big fans can get a bad rap.

Millions of us blend into everyday life, but then we think of, I don't know,

football fans are stripped of the waist in zero-degree weather,

clad just in streaks of paint in their team colors, cheering, crying, hoping, praying,

shouting to the heavens and exultation, despair, or anxiety.

Let's ask Joe Puznanski to read the dedication to the new book he's written with Michael Scher, Big Fan.

This book is for everyone who has ever sat or stood, alone or with 50,000 other people,

at home or at a friend's house or in a stadium, wearing a lucky hat or jersey or t-shirt,

and looked at the score and checked the clock or the inning

and closed their eyes and clenched their hands and clutch their head and thought,

please, just this one time. I'll never ask for anything ever again. Please, please, please.

Joe Posnansky is a bestselling author and sports reporter, often named sports writer of the year.

Michael Schur is a television writer and producer behind the Good Place, Parks and Rec, and more.

Their book, Big Fan, Two Friends, 82,490 miles and the wild, wonderful sports we love.

Joe Posnansky and Michael Scher joining us from St. Louis.

Thanks, both very much for being with us.

Thanks, Scott.

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