An Evening with Chuck Klosterman and Spike Eskin: Football

The Midtown Scholar Bookstore is honored to welcome New York Times bestselling author Chuck Klosterman to Harrisburg for a conversation and signing on his new book, Football. Klosterman will be in conversation with the host of The Rights to Ricky Sanchez and the 94WIP Afternoon Show, Spike Eskin.

This is a ticketed, in-person event. Doors will open at 6:00pm, and the event will begin at 7:00pm. Seating is limited and available as general admission; first come, first served. Early arrival is encouraged.

About the Book:

A hilarious but nonetheless groundbreaking contribution to the argument about which force shapes American life the most. For two kinds of readers—those who know it’s football and those who are about to find out.

Chuck Klosterman—New York Times bestselling critic, journalist, and, yes, football psychotic—did not write this book to deepen your appreciation of the game. He’s not trying to help you become that person at the party, or to teach you how to make better bets, or to validate any preexisting views you might have about the sport (positive or negative). Football does, in fact, do all of those things. But not in the way such things have been done in the past, and never in a way any normal person would expect.

Cultural theorists talk about hyperobjects—phenomena that bulk so large that their true dimensions are hidden in plain sight. In 2023, 93 of the 100 most-watched programs on U.S. television were NFL football games. This is not an anomaly. This is how society is best understood. Football is not merely the country’s most popular sport; it is engrained in almost everything that explains what America is, even for those who barely pay attention.

Klosterman gets to the bottom of all of it. He takes us to a metaphorical projection of Texas, where the religion of six-man football merges with America’s Team [sic] and makes an inexplicable impact on a boy in North Dakota. He dissects the question of natural greatness, the paradox of gambling and war, and the timeless caricature of the uncompromising head coach. He interrogates the perfection of football’s marriage with television and the morality of acceptable risk. He even conjures an extinction-level event. If Žižek liked the SEC more than he liked cinema, if Stephen Jay Gould cared about linebackers more than he cared about dinosaurs, if Steve Martin played quarterback instead of the banjo . . . it would still be nothing like this.

A century ago, Yale’s legendary coach Walter Camp wrote his unified theory of the game. He called it Football. Chuck Klosterman has given us a new Camp for the new age, rooted in a personal history he cannot escape.

About the Speakers:

Chuck Klosterman is the bestselling author of nine nonfiction books (including Football; X; The Nineties; Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs; and But What If We’re Wrong?), two novels (Downtown Owl and The Visible Man), and the short story collection Raised in Captivity. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ (London), Esquire, Spin, The Guardian (London), The Believer, and ESPN. Klosterman served as the Ethicist for The New York Times Magazine for three years and was an original founder of the website Grantland with Bill Simmons. He was raised in rural North Dakota and now lives in Portland, Oregon.

Spike Eskin is the host of The WIP Afternoon Show with Ike Reese and Jack Fritz, airing from 2pm-6pm in Philadelphia on 94WIP, and the host of The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, the longest running Philadelphia 76ers podcast. The WIP Afternoon Show is the highest rated radio show in Philadelphia in its time period, and The Rights To Ricky Sanchez, which has been ingrained in Sixers fan culture since 2013, is iconic within team-centric sports podcasting. Spike was previously the VP of Programming for WFAN in New York and CBS Sports Radio, as well as Program Director of 94WIP. Before his career in sports, Spike was on the air and in management at the legendary rock radio station 94WYSP in Philadelphia, and the alternative rock station Q101 in Chicago. He is an animal advocate, heavily involved in fundraising for local animal shelters. Spike lives in South Jersey with his wife Valerie and dogs Rebel and Scotchie.

Prices include applicable PA sales tax and Harrisburg City amusement tax.

Also check out other Sports events in Harrisburg, Arts events in Harrisburg.