''Now I Can Die in Peace: How ESPN's Sports Guy Found Salvation, With a Little Help From Nomar, Pedro, Shawshank and the 2004 Red Sox'' is a 2006

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

of original columns written by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

sports writer

Bill Simmons William John Simmons III (born September 25, 1969) is an American sports analyst, author, podcaster, and former sports writer who is the founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website '' The Ringer''. Simmons first gained attention with ...

. Simmons, a passionate

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

fan, chronicles the team's 2004 season and

2004 World Series The 2004 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2004 season. The 100th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Boston Red Sox and the National Leag ...

win.

Reviews

'' Booklist'' starred its review and said Simmons' tone was a "refreshing, funny take on Boston's reversal of fortune."

Summary

''Now I Can Die in Peace'' is a collection of Simmons' articles from 1999 to 2004. It chronicles events such as Pedro Martínez's 1999 Cy Young season, the loss to the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

in the 2003 ALCS, and the 2004 ALCS, when the Red Sox won the last 4 games after they lost the first three games of the series. It contains frequent pop culture references and comparisons to '' The Shawshank Redemption''. One interesting article Simmons included in the book is not about baseball at all; it's his famous "Silence of the Rams" column that was written after the New England Patriots defeated St. Louis to win Super Bowl XXXVI. Simmons wrote that if the "Fredo of the Boston sports scene" could win a championship, then it was possible for the Red Sox to someday end their then-84-year-long title drought.

References

2006 non-fiction books ESPN Major League Baseball books Boston Red Sox {{sport-book-stub