1 comments about I'm Back!: More Rare Air.

1. A sure winner for young adult readers! MJ is a icon that represents the best in sportmanship, life teacher and skill!

3 comments about Gene Keady: The Truth and Nothing But the Truth.

1. This was disappointing. It's only 180 pages, and it's not a full sized book. It reads like a Cliff Notes of Purdue basketball history under Keady. I remember most of the big games (at Purdue) that Keady discusses in the book, but he adds little that I didn't already know. The whole thing feels rushed, like they were way behind deadline and had to get it done, or maybe his heart wasn't really into the project in the first place.



2. As a Purdue fan and graduate, I really enjoyed the book. I thought that he gave some interesting insight into player stories and other off court issues, both personal and coaching related, that were unknown to me for the most part. I also found out some interesting things about his relationships with Bob Knight, Michael Jordan, and his summer Olympic colleagues and players.
   
   The book isn't particularly long but I felt it was a fun and interestiing read. If you're a fan, you'll enjoy it.



3. A brief autobiography focusing on the 25 years at Purdue by the only coach in Big Ten history to have winning records against every other conference opponent.
   
   Primarily of interest to Purdue and college basketball fans, this could have used a little more editing - some portions are redundant but it was a quick read to get me into the spirit of last year's NCAA tournament.

No comments about La Pirámide del Exito: Construyendo Bloques para una Vida Mejor.

3 comments about Hot Rod Hundley: You Gotta Love It Baby!.

1. Hot Rod Hundley was the first player drafted in the 1957 NBA draft. He played six years for the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Following his playing career, Hot Rod has remained active is the sport. He is currently the play by play announcer for the Utah Jazz. Since 1957, he has seen or played with or against almost every great NBA player. In his book, which is basically his basketball autobiography, Hundley analyzes the game and its great and not so great players. Hot Rod Hundley was a showy basketball player; he was fancy and "cool" long before they became essentials in the professional game. His writing is much the same as his game was. His book is a good interesting read. His style is both conversational and informative. He gives his opinions freely and unhesitantly. He can be lavish with his praise and unsparing with his criticism. If you are a basketball fan or a Hot Rod Hundley fan, you will enjoy this book.



2. This is a refreshing and amusing book about a man who has made the NBA a more entertaining place for the basketball fan. You do not have to be a Rod Hundley fan, a Utah Jazz fan, or even a basketball fan to enjoy his opinions and experiences. From his troubled childhood to his golden years, Hundley speaks his mind in a fresh and honest manner. The effort put in by McEachin to edit and organize 60 years of Hundley's stories and anecdotes is obvious, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable book.



3. THIS IS A BOOK BY ROD HUNDLEY EX NBA PLAYER AND BROADCASTER. I FOUND HIS BOOK TO BE VERY INTERESTING AND ENTERTAINING. ROD WAS QUITE A CHARACTER AND A CROWD PLEASER. I REALLY ENJOYED HIS STORIES CONCERNING HIS EARLY LIFE AND CAREER WITH THE LAKERS. ROD THEN TURNED TO BROADCASTING WHEN HIS CAREER ENDED. I ALSO ENJOYED HIS MANY STORIES CONCERNING HIS BROADCASTING CAREER BUT GOT TIRED OF HEARING HOW GREAT JOHN STOCKTON AND KARL MALONE WERE. OVERALL THIS IS A VERY NICE READ FOR ALL LAKER, WEST VIRGINIA, JAZZ AND NBA FANS

3 comments about A Dream Come True: The Faith to Be a Kentucky Wildcat.

1. This is a "must read" for all people in every stage of their Christian life....especially those who bleed the blue of Kentucky. Cameron Mills is one of the most powerful speakers and writers I've ever seen.



2. after i read the Jeff book i had to read this one this was not as good as Jeff A Heart of a Champion but it was a good story of a boy who fell in love with the wildcats and never wanted to go any were eles



3. After reading this book, I realized that with faith, anything is possible. I really enjoyed this book, and think it is a great book for anyone to read.

5 comments about Bob Knight: The Unauthorized Biography.

1. Whether you are a Bob Knight fan (like me) or a Bob Knight detractor, you will be disappointed with this book. If you're looking for any new revelations about Bob Knight, you will not find them here. Instead, "Bob Knight: The Unauthorized Biography" presents the same old same old: the good (winning national championships and the Olympics, not cheating, raising millions for charity, helping Landon Turner), the bad (throwing chairs, screaming at players and writers, benching Steve Alford in that Illinois game, feuding with Mike Krzyzewski, players transferring out) and the ugly (the whole Neil Reed incident and the Myles Brand firing). There are no new insights into his background, personality, or coaching style. If you have read John Feinstein's "Season on the Brink," the Joan Mellen biography, Alford's memoir or Knight's own (very dull) book, you already know everything in this biography.
   
   This book is very poorly edited, with some revealing mistakes. The award for the top high school basketball player in Indiana is "Mr. Basketball," but this book repeatedly refers to it as "Mr. Indiana." Todd Leary is called "Tim Leary" at one point; former Indiana state officials Bob Orr and John Mutz are called "Jim Orr" and "John McMutz." This book fouls out with me, and I don't recommend it.



2. I got an early copy of the book and absolutely loved it. I've read almost all of the other bios, and this one is really different because it really looks at his entire careeer. The whole thing, good, bad and ugly. It seems like the authors really went out of their way to find new sources too, because there is some new info I had not heard before.
   
   A great read all around. Fantastic.



3. Like the BOOKLIST REVIEW says this is a book that is hard to put down. I read the intro at the bookstore, bought the book and was almost through it by the next day. The writing style is crisp and gives you a fly on the wall perspective as you tour Bob Knight's career to date. It comes across objective, not trying to sugarcoat the persona of Knight nor deride him. The authors tell the story and let you make up your own mind. I laughed out loud a few times and thoroghly enjoyed the book. It is worth the price of a hard cover and could make a nice gift for the college bball fan.



4. Mr. Delsohn does a great job of telling the story of Bob Knight which undoubtedly was not an easy story to tell. Given the strong feelings either for or against Mr. Knight, the author does a superb job at being balanced yet not pandering to sentationalism. Often when one sees the words Unauthorized Biography, you search to see if it is an anagram for hatchet job.
   
   In this book, the author presents a detailed history of Mr. Knight's well known actions and often his boorish behavior. While ample attention is paid to Mr. Knight's positive attributes his many examples of bad behavior are explored in-depth and no ink is spared to let the bad actions tell their own story. After reading this work it is truely scary that Mr. Knight was able to act in such a foul, crass manner for so long only because he was able to win a few championships. Kudo's to Mr Delsohn for making it clear that Coach Knight's actions do have implications and the fact he's won a few games does not allow him carte blance to act in such a foul and often obscene manner. This is really a good work of investigative journalism and took great courge to write. I hope this work serves as an example that bad behavior is not something to be tolerated as it was in this case.



5. I remember Bobby Knight when he played (or more accurately warmed the bench) for the great Buckeye teams of the 60-61. The early part of his life was interesting, but after that I found myself skipping much of the book. If your a huge BkB or IU fan and have read no other books on Bobby, you may enjoy the book. I only read the book because I saw it available through a library. Most interesting part of the book was the statement by a neighbor of his when he grew up saying that his 1st wife and he were the most mismatched couple she ever meet after they announced their engagement. Their marriage lasted 22 yrs. That may say a lot about their personalities.

No comments about A Coach for All Seasons.

No comments about Larry Bird: An Indiana Legend.

1 comments about My Losing Season: The Point Guard's Way to Knowledge.

1. Although I'm not a basketball player or even a sports fan, I couldn't put this book down. The book is really about the coming of age of a young man, as seen through the experience of an intense basketball season at a military academy. The writing is full of wonderful metaphors, and smooth and easy to read. The emotional journey--like other Conroy books--is intense. The difference here is that the experience is so real. He's describing real people, and the narrator is Conroy himself. The depiction of what goes on at The Citadel may shock you with its brutality. Its amazing that Conroy can recreate his senior year in college so clearly thirty years later. Thoroughly enjoyable.

5 comments about The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball.

1. Having read many basketball books, I find this as one of the best. Well-written, thoroughly researched, it captures the era of the 50s and 60s from the perspective of two of the greatest players ever, Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. Thankfully, Taylor does not go into play-by-play detail of games, instead captures the flavor of the era, everything from coaching, basketball styles, management, to racism. It is fascinating and truly an outstanding read. I highly recommend it.
   
   * I usually stay away from blasting another review, but the one below that says it is poorly written and that the author does not know basketball is so off the mark, I would say it is a complete lie and fabrication. Ignore that review and get this book.



2. David Letterman talked about this on his talk show and I placed it on "My Wish List". I just received it and I am sure it will be a very good read.



3. Silly for me to say this but on the paperback cover, there is a picture of Chamberlain shooting over Russell, and it looks like Wilt is smiling as he shoots. I think the difference between the two men was that Chamberlain was pursued when he was a boy whereas Russell was a walk-on at USF - that most likely made Russell work harder for everything he got and made him more determined to prove himself to the world - in a word, Chamberlain was coddled all his life. I have always wondered why Wilt's playoff stats "dipped" in comparison to his regular season stats; maybe this is the reason why. The Celtics always being victorious in the championships was of course due to the fact that Russell was always surrounded by better players - compare Havlicek to Chet Walker or Bob Cousy to Guy Rodgers - and I'm convinced Chamberlain would be filling Russell's shoes if he were surrounded by those same Celtics. A very good book by Taylor - it details the times, the social commentaries, and the state of the NBA.



4. As "old-school" fans cringe at the ever-increasing pyrotechnics of arena presentation and the changing style of gameplay in the NBA as unprofessional, Taylor uses the Chamberlain/Russell rivalry to tell the story of an early NBA that makes the recent theatrical release of "Semi-Pro" seem like a documentary and should set those "old-school" fans straight about the professionalism of the early NBA.
   
   Taylor tells the story of a league that would make Slap Shot's Reggie Dunlop proud. The NBA of the 50's was - according to SI's Ray Cave - a "brawling, hustling, cigar-in-the-mouth and eye-on-the-till game." Mix in the Jim Crow south and league integration and kaleidoscopic changes in franchise names, cities and personnel, and you have a calamitous witch's brew.
   
   From Red Auerbach sucker-punching an opposing owner on the court during warm-ups, to the incessant racism black players faced at games, in hotels, and restaurants across the league, "The Rivalry" seems early on to be the story of a failed pro basketball league that could not possibly have become today's NBA.
   
   Then, marketing gold arrives in the form of two world-class athletes of titanic proportions who would go on to wage a bigger-than-life rivalry that would span almost two decades and eventually take on - literally - a Hollywood aura of bi-coastal bad blood that continues to this day. And, along the way, Taylor gives some really enjoyable insight on these two athletes, their teams and cities. Further, in some really wonderful asides, Taylor gives the reader a glimpse at the depth of thought and research he put into the subject (i.e., a great - if too brief - discussion of the rise of TV as a driver of NBA popularity, and the effect of commercial jet travel on the league's expansion).
   
   The book is paced well and is among the finest long-form sports writing I have read. A jacket quotation acclaims Taylor's work to rival "anything by Halberstam or Feinstein," and I would agree that it compares very favorably with their best stuff; and, really surpasses some of their weaker efforts.
   
   Taylor's access is startling. There are moments in the book where his omniscient narrator crawls inside the heads of his subjects and it isn't until you cross-check those moments with the handy footnote system at the back of the book that it becomes clear just how much research Taylor compiled and how many interviews he was able to complete.
   
   As a weak point, I would say that Taylor does a cursory job of getting inside Russell's head and finding an explanation for some of the great center's thoughts, actions and opinons both from the 60's and into the mid-90s. A lot of the well-trodden ground (i.e., Boston as "the most strictly-segregated city in the country") is just taken for granted and not explored any more deeply. And while - unlike Russell - it doesn't feel as though it wants for digging, the portrayal of Chamberlain is stark and unflattering. And, even while focusing on these two greats, Taylor does reserve plenty of space for thoughtful and often flattering portraits of other stars, including Jerry West, Tom Heinsohn, Elgin Baylor, Bob Cousy and Alex Hannum.
   
   I highly recommend the read and look forward to picking up some of Taylor's non-sports stuff too.
   
   JAW



5. I bought this book as a nice summer read for a Celtics fan. When I started following the NBA, Bill Russell had just retired 2 years earlier and Wilt Chamberlain was just about done, although his Lakers were making the NBA Finals almost every year. Big Men still ruled the NBA (Reed, Unseld, Cowens and a young Abdul-Jabbar.) It was a great era for the league. This book describes how it came to be.
   
   I was expecting a rehash of Russell's championships with Boston vs. Chamberlain's stats. I got that and much, much more. Taylor's tremendous research gives us a feel for what the NBA was like just prior to Russell's graduation from USF. And that was basically a minor league, with drafty old arenas and many smaller cities having teams (Syracuse and Fort Wayne anyone?)
   
   Once Red Aurbach, Bob Cousy and finally Russ arrived on the scene, both the Celtics and the NBA took off. With Russ it was clearly always about winning. With that, he,and Red were both a bit leary when Wilt became eligible for the NBA in 1959, despite 2 straight Finals appearances.
   
   It soon became evident that Wilt cared as deeply for himself and his stats as Russell did about his championship rings. Russell, perhaps the greatest winner in sports history (11 NBA titles in 13 years, 2 NCAA championships, and an Olympic Gold Medal) did not care what his stats were, and neither did Red. Wilt always did. He fought with coaches and went through a bunch during his career, and was traded twice. Russ was a lifelong Celtic, and his only 2 coaches were Aurbach and himself.
   
   The book gets into personalities, and social scenes. It describes the racism that was rampant in the late 50's, and how it affected the NBA as blacks came to dominate the league. The social contradiction of Boston as a racist city (something Russell has never let go of, with good reason) to the pioneering Celtics (first black NBA player, first all black lineup, and Russell himself becoming the first black head coach in all of American professional sports)stands out.
   
   Taylor is hard on Chamberlain, but when one reads the comments made at the time by Wilt and those around him, it's easy to see why. Wilt never really got it, and Russell still feels it. It's about being a winner. And this book is cleary that, a winner.