by Josh Peter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 14, 2005
A portrait of a sport boasting tremendous ferocity and mayhem that may soon give NASCAR a run for the money.
A buzzing introduction to the world of professional bull riding, from New Orleans Times-Picayune sportswriter Peter.
If you’re not one of bull-riding’s millions of fans, here are the finer points of trying to stay atop a whirling ton of animal flesh. The rider must remain on the bull for eight seconds, never touching it with his free hand, or dropping his rope. (Women have yet to break into this muy macho profession.) He can ride underneath as long as he doesn’t touch the ground, though he won’t win any points for artistry. Judges award points for the rider’s (and the bull’s) performance. After a half-dozen rides or so, the man with the most points wins. The author describes the origins of modern bull riding, rooted in liquor, gambling and bragging rights. He depicts the riders’ nocturnal rituals and outlines the sport’s financial incentives: The top rider gets a $1 million bonus, while others are guaranteed not one cent. He focuses on the 2004 season, a hotly contested series populated by a number of very different individuals, each smartly profiled. That season featured a square-off between the Professional Bull Riders’ president, an enormously popular ex-champ looking out for the riders’ interests, and the PBR’s CEO, whose eye was always focused on the bottom line. The competition was almost halted by a boycott—a sure indication that bull-riding has entered the big time. There were uncounted injuries, some serious, most of them ignored, and the season saw the flicker of a movement to ensure that the bulls weren’t mistreated by the riders, who occasionally used devious and injurious tactics to weaken the animals. All that action keeps the writing spirited throughout.
A portrait of a sport boasting tremendous ferocity and mayhem that may soon give NASCAR a run for the money.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2005
ISBN: 1-59486-119-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Rodale
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2005
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by Larry Bird & Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr. with Jackie MacMullan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 2009
Doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but offers a captivating look at the NBA’s greatest era.
NBA legends Bird and Johnson, fierce rivals during their playing days, team up on a mutual career retrospective.
With megastars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and international superstars like China’s Yao Ming pushing it to ever-greater heights of popularity today, it’s difficult to imagine the NBA in 1979, when financial problems, drug scandals and racial issues threatened to destroy the fledgling league. Fortunately, that year marked the coming of two young saviors—one a flashy, charismatic African-American and the other a cocky, blond, self-described “hick.” Arriving fresh off a showdown in the NCAA championship game in which Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans defeated Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores—still the highest-rated college basketball game ever—the duo changed the course of history not just for the league, but the sport itself. While the pair’s on-court accomplishments have been exhaustively chronicled, the narrative hook here is unprecedented insight and commentary from the stars themselves on their unique relationship, a compelling mixture of bitter rivalry and mutual admiration. This snapshot of their respective careers delves with varying degrees of depth into the lives of each man and their on- and off-court achievements, including the historic championship games between Johnson’s Lakers and Bird’s Celtics, their trailblazing endorsement deals and Johnson’s stunning announcement in 1991 that he had tested positive for HIV. Ironically, this nostalgic chronicle about the two men who, along with Michael Jordan, turned more fans onto NBA basketball than any other players, will likely appeal primarily to a narrow cross-section of readers: Bird/Magic fans and hardcore hoop-heads.
Doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but offers a captivating look at the NBA’s greatest era.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-547-22547-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
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by Bill Walton ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2016
One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.
A basketball legend reflects on his life in the game and a life lived in the “nightmare of endlessly repetitive and constant pain, agony, and guilt.”
Walton (Nothing but Net, 1994, etc.) begins this memoir on the floor—literally: “I have been living on the floor for most of the last two and a half years, unable to move.” In 2008, he suffered a catastrophic spinal collapse. “My spine will no longer hold me,” he writes. Thirty-seven orthopedic injuries, stemming from the fact that he had malformed feet, led to an endless string of stress fractures. As he notes, Walton is “the most injured athlete in the history of sports.” Over the years, he had ground his lower extremities “down to dust.” Walton’s memoir is two interwoven stories. The first is about his lifelong love of basketball, the second, his lifelong battle with injuries and pain. He had his first operation when he was 14, for a knee hurt in a basketball game. As he chronicles his distinguished career in the game, from high school to college to the NBA, he punctuates that story with a parallel one that chronicles at each juncture the injuries he suffered and overcame until he could no longer play, eventually turning to a successful broadcasting career (which helped his stuttering problem). Thanks to successful experimental spinal fusion surgery, he’s now pain-free. And then there’s the music he loves, especially the Grateful Dead’s; it accompanies both stories like a soundtrack playing off in the distance. Walton tends to get long-winded at times, but that won’t be news to anyone who watches his broadcasts, and those who have been afflicted with lifelong injuries will find the book uplifting and inspirational. Basketball fans will relish Walton’s acumen and insights into the game as well as his stories about players, coaches (especially John Wooden), and games, all told in Walton’s fervent, witty style.
One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4767-1686-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
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by Bill Walton with Gene Wojciechowski
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