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'I'D LOVE TO BUT I HAVE A GAME'

Lighthearted recollections of Albert's nearly 30 years on the New York sports scene covering Knicks basketball and Rangers hockey. As Albert (writing here with Sports Illustrated's Reilly) says, when he's not doing a football game for NBC, he's broadcasting Knicks' home and away games, or, on weeknights, Rangers' games. In between, he covers boxing and the occasional Olympics, and, for 13 years, he reported the sports news twice a day for N.Y.C.'s WNBC-TV. A Brooklyn-born ``sports junkie,'' Albert started doing odd jobs for the Dodgers in the late 1950's and soon became a ball boy for the Knicks. He ``pestered'' announcer Marty Glickman into letting him do stats during games and, in 1963, at age 20, was a last-minute fill-in for Glickman for a game at the Boston Garden. By 1967, Albert was full-time for both the Knicks and the Rangers and had fulfilled ``every dream I'd ever had.'' Somewhat episodically, and always leading to a punch line, he recalls tough interviews with the often surly Jim Rice of the Red Sox, and with baseball manager Whitey Herzog, who informed Albert, on the air, that Albert was not funny. The author looks back on the Knicks' 1969-70 championship season and a team that included Bill Bradley, Dave DeBusschere, and Walt Frazier: ``They were so aggressive,'' he notes, ``that you could never back off the mike.'' Albert goes on to take humorous backstage-looks at Ferdie ``The Right Doctor'' Pacheco; the author's brothers Al and Steve, also announcers; and New York weatherman Dr. Frank Field. But he also offers sober, insightful profiles of Muhammad Ali, Knicks coach Pat Riley, and Michael Jordan, along with negative comments on fight promoters Don King and Bob Arum. A welcome and enjoyable romp along the sidelines of sports. (Introduction by David Letterman) (Fifteen b&w photographs—not seen)

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-385-42024-0

Page Count: 192

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1993

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

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NUTCRACKER

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

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