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LADIES OF THE COURT

GRACE AND SCANDAL ON THE WOMEN'S TENNIS TOUR

A decade after his account of life on the men's tour (Short Circuit, 1983), journalist/novelist Mewshaw (True Crime, 1991, etc.) turns his attention to the women's game—in a frequently insightful, but surprisingly tepid, chronicle of the 1992 season. Setting the scene for salacious revelations by his observation that, whereas in the men's realm ``the main buzz was about money,'' in women's tennis, ``the buzz was all about sex,'' Mewshaw instead delivers a depressing tale of talented teenagers enduring ``fatigue, nagging illness, homesickness, [and] boredom'' as they struggle to survive within the non-stop grind of the pro tour. The main bombshell, hammered home with numbing repetition, is the emotional, physical, and sexual exploitation of young players (average age, 20), primarily by unscrupulous male coaches, but with opportunistic fathers and sleazy hitting partners close seconds. Refreshingly, Mewshaw devotes little hand-wringing to the question of lesbianism—quoting only one player as recalling unwelcome advances and singling out forthright bisexual Martina Navratilova for her candor and intelligence—and he gives a neatly feminist critique of reporters' search for ``bitchy'' comments and preoccupation with players' weights. The problem is that, with most of his informants remaining anonymous, Mewshaw never serves up the decisive ace to move his chronicle from the tut-tut level to the truly shocking. An accompanying reticence (even when he can name names, as in a salty anecdote involving ``liberated heterosexual'' Chris Evert, ``the Teflon Princess of Pro Tennis'') and a lack of either the intimacy of John Feinstein's Hard Courts (1991) or the intensity of Eliot Berry's Tough Draw (1992) leave a well-meaning narrative emotionally flat. Enough for a game perhaps, but far short of set or match. (Eight-page photo insert.)

Pub Date: April 1, 1993

ISBN: 0-517-58758-0

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1993

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WHEN THE GAME WAS OURS

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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BACK FROM THE DEAD

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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