In book form, Reilly's columns are an avalanche of small stones, hitting readers with trite observations and stale...
An acclaimed sportswriter presents a litany of gripes.
The subtitle of this collection of previously published essays by veteran sportswriter Reilly (Sports from Hell: My Search for the World's Dumbest Competition, 2010, etc.) tells readers what to expect: brash, rude opinions for which the writer does not apologize. The author, an ESPN.com columnist and 11-time national sportswriter of the year, occasionally writes uplifting stories about "People With Big Hearts" or "Tales of Strength" (two chapters in this book), but his stock in trade is quick-paced, topical humor columns for ESPN The Magazine, where his essays are a brief stop en route to something more substantial or entertaining. In large doses, his irreverent humor becomes mean-spirited and derisive. (Reilly's take on Caltech's men's basketball team’s breaking its 310-game losing streak is not a feel-good story.) The author’s complaint about the ponderous pace of major league baseball games showcases his typical hack work: He calls a three-hour-and-fourteen-minute Reds-Giants game in 2012 "can-somebody-please-stick-two-forks-in-my-eyes snore-a-palooza" and grouses, "I'd rather have watched eyebrows grow." In his column about Jason Collins coming out as a gay NBA player, Reilly describes players' fears of having a gay teammate as "paranoia in high tops." However, the author’s irritation is valid when he rebuts the tributes dozens of writers and news outlets heaped upon Al Davis, the controversial owner of the Oakland Raiders, following his death in 2011. Reilly's listing of the man's misdeeds and many examples of his disagreeable nature ("Yes, Al Davis believed in 'A Commitment to Excellence.' Yet he didn't demand it in himself") are honest and a relief from the hagiography about Davis in the press—not to mention from the author’s endless punning and tepid wordplay.
In book form, Reilly's columns are an avalanche of small stones, hitting readers with trite observations and stale one-liners.Pub Date: May 13, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-399-17125-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Blue Rider Press
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2014
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
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
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