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whomario · 11-20-2009, 05:10 PM

Has anyone here read Big Game Small World by Alexander Wolff (who writes for SI.com nowadays) ? Pretty damn great book containing essays (10-15 Pages) on basketball arround the globe. From Illinois to Bhutan, from Ontario to Brazil. Some pretty interesting stories told here about the ever cited "love for the game" all over the world.
Includes an excellent write up on how the balcan war impacted the legendary Jugoslavian national team with players like Kukoc and Divac.

I also immensely enjoyed loose balls by Terry Pluto, very informative book on the history of the ABA with all it´s crazy annecdotes

John Feinstein wrote a couple very fine books as well, Let Me Tell You A Story is a sort-of biography of Red Auerbach where Feinstein mixes biographical paragraphs with annecdotes as told by Auerbach himself during meetings of a lunch group of him and a number of close friends he met over the years (from ex players , coaches to his brother, lawyers and guys from the secret service) as well as info on those persons and how Red sees them and they see Red. Fenstein originally wanted to participate just once to write a piece about that group, ended up becoming a regular when Auerbach invited him and let him tell his stories for him.
Very much loved the idea and setting in which he told Auerbach´s story here.

Also found The Punch very good, here he tells the stories of both Rudy Tomjanovich and Kermit Washington before and after the Incident that shocked the NBA.
Shows Washington as a man who made a colossal mistake but who also was a great person and not just "the guy who almost killed Rudy Tomjanovich" and that he was a product of a very misguided way of thinking around the league. If people talk about "the good old days where there were still enforcers" they certainly haven´t seen this punch ...
He just has a knack for telling stories and both Washington and Tomjanovic give plenty of material to tell from.

11-20-2009, 05:10 PM	#374
whomario Pro Starter Join Date: Jul 2007	Has anyone here read Big Game Small World by Alexander Wolff (who writes for SI.com nowadays) ? Pretty damn great book containing essays (10-15 Pages) on basketball arround the globe. From Illinois to Bhutan, from Ontario to Brazil. Some pretty interesting stories told here about the ever cited "love for the game" all over the world. Includes an excellent write up on how the balcan war impacted the legendary Jugoslavian national team with players like Kukoc and Divac. I also immensely enjoyed loose balls by Terry Pluto, very informative book on the history of the ABA with all it´s crazy annecdotes John Feinstein wrote a couple very fine books as well, Let Me Tell You A Story is a sort-of biography of Red Auerbach where Feinstein mixes biographical paragraphs with annecdotes as told by Auerbach himself during meetings of a lunch group of him and a number of close friends he met over the years (from ex players , coaches to his brother, lawyers and guys from the secret service) as well as info on those persons and how Red sees them and they see Red. Fenstein originally wanted to participate just once to write a piece about that group, ended up becoming a regular when Auerbach invited him and let him tell his stories for him. Very much loved the idea and setting in which he told Auerbach´s story here. Also found The Punch very good, here he tells the stories of both Rudy Tomjanovich and Kermit Washington before and after the Incident that shocked the NBA. Shows Washington as a man who made a colossal mistake but who also was a great person and not just "the guy who almost killed Rudy Tomjanovich" and that he was a product of a very misguided way of thinking around the league. If people talk about "the good old days where there were still enforcers" they certainly haven´t seen this punch ... He just has a knack for telling stories and both Washington and Tomjanovic give plenty of material to tell from.