The Book of Basketball
The NBA According to the Sports Guy
by Bill Simmons
It’s that time of year my friends. It’s what I like to call basketball Christmas. You got it! It’s March Madness! To kick us off in March, let’s take a look at the mammoth 754 page book on the best basketball players of all time. You read that right; it’s 754 pages! It’s funny and witty and insightful. If you like basketball, or if you just like sports, you should check out The Book of Basketball. The incredible detail and inside-baseball type tid bits Simmons has throughout the book are astounding.
“But that’s the thing about basketball: you don’t play games on paper.”
“You never know when true greatness is lurking around the corner. Just make sure you don’t forget the ones who already lurked.”
“Three other things I want to see during an NBA game: the wave going in opposite directions (would it cause an earthquake or something?), the arena going dead silent before a key FT attempt from an opponent (would totally psych out the other team), and the crowd rattling an opposing FT shooter by screaming, “The power of Christ compels you! The power of Christ compels you! THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU!”
“Our favorite teams bring people together, keep family members close, bond people from different generations. Some of the happiest moments of my life involve something that happened with one of my teams. Some of the best relationships I ever had were with Boston athletes that I never even met.”
“When the Lakers held Jerry West Night in March 1971, Bill Russell paid his own way to be there and said during the ceremony, “Jerry, I once wrote that success is a journey, and that the greatest honor a man can have is the respect and friendship of his peers. You have that more than any man I know. Jerry, you are, in every sense of the word, truly a champion. If I could have one wish granted, it would be that you would always be happy.”
Sticky Books are those that you just can’t get out of your head. They stick with you long after you have put the book down and have moved on to something else. These are some of my Sticky Books. I don’t enjoy reviewing books myself. I find I am either full of far too much praise for the book because I know how difficult it can be to write a book, or I am far too negative about a book because, well, I guess I was just in a bad mood. So instead of reviews, I have pulled some of my favorite quotes from each Sticky Book.
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