Two for the 4th, part 1 - review of "Tall Men, Short Shorts"

Happy Independence Day to those in the United States. On its 245th birthday, I decided to post two reviews of books I just finished in the last two days, both on sports truly American.  One is a basketball book on the longest dynasty in the professional version of a sport invented in the United States, basketball.  This memoir/historical book is an excellent read in many ways.  Here is my review of "Tall Men, Short Shorts"

Title/Author: "Tall Men, Short Shorts" by Leigh Montville

Rating: 5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: Leigh Montville, a well-known Boston sportswriter, covered the 1969 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers for the Boston Globe and it was one of the biggest assignments in his burgeoning career.  His reflection on both his writing about that event and the two teams involved is the subject of his latest book.

The book reads like the current septuagenarian Montville wants to talk to his 25-year old self.  However, that isn't because he has advice that he has learned over the years and wants his younger self to treat the plum assignment any differently.  Instead, it reads almost like a time travel memoir in which the older man is back in 1969 and viewing what his younger self was doing while covering the last hurrah for one of the longest dynasties in professional sports.

In 1969, the Celtics were getting older as their star throughout their dominance in the 1960's, Bill Russell, became their player-coach and knew that his time left to play was getting short.  They were not their usual dominant selves in the regular season but had enough left to make it back to the finals, where they had won 10 of the last 12 NBA championships.  On the other side were the Lakers, who were frequent victims to the Celtics in those years.  They too had their superstars, had just recently acquired Wilt Chamberlain to match up against Russell and also had an aging star, Elgin Baylor, who wanted his one last shot at a title.

The writing in the book on the teams and the players (including other stars on the teams like Jerry West and Sam Jones) was very good- and much of it was due to his columns written during that series.  However, it is the manner in which he reflects on his more daring self during that time that makes the book a great read.  Montville refers to his younger self never by name but by "the bright young man" or TBYM.  This is the case even when that TYBM makes some youthful mistakes, but these are never documented in a scolding or regretful way.  Indeed, the whole book reads like one great wonderful memory from his youth and that is why it is such a fun basketball book for any fan, of any era. 

While the Celtics did go on to win that series in seven games and capture that 11^th title in 13 years, it is not one that only Celtics fans should read, nor is it the typical sports memoir. As noted above, anyone who enjoys basketball should read it.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Tall-Men-Short-Shorts-Reporter-ebook/dp/B08P48J2HZ/