Review of "Life in the G"

 Sometimes it's easy to forget that baseball and hockey aren't the only sports with a minor league - the NBA has one too and this book on the G League makes for great reading. 

Title/Author:

“Life in the G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless Pursuit of the NBA” by Alex Squadron

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review:

Having read several books on players or teams in baseball’s minor leagues, I expected this book to be about the same with the same format and the same stories.  That wasn’t the case with this excellent book by Alex Squadron about the 2021-22 season of the Birmingham Squadron of the NBA’s minor league, currently known as the “G” League thanks to its partnership with Gatorade.

While there are certainly some aspects of this book that are like any other book on minor leagues, such as the less-than-desirable travel conditions (although here, there are always flights, but commercial not private charters like the NBA) and the stories of drive, determination and at times hopelessness, this one reads quite differently.  For one, there is plenty of humor.  That starts at the introduction when Squadron adamantly denies picking this particular team only because its name is the same as his own. From there, it was a fast-paced and fun read as the reader will learn about the history of the G League, some of the players and coaches who became successful at their craft in the NBA and some of the ways that players can be called up to the league.

One very interesting observation about the qualities that NBA teams look for in these players is that it is rarely the leading scorers or flashy players that get the call.  Many times the NBA coaches and scouts are looking for players that are either totally into the team concept of basketball or are willing to do the dirty work such as defending the opponent’s best shooter or fight inside for rebounds or even court position.  Of the players profiled in the book, the one who achieved the most NBA success, Malcom Hill, that was his ticket to getting a contract with the Chicago Bulls.

Hill’s story, just like those of the other three Squadron players profiled - Jared Harper, Joe Young, and Zylan Cheatham – make for great reading, as does Alex Squadron’s description of the Birmingham Squadron’s games and practices.  It’s a fun ride through the season that will bring the reader much closer to the life of a minor league basketball player.

I wish to thank University of Nebraska Press for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

 Link: Life in the G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless Pursuit of the NBA: Squadron, Alex, Ingram, Andre: 9781496235855: Amazon.com: Books

 

Review of "Underwater"

There really is no good way to introduce the topic of this book, so I will just say that it was one of the toughest and saddest books I have read for this blog since starting it 11 years ago.  Here is my review of "Underwater." 

 Title/Author:

“Underwater:  The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse by USA Swimming and Around the World” by Irvin Muchnick

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (okay)

Review:

The sports world was shocked when the sexual abuse scandal in gymnastics, and especially by Larry Nassar, was exposed.  However, sadly, that is not the only sport with this issue – many young athletes in swimming have suffered the same fate.  It goes beyond sexual abuse of young female athletes.  Young male athletes have also been abused and the abuse for both sexes can also be emotional, to the point of coaches proposing marriage.  This isn’t new as well, as this book by Irvin Muchnick exposes the decades-long abuse of athletes.

I will note that the rating is not due to the subject, the amount of research (exhaustive and extensive) or the accuracy of the findings.  As a reader, I found this book very tough to read.  There are SO many names that are both victims and abusers that I have a very hard time keeping track of who was being investigated and who was covering up for who.  If nothing else, that shows the depth of how long this has been going on in USA Swimming and in many swim clubs.

 Of course, stories of the victims get to be very depressing to read as well.  Just like when exposing the abusers and the cover-ups, this was hard to follow as well. Again, not because of any poor writing or investigation, but strictly from the sheer numbers.  It boggles the mind to think that this has been going on for decades. 

Even big names, while not directly or even indirectly implicated, can somehow be linked to some of these scandals.  The biggest name amongst these is Michael Phelps and Muchnick does a nice job of balancing fairness to Phelps – after all, he didn’t commit any of these crimes – but still wonders how he could be attached to some of these atrocities. It's a very hard book to read but is one that is worthy of the time to illustrate just how badly some promising athletes have been treated.

I wish to thank ECW Press for providing a copy of the book. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

 

Link: Underwater: The Greed-Soaked Tale of Sexual Abuse in USA Swimming and around the Globe: Muchnick, Irvin: 9781770417755: Amazon.com: Books

Review of “Mt Everest Confessions of an Amateur Peak Bagger”

Seeing this title on the list of “recommended” books on Kindle Unlimited made me curious. Since  I have a subscription I had nothing to lose by trying it - glad I did.  

Title/Author:

“Mt. Everest Confessions of an Amateur Peak Bagger” by Kevin Flynn with Gary Fallesen

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: Most mountain climbing books are either written by or about climbers who are either part of a professional guiding team or are proficient enough in the sport that they are considered elite. The author of this book, Kevin Flynn, would probably not be considered to fall in either of these categories. Nonetheless, his story of perseverance to become one of the climbers to have reached the summit of Mount Everest is a fairly quick, easy and enjoyable read.

A native of Rochester, New York, Flynn became interested in climbing when he took a trip a few hours east to the Adirondack Mountains. He became a member of the “Adirondack 46”, an exclusive club of those who have scaled all 46 peaks in that range. He then takes the reader through his adventures of summiting higher mountains such as Denali. He writes with self-deprecation, both humorous and not so humorous. But that’s just being humble - he is doing well enough that in 2002, he decided to make hist first attempt to scale Everest.

Here is probably the saddest part of the book - not only did he not make the summit on that trip, making it as far as the highest camp (High Camp), but was because he was injured and needed assistance down. After conferring with his wife Maggie (also a member of the Adirondack 46 club), he tries again two years later and this time succeeds. But even that is tinged with sadness. Flynn writes how achieving this amazing goal didn’t give him any joy at all and his descent was much slower than it should have taken. He finds out at Base Camp that he had pneumonia in this climb.

While not joyous, there are happy moments in the book as well as much gratitude to the Sherpas who were with him on both attempts. That's what I felt was the best aspect of this book - the emotions of Flynn as they feel genuine and the reader will feel them as well. The climbs are also told in plain language which is helpful for those not familiar with those terms. For those reasons, I believe even those who don’t read many mountaineering books (I certainly don’t qualify for that) will enjoy the book.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Mount-Everest-Confessions-Amateur-Bagger/dp/0976743132/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=