Mark Lieberman's Blog: Mark Lieberman's BOOK REVIEWS

Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias – by Don Van Natta Jr.

I knew a little bit about Babe and read a little bit about her in a book called Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball by Susan Shackleford and Pamela Grundy, but I wanted to know more, and this book didn’t disappoint me at all.

From her high school basketball team as a Senior in 1930, she was recruited by the Golden Cyclones, a women’s basketball team from the Employers Casualty Insurance Company. During that time, that is how a lot of teams were formed, from companies. Boy, good choice as she helped them win the 1931 AAU women’s basketball championship. How is that for some good PR for the company.

I was amazed at her athleticism and everything she accomplished as a basketball player, a track and field Olympian, and a golfer. Golf was by far her most successful. She was one of the founding members of the LPGA. How she got started in those sports is mentioned.

No matter what she did sport wise, she was the best at it. A of people (mostly men) didn’t like that she was a woman who was athletic and a winner. They probably felt jealous that she was better than them. She even competed with and against men (actors and athletes), and most times defeated them. Because of her success as a female athlete, she was hired as a “vaudeville performer” where she played her harmonica and showcased her athleticism. From the book, you can tell she always expected to win and used her mouth to intimidate her competition.

Obviously, her tale of growing up, her family, her life and marriage to George Zaharias, her colon cancer, and her death was discussed prominently. Unlike some people who kept “bad” health news to themselves, she was public from the start and advised the world to donate to cancer research and she also visited sick cancer patients while she was also sick. She even won a few golf tournaments after she had her surgery.

The only that thing that beat her was her cancer, and that really sucks because she could’ve accomplished a lot more. But, in her short time as a female athlete, she accomplished a lot. I am very glad I read this book as I really enjoyed it. I added a book by Grantland Rice, who was a male journalist during Babe’s time and he took a liking to everything she did.

Per Wikipedia, just look at this list and think how amazing it was for a female and the years she did it:

1932 Summer Olympics

1932 Los Angeles80 m hurdles1932 Los AngelesJavelin throw1932 Los AngelesHigh jump

Golf

CareerTurned professional1947Former toursLPGA Tour
(joined 1950, its founding)Professional wins48Number of wins by tourLPGA Tour41Other7Best results in LPGA major championships
(wins: 10)Western OpenWon: 1940, 1944, 1945, 1950Titleholders C’shipWon: 1947, 1950, 1952U.S. Women’s OpenWon: 1948, 1950, 1954Achievements and awardsWorld Golf Hall of Fame1974 (member page)LPGA Tour
Money Winner1950, 1951
LPGA Vare Trophy1954
Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year1932, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1954
Bob Jones Award1957
Presidential Medal of Freedom2021

Moses and the Doctor: Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball – by Luke Epplin

I got this from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. Having just read a biography on Moses Malone and read Julius Erving’s memoir a few years ago, and also reading a memoir about Eddie Gottlieb, the man responsible for professional basketball in Philadelphia, I was intrigued.

This book is pretty detailed on specific games from both Moses and Dr. J professional playing days from both the ABA and the NBA, and how they got to be on the Philadelphia 76ers – Dr. J joined the team in 1976, and Moses in 1983. It also highlights how that 1983 team came to be from players to the head coach, Billy Cunningham. That team won the NBA Championship that season, after being defeated in prior seasons. It was kind of a last hurrah for them, as Dr. J retired in 1987 and Moses drifted to a few other teams, before retiring in 1995. Moses was the MVP for the Houston Rockets in 1982 and the MVP in 1983 for the Philadelphia 76ers – in addition, he was the Finals MVP.

Moses and Dr. J defined that era of the game. Prior to them, the duo was Wilt and Bill Russell. After, it was Magic and Larry. Then, it was Michael, Magic, Isiah, and Larry. Now, it’s Steph and LeBron.

Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting – by Rich Podolksy

I was aware of who Madden and Summerall were and was eager to read this book.

I am glad this book didn’t go into extreme details for every NFL game John Madden and Pat Summerall worked together as broadcast partners. This book highlighted how they got started as broadcasters and how they got together as told from people who had a front row seat to them, as well as Pat’s playing career and John’s coaching career. There were plenty of stories from them both before and during there time together, and for John’s, I had a quite a few LOL moments.

Discussed in the book is Pat’s alcoholism, John’s claustrophobia, and of course there deaths. Of course, EA Sports and the Madden game franchise is mentioned along with the All-Madden NFL teams.

The stories of everything are told by Pat, John, work colleagues, former players, friends, family, and the author himself.

I was thinking of one word that comes to mind for all the games Madden and Summerall worked as a team, and that word is DESTINY. I am reading another book about two NBA players who came together to win a championship, and DESTINY again is a word that describes them.

The Book of Sheen – by Charlie Sheen

When I saw this one as an upcoming new release, I immediately threw it in my “want to read” list on Goodreads. I was interested in to learn more about his life growing up with an actor dad and an actor brother. I was interested in some of his movies that I thoroughly enjoyed – Young Guns, Major League I and II, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and both Hot Shots.

Well, I was a bit disappointed as, besides his childhood, he mainly talked about Platoon and a lot of about sex, drugs, and alcohol. Nothing but a short sentence on most of the majority of the movies (maybe he is planning another book or maybe he just plain forgot what he did).

He did have a really cool childhood as him, his three siblings, and his mother often traveled wherever Martin (dad) was filming, so he got to experience the business early on. He was gifted a video camera at a young age, and learned to make movies with his siblings and friends, and a lot of his sets and designs came from his dad’s films. One of those friends growing up was Chris Penn.

I knew a little about the other side of Charlie, and he was very honest and open about all the sex (paid and not paid), drugs, and alcohol he consumed. He also talked about being HIV positive. He has been sober free from alcohol since 2017.

He does talk openly about his marriages, divorces, kids, and even grandkids.

He uses quite a lot of strange spellings of words, dood instead of dude for example.

Dark of the Moon (Virgil Flowers, #1) – John Sandford

I have recently finished reading all of the Lucas Davenport Prey books, so I was familiar with Virgil Flowers. It was nice, though, in this book, that I got a lot more insight into Virgil’s parents, his marriages and divorces, his fashion (rock and roll t-shirts), and his curb appeal to the ladies. There is a difference of police styles between Lucas and Virgil. Lucas is more aggressive, and not afraid to use his fists and guns and Virgil is more laid back and relaxed – he doesn’t always carry his gun. But, they do compliment each other. I am very much looking forward to reading the rest of the Virgil books.

Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball – by Susan Shackelford and Pamela Grundy

I have had this book in my want to read list for a while, and I have tried a few times to get into it, and stopped. It’s something that intrigued me, but again, I just couldn’t get into it. 

Well, a few days ago, I tried again, and this time, I trudged slowly through it and made my way past it and finished it – without stopping the book for something else. 

It was a very accurate history of women’s basketball, with a lot of key teams, players, and coaches mentioned who helped make it what it is today. They had a lot of ups and downs. One of the key factors was Title IX and that really helped put women’s basketball on the radar. Race and sexuality were also discussed quite a bit. 

It was interesting to read that as far back as 1892, there were women promoting and playing basketball, and when it started, the rules were very different. 

I enjoyed this book, although, it was not the easiest read for me.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive, Untold History – by Craig Inciardi

I got this book from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. As a music fan, when I saw this book, I was definetely intrigued. I did get the opportunity to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame once, but that was many years ago. I also own most of the live albums from the induction ceremonies, and really enjoy jamming to them as the collaborations are absolutely amazing.

Craig is the founding curator of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, which basically means he was the primary person responsible for gathering rock & roll memorabilia, documents pertaining to songs, and overall schmoozing with musicians, managers, and family members all around the world.

The story of how it all went down is in the book and we have to thank Jann Wenner and Ahmet Ertegün, along with some others, but they were the keys. A lot of insight regarding how the Hall of Fame came to be, induction ceremonies, the location of the Hall of Fame itself, the reunions of bands, the bad blood amongst bands, and a lot of awesome stories from Craig.

Craig tells the story of how he got started in the business, and all the people he met throughout his curatorship (lots of musicians, and he never got awestruck by them). Just knowing how much effort he went through to get the stuff is pretty cool; no Internet, so letters were mailed and telephone calls were placed. Scavenging in basements, looking in bankers boxes, seeing the rooms and instruments from where history was made, I have to admit, that is a cool job.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and the read was easy for me.

Moses Malone: The Life of a Basketball Prophet – by Paul Knepper

I got this from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published.  Before I dive in, I was a huge basketball fan (mainly San Antonio Spurs, but also the league in general). So, when I saw this biography of Moses, I was all in and extremely intrigued. I knew a little about his life, but was looking forward to reading a lot more. Let me tell you, after I read a few chapters, I was already thinking this could very easily be the book of the year for me.

Moses was the first player to go from High School to a professional team, and that professional team was the Utah Stars in the ABA. He was recruited by the University of Maryland and did sign a letter to attend, but money talks, and Moses needed the financial stability so he could support his family. The overall college recruitment process was talked about, and a lot of them offered more than a scholarship to Moses.

Looking back at all the teams and coaches he played for, it’s very impressive…

After Utah, he went on to play for the Spirits of St. Louis in the ABA, the Buffalo Braves, the Houston Rockets (Rudy Tomjanovich was a teammate and he mentored and helped Hakeem Olajuwon while he playing for the University of Houston – he become a superstar in the NBA years later, the Philadelphia 76ers (his teammates were Dr. J., Bobby Jones, Maurice Cheeks, and Charles Barkley – just to name a few key ones), the Washington Bullets (7’7 Manute Bol and 5’3 Muggsy Bogues were teammates), the Atlanta Hawks (Dominique Wilkins and Doc Rivers were teammates), and he finished is storied career as a member of the 1994-1995 San Antonio Spurs (David Robinson and Dennis Rodman were teammates).

Some of his highlighted accomplishments include:

1983 NBA Champion
1983 NBA Finals MVP
3x NBA MVP
13x All-Star

A lot of game details were included throughout the book. His sense of humor was tongue-in-cheek and his media personality was boring – on purpose. He had a knack for the game itself and prided himself on being prepared and never taking anything for granted. If he took interest in you, you would be set for life inside the courts and also outside the courts.

Overall, I really enjoyed all the stories of Moses from his childhood to retirement to the NBA Hall of Fame where he was inducted in 2001.

Killer Crossover: My Life from the Chicago Streets to Basketball Royalty – by Tim Hardaway

I got this from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. Before I dive in, I was a huge basketball fan (mainly San Antonio Spurs, but also the league in general) when Tim was in the NBA and this book actually brought back a lot of memories of him, his teammates, and his coaches. A lot of former Spurs players were mentioned, and even Coach Pop who before he was the Spurs coach, he was an assistant in Golden State where Tim played.

I really enjoyed this book and how he grew up in Chicago, and ended up as a Hall of Famer. He talked about his high school days, college days at UTEP under the coaching legend of Don Haskins, his NBA career with Golden State, (Don Nelson) Miami (Pat Riley), Dallas (Don Nelson), Denver, Indiana, and his gold medal in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He played with a lot of terrific players, and several are in the Hall of Fame as well. He talked about his “trash talking” and his “killer crossover” that made him one of the best point guards while he was playing. While he was playing for the Miami Heat, the New York Knicks were their main rival and a lot of key playoff games were discussed.

He also talked about his son, Tim Jr., who also made it to the NBA (and unlike his had, his teams went to both a College Finals and an NBA Finals).

He even talked about a comment that he made on a radio show, and how it shook his world and turned it upside down. He was able to bounce back, and learned from that mistake.

I am looking at the 1989 NBA draft, and there are actually a lot of well known players:

Sean Elliott – 3
Glen Rice – 4
Mookie Blalock – 12
Tim Hardaway- 14
Shawn Kemp – 17
Vlade Divac – 26
Dino Radja – 40

It’s funny because, I still have some unopened basketball cards from that season of the NBA. Also, that season, David Robinson from the Spurs won the Rookie of the Year and Minnesota and Orlando were in there first year.

The Fool’s Run (Kidd & LuEllen, #1) by John Sandford

I just finished reading the Prey series by John Sandford, and Kidd is in some of those books. I thought I would give this series a read before I start the Virgil Flowers series. Well, I didn’t like it as much as I thought I should and am glad I didn’t start with this one because then I never would’ve read the Prey series featuring Lucas Davenport. I would have quit and gone on to another book.

Kidd is an artist and a computer hacker, not a police officer. I like his character in the Prey series much better. For now, I am not planning on reading any more of this series. I will start the Virgil Flowers books in a few weeks.