Sports books don t always score
winning point
Let s get one thing straight right
away: I hate reading books!
One might assume a writer
would actually enjoy reading, but for
this guy, I’d
much rather
spend my time
listening to
YokoOno’s
greatest hits
than scan the
words of “a real
page-turner.”
Every once
in a while,
however, I find
it impossible
to escape the
evil, evil book
industry
— this special
issue being one instance.
So, when forced to read, I go to
the old fallback—sports.
Sadly, many sports books don’t
worK. ihe howto aspect never re
ally teaches. The “how I did it” ap
proach sometimes comes off as an
ego trip or, worse yet, a sob story.
And buying into those “the story
so-and-so did not want told” books
is a even more of a joke. The only
reason those books get published is
because the writer wants a big pay
check. Worse yet, the only thing that
suffers more than the sports icon’s
image is the reader’s integrity.
On Tuesday, Amazon.com’s
sports best sellers were “The Sci
ence of Hitting” by Ted Williams,
“It’s Not About the Bike” by Lance
Armstrong and “You Cannot Be Se
rious” by John McEnroe.
Foremost, let’s be honest with
ourselves and cross Williams’ “Hit
ting” off the list immediately. Sure,
he was a great batter, and it’s sad that
he’s no longer with us. But if the se
crets to getting a base hit in the major
leagues were in that book, we’d all
be playing pro ball, not donating
money to the “Keep Ted’s Body
Frozen So We Can Sell His DNA to
the Highest Bidder” fund.
Armstrong’s “Bike” sounds in
teresting, doesn’t it? I mean, if it’s
not about the bike, it must be about
what an amazing specimen of an
athlete he is.
I don’t like judging books by
their covers, but reading a book
about a guy who wins bicycle races
is even less exciting than watching
the bike races themselves — if that
is at all possible.
Now, on to the real winner: Mac’s
“Serious.”
This bad boy of tennis spoke his
mind on the court and now, we get
a chance to see what the hell he was
thinking. Better yet, however, is the
controversy. Mac tells it how he
saw it, which prompted his former
wife to go on national television
and defend her character. Now
that s entertainment.
If you’ve got the time this sum
mer, check out these books:
• “Sacred Hoops,” by Phil Jack
son. He’s a little out there, but he’s
doing something right. Find out the
first-hand details from the “Zen
Master.”
• “The Minority Quarterback,” by
Ira Berkow. A Pulitzer-Prize win
ning sports columnist, Berkow looks
at oddities in sports—from Michael
Jordan to other, less glamorous lives.
The book tells many stories, so if you
don’t dig one, go to the next.
• “You Gotta Play Hurt,” by Dan
Jenkins. A fictitious piece about a
middle-aged magazine sports
columnist who gets paid too much
and knows it. The story chronicles
many sports, including the weary
Winter Olympics and offers insight
into college football’s little black
bag. Yes, I actually read this book,
and I strongly recommend it. It’s a
bit hard to find, so good luck.
Contact the sports editor
at bradschmidt@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
Today’s crossword solution
Brad
Schmidt
Sports editor
You can learn from history
Yeah, it s summer. Yeah, you
want to stop studying. But
there are still great reads in
the history aisle. Sit back. You may
learn something.
One book I highly recommended
is “Lenin’s Tomb,” by David Rem
nick. Remnick, now an editor at the
New Yorker, was a bureau reporter
in Moscow for The Washington Post
in the waning days of the Gold War.
Remnick took a look at all aspects
of Soviet life throughout the nation’s
fall, and he chronicles events from
the earth-shattering (Gorbachev’s
revelation of a Soviet massacre of
Polish troops in 1940) to the ironic
(Soviet students cheering on Gordon
Gekko from the movie “Wall Street”)
Guest Commentary
Pat
Payne _
to the farcical (the “kinder, gentler,
benevolent” KGB).
If there’s anyone who still thinks
Soviet-style communism is a good
idea, they should read this book.
Remnick talks of a nation sliding
into decay—from the sensuous,
luxuriant wealth of the few top Party
bosses who skimmed profits in a
“classless” society, to the average
Ivan trying to make a living when the
basic necessities are ever scarcer.
Remnick indicts the Soviet sys
tem and its overreaching control of
the nation for its corruption and re
pression. Even Gorbachev, who is
seen by many in the West as a sav
ior of Russia for dismantling the
Soviet Union, is portrayed by Rem
nick as a political creature who of
ten bent to the wishes of the hard
liners in a bid to save the USSR.
Now that we’re coming up on the
60th anniversary of a number of key
events in World War n, here’s a book
that—if you don’t mind reading that
isn ’t light in either sense of the term
— is a classic of WWII history.
One of the best works, even now,
about the nightmare regime in Ger
many is William Shirer’s “Rise and
Turn to Payne, page 12
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