| Contents |
First loves -- Celtics vs. Lakers : Russell's dominance, West's heartbreak, and those balloons -- Wilt's century mark -- Wilt vs. Russell : friends, rivals, and champions -- Basketball's battle for racial equality -- The Big O's quest for justice -- Breaking barriers : Title IX and the growth of the women's game -- The Mighty Macs -- Gamblers ensnare the game -- The Wizard of Westwood -- Relief or joy? NCAA championship coaches on the feeling of winning a title -- From unbeatable to the unthinkable : Team USA and the Olympics, 1956-1972 -- In the beginning, there was a hoop -- The renegade league -- UNC : the family that Frank and Dean built -- Coach K : from Bob Knight's protégé to the one-and-done era -- Larry and Magic : NBA renaissance men -- Bird steals the ball, and Detroit's trip to the finals -- The city game -- Pat vs Geno : icons divided -- The agitator -- Your heroes' heroes -- The greatest of all time -- The NBA's reluctant revolutionary -- The greatest team ever assembled -- We got next -- Have game, will travel -- The basketball world becomes flat -- The Laker alpha males -- The Spurs way -- The new NBA : Lebron and small ball -- Ball is life. |
| Abstract |
"Inspired by a landmark ESPN film series, this is an extraordinary oral history of basketball--its eye-opening untold history, its profound deeper meaning, its transformative influence on the world--as told through an unprecedented series of candid conversations with the game's greatest icons. This is the greatest love story never told. It has passion and heartbreak, triumph and betrayal. It is deeply intimate yet crosses oceans, upends lives and changes nations. This is the true story of basketball. It is the story of a Canadian invention that took over America, and the world. Of a supposed "white man's sport" that became a way for people of color, women, and immigrants to claim a new place in society. Of a game that demands everything of those who love it, yet gives so much back in return. To tell this story, acclaimed journalists Jackie MacMullan, Rafe Bartholomew and Dan Klores embarked on a groundbreaking mission to interview a staggering lineup of basketball trailblazers. For the first time hundreds of legends, from Kobe, LeBron and Steph Curry to Magic Johnson, Dr. J and Jerry West, spoke movingly about their greatest passion. Iconic coaches like Phil Jackson and Coach K opened up like never before. Those who shattered glass ceilings, from Bill Russell and Yao Ming to Cheryl Miller and Lisa Leslie, explained what it really took to lay claim to their place in the game. Revelatory and life affirming, Basketball: A Love Story is the defining untold oral history of how basketball came to be, and what it means to those who love it."--Jacket. |
| General note | "Inspired by a landmark ESPN Films series"--Jacket. |
| General note | Includes index. |
| Genre/form | History. |
| Genre/form | Interviews. |
| Genre/form | Oral histories. |
| Genre/form | Oral histories. |
| LCCN | 2018023541 |
| ISBN | 9781524761783 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | 1524761788 (hardcover) |
| ISBN | (Ebook) |
| ISBN | 9781524761790 (pbk) |
| ISBN | 1524761796 |
| Standard identifier# |
40028510992 |
| Stock number | Random House Inc, Attn Order Entry 400 Hahn rd, Westminster, MD, USA, 21157 SAN 201-3975 |
