5 comments about Jordan: The Man, His Words, His Life (Jordan).

1. From Michael Jordan's humble beginnings to his NBA superstardom, Jordan: the man, his words, his life by Mitchell Krugel is a brilliant account of the life of Michael Jordan on and off the court. At first, the book hooked me instantly because it told you what to expect and the information was presented very well. The author's introduction was phenomenal. What really interests the reader is how the author includes his own opinions about the events of Michael's life. For example, the author expresses his emotions in such an intense way about the tragic murder of Michael's father, James Jordan, in downtown Chicago. After the halfway point of the book, I concluded that this biography goes into a lot of depth as far as his spectacular college and professional basketball career. Overall, this book is an excellent account of Michael's public as well as his personal life.



2. The Man, His Life, His Words, by Mitchell Krugel. This book showed the many ways Michael Jordan became the great player he did. This shows his most memorable moments and his worst ones. One of his worst was when he didn't make the basketball team in his sophomore year in high school. After he was cut, he got every morning at 6a.m. to work with the varsity basketball coach and worked on all his areas he was lacking in. He ended up being an all-american at Laney High School. One of his most memorable moments was when he won 3 straight national championships with a team that did not even have a winning record the year before he came. This book also shows his struggle with trying to balance super-stardom with fatherhood. It also shows his struggles he had with him being too impatient with his teammates. I recommend this book to anyone into basketball because this book is inspiring and fun to read.



3. I like to read biographies of athletes but so many times they do not explain the athlete's life, game, how he gets ready for a game or how he deals with all the critism. This biography is just the oposite and I feel they explain every thing about what Michael Jordan does and who he really is. Another reason why I give this book 4-stars is because it is not often that you get to hear what the athlete really thinks about the critism or how they handle it, or any thing to deal with there life outside the game.



4. I have mixed feelings about Michael Jordan. On the one hand, he is a great athlete. I respect his work ethic. He has turned in a number of great performances and is no doubt one of the greatest to have ever played the game of basketball.

   There is a flipside. Michael Jordan got all kinds of special treatment while he was in the NBA. He was the first player I noticed who was granted all kinds of trips to the charity stripe because of unbelievably, ticky tack calls. He scored at least ten points a game at the free throw line from bogus calls. It was great when there was a picture session for 'greats of the game' with Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. Magic told Larry not to stand too close to Michael or they might call a foul. In front of reporters and television viewers, that was a classic comment by Magic. I believe Mike got 99% of all calls in his favor because he was such a cash cow for the NBA. Dominique Wilkins was robbed of a slam dunk championship when Mike scored a perfect 50 doing the same dunk Dr. J did years before. I doubt Dr. J ever received a perfect 50 for it. Dominique's dunk was much more impressive, and he received a 49.5. Please. Mike got in a fight with Reggie Miller, and only Miller got suspended at first. Only after there was an outcry did Mike get suspended. How are Mike's punches different? Mike elbowed Kevin Johnson to the ground for all to see, and Kevin was called for blocking!

   I am not too impressed that the bulls beat the lakers in the NBA finals. Magic was double teamed every game every minute he was in. On top of that, James Worthy and Byron Scott were injured. Magic and Larry never won three championships in a row because the competition, teams, and players in the 80s were much better than the nineties. Luc Longley, Will Perdue, Bill Cartwright, or Bill Wennington stopping Kareem? Ha!

   Sport Magazine recently had a piece on the ten greatest moments and ten greatest players ever in the NBA. Mike was ranked number one all time player. Kudos to Mike for mentioning in 'For the love of the game' that to pick a "greatest ever" is impossible because of all the different eras and evolutions of basketball. The nineties bulls were given three of the ten greatest moments in NBA history. This is just more Mike bias. Give me a break. There are hundreds of classic and amazing moments in NBA history. One of the moments picked was Mike beating the Jazz in the final minutes of his last game. He put his hand on Bryon Russel's backside and shoved him out of the way. Then Mike made the game winnig shot. All eyes were on Mike, but the ref did not make the obvious call.

   There is also Mike's arrogance. According to him, Wilt Chamberlain was a fluke eventhough Wilt was a great all around player. He made a comment about Magic and Larry reaching a 'certain level of greatness' and that the two were not good on defense. What? Are we talking about the same Larry Bird? Shaquille Oneal is also much better and much improved than Mike gives him credit for. Shaq has turned into a solid defender, passer, and he works hard at both ends of the floor.

   Mike's corporate poster boy behavior is laughable. He did ads for AT&T and then MCI. The Wayans family is also split between the two companies. Mike talked about the enviroment in Rayovac ads and then pitches hot dogs? Mike is not the only athlete who will pitch anything and everything to make millions. I wonder if Mike has checked into Nike's labor practices.

   Players like Mike and Charles Barkley soured me on the NBA. Charles played like a thug and got away with it because he was a star. Plus, Charles insisted on wearing number 34 at Philadelphia eventhough it was retired for NBA great Billy Cunningham. The star treatment and inflated egos has grown old, and that has turned a lot of people off to sports. I miss the Lakers and Celtics match ups of the 1980s.




5. If amazon.com had a "NO STARS" category, that would've been my selection. But as it is, 1 Star will have to do. I have no idea how this Krugle guy thinks he was tight with MJ. From reading this book, there's just no way he was! Half the quotes sound like they were made up, and the rest sound like they were taken directly off of a freakin' press release! Who does this guy think he is? I was at least glad to see that Krugle has another instant classic...this one on Patrick Swayze! Maybe that one has some quotes that actually came directly from the book's subject. To me, this poorly-written book is merely a means for Krugle to capitalize on the success of someone other than himself, and it doesn't look like he's had much of it. Hey, I could be wrong. But I don't think so. What a disappointment this book was. How the other reviewer gave it 5 stars, I have no clue. But that reader obviously must be Krugle himself, looking to tout this not-so-fine piece of work further. I wonder what Jordan had to say about this book...funny how I never heard MJ mention anything about his good buddy Mitchell Krugle. I smell a lawsuit.

1 comments about Nothin' But A Champion : The Story of Van Chancellor - Three Time WNBA Coach of the Year.

1. This is a very insightful book in describing the challenges, obsticles and long road Van Chancellor has faced in advancing the world of women's professional sports. It is a must read for any WNBA fan and especially those of the Houston Comets.

2 comments about REBOUNDING FROM DEATH'S DOOR.

1. Reading Rebounding From Death's Door I found myself crying, laughing & cheering. Most of all, I was left completely inspired. A must read for the entire family!!!



2. Rebounding From Death's Door is an inspirational book that tugged at my heartstrings from every direction! From the moment I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.

No comments about Brian Cardinal: Citizen Pain (Basketball Superstar).

1 comments about Michael Jordan: Flying High (Little Books).

1. I did enjoy this book somewhat because I love Michael Jordan. But it didn't really connect the reader and Michael Jordan like I good book should. Not enough details I guess, or just too many little ones. But I think this is an enjoyable book for a younger person.

5 comments about Knight Fall: Bobby Knight, The Truth Behind America's Most Controversial Coach:.

1. I saw this book on the bottom shelf at a popular supermarket about two weeks ago. I had not done much free reading of late and thought it looked like a good book to get me back into a good habit and hobby. It reveals the good and the bad about coach Knight and covered a great deal of ground without getting into too much details about the incidents of Knight. Since I grew up on the Kentucky-Indiana border, I was able to watch more than a handful of Indiana's games on the Indiana basketball network and found Phil Berger's coverage of Knight's best and worst years exciting. The end of the book even has a glossary of all the IU players that made it through all four years without transferring(and tells what they are doing now). It even goes back to Knight's formative years as an assistant coach at Army and discusses Knight's shortcoming as a player at Ohio State(defense) lead him to stress defense and team-play the most as a head coach. Ex-player Landon Turner (who was paralyzed in a car wreck that cut his playing career short) praises Knight for benching him while his mind was more on having a good time off the court than being successful on the court. As far as the statements by ex-players that lead to the demise of Knight at Indiana, Mr. Burger just reports the facts and does not lash out any judgments against Knight. In summary, this is a very enjoyable book to read and will not bore the reader with too much details. Go ahead and buy it(you may finish it in one day).



2. I read this book from the unbiased perspective of a college basketball fan looking to learn a little more about Bobby Knight, but Berger clearly didn't write it from an unbiased point-of-view.

   There were parts that were informative, and it was an interesting read, but Berger's anti-Knight bias came through on every page, sometimes in obvious ways, and sometimes subtley, like using the word "claimed" instead of "said" when quoting Knight.

   There were quite a few typos, misspelled words and grammatical errors, and they detracted from the book.

   If you're only going to read one book on Knight, read Feinstein's A Season on the Brink. But if you have a little more time on your hands, Berger's is still worth the read, typos, biases, and all.




3. I've read just about every book on Knight. As an IU alum who graduated one of the years that the Hoosiers won a national championship, most of the student body (myself included) - viewed RMK as a demi-God. Certainly he was blessed with one of the finest basketball minds in history.

   Berger's book follows in the footsteps of three major works on RMK: Feinstein's _Season on the Brink_ (the success of which every subsequent effort attempts to duplicate); Mellen's _Bob Knight: His Own Man_ and Alford's _Playing for Knight_. All three are worth reading (especially _Season_) for the serious "Knight-o-phile".

   Berger's book is definitely tabloid in appearance. Each page seems to have 30 lines of large text on it. Therefore the book appears as though it could have been printed on 75 pages in a conventional book format. The sparse text maps directly to the quality of content. It is sketchy at best.

   IMO, Berger's heavy reliance upon previously published histories and newspaper articles dooms this work from the outset. The only area I found remotely interesting was Knight's childhood and schoolboy athletic career.

   The remainder is a rehash of mostly negative Knight incidents. Certainly RMK deserves criticism for his histrionics and outrageous behavior that erupts from time to time. However, Berger mostly omits the litany of his positive and charitable achievements. More importantly, he never mentions what is certainly one of RMK's most engaging aspects: his incredible sense of humor. Knight, when he wants to be, is among the most humorous and quotable characters on the public landscape today.

   Thumbs down for this vapid attempt to capitalize on the "Knight effect". Berger certainly can do better than this. Instead - read any of the three books mentioned earlier - they're far better uses of your time.




4. I bought this book while traveling through an airport bookstore. Don't make the same mistake I did! The book is fluff, I almost finished it on a less than two hour flight. I was hoping to find out something new on Coach Knight given his recent dismissal, but found nothing more than a newspaper article could of given me. In fact, the entire book reads like a collection of newspaper articles strung together to make a book. There is nothing new here! If you want to read about Coach Knight, buy "Season on the Brink," so far the most definitive text on him.



5. It's obvious that this book was put together pretty quickly in order to make a few bucks. Typos and spelling errors were evident. I don't suppose there will ever be a definitive Bob Knight book written. Knight wouldn't collaborate because it would have to show the total man, warts and all. And most writers probably wouldn't be interested in the good deeds he does behind the scenes for many people. The man was a tremendous coach but his complete story will probably never be told. Still, it was time for a change. The lust for winning created a Texas-sized ego in Indiana. It's just too bad he went out in much the same way as Woody Hayes.

No comments about Welcome Back, Michael.

No comments about Living a Dream With Coach Gate.

No comments about Kobe Bryant.

No comments about Frank McGuire: The Life and Times of a Basketball Legend.