Let Me Tell You a Story: A Lifetime in the Game by John Feinstein & Red Auerbach I just finished this and it is a great read. Feinstein got himself invited to one of the weekly lunches Auerbach holds every Tuesday with a close group of friends. He ended up becoming a regular in the the group, and this book recounts some of Auerbach's endless stories. 330pgs. with rarely a dull moment. I definitely recommended it; if you love basketball you will love this book. Rocket's side-note: One of Red's friends, Rob Ades, an agent, is trying to get a deal done for Mike Jarvis to coach the Michael Jordan run Wizards. The negotiations got messy. This is Ades telling Red and the group about one particular meeting with Jordan: "He was pissed. Really pissed. we started talking about what some other coaches were making. I mentioned the deal Jeff Van Gundy [another client] had just been given by the Knicks to make the point that I didn't expect that kind of money because Van Gundy had taken then Knicks to the finals. This time he really blew up:'Don't you ever mention that f*cking name in my office!' Now I'm in shock. I knew he didn't like Van Gundy, fine, but you can't respect an opponent? You can't concede he's a pretty good coach? I guess not." Why did Jordan hate Van Gundy so?
If it's even half as good as "On and Off The Court With Red Auerbach" it should be a great book. I will have to pick this new one up. Thanks Donut.
Goes back to when Van Gundy said publicly that Jordan "conned" other players into thinking he was their friend (particularly younger players like Grant Hill), only to tear them up on the court. Jordan never got over the insinuation and used it as motivation whenever he played the Knicks.
I am not sure how to respond to this one. Stupid yet so funny This should definitely be a CLASSIS quote
this book is excellent. I'm in the middle of reading it myself. For those of you interested, another good Feinstein book is "A Good Walk Spoiled" (golf). Moneyball and Three Nights in August are great baseball reads.
Ha ha, that's classic. I guess there's just never been any middle ground on JVG. Love him or hate him. Interesting that Charlie Ward and Patrick Ewing were kidding him recently for "going soft."
I have a copy of "On and Off the Court"...and you're absolutely correct. If it's half as good...it's a great read!
That's it. I started to remember once I read your post, and then google snatched a few write-ups. Im sure the bickering with Phil didn't help matters, either. Van Gundy really has mellowed a bit since his Knick days. He is a feisty SOB in those older interviews... Anyways, Jordan scored 51 on the the Knicks following those comments. Apparently Magic used to complain about Jordan trying to butter him up before games. Jordan just didn't like being called out.
If we are talking Feinstein books, I have a copy of "The Punch" but have not been able to read it yet due to a huge reading semester. I have Rudy T's biography too, where he talks about. I think that will give me a different view point going into "The Punch" Anyone read this one yet (I'm sure some of you have)?
"The Punch" is a great read. The punch itself is a relatively small portion of the book; the real amazing stories are what happened to Rudy T and Kermit Washington before and after that incident. Both guys had pretty extraordinary lives that happened to intersect in the worst way possible.
