Transition Game

Author:

By Jon Wertheim

Format:

Hardback (Paperback)

Availability:

Out of print. Try our second hand search facility.

Price:

£15.00

Tagged with:

Basketball, High School, Social Aspects, Indiana

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Further Details

• Published: 28th Feb 2005
• ISBN: 0399152504
• Pages: 256

From the Publisher:

Sports Illustrated writer Jon Wertheim hadn't kept up with his high school alma mater. On a recent trip home to southern Indiana, he happened by the school for a basketball game, and it brought back a flood of memories: the angry sound of the buzzer, the same chiropractor's-dream bleachers, and the sight of Coach Tom McKinney - one of the most accomplished and lauded in the state. But there were differences, too: it was Jay-Z not Mellencamp that blared during warm-ups; the height of the players made them leviathans for a high school game; and flair, improvisation, and pure athleticism seemed to be more appreciated than the bedrock fundamentals. Inspired by that game, Wertheim went home again to follow his team during their next season, and the result is a look at the changing face of basketball.

Wertheim discovered that the forces transforming the culture of Indiana and America - globalization, multiculturalism, commercialization - are all mirrored in basketball. There is a clear shift from legendary Hoosiers Larry Bird and Damon Bailey to flashy, brash athletes, and from friendly neighborhood pick-up to competitive street-ballin'. "Indiana basketball," as a local barber says, "is going hip-hop." Though the identity of the game may be changing, the rules are the same. And the game is all that matters.

Wertheim points a wide-angle lens at the many sides of the sport - the high school game, the NBA, and everything in between - to find the state of basketball in the state of basketball. Like H. G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights, and John Feinstein's books, Transition Game is a story of heart, hustle, and an enduring game.