A Christmas reading list

It’s that time of year, and I always seem to have a hard time buying gifts. You just don’t want to buy something off the rack or shelf without a second thought. The strangest thing to do for me is to match the present with the personality of the recipient. One thing that’s often safe to give is books, particularly for the true sports fan. Decent sports books are hard to come by in the Philippines, unless you play a lot of golf or chess, or watch a lot of Formula One.

In the last few weeks of the run-up to Christmas, this writer has come across a handful of books that will interest the non-traditional sports fan.

If you’re not one for long stories, or are a trivia buff, I recommend "The Unofficial Guide to Basketball’s Nastiest and Most Unusual Records" (by Kerry Banks, Greystone Books, 2005). This hand pocketbook is bursting with strange records predominantly from the NBA. Just a cursory look through the book will cough up records you’d never expect to know–or see in a book, for that matter.

Among the dubious honors are records for most fans to wear wigs at an NBA game, most sexual harassment charges filed against a player in a span of 10 months (Dennis Rodman, obviously), and other such humorous nuggets. You’ll even find out which player played the most number of games after his number had been retired, and which NBA players played for both teams in the same game. See if you can guess.

I also found a new take on my favorite boxing champion, Muhammad Ali in "Sting Like a Bee: The Muhammad Ali Story" (Contemporary Books, 2002), a collaboration between former world champion Jose Torres and legendary boxing writer Bert Randolph Sugar. This first person account of the circumstances surrounding Ali’s immensely controversial decisions to convert to Islam and avoid the military draft ends with the "Rumble in the Jungle" against the seemingly invincible George Foreman.

In the preface by Norman Mailer, he explains how the book was written by a younger Torres, the first Hispanic world-boxing champion, at a time when he had still not completely mastered the English language. Still, this colors the book with more personal intensity than if it had been written by a "professional" boxing writer. You will recall another of Torres’ books, "Fire and Fear", the biography of Mike Tyson. Torres waxes philosophical about how Ali deceives even himself into believing he is invincible, and how purely he stands for what he believes in, as if there were no other way to go. It is also laced with the writer’s fear for the heavyweight champion, a close personal friend of his.

If you’re after the seedier side of professional sports, then you’ll love wading through "Out of Bounds: Inside the NBA’s Culture of Rape, Violence, and Crime", by Jeff Benedict (HarperCollins, 2004). A lawyer and investigative journalist, Benedict first gained notoriety with his expose "Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL". Although denounced by some as an inveterate tabloid journalist, Benedict has tremendous access to police reports and witnesses to crimes committed by and against professional athletes. In this follow-up, he takes aim at stars of the NBA.

Spurred by the very public sexual harassment case filed against Kobe Bryant, Benedict delves into the crimes and misdemeanors committed by players like "Kobe Stopper" Ruben Patterson, NBA Most Valuable Players Allen Iverson, the spectacular point guard Damon Stoudamire, the unflappable Shaquille O’Neal, and many others. He even details the near-fatal stabbing of Boston Celtics All-Star Paul Pierce, in which a notorious gang of hoods left him in a bloody pulp in a crowded Boston nightclub, in front of witnesses too terrified to speak up.

What is most disturbing about Benedict’s tales is how, almost to a man, the perpetrators are handled with kid gloves and serve virtually no prison time at all. Witnesses are convinced not to talk, judges are lenient, and sentences are often confined to "community service". Because of this, many players are emboldened to commit more crimes, believing that they are beyond the reach of the law.

Perhaps the most well researched book I have come across on China’s rise to sports superpower (and, consequently, the impact of Yao Ming in international sports) is "Operation Yao Ming" by Brook Larmer (Gotham Books, 2005). Showing intimate knowledge of the culture, conflicts and flip-flopping political ideals in a nation mired in communism and struggling to find its identity, "Operation Yao Ming" spans the Qing dynasty, Sun Yat-sen’s rise to power, Mao Tse-tung’s closing down the culturally "purifying" China’s population, up to the modern day.

The book also expounds on how China’s sports secrets breed world champions suspected of drug use, manipulate the age of their national athletes, and arrange marriage between blindly obedient sports heroes to produce super-powered offspring who will also be subservient to country and party. Along the way, it also traces the family trees of Wang Zhizhi and Yao Ming, and points out the unfortunate differences between the two that have made the former an outcast in his own land; and the latter a global superstar. Larmer also interprets many of the important Chinese terms for us to gain a deeper insight into what has gone on behind the Great Wall.

If you are a true history lover, then "The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and the Golden Age of Basketball" (John Taylor, Random House, 2005) is for you. Taylor reconstructs the rise of the two most pivotal big men in basketball history, at a time of similar change in a conservative, racist society.

The book also points out how the sullen Russell, owner of eleven championship rings with the Celtics, and the flamboyant Chamberlain, realized their capacity to change the game. The key personalities of the time pop out in rare interviews, and the circumstances of the day come alive. The difficulties of being a professional player at a time of hostile host cities, tough economic conditions, and plain bigotry add a deeper appreciation for the men who built the foundations of the professional game.

We’ll also learn about the politics that often played these two giants of the game against each other, even when–off the court–they were close friends who enjoyed each other’s company. You’ll never look at grainy old basketball film the same way again.

A joyous, reflective Christmas to you, and a blessed holiday season.

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The best of SlamBook and the biggest basketball issues of 2005 are on tonight’s episode of The Basketball Show at 7 p.m. over IBC-13.