John Feinstein is the bestselling author of THE LAST AMATEURS, THE MAJORS and A GOOD WALK SPOILED. He writes regularly for numerous sports magazines and is a regular commentator on US sports radio.
Feinstein offers a lengthy and comprehensive study of the influence of a single violent act on the lives of Rudy Tomjanovich and Kermit Washington, the two NBA players most affected by a fight that broke out during a 1977 game between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers. It's unfortunate that it took more than 25 years to tell the whole story of this event, which is hyped as having changed professional basketball forever. Further, the incident is described early on from so many slightly different angles that the listener will certainly grow tired of endlessly reliving the blood and gore of Tomjanovich's injury. This tale, narrated by Richard M. Davidson, will appeal to older basketball fans and few others. NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien felt he needed to stop on-court fighting to improve the league's image and attendance, and obviously this incident made it possible to raise violence-related fines and suspensions significantly. But was the end of fighting the real reason the league turned around? Feinstein doesn't convincingly make the connection; didn't it have more to do with better marketing of the league product or the hyping of the high salaries players began to attract in the 1980s? Nicely packaged, but overall an optional purchase.-Cliff Glaviano, Bowling Green State Univ. Libs., OH Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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