Loose Balls

I haven't read many sports books, but Loose Balls, the story of the ABA, is arguably the most entertaining this side of Snake: The Kenny Stabler Story. Delivered as an oral biography edited in near seamless fashion, this is one outrageous story followed by one ridiculous character for 440 pages. I could not put it down. Everything you ever wanted to know about the Rick Barry lawsuits, the Oakland Oaks, Marvin"Bad News" Barnes, the rise of the Iceman, the glory of Dr. J, the height of Darnell Hillman's afro, the arrogance of Charlie Finley (yea, that one), the incompetence of most league officials, the absurdity of most owners, the ongoing high jinx in the bars, locker rooms and taxis, and the fights, my lord, the fights- it's all here. If you threw the NHL together with the ABA, you'd have yourself a full fight card every night. Cold cocks, referee attacks, coaches hitting players, players hitting fans, fans hitting mascots- blood flows all over these pages.

I remember the ABA, but I still didn't know that Larry Brown was considered one of the finest point guards of his time, that Doug Moe was a prolific scorer with both hands, that Wilt Chamberlain "coached" one year but missed a number of games while servicing the ladies, that Bob Costas got his start as the 22-year old voice of the Spirits of St. Louis, a team so wild that Maurice Lucas, later an enforcer for the Portland Trailblazers who once squared off with Chocolate Thunder himself, Daryl Dawkins, in a title game (it terrified me as a child, as no one was getting between those two), was considered the voice of reason, or that Moses Malone was once skinny. It goes on.

If you're tired of cliches and agents and pitch counts, I can't recommend this enough. Pro sports used to have real characters and real possibilities beyond who might win. And let's face it- that red, white and blue ball was the coolest. Still is.