By Emalee Nelson Within the past few weeks, Becky Hammon has become a hot topic in the sporting community first as a candidate for the Milwaukee Bucks head coaching job and more recently for being promoted to the San Antonio Spurs top assistant coach. As an assistant coach for a successful head coach in Gregg…
Rosen, Charley. Sugar: Michael Ray Richardson, Eighties Excess, and the NBA. Lincoln: Nebraska University Press, 2018. Pp. 192. $24.95 hardcover and ebook. Reviewed by Cat Ariail During his tumultuous tenure as general manager of the New York Knicks, Phil Jackson often appeared to air his grievances, including the infamous ones against Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo…
Editor’s Note: “Sport in American History” is excited to cross-post Richard C. Crepeau’s “Sport and Society” column. This post was originally published on June 11, 2018. A full archive of his Crepeau’s columns can be found by clicking here. In a matter of four days from June 7 through the 10th, several championship level sporting events were decided. Beginning…
Ottaway, Amanda, The Rebounders: A Division I Basketball Journey, Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 2018. 288 pages, Epilogue, Notes, and Bibliography. $29.95 paperback. Reviewed by Murry Nelson Here is a volume that is very familiar, but uniquely that of the author. Amanda Ottaway played DI basketball on a full scholarship for Davidson College and…
O’Brien, Jim. Looking Up: From the ABA to the NBA, The WNBA to the NCAA – A Basketball Memoir. Pittsburgh, Pa.: James P. O’Brien – Publishing, 2017. Pp. 480. Photos and illustrations, color and black & white. $29.95 paperback. Reviewed by: Richard A. Macales The American Basketball Association (ABA), of 1967-76, once drew an…
By Cat Ariail On May 5, ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a “Woj bomb.” The Milwaukee Bucks intend to interview Becky Hammon, a fourth-year assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs and, of course, the first woman to serve as an NBA assistant coach, for their vacant head coach position. Instantly, I was excitedly…
By Cat Ariail If, as suggested by Sport in American History editor Andrew McGregor, college football represents a “safe space” for conservatives, the NBA serves that function for liberals. In 2017, the NBA unapologetically carried on the spirit of Obamaian triumphalism. Most notably, LeBron James captured the sentiments of many a frustrated American in his much…
Anderson, Daniel. The Culture of Sports in the Harlem Renaissance. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2017. Pp. 220. Notes, bibliography, and index. $35.00 softcover. Reviewed by Andrew McGregor The Harlem Renaissance is frequently described as a flowering of African American social, cultural, and artistic expression. It also reflected an important intellectual moment, marked by radicalism and the…
By Adam Criblez There have been some great shooters in the past. . . . But here again, when I played years ago, if you shot a shot outside and hit it, the next time I’m going to be up on top of you. I’m going to pressure you with three-quarters, half-court defense. But now…
By Adam Criblez Editor’s Note: For a brief excerpt from Tall Tales and Short Shorts, see this post from May 18, 2017. On May 16, I celebrated the publication of Tall Tales and Short Shorts: Dr. J, Pistol Pete, and the Birth of the Modern NBA. It’s a book I never intended to write. I am…
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