From two senior Sports Illustrated writers comes an explosive, fast-paced satire that will do for today's NBA what North Dallas Forty did for the NFL a generation ago.
Just months from his Yale graduation, street-smart whiz kid Jamal Kelly leaves school to take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the front office of the Los Angeles Lasers. Once on the West Coast, Jamal gets a quick introduction to a subculture awash in big egos and fast cars, as well as an introduction to the charms of the team's new hard-charging beat writer, Jilly Forrester.
In the spirit of Primary Colors and The Devil Wears Prada, Foul Lines peels back the curtain on the trappings of big-time professional basketball. No other sport encapsulates so many cultural hot-button topics, and Foul Lines at once exposes and lampoons this parallel universe.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Hard to get into, so I didn't:
I bought this book because I love the NBA, covered it for a few years and enjoy reading even fictional accounts of it . As others have mentioned, this book starts off agonizingly slow, and never seemed to pick up for me. The word choice was also difficult to ignore. I think you'd be better off with MVP: A Novel. I read about a book or two a week, and this was one of a few that I simply stopped reading after about 50 pages.
Geographically challenged and unfunny:
Onw wonders how accurate the rest of the book is when a character apologizes for being late to a meeting because she took Wilshire Blvd. all the way from Studio City. Uh, Wilshire Blvd. is nowhere near Studio City. It does go Downtown, though, east from the beach, where it passes right by UCLA where Bill Walton used to play. One would think that Bill would have spotted this geographical faux pas before he gave the book such a glowing accolade. Leads me to wonder whether he actually read it, or was doing a... more info
Great game plan; okay execution:
Entertaining trip with an NBA team. Predictable with no twists or turns, but the authors kept it moving. A real fun read. If this is "dead-on" as Bill Walton says in the cover blurb, then the NBA life is just as good and bad (and as R-rated) as you imagine it to be. A couple minor irritations: - As another reviewer says, the authors use unnecessarily obscure words. Sample: "... Kwaanzii would be ushered to center court, in mufti, and panegyrized by Padgett..." This is in the same paragraph where they... more info
Keep a dictionary handy:
Okay so this review is a bit premature being that I've read up to the 16th page so far but I am highly irritated by all the complex words the author is using---especially for a story of BASKETBALL. The wording is making it difficult for the story to flow.
