The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam

Earlier, I told you my disdain for Walton as a commentator, but in reality it was he who was the original renegade. However, here is a list of pertinent tidbits that I found fascinating in the book.īill Walton Would've Been Social Media Gold: Here at TSFJ, we probably would've written about Walton as often as Tins writes about LeBron, Kenny writes about his Cowboys, Trible and The Rev write about the Eagles, and I used to write about Donovan McNabb. I'm not going to sit here and tell you what the book is actually about, because then you wouldn't be properly motivated to buy said book. Reality shows have to edit and manufacturer situations (thus making it kind of not reality, right?) to fit 30- to 60-minute shows, where in a 400-page book you can intimately understand the inner -orkings of the team. Such transparency on how a team operates in this day and age seems impossible, even when there are shows like The Association and Hard Knocks airing on our televisions. Halberstam spent the entire 1979-80 season with the Trail Blazers and encountered everything from contract negotiations to infighting within the locker room to league expansion and the changing culture of the NBA. Then I read David Halberstam's book, 'The Breaks of the Game' on the 1980 Portland Trail Blazers.

My feelings weren't anything evil towards him, but there was just an inability to relate to his perspective. His constant criticisms of big men, his berating of players who showed off their personalities (see Wallace, Rasheed) during the game, and the constant references to Jerry Lucas and the Grateful Dead. That was my thought of the big red-head whenever he'd call NBA games as a color commentator.

The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam