A female political friend once told me, "basketball is the most beautiful of all sports. It brings every part of the body into motion.".Another political friend and professional colleague once invited me to his house for a summer BBQ, then chided me for watching an L.A. Lakers game, "that opiate of the masses!" Robert Coover used baseball as a metaphor for the history of the universe in THE UNIVERSAL BASEBALL ASSOCIATION, J. HENRY WAUGH, PROPRIETOR. Don DeLillo utilized football to stand for America's addiction to war in END ZONE. (It's no coincidence football is the one pro sport prisoners are not allowed to play in U.S. jails; even field copy is permitted.) Peter Axthelm, a professional sports writer had less lofty goals for basketball yet nevertheless managed to produce a masterpiece. Basketball is for him the all-American game, with multimillionaire players at one end and city kids at the other both playing "hoop dreams" of fame, money and, in the case of America's inner city underclass, a taste of political, meaning racial, power. The most touching chapter in Axtthelm's mini-history of the game is "The Tragedy of Earl' The Goat' Manigaut", arguably the greatest pickup basketball player who ever lived whose career in college basketball was cut short by a nasty heroin addiction yet came back alive thanks in part to Axthelm's tribute chapter in this book.

When this book was written (1970), it was pretty groundbreaking, just in its structure and subject matter.

It's mostly about the Knicks' championship season that year. But there's a parallel story about playground basketball in NYC. I would have liked a lot more on the latter, and less on the former. The story of an NBA champion doesn't really resonate 40 years later. The story of dreams realized (and, more often, not) seems a lot more timeless.

He talked to enough of the playground legends and semi-legends to build some real characters. It also would have been nice to get an update on some of them. Did the guy who failed out of a Wyoming JC---where there were essentially no other blacks around, but he was moved by the fate of Indians from nearby reservations---get a second chance somewhere else?

There were a couple of funny things about the NBA part. Like the sort of assumption that the 70s would be the decade of the Knicks. Or maybe all the stuff about the Bucks' new kid, "Lew Alcindor" was the wave of the future. Well, yes, sort of.

Close your eyes, take your time machine, then open this book. You are seated at Madison Square Garden and eager to live one more time that epic season. But it's not over. We're in NYC, so basket is a faith and you have a sanctuary to visit: it's Rucker Park. Here you can earn the immortal respect.
Pete Axthelm superbly goes with you page after page in a marvellous jorney in the city of basketball, "the city that knows and love it best".
It's not only a sport book, it's a free entry for Basketball City of New York.

I've been meaning to read this for a while and it's exactly what I expected. Axthelm perfectly juxtaposes the legendary Knicks championship team and the playground games (centered around Rucker Park) in the city during the same period. More accurately, he covers the history of both culminating in 1970.

This is as firsthand as you can get while covering both arenas. There are anecdotes by and about everyone from Willis Reed to Helicopter Knowings. You won't get closer to feeling like you saw Earl Manigault play than reading the accounts here. Axthelm is on the ground, in the city parks and in the Garden locker room. The atmosphere of the early 70s permeates everything and it's a very authentic, honest feel.

Granted this is only for those with a serious interest in basketball and one of its great eras but if you are it's required reading.

A Super City Game

If anyone wants to understand what New York City Playground Basketball is like, just read this book!!!!
Wow!!!!! Well done.

Classic hoops history weaving together pro ball (the NBA champion Knicks ) with Gotham's vibrant playground scene. A must - read for any basketball fans.

Beautiful New York nostalgia