On Sports: Essays and Musings

For the past 10 years, the author has written a sports column for the Wall Street Journal, and this volume collects what he judges to be the most representative of those essays. He covers baseball, football, golf, tennis and various minor sportsvirtually everything except hockey, which he doesn't like, and auto racing, which he doesn't consider a sport. Klein is at his best when dealing with such offbeat people and situations as baseball's best triples hitter, or the harassment of visiting basketball players by Duke University students. He has strong opinions and doesn't hesitate to say, for example, that he thinks Ali was bad for sports, or that he dislikes hot-tempered Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight. His pungent comments are marred, however, by an undistinguished writing style, and the book is not improved by Klein's taste for obvious puns. (August)