Court Vision: Unexpected Views on the Lure of Basketball

True basketball lovers will use any opportunity to expound on the meaning of the game. In this light-hearted collection of interviews with popular personalities, Berkow, New York Times sports columnist and author of To the Hoop: The Seasons of a Basketball Life, revels in the chance to make as many connections as possible between the life of the game and the game of life. He talks to an amazing array of cultural forces, from some obvious fans of the game, like Woody Allen and Mario Cuomo, to some surprising sources of hoops wisdom, such as writer William Goldman and conductor Seiji Ozawa. At their most philosophical, the conversations reveal how basketball models creativity and can mirror society and life. The banter hits the zone when the talk turns to players, coaches and opportunities taken and lost. Berkow misses a few opportunities of his own here. In particular, his conversations with women (only three of 27 subjects) feel perfunctory; his focus on the NBA cuts out the ripe women's game; and the seemingly verbatim and repetitious q&a format gets tiresome and doesn't allow for thematic synthesis. He turns to the same topics too often, especially when he repeatedly brings up Sprewell's nasty temper, Rodman's general badness and Jordan's perfection. Still, this is an entertaining gathering of strong, interesting opinions--and real fans of the game will love the give and go. (May)