Reading/Watching Recommendations

ZzAzZ · Post #1 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 2:00 pm

Not sure if this has been done before but I was interested to know if anyone had any good recommendations for books or documentaries relating to basketball.

If anyone was interested, the documentary called (I believe) Bird & Magic: Courtship of Rivals was really really good and I couldn't recommend it enough. If you haven't seen it, it's about basically the story of how Bird and Magic were basically polar opposites in almost every way except for when it came to playing the game and how it sort of brought them together.

As far as reading goes, I know a lot of people strongly dislike him but the Bill Simmons book The Book of Basketball is very good so far though I'm only about 150 pages in and it's a 700+ page book. Some very interesting, statistically backed (and I'm sure somewhat biased) arguments like Bill Russel vs. Wilt as well as stories and history with a good bit of humor.

Really interested to see and read more good stuff if anyone has anything they would recommend.

Post #2 » by **The Guilty Party** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:54 pm

Since there are a lot of younger guys on here, maybe you somehow have yet to see "Hoop Dreams" since it's now 16 years old (WOW!).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/

It's possibly the best basketball documentary out there although it focuses a lot more about what is happening off of the court than on it.

ZzAzZ · Post #3 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:00 pm

I've actually never seen it and I have heard a lot of good things about it, I will definitely give it a try.

Post #4 » by **The Guilty Party** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:33 pm

I'm almost afraid to ask this on here but can we all agree that "Hoosiers" is the best basketball film ever made? I know some of you are probably partial to "Space Jam". :-)

ZzAzZ · Post #5 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:43 pm

Well I'm even more afraid to admit this but I've never even seen it. :uhoh:

Post #6 » by **The Guilty Party** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 4:58 pm

ZzAzZ wrote:Well I'm even more afraid to admit this but I've never even seen it.

That's both sad and impressive since it's on TV all the damn time. Sounds like someone needs to get a NetFlix account.

roma258 · Post #7 » by **roma258** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:26 pm

I really enjoyed "No Crossover" the documentary about Iverson's roll (or lack there of) in the Hampton VA bowling alley brawl. Doesn't take sides, just tries to get to the bottom of what happened and lingering effect the event has had over 15 years down the road. http://30for30.espn.com/film/no-crossov ... erson.html

ZzAzZ · Post #8 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:31 pm

The Guilty Party wrote:
ZzAzZ wrote:Well I'm even more afraid to admit this but I've never even seen it.

That's both sad and impressive since it's on TV all the damn time. Sounds like someone needs to get a NetFlix account.

For some reason, as much as I can be obsessed with basketball I've never really been interested in seeing it. Might be too old for me or something.

ZzAzZ · Post #9 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 5:32 pm

roma258 wrote:I really enjoyed "No Crossover" the documentary about Iverson's roll (or lack there of) in the Hampton VA bowling alley brawl. Doesn't take sides, just tries to get to the bottom of what happened and lingering effect the event has had over 15 years down the road. http://30for30.espn.com/film/no-crossov ... erson.html

That was ok, the only thing that really kept me from getting into it was the fact that it wasn't really basketball related. Which is fine since that's what it is going for and I knew that going in but it wasn't my type of thing.

I actually really want to see the one about Reggie Miller's rivalry with the Knicks.

Post #10 » by **HartfordWhalers** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:26 pm

You really do need to see Hoosiers.

And since you haven't seen Hoosiers, I will add the Natural to your list. Doesn't matter that it is baseball.

ZzAzZ · Post #11 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:33 pm

Yuk, can't stand baseball. I will try to sit through Hoosiers though.

Welfare Fraud · Post #12 » by **Welfare Fraud** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:45 pm

Hoosiers is boring.

Caddyshack isn't funny.

Sports movies suck.

Post #13 » by **The Guilty Party** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:46 pm

HartfordWhalers wrote:You really do need to see Hoosiers.

And since you haven't seen Hoosiers, I will add the Natural to your list. Doesn't matter that it is baseball.

Agreed. The Natural is awesome movie period and every SPORTS fan should watch that at least once... err... 10 times in his or her lifetime.

There really aren't a lot of great basketball films out there. Does Teen Wolf count? I mean, the man was a beast on the court... literally.

ZzAzZ · Post #14 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:47 pm

Yeah not a big fan of sports movies either. I like a few Rocky's but other than that I can't think of many good ones.

Post #15 » by **The Guilty Party** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:47 pm

Welfare Fraud wrote:Hoosiers is boring.

Caddyshack isn't funny.

Sports movies suck.

Who pissed in your cheerios this morning? Also, for the sake of validity, are you over or under 30?

Welfare Fraud · Post #16 » by **Welfare Fraud** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:48 pm

under

Post #17 » by **The Guilty Party** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:53 pm

Also, White Men Can't Jump was good back in the day. I haven't seen it in a good 10 years so I have no idea if it holds up.

As for sports movies sucking... an overwhelming majority do and besides being cheesy, they are incredibly predicable which is why Rocky is the best SPORTS movie ever. Limited cheesiness and while the ending is great, he doesn't actually beat Creed.

Post #18 » by **The Guilty Party** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:54 pm

Also, since we're on movies... have any of you seen Inception yet?

ZzAzZ · Post #19 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:58 pm

Yeah White Men Can't Jump was awesome too.

ZzAzZ · Post #20 » by **ZzAzZ** » Wed Jul 28, 2010 6:59 pm

The Guilty Party wrote:Also, since we're on movies... have any of you seen Inception yet?

My friend saw it and said it is one of the best movies he's seen in years and keeps telling me I have to go see it so I'm sure I will soon.