The first ever book of John Feinstein's that I read was A Season On the Brink. That chronicled that year he spent with Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers after the coach led the United States to the 1984 Olympic Gold Medal. That was time before all these specialty book stores came up and at that time in Manila, it was either National Bookstore or Bookmark. The alternative bookstore was the Rastro in Greenhills where you will find all the stuff you won't in the regular outlets. It took about a year after it's release before I got a copy of A Season on the Brink and it was such an awesome piece of writing. I had never read anything like it before -- a year's worth of stories woven into one cohesive story. I was into Sports Illustrated but John Feinstein opened up a whole new world for me. He is the first writer I ever idolized.
Another great read is his The Punch that tells the story of the fight that changed pro basketball forever -- when Kermit Washington nearly killed Rudy Tomjanovich with a single sucker punch. That is such a great read.
And then there's this... Let Me Tell You A Story that was co-written with the late great Red Auerbach. Whether you a Boston Celtics fan or not, this is one essential read. In essence, it's the history of the Boston Celtics by the man who built it. It's got great anecdotes and well, once you start, you don't want to put it down.
Guess what? It's now available at Fully Booked. Thanks to Gina for this birthday gift.
For those who ask who influenced me, here is the list (in no particular order) John Feinstein, David Halberstam, Jack McCallum, Rick Telander, Rick Reilly, HG Bissinger, Robert Frost, Nick Joaquin, Stan Lee, Mark Bowden, and a few more.
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