The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever

Rating:
Summary: This brings out both the best and the worst of Feinstein
Review: John Feinstein is one of the keenest observers and commentators of the general sports scene around today. His previous books have been uniformly excellent and serve to demonstrate his tremendous talent as a journalist as we as his incredible range of play, covering professional tennis and golf, college basketball, and so on.

In The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever we see Feinstein at both his best-and his worst. Overall the book is great. No one can render an athletic event and the emotions and feelings surrounding it better than feinstein. In this book, Feinstein does a masterful job of painting the whole picture-particularly the culture within the NBA of the time that fostered the environment wherein this event took place. Feinstein also does a masterful job of thoroughly conveying the aspects-in terms of personality, history, temperament and relative stature-of the participants. By the time The Punch is thrown, we feel like we are there reliving the event-no small accomplishment given that the only visual rendering available is a horribly unfocused, grainy black and white photo on the book cover.

Where the book breaks down-and where Feinstein generally has problems-is when Feinstein starts to track the consequences of The Punch. Those parts dealing with the players professional careers are fine. It's when we get to "social" issues that things break down. I have a hard time believing that Washington's later financial problems or Tomjanovitch's drinking problems can all be laid at the feet of the event in questions. Rudy drank before The Punch, and Washington's problems seem to founder more on bad choices in investment advisors rather than any deep seeded psychological problems.

Nevertheless, this was an epochal event in terms of both the future of the NBA as well as the future of these two players, and while I wish Jon would leave the psychoanalysis to psychologists, the book on the whole is a truly great rendering of the effects extreme violence can have on a sport and it's participants.

A must read for sports fans in general and pro basketball fans in particular.

Rating:
Summary: Not Quite a Knockout
Review: John Feinstein is one of the preeminent sports writers in the country and his new book, The Punch, is yet another solid work. The story centers around a game on December 9, 1977 between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets at the Great Western Forum in LA. At the time, the NBA was not the institution it is today. Drug use was rampant, fighting was commonplace and the league was really an afterthought to most fans. In fact, the NBA finals were not even broadcast live on TV. So, the game between the Lakers and Rockets was just an average early season contest between two mediocre teams. The incident started when Laker center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Rocket center Kurt Kunnert got tangled up at center court. Being that Abdul-Jabbar had hurt himself in a fight earlier in the week, Laker forward Kermit Washington got involved to protect Abdul-Jabbar. Rockets forward Rudy Tomjanovich, who was at the other end of the court, saw the melee and ran down to try and break it up. As Tomjanovich was running at full speed, Washington felt his presence, turned and delivered a crushing blow to Tomjanovich's face. The force was so severe that it basically broke Tomjanovich's face. Tomjanovich was rushed to the hospital, where it was discovered he was leaking brain fluid and actually if not for the good sense of the Laker trainer to call a head trauma specialist, he may have died. The book is at its best when it details how due to this one brief instance, the lives of two men were irrevocably changed. Tomjanovich's career got back on track, he returned the next year and was a starter on the Western Conference All-Star team, and he eventually became coach of the Rockets and won two NBA titles in the 1994 & 1995. But the physical and emotional trauma that he was left with still haunt him. He could never seem to accept accolades as he felt they were bestowed on his out of pity. He also became an alcoholic. Kermit Washington fared far worse. His career never was the same. He was suspended for an indefinite period of time and his career became defined by the punch. Even though he was an enforcer and tough guy on the court, off the court he overcame many odds to succeed in life. He was from a tough neighborhood in Washington, DC, but went to American University and not only was a star basketball player, but an Academic All-American and class valedictorian. But since the punch, he was virtually been blackballed from getting a job in the NBA. Mr. Feinstein does a great job of detailing the lives of the two men and how their colors, Tomjanovich is white and Washington is black, helped play a role in how the incident was received. What The Punch fails to do though is to explain how this incident really changed basketball. Outside of adding a third referee and scaling back on the fighting, Mr. Feinstein glosses over that aspect. Basketball was changed and elevated to the level it is today basically due to Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. The Lakers and Celtics rivalry in the 80's and Jordan's pure athletic excellence propelled the sport and helped to overcome any stigmatism left from the 70's. Mr. Feinstein does a good job of getting into the effects on the two players, but he takes what is essentially an ugly footnote in league history and tries to make into a pivotal, league defining and altering event.

Rating:
Summary: A lazy book that surely does not live up to expectations
Review: John Feinstein, author of THE PUNCH, is renowned for the fresh insight he shines on the cliché bound world of sports. Yet he has written a frustratingly lazy book about an event that deserves better. The book's subject --- a harrowing haymaker thrown by Kermit Washington that nearly killed Rudy Tomjanovich in a 1977 NBA game --- raises issues that transcend the sporting event in which it happened. But Feinstein shrinks to the challenge, never approaching matters of race, rage, class and family in a way that rounds out the story.

Feinstein begins the book with a description of the punch, an act so barbaric that it dislodged Tomjanovich's skull, causing spinal fluid to leak into his body. It took five surgeries to try to undo the damage from a single punch. In so doing, Feinstein introduces Washington as a mindless brute, ready to fight at any provocation. In this sense, the reader is pitted against Washington from the outset. No amount of "good guy" testimonials on Washington's behalf --- and there are many --- can shake the awful imagery. Moreover, Washington's bizarre behavior immediately after the punch --- he is remorseless and, incredibly, ready to go after Tomjanovich again, near the locker rooms --- doesn't help. It was not until Washington left the arena that he finally understood he had done something very wrong. But even then, he understood not because of his common sense and not because of what he saw on the court, described by one teammate as "just so much blood. I kept thinking, 'How can there be so much blood from one punch? Something is wrong here.'" What registered with Washington were the words of the parking lot attendant: "Kermit, you're in a lot of trouble. Big trouble."

Feinstein fails to pursue basic, important facts. For example, how did Washington's wife react to the punch? We don't know. Pre-punch, Pat Washington had grave concerns about her husband's notorious temper on the court. But Feinstein never explains her reaction to the punch, nor does he get any reaction from the Washington and Tomjanovich children. Washington's divorce is similarly unresolved. In a book that provides intricate detail on arcane, irrelevant NBA trades, salaries and management, the reader gets less than one page on the break up of a twenty-five-year marriage.

Compounding these problems is Feinstein's penchant for repetition, the withering repetition. A quote on page thirty-two re-emerges on page 171. A quote on page 154 reappears twenty-four pages later. Did you miss Brent Musburger's quote on page 21? No worries, it's there on page 194. Facts are recycled with great dexterity. On no fewer than four occasions, the reader is treated to the fact that the city of Houston is hot in the summer. Imagine that. Houston. Hot. Two of the four occasions are, naturally, the same quote.

Feinstein does a nice job describing the great friendship between Tomjanovich and his former teammate, Calvin Murphy. He skillfully reports on Tomjanovich's successful battle with alcoholism, offering a bare bones, unsentimental view of the ordeal. In fact, many biographical details are well researched and presented in a way that advances our understanding of the men, especially Washington, not as superstar athletes but as real people. Washington is a supremely hard working, thoughtful person. He achieved great things against long odds and, as a young person, looked to have a limitless future on and off the court. The punch changed things, and Feinstein provides sad details of a life gone off course, including an attempt to extort five million dollars from the NBA, and the taking of a polygraph test to prove he was not the instigator in the events immediately preceding the punch.

Feinstein reveals similarities between Tomjanovich and Washington that, perhaps, go beyond coincidence. Both men were raised in tough neighborhoods by emotionally distant parents. Both attended universities close to home, where they excelled in basketball and in academics. They have had close friendships with members of the opposite race throughout their entire lives. The same man drafted them into the NBA. Both are 6"8, and have sons named Trey. Although it may be a fanciful leap to look for cosmic meaning in an NBA fight, it is folly to dismiss Washington's belief that "Under different circumstances, I believe we would have been the best of friends. Everything I've seen or heard about (Tomjanovich) tells me that." Tomjanovich expresses similar feelings about Washington, indicating that in some sense they have been "married" ever since they were joined by the punch. And although they have not met or spoken at length since 1977, Tomjanovich characterizes Washington as his "brother."

Had Feinstein kept his gaze trained tightly on the major players --- and if his editor cut out the repetition and about fifty pages of irrelevant detail --- THE PUNCH would have made a bolder statement. As it is, however, the book fails to make good on its promise to fully explore "the fight that changed basketball forever."

--- Reviewed by Andrew Musicus

Rating:
Summary: Deja View all over again
Review: Like so many other reviewers, I concur with their repeated assaults on the repetitiveness of this book. I tend to read several books at a time, never having a problem picking up where I left off. However, with this book, I kept feeling that I was reading backwards with the rehashing of events and personalities time after time. A good story, yes, but a difficult read.

Rating:
Summary: Deja View all over again
Review: Like so many other reviewers, I concur with their repeated assaults on the repetitiveness of this book. I tend to read several books at a time, never having a problem picking up where I left off. However, with this book, I kept feeling that I was reading backwards with the rehashing of events and personalities time after time. A good story, yes, but a difficult read.

Rating:
Summary: The best basketball book since Playing for Keeps
Review: Much like Halberstam's work on Michael Jordan and his place in American culture, Feinstein takes us back to the "enforcer" days of the NBA where every team had one guy to keep pressure off of the "stars". Kareem Abdul Jabaar's sometimes hesitant enforcer was one Kermit Washington. On one tumultuous night, a minor tiff between Kevin Kunnert of the Houston Rockets and Kareem turned into Washington doing what was the "understood" rule, protect Kareem. In the meantime, one of the real good guys of the NBA and the Houston Rockets came sprinting to midcourt to break up the fight. Kermit, sensing someone running towards him, turned and made contact with Rudy's unsuspecting and still forward moving face.

The results for both men, both organizations, the NBA, the media circus, the players of both teams, the referees, and the announcers had long lasting psychological and philosophical implications. This all is played out behind the backdrop of the United States in the mid-70s, still getting used to the idea of Civil Rights laws and a sociological shift.

The power behind the black man's literal punch to the promising white man resulted in the demonization of the otherwise considered gentle giant, Kermit Washington, and the elevation of Rudy T to martyr status. Whereas, Kermit has struggled with the punch looming so large as to prevent his own ability to move on personally or professionally, Rudy has gone on to become one of the best NBA coaches, leading the Houston Rockets to two NBA championships.

This is the perfect gift for the basketball or sports fan, but also for those whose reading interests are concentrated in popular culture and its influence on America.

This is truly a wonderful read. Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: The Punch Delivers.......
Review: Rudy Tomjanovich ran toward Kermit Wasington to break-up a scuffle between Kermit Washington and Kevin Kunnert when Kermit, whose back was facing Rudy, turned quickly and landed the punch. It was no ordinary punch. Rudy felt as though the scoreboard had fallen on him; he could taste spinal fluid leaking from his brain. In all Rudy would undergo surgery five times -- plastic surgery, surgery resetting shattered bones, restoring tear ducts. Feinstein's book traces the lives of both men prior to and after the punch. Even more, he chronicles the extent to which the NBA evolved around the punch, how it changed the image of the NBA and the rules governing player fights.

The punch was an unrepresentative incident for both men. Kermit Washington at 6 foot, 8 inch and 222 pounds was enormously powerful. Rudy was not on-guard when he approached. Yet, neither player had reputations for violently aggressive play; many other players were "better candidates" to have been involved in such an incident. Fate saved the moment for Rudy and Kermit. John Feinstein has done a superb job of showing the extent to which both men continued to live under the shadow of the punch throughout their careers. (Also instructive is the ongoing argument between Washington and Kunnert over who started what what between the two of them.) Rudy Tomjanovich is, I think, the better known of the two players, and justifiably commands an honorable reputation in the league. Kermit was less known to me. Perhaps other readers will, as I did, come to have a renewed respect for him as a player and a citizen. The Punch is a quick, absorbing read. As an "incident" in NBA history, it deserved a writer who would bring careful research and lucid prose to that singular event. Feinstein brings both.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book, but Feinstein is a jerk
Review: The book is an interesting read, and the history of the two men is very compelling. I remember the fight and the clips on the local news and remember, as a die hard hoops fan even at the age of 8, that this was something horrible. Realize also that Kermit Washington was vilified much more because Rudy T was white, and it seemed that Kermit looked around to hit a white player (one of the many stories that came out from 1977-1980). Unfair as that was, "The Punch" changed basketball forever, as the need for the Darryl Dawkins' and Maurice Lucas' and Marvin Websters' ceased to be needed from teams, and finesse and grace (Magic and Bird) took over only a few short years later (the 1977 championship, between the Sixers and the Blazers, had a defining moment that helped change hoops also. A fight between Dawkins and Lucas seemed to light a fire under Portland the rest of the series, and allowed Walton to roam around unattended the final 4 games). I have met Feinstien, and his ego is only slightly smaller than the size of Texas, but he deserves quality praise for his work here. Now if he can get out of Coach K's backside for 3 minutes......

Rating:
Summary: Poor editing
Review: The book is an interesting work about an event that I barely recalled growing up. However, it is the worst edited book I have ever read. There are at least six passages that are duplicated or only slightly rephrased throughout the book. It causes one to stop and exam whether he has already read that page. Not a first class job.

Rating:
Summary: One of Feinstein's most average works.
Review: The book is far, far too long, wheezing like a midday radio talk show host who needs to fill two hours on a dead sports day by repeating "of course," "certainly" and "obviously" 226 times.

The story, essentially, is of two men, and one specific incident. One punched the other during a scrum on the basketball court, more or less by tragic accident, and consequences ensued for both the men, and the league they played in, though less so for the league than the men.

The subject warrants, at best, a couple hundred pages. "One Punch" clocks in at 432. Now, a full doubling of a subject's ideal length, in a non-fiction setting, means one of two things to me:

1. The book's so detailed, we've learned the geneaology of the men's dog litters by the time we're done.

2. We learn the same thing repeatedly.

"One Punch" is a mix of both, with a heavier emphasis on the second option. At some point, its narrative power breaks down out of sheer repetition. It fails to resonate, and by its conclusion you've tired of the subject.

Feinstein has become accustomed to projects stretched over a whole season, so his talents were ill suited to such a focused topic. It's a magazine piece, a five-minute feature on ESPN. I imagine this book was Feinstein's stab at broadening his range, and while the sportswriting world would suckle his teat just for publishing the alphabet, Feinstein has failed to compel.