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

Rating:
Summary: Quick but Disappointing Read
Review: I have read several of John Feinstein's previous books and enjoyed them a lot. I read The Punch in three quick days, and both the author's clean writing style and the accessibility of the material moved the story along well. However, I have to admit that I did not feel "satisfied" when I finished the book. The story of Rudy T. and Kermit Washington is told well, and both men's personalities are explored succinctly. But think there is more to the story, and perhaps the intrigue lies in the fact that Feinstein could not quite find it. Washington is clearly holding on to a version of the events of the Punch that does not correspond with other's versions, and he remains bitter and confused about why, at least at the present time, he cannot find work in the NBA. I think it might have been useful for Feinstein to spend a little time exploring the latter with his NBA contacts, includint current General Managers and coaches, even if they wanted to remain anonymous. Or perhaps a meeting between the two men could have been arranged and been more illustrative of their different lives at this time. My final thought is that perhaps, in the end, there really wasn't enough "there there" to make this story book-worthy. If you are interested in finding out for yourself, I recommend checking this book out of the library rather than spending [money] or more to buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Sloppy, overrated, superficial
Review: This book is another example of why Feinstein is the most overrated sportswriter in America. I could barely get through A Good Walk Spoiled and vowed to never read him again, but figured how could he ruin this one? This is truly a case in which the story writes itself, but Feinstein manages to ruin that by yet another trite, sloppy effort. This one was written with the passion of a man who needs to make his mortgage payment. To the other reviewer: how can you mention Halberstam and Feinstein in the same sentence?

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: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Two Lives, One night
Review: John Feinstein has again transported us to another world. He is the master at helping lead the reader somewhere he is not likely to go on his own. Feinstein is a master storyteller. This story of the effect one moment on the lives of two men is both fascinating and compelling.

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: Reduntant and Disappointing
Review: A very good subject for a book, however Feinstein leaves the reader wanting and exhausted in many aspects. Firstly, he is overly reduntant in many areas, in fact, reading the book I thought somehow I had a brainfart and skipped back a few pages. Secondly, for a book published by a big time house the grammatical error of putting an apostrophe on the end of words ending in an 'S' is unforgivable and happens at least 5-10 times. Lastly, I think a part of the book never explored, expcept in recollections by Kevin Kunnert is the fact that Kermit Washington, even after all these years is utterly an un-sympathetic figure. John Lucas said it best when Kermit should sayin "i'm sorry without all the buts". It is obvious fromt he way he was coddled in colelge that as a 50 year old man he is unable to accept responsiblity and quickly resumes to playing the race card when complaining about is "lack of oppportunities" after is NBA career. Feinstein shoudld've taken him to task for this, but alas I think he wuld've felt it was race bating. In addition, Kermit comes off kind of stupid,which is especially sad for someone with a degree from American University. Oh yes, one more point there should've been picutres of 'the punch' and I felt the lack of pictures sorely wanting.

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: This is a Book ?
Review: I only wanted to read this to see how this old incident could possibly be made into a book. The story itself is relatively insignificant, dated, and circular. Basically he winds around and tells the same story over and over again. On p 210 for example, Feinstein tells us for the umpteenth time that Kareem "never liked it physical." By page 210 we know this many times.I was actually completely finished with this book by page 120. It could ahve been a medical drama, but Rudy seems to recover okay and all the drama is removed. Kermit Washington walks around saying he doesnt smoke or drink so he's a role model. And oh yeah, he had a little punching problem. The only thing remotely interesting about this book is that it was published. Feinstein claims to have had a Paul of Tarsus like vision in his car radio and wasn't happy with another ... project he was committed to. So he decided to do this. Nobody had the nerve to tell him it was a bad idea, take a rest. He did the best he could, there's just no story here worth rehashing 25 years later. Its not interesting. I guess after writing a book about the Patriot League, Feinstein interest has only escalated in other inconsequential sports stories he can tell. What's next ? The inside story of a football team's breakfast. Who makes the seams on a baseball? The rivalry between McNeese State and Southern U.

Rating:
Summary: Compelling reading, with just a few flaws
Review: First I'll begin with the book's flaws. For one thing, Feinstein was frequently redundant in mentioning the details of the incident over more than one chapter. More editing in that area would have made the book stronger. Also, I would have liked Feinstein to have done a more in-depth exploration on the way race played into this incident instead of merely mentioning that Washington received racist death threats in the aftermath of the incident and the fact that the NBA at that time was regarded as being "too black." By whom? The media or the fans? (Personally I believe it was both but I will save this for another discussion.)

Now on to the book's strengths: for one thing, Feinstein described Tomjanovich's injuries and the scene at the Forum and the hospital with vivid detail. When I first read what he meant by "dislocated skull" (after having heard Feinstein discuss the book on the Jim Rome Show), I gasped rather loudly at the bookstore and I actually felt a bit nauseated. Feinstein also did a good job describing the remainder of that evening for the two principals, showing how Washington already felt horrible about what he had done and how Tomjanovich, long portrayed as the harmless, gentle victim, actually asked the doctor working on him to allow him to go back to the Forum to get back at Washington, after they had nearly gone at it near the Laker locker room. I also had never known that Tomjanovich HAD been in a fistfight in an NBA game, in the 1971-72 season (his second season) against an Atlanta Hawk player, nor had I known about his post-incident anxiety attacks and drinking problem for which he finally got help a few years ago. Meanwhile, it was compelling to see how Washington had to deal with being viewed as sinister (and this is where, in my opinion, we could have used some insight from Feinstein on how race entered into public perceptions of the two men) and had trouble keeping a long-term job of any kind because, inevitably, his employers did not want to have to deal with the trouble of associationg with such a controversial figure.

Despite its flaws, this is a compelling read and is evocative of the darkest moment in NBA history, how it affected two men and their families, friends, teammates, coaches, and their sport, and how time has eventually helped to heal the wounds suffered by both Kermit Washington and Rudy Tomjanovich and also helped them to have a better relationship with each other. Ultimately uplifting.