Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant "Last Amateurs"
Review: This brilliant book tracks one season in the Patriot League college basketball conference. Even if you're not a basketball fan, you will enjoy the book -- the personalities of the true STUDENT-athletes sparkle, and their personal stories are fascinating. They truly play strictly for love of the game.
Rating:
Summary: Just forget the symbolism
Review: Within proper context as the chronicle of one season of college basketball in a small, underpublicized, lightly regarded eastern conference of the NCAA's Division I, John Feinstein has written a book I can highly recommend.I'm a basketball fan, from 4th grade traveling teams to the NBA old-timers' games, therefore it was quite likely I would have read and subsequently recommended the book anyway, but I also have to own up to several biases that place me among the least objective: a) I'm an alumnus of one of the seven great schools (really six but we will not go there...today). I've continued to follow the trials and tribulations of the league and it's earlier formulations for years, and believe me, before the internet it was quite a chore. I saw the comprehensive nature as one of the book's strong points; it's a little unfair to criticize the author for covering as many players as he did solely because they are not household names playing in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, SEC, Big 12, PAC 10 or any other major conference. Yes, focusing on one or two teams may have lessened confusion for some readers but the book is a tribute to a group of schools attempting to honor a principle, not the study of a non-conforming soloist. b) Mr. Feinstein's romanticized view - which I find anachronistic and marginally inaccurate - of what college basketball used to represent and how, ostensibly the schools of this conference still attempt to uphold the high standards of times past, appeals to the purist side; and, c)personally most important, as the parent of a young man who participated in the recruitment ritual the preceding season with a number of the highlighted coaches, it was interesting to compare my impressions with Mr. Feinstein's portrayals. He tends to infer they are somehow more honorable than the Thompsons (Senior, I have to assume Mr. Feinstein would find Junior just as honorable at Princeton), Smiths (Tubby and Dean), or Calhouns of the world. The point is the O'Hanlon's, Devoe's, Davises or Willard's are trying to achieve the major objective - to win - within the constraints of the system at their level. Ralph Willard didn't misplace his academic religion when he graduated from Holy Cross anymore than he found it when he landed there after his fall from grace at Pitt. If any of the coaching incumbents in the Patriot League thought they could get a "Thompsonesque" seven footer to accept an offer and get him pass the admissions office censors, academic standards would be a distant memory. Several reviewers have commented on the author's rather specious justification for choosing Patriot rather than Ivy, noting the latter is a true non-athletic scholarship entity. While that is the case, in consideration of the Mr. Feinstein's "David versus Goliath" premise, for a large compliment of the concerned student-athletes as well as the general student populations, these schools, although nationally renown academic institutions are in large measure Ivy rejection "safety schools." In fact, Mr. Feinstein chose to ignore the primary point to foster the underdog scenario. For the top players of the Patriot league teams, the dream persists albeit less brilliantly than for the coddled stars of the big time schools. The odds are not in their favor, but the chance of an opportunity in the USBL or Europe is no less than those of the 10 thru 14 slots with the big dogs. It is the D-III player, most particularly the commensurately dedicated player at schools with academic reputations equal or greater than the subject schools who has completely sublimated the dream. For the MIT or Carnegie-Mellon player, the NBA, CBA, USBL or Europe are pages missing from the playbook and for that 'one shining moment' at some televised sub-regional, the improbable chance of a trip to the D-III final four in Salem, Va. will have to do.
Rating:
Summary: A fun summer read
Review: I picked this book up on a lark a few weeks ago, and I have to tell you... it's great. I'd heard of the author but I hadn't read any of his books before. I thought it was a very interesting book, especially because it was about so many people that we'd otherwise not know anything about. It basically humanizes the teams and players on the other end of those 102-56 scores we see in the early season on SportsCenter. The highlights for me were most of the stuff on Holy Cross. It seems like they've got quite a cast of characters up there! Anyway, I can't comment on all the bias stuff I've seen in the other reviews. Obviously those people have problems with the writer's other opinions or whatever, and I'm sure they're entitled to them. All I know is that if you like college basketball, and you'd like to read some stories about real college kids, this is a fun book to pick up.
Rating: 
Summary: My First Feinstein
Review: After hearing My Feinstein discuss this book on The Jim Rome show, I decided to give it a chance. Overall, I enjoyed reading about life in the Patriot League during the 2000 basketball season. The only problems that I had with the book is that it tries to cover so much. An entire season, 7 teams, coaches, players, and as a result, I was disappointed that I did not get a more in depth look at some of the players and coaches. I felt that this was a series of magazine bios on the coaches interspaced with descriptions of the games. I did like the book and if you are interested in basketball and a fan. This book will take you into a world where the kids play because they love the game, knowing there is pretty much no chance they will make a living from basketball. If you like Feinstain (I'm reading my second), pick this up. You won't be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Another solid effort...
Review: This book reads like "A March to Madness" and other John Feinstein books that cover "a season with xxx". It takes you from team to team in the Patriot League, with time out here and there for "up close and personal" stories. In a sense, this is a natural outgrowth of Feinstein's book on Army & Navy football " A Civil War" as they are both in this league for basketball. That's why you see frequent references to items discussed in that book. The best part of the book is the introduction, where he explains why he covers this league (believing that they are real student-athletes, who actually study hard and graduate, etc.) the problems with big-time college basketball (unpaid pros, sleazy agents, etc.) and why he chose this league over, say, the Ivies ( Penn and Princeton dominate Ivy basketball, no season-ending tournament, etc.) I did not give the book five stars since the names tended to blur a bit. If this were a major league, it would be less of a problem (more recognizable names). Also, he tended to focus, as noted above, Army & Navy. Still, a solid effort - most people who have read (and liked) his previous efforts should enjoy. People who are committed fans of big-time college hoops (Big Ten, ACC, Big East, et al) are perhaps the largest group of fans who would be upset about the ideas set forth here - indeed, you can see it in some of the earlier comments in this website. Those would be the only readers of his past work that I'd advise against reading this.
Rating: 
Summary: Collect Your Advance and Move On
Review: This book truly was, as another reviewer put it, a mess. I find it hard to believe that anybody edited it, and, as others have noted, the methodology was ill-suited for the kind of gripping narrative Feinstein produced in "Season on the Brink" and was obviously shooting for here--too many teams, too many names, too much jumping around. Perhaps Feinstein does harbor a "passion" for amateur basketball in its purest form, but this book certainly doesn't reflect it. It comes across as tired, hastily produced, a chore to be finished after collecting what I'm sure was a fat advance--all the more ironic because the book's purported subject was the exaltation of the "amateur spirit." Also troubling were some five-star reviews by Feinstein defenders, including one who weighed in against bad reviews and dismissed accusations of Feinstein's bias with a flippant, "hey, who isn't biased?" Say what? Hello? Is anybody home? The whole point is that Feinstein affects an unbiased, objective, above-it-all pose, both in his books and his television interviews. He WANTS us to think he is unbiased. Sometimes he tried to achieve this by grudgingly admitting to what he obviously sees as "good" biases: "Yes, I admit it, I'm biased towards purity in college athletics and academic accountability for all student athletes!" Please. Mr. Feinstein long ago forfeited any claim to objectivity, especially after "A March to Madness" was published. In that "unbiased" book, one of Feinstein's primary themes was how great Duke's Coach K is and how mean, unbalanced, and stupid Dean Smith is, how wonderful things in Durham are and how evil Chapel Hill is. Of course, everyone knows that Feinstein is a Duke graduate who, during the writing of "March," was given the run of the program by Coach K. What some might not know is that Feinstein would regularly entertain other sportswriters during Dean Smith press conferences by mocking the North Carolina coach, turning his back and making faces while Smith spoke. Of course, Mr. Feinstein didn't include this in his admissions of bias, and he still wants us to believe that "A March to Madness" is some sort of unbiased account of an ACC season. Sure it is. It's simply another hosanna to his idol, Coach K. Rather than blithely dismiss "bias," as one Feinstein defender has, readers should START by ferreting out a writer's bias. And writers who deny bias should be looked at even more closely.
Rating:
Summary: Readable but Troubling
Review: This is John Feinstein's sixth book on college sports, and I guess after so many years covering what's become an unsavory sport, I understand his desire to take a step away from the basketball schools. However, in the process of writing about the Patriot League, he isn't exactly struggling the way the players are. So they get written about, and he gets another best-seller. Seems hypocritical. This doesn't ruin the book for me, but it does make me wonder about Feinstein's own morality. As for the quality, there's a noticeable slip from past efforts. I think that he's trying not to glorify the coaches or the game, but that he ends up telling too many similar stories. The players deserve a good deal of credit, but after a while they blend into two or three types. There are also flaws with the editing - the Coack K/Navy story shows up twice for no reason - and with the pacing. The format is similar to his previous book about the ACC, but something aside from the big names is missing. Still, this is a readable and enjoyable sports book that does remind us of the rest of the world outside of Duke and Carolina and the monster baskball schools. I think that Feinstein should have gone to Division III, and that he does romanticize a bit too much - even without scholarships, these players are big shots in a way that us libeeral arts majors can't be. But college basketball fans will enjoy this.
Rating:
Summary: Feinstein at his noblest--and worst
Review: The premise is a great one--follow a college basketball season from the inside, watch as various storylines play out and teams coalesce or fall apart. This is the route Feinstein took to focus on Bob Knight's 1986 Indiana basketball team, making his name and the terrific Season on the Brink in the process. A March to Madness was his second and lesser college basketball tome, but a year in the life of the ACC's coaches was still very enjoyable. This third book reads well at junctures, but is too-burdened by obtrusive idealism and the huge cast of characters that results. Feinstein's opinions hit the reader early and often. The subject of this book is the Patriot League, he explains, because it's one of the two college conferences in the United States not to offer athletic scholarships. This results in (supposedly) uncompromising academic policies at schools such as Lafayette and Lehigh, Army and Navy. Therefore, you're a student first, player second in the Patriot League. These players that possess true academic interest are then contrasted with vague examples of the problems in big-time college sports. Anecdotes of spoiled athletes or handout-seeking high school coaches dot the book, though they are left anonymous. Feinstein doesn't need to name names to detail the damaged purity of college athletics; the reality is already well-understood. However, his generalized condemnations of big-time athletes are grossly unfair. Players with the talent to go farther and attend national powers as a result aren't less noble than athletes who wind up in the Patriot League. They're just doing what's best for themselves, as any college student should. Though Feinstein seems to realize that the process is what's destroyed the student-athlete, he is far too quick to blame the kids instead. It's an odd judgment that looks even worse in comparison. When Patriot Leaguers go wrong--one star is caught cheating on an exam, for example--Feinstein's forgiving tone appears. Over the course of the book, arguments advocate the separate and special treatment of athletes even in the Patriot League. Missing is the clinical prose used so well in Season on the Brink; the objective look into Bob Knight's program revealed the man far better than Feinstein's blunt criticism would have. The same reserved approach would have done the Patriot League more justice. Feinstein's ideals lead to the second flaw in The Last Amateurs. The book follows 7 teams over the course of a year. Simple math: 7 teams, each with at least 8 contributing athletes, a 4 man coaching staff and AD, as well as related family, friends and colleagues=way too many names to remember. As a huge college basketball junkie, the Patriot League isn't unfamiliar. I've seen Lafayette, Lehigh and Colgate play in recent years and always have followed Navy to some extent. That's more than half of the league; still, there were lots of pages rustling as I had to keep flipping back to be reintroduced to various characters. In this tale of an overlooked league, I respect Feinstein's attempt to include everyone's story, but it's too large a goal and completely misfires. Focus on the author's part, perhaps on the top two contending teams and one of the bottom-feeders, would have worked wonders. Lafayette, Navy and the iconic Chris Spitler of Holy Cross are the stories that stand out, revealing the various aspects of the league without overburdening a reader. Even after acknowleding misconceptions, the author still uses them. This leads to two last critiques(any more and I'll be almost as turgid as the book). Feinstein considered two non-scholarship conferences for the book's subjects: the Patriot League and the Ivy League. Yet the author confesses that the Patriot League is not truly non-scholarship: not only do the two service academies offer full rides in exchange for military committments, Holy Cross and Lehigh now offer limited scholarships. In contrast, the Ivy League has no scholarships at all. Nor is it the source of "NBA players on a semiregular basis" as Feinstein attests. If anything, it has fewer professional prospects than the Patriot League schools, which have produced two current NBA starters; Ivy schools have spawned two current NBA players who ride the bench. Furthermore, despite Feinstein's claim, Ivy runner-ups very rarely make the NIT. Without a conference tournament, every single game is important towards making the NCAA tournament. The best argument for the Patriot League over the Ivies is that there are only 2 dominant Ivy teams and they have seen the postseason success Patriot teams haven't--the other reasons don't hold water. Despite realizing that GPA isn't a fair measure of academic success, Feinstein constantly trots out the GPAs of various players when it suits the story. I have no idea how many PPG or RPG Stefan Ciocisi averaged, but Feisnten wouldn't let me forget his 3.8. But GPA isn't the end-all: as they say, after college the A students teach while the B students work for the C students. It's an interesting attempt and leaves a reader with a wealth of information on the worst Division I basketball league in America. Yet the Last Amateurs is too much of a struggle to enjoy if you're not a fan of the sport--and you'll definitely need to be that, as well as a fan of Feinstein, to get much out of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Lost in another era
Review: Feinstein just doesn't get it and seems to always ask "wonder why? and make out big time basketball as some villan, but he makes all his money out of this..... I just read an article in the Post and he brings up the same junk he did 20 years ago...... Send this guy packing.... don't buy his book as his pompous arguements have never stood up....
Rating:
Summary: A quack on the brink
Review: Those who are regular readers of Feinstein's Washington Post column will recognize the blatent and quite repetitive biases that plague the corpus of his work. I had difficulty wading through Feinstein's opinions to get to what should be the focus of the work, the student athletes. This book is not about the patriot league; it is about John Feinstein. If you have to read a book by him, read "Season on the Brink," at least that was entertaining.
|
