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Rating: 
Summary: Hillarious insights from a great referee.
Review: Earl Strom is regarded by many as the greatest referee in NBA history. He was officiating NBA games for over forty years, and his insights tell a lot about the changes in the game over the years.
The book is comprised mostly of insights, stories, and reflections about the game and Strom's career. It contains some sound advice for beginning officials, as well as interesting technical criticisms of officiating mechanics today compared to the mechanics of the fifties and sixties. It also contains hilarious stories from behind the scenes - fights with fans, for example, something you will never see in an NBA game today. Overall, this book is a must for every fledgling basketball official and basketball enthusiast.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining story from a referee's viewpoint
Review: I found this book to be entertaining; a good book, but not a great one. It is filled with Earl Strom's own perspectives on the game, the business, and the industry of professional basketball, and these perspectives are well worth reading.A person who spent parts of five separate decades in the NBA is certainly going to have a lot of stories to tell about life on the road, the pressures of the job, the pressures on family due to extensive travel, and so on. Many, though I am sure not all, of Earl Strom's stories appear here. The author also adds some little pieces of advice for the prospective referee. Here is one really good one: "I've known guys who started out strong and were courageous enough to make tough calls against the home team late in the game if they had to be made, but you could see them change as the players and the coaches and the fans got to them. 'Why bring the house down on my head? Why get killed for something nobody really appreciates anyway?' I've had guys say that to me. If you ever stop to say, 'What's going to happen to me if I make this call?' you might as well take your whistle and shove it because that's all the respect you're giving it. I was taught from the beginning, and it has stuck with me through all these years, that it's much easier to fight your way out of a place than to have to go look in the mirror and admit you backed down from a tough call." (pp 31-32) With only a little bit of a down side, I would call this a pretty decent book. Four stars.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining story from a referee's viewpoint
Review: I found this book to be entertaining; a good book, but not a great one. It is filled with Earl Strom's own perspectives on the game, the business, and the industry of professional basketball, and these perspectives are well worth reading. A person who spent parts of five separate decades in the NBA is certainly going to have a lot of stories to tell about life on the road, the pressures of the job, the pressures on family due to extensive travel, and so on. Many, though I am sure not all, of Earl Strom's stories appear here. The author also adds some little pieces of advice for the prospective referee. Here is one really good one: "I've known guys who started out strong and were courageous enough to make tough calls against the home team late in the game if they had to be made, but you could see them change as the players and the coaches and the fans got to them. 'Why bring the house down on my head? Why get killed for something nobody really appreciates anyway?' I've had guys say that to me. If you ever stop to say, 'What's going to happen to me if I make this call?' you might as well take your whistle and shove it because that's all the respect you're giving it. I was taught from the beginning, and it has stuck with me through all these years, that it's much easier to fight your way out of a place than to have to go look in the mirror and admit you backed down from a tough call." (pp 31-32) With only a little bit of a down side, I would call this a pretty decent book. Four stars.
Rating:
Summary: The other side of basketball...Referee standpoint
Review: If you're a basketball official, you need to read this book. Earl Strom was regarded as the best and he couldn't write this book until he retired. It's now out of print, but if you can locate it, do it! Is Fantastic...
Rating:
Summary: The other side of basketball...Referee standpoint
Review: If you're a basketball official, you need to read this book. Earl Strom was regarded as the best and he couldn't write this book until he retired. It's now out of print, but if you can locate it, do it! Is Fantastic...
Rating:
Summary: Good book
Review: It shows the game from a ref's standpoint.. it's a good book
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