A timely and eye-opening look at the current and future landscape of sports.
An account of how professional sports is now “driven by data.”
Schoenfeld, the author of The Match and The Last Serious Thing, chronicles how high-tech, public relations–savvy, cutthroat entrepreneurs have turned professional sports into engines of profit. The author admits his debt to Michael Lewis’ 2003 bestseller, Moneyball, which tells the story of how the manager of an underfunded Major League Baseball team hired a mathematical analyst to mine the game’s vast statistics and tease out player attributes that won games without showing up in conventional metrics. For several years, he enjoyed spectacular success until other teams caught on. Having followed how analytics affected the game, Schoenfeld turns his attention to the franchises themselves. For decades, rich business owners bought teams like they bought yachts or racehorses. “You didn’t buy a sports team to make money,” writes the author, “you did it because you had money and wanted to do something fun with it.” Galvanized by the Moneyball story, a new generation of owners and front-office experts has turned teams into superefficient mega-corporations resembling those in which the owners had originally made their fortunes. Winning remains important, but many devoted fans will note that strictly following the numbers takes away much of the thrill. As dynamic agents of capitalism, modern sports franchises seem obsessed with keeping fans engaged (i.e., spending money) rather than entertained. Formerly verboten, sports betting has exploded, and franchises have expanded into real estate, fashion, concessions, and digital content. Combining in-depth research and illuminating interviews, Schoenfeld describes the transformation of a dozen organizations, emphasizing baseball and basketball but casting his net widely. He shows clearly how soccer, the world’s most popular game, has become the poster child for the transformation of professional sports—and the rebellion of dissatisfied fans. Read Moneyball first and then turn to this one.
A timely and eye-opening look at the current and future landscape of sports.Pub Date: June 6, 2023
ISBN: 9780393531688
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Infectiously enthusiastic appraisals of NBA and WNBA stars.
Revering roundball royalty.
Fervor fuels this impressionistic celebration of basketball’s greatest performers. Serrano, the author of bestsellers about sports and pop culture, sticks with what’s made him successful, peppering this collection of essays about LeBron James, A’ja Wilson, and others with go-for-broke adjectives and references to rappers and action movies. You might not agree that Kobe Bryant’s final game was “monumental” or that the Golden State Warriors’ record 73 wins was a “godly” achievement, but Serrano is irresistibly passionate, a fan-writer who greets each game as a chance to be awed. Its title notwithstanding, this effervescent book isn’t about player contracts or billion-dollar revenue streams. To the author, “expensive” is synonymous with virtuosity. Ray Allen’s textbook jump shot was expensive. Though Serrano quotes William Carlos Williams in a chapter about WNBA all-timer Sue Bird, he’s more apt to cite blockbuster films, prestige TV, and hip-hop. Often, this works nicely. His inspired paean to Giannis Antetokounmpo is probably the first time that a streaky free-throw shooter has been likened to “cool-as-fuck” Helen Mirren’s unlikely appearance in The Fate of the Furious. Conversely, Serrano’s long list of memorable rap lyrics adds little to his Stephen Curry chapter. The author is appealingly self-effacing—a footnote calls attention to his “dorkiest” sentence—and watchful for manifestations of unbridled athletic joy, like the gleeful “little jump-skip thing” Dwyane Wade did after tossing an alley-oop pass. His support of the WNBA is just as strong as his love of the men’s game. DeWanna Bonner, Brittney Griner, and Diana Taurasi “are sledgehammers covered in scorpions.” Wilson “is a goddamn basketball obliteration monster.” Serrano is great at exploring how fans’ memories of their favorite players intermingle with important events from their lives. That’s the subject of his affable chapter about former San Antonio Spur Tim Duncan.
Infectiously enthusiastic appraisals of NBA and WNBA stars.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781538755228
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 28, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
“Protect your passion,” writes an NBA star in this winning exploration of how we can succeed in life.
A future basketball Hall of Famer’s rosy outlook.
Curry is that rare athlete who looks like he gets joy from what he does. There’s no doubt that the Golden State Warriors point guard is a competitor—he’s led his team to four championships—but he plays the game with nonchalance and exuberance. That ease, he says, “only comes from discipline.” He practices hard enough—he’s altered the sport by mastering the three-point shot—so that he achieves a “kind of freedom.” In that “flow state,” he says, “I can let joy and creativity take over. I block out all distractions, even the person guarding me. He can wave his arms and call me every name in the book, but I just smile and wait as the solution to the problem—how to get the ball into the basket—presents itself.” Curry shares this approach to his craft in a stylish collection that mixes life lessons with sharp photographs and archival images. His dad, Dell, played in the NBA for 16 years, and Curry learned much from his father and mother: “My parents were extremely strict about me and my little brother Seth not going to my pops’s games on school nights.” Curry’s mother, Sonya, who founded the Montessori elementary school that Curry attended in North Carolina, emphasized the importance not just of learning but of playing. Her influence helped Curry and his wife, Ayesha, create a nonprofit foundation: Eat. Learn. Play. He writes that “making reading fun is the key to unlocking a kid’s ability to be successful in their academic journeys.” The book also has valuable pointers for ballers—and those hoping to hit the court. “Plant those arches—knees bent behind those 10 toes pointing at the hoop, hips squared with your shoulders—and draw your power up so you explode off the ground and rise into your shot.” Sounds easy, right?
“Protect your passion,” writes an NBA star in this winning exploration of how we can succeed in life.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780593597293
Page Count: 432
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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