Deflated Dreams

“Be like Mike?” Just about every basketball player and billions of people across the globe want to be like Mike. The “Mike” referenced here is, of course, Michael Jordan, widely acclaimed as the greatest basketball player of all time. Despite the desires of so many, none of us, with the possible exceptions of Lebron James and my nine-year old grandson, Eli Massaro Roy, will ever be like Mike. This is in part because the fundamental rules of basketball are biased, favoring some such as Jordan, James, and hopefully Eli and disadvantaging others such as most of us mortals. Put simply, the fundamental rules of basketball are decidedly political. This book explains how and why this is so.
Readers who know and love basketball and especially those who do not will discover much about the game they never knew. Among the many basketball-related questions answered in the book are the following. What rule was instituted in reaction to teams’ dangerously throwing their smaller players into the balconies overlooking most early basketball courts? How did creative cheating help bring the dribble into the game? What popular singer would sacrifice “ a first born or two” to be like Michael Jordan? What is basketball’s “Bashor resiliency test?” What is a spatula pick? What key role did passionate fans have in the origins of basketball’s backboards?
Likewise, readers who know and love politics and especially those who do not will discover much they did not know about politics. Why are rules or laws often stretched or broken? Why do rules become more and more complex over time? Why is no rule or law ever neutral? What roles did religion, law enforcement and the Progressive Movement play in the origin and development of basketball? Why is basketball likely the elitist of all the elite professional team sports?
The book features a simple, engaging and often humorous style to expose the biased and unequal aspects of the rules of basketball.