Transition Game: How Hoosiers Went Hip Hop

From Publishers Weekly
To examine the interconnected evolution of basketball and the hoops-crazy state of Indiana, Wertheim (Venus Envy) returns to Bloomington, Ind., to follow a basketball season at his high school alma mater. Interspersed among the chapters about the team are stories about Indiana's connection to basketball and the state of the game on the NBA and college levels. Dealing with subjects like the demise of former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight and NBA basketball's low "watchability" factor, Wertheim's assessments shine with top-notch writing and, thanks to the author's Sports Illustrated background, are augmented by quotes from power players like Larry Bird. Wertheim excels at finding a connection between the bigger basketball world and the Bloomington team, and his examination of the globalization of basketball through the eyes of one family that moved to Bloomington to escape civil war in Sudan and went on to send their five children to college on basketball scholarships deftly shows the bittersweet nature of the American dream. Similarly, Wertheim's decision to confront these issues by observing two Indiana towns--one white, one black--results in original dialogue on the much-discussed theme of the racial politics of American sport. These forays into thought-provoking cultural topics add weight to a fun and fast-paced examination of an enduring game. B&w photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Wertheim, a Sports Illustrated writer, graduated from basketball-crazy Bloomington North High School in south-central Indiana in 1989. When he was in school, his classmates played typical Indiana ball, founded on crisp cuts, screens, and accurate midrange shooting, all performed at ground level. The new Bloomington Cougars, now a state powerhouse under coach Tom McKinney, play a hip-hop, high-flying style more akin to the NBA than to the classic Indiana style on view in the movie Hoosiers. Wertheim uses the changes at his old high school as a base to understand the changes in basketball throughout the country. He explores the history of the Indiana Pacers NBA team, now operated by Larry Bird, who, as a Boston Celtic, embodied the fundamental soundness that purists now claim is missing from the game. He also goes to Indiana University, where he explores that program's tumultuous--but generally very successful--history under controversial coach Bob Knight and his successor, Mike Davis. But Wertheim always comes back to Bloomington North, where McKinney maintains the fine line between demanding sound fundamentals while accommodating his players' desire for a more personally expressive style. And the book touches on more than just hoops. The lives of today's high-schoolers are both different from and similar to previous generations, but rather than just noting the disparities, Wertheim ponders their implications. A wonderfully written peek into the modern game and the people who coach it and play it. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Publishers Weekly, January 31, 2005
...a fun and fast-paced examination of an enduring game.

Book Description
The many facets of basketball in contemporary America-as seen through the game in Indiana, a cradle of the sport-from an award-winning Sports Illustrated writer.

Jon Wertheim hadn't kept up with his high school team until a recent game brought back a tide of memories: the angry sound of the buzzer, the same chiropractor's-dream bleachers, and the sight of Coach McKinney-one of the most accomplished and lauded in the state. But there were differences, too: it was Jay-Z not Mellencamp that blared during warm-ups; the height of the players made them leviathans for a high school game; and flair, flavor, and pure athleticism seemed to be more appreciated than the fundamentals.

Clearly, the forces that have transformed Indiana and America-technology, multiculturalism, commercialization, in a world that is growing smaller and more complex-have a parallel impact on basketball. "Indiana," as a local barber says, "is going hip-hop." How are these elements-the new players of foreign heritage; the emphasis on style at the expense of shooting; the growth of the women's game; the influence of big money everywhere-changing the sport?

Wertheim looks for answers by pointing a wide-angle lens at the many sides of the sport-the high school game, the NBA, and everything in between-to find the state of basketball in the state of basketball. Like H. G. Bissinger's Friday Night Lights, Darcy Frey's The Last Shot, and John Feinstein's books, Transition Game is a story of heart, hustle, and an enduring game.

About the Author
L. Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and the author of Venus Envy.


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It seems you can't turn on the television these days without catching a story about the sad, contemptible state of the National Basketball Association. Millionaire point guards are villanized for their salaries, and sportswriters are puzzled by the fast, "hip-hop" style of today's game. When these same sportswriters, Wertheim (Venus Envy: Power Games, Teenage Vixens, and Million-Dollar Egos on the Women's Tennis Tour) among them, so regularly employ the term hip-hop in discussing the decline of the game, it begs the question, do they really mean black? If the days when everyone looked like Larry Bird were so good, and the skill level of the players has only since improved, what's the problem now? Wertheim venerates a golden age of basketball that never existed and is inexcusably ignorant of its present condition. His notion that the fundamentals of the game are disappearing will wither in the eyes of fans who regularly watch whole basketball games and not just the ESPN SportsCenter highlight reels. Far from being in danger, the game is evolving in the hands of many fine players. Though Wertheim is not totally indifferent to the state of the modern game, his naivete, condescending tone, and ham-handed style do not make for a pleasant read. This book is not recommended.-James Miller, Springfield Coll. Lib., MA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.


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