Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25 years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach. Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps said, "I used this book as an inspiration for the biggest win of my career when we ended UCLA's all-time 88-game winning streak in 1974."

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. Click the Book to read the players telling their stories in their own words. This is the book that UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan tried to ban.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information.

No Country For Old Men (7/10)

by Tony Medley

Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) finds a pickup truck in the middle of the desert with dead bodies all around. Looking around, he also finds a briefcase with $2 million in hundred dollar bills, which he takes. This sets of a chain of events that changes the lives of Moss, Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (a laconic Tommy Lee Jones), Llewelyn’s wife, Carla Jean (an impressive Scot, Kelly MacDonald), and just about everyone else involved.

The heavy in all this is a psychopathic killer, Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), who wants the money and kills without emotion or compunction.

For about 105 minutes, this is a compelling thriller as the cocky, but aware Llewelyn is trying to keep away from Anton and Sheriff Bell and protect Carla Jean. But, just as it seems as if we are at a climax, the story lingers, and lingers, and lingers, then ends with an unsatisfying whimper, confirming the existential nihilism apparent in Chigurh’s character.

The film is based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, which I did not read, and is apparently meant to be an ode to modern times, ergo the disappointing ending. Maybe so, but movies are a medium in themselves, and need to stand on their own. When this movie ended, I was anything but satisfied. I find it hard to believe that they tested this film before releasing it because I can’t imagine any positive audience reaction to the ending.

Brolin gives the performance of his career as the man who took the money and is running from his demons. While Bardem is an exceptional talent, he’s not called on to do anything special here. In fact, in other hands Anton could have been a horrific figure of doom. But, even though he’s a pretty terrible guy, the film doesn’t capture nearly as much tension as it could as he’s tracking down his victims. I could picture a really scary villain, a monster, one whose presence is signaled by a terrifying musical signature; like Steven Speilberg did for the shark in Jaws (1975). But this movie doesn’t present that. No question about it, Anton is a bad guy, a cold-blooded killer whose presence is to be feared, but neither Bardem nor the Coens present him as anything other than, well, a bad guy who kills unemotionally and who is best avoided.

One good line that epitomizes Anton’s character is when he’s talking with one of his victims, who says, “You don’t have to do this.” Replies Anton, in a soft, agreeable voice, with a hint of resignation, “That’s what they all say.”

Even though for me it fell apart at the end, for an hour and a half, this is as good a chase thriller as you could want.