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. This is the only book that gives a true picture of the character of John Wooden and the influence of his assistant, Jerry Norman, whose contributions Wooden  ignored and tried to bury.

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. The players tell their 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.

Just Go With It (1/10)

by Tony Medley

Run time 116 minutes

Not for children.

I’ve been rooting for Jennifer Anniston for years. I thought she would make it as a terrific light romantic comedienne and I admired her spunk for appearing in indies, films that seemed to me to be below the star material for which she could aim. This unfortunate outing shows how low she has sunk, having to co-star with Adam Sandler, no less, for whom actual humor is but a forlorn dream. Sandler has a nice smile, but his stock in trade, I guess, is mumbling through his lines. I don’t know if that’s the way he actually speaks, but he’s an actor and he should be able to learn how to speak in a way that is not normal for him. If mumbling is normal, he might consider forsaking it when he’s onscreen. If it’s not normal, he needs to rethink how he wants to be perceived as an actor.

Sandler aside, this reeks of bromidity. It’s based on Abe Burrows’ and I.A.L. Diamond’s Cactus Flower. That film, however, had Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and Goldie Hawn as its stars, and the acting, especially Hawn and Matthau, is what made it moderately popular. That’s a big leap for people like Anniston, Sandler, and Brooklyn Decker, and they aren’t even close to being up to it. Anniston squints her way through it while Sandler mumbles and Brooklyn Decker flashes her ample breasts.

To make up for the lack of humor supplied by the stars, it’s filled with the stock gay stereotypes that directors like Dennis Dugan seem to think bring humor when the scripted lines and acting can’t accomplish that purpose. Dugan (and writers Alan Loeb, who was also responsible for the misogynistic The Dilemma which came out last month, and Timothy Dowling) has a gay hairdresser, a gay concierge, and even one of the main characters is gay even though we are led to believe throughout the film that he’s heterosexual.

This thing seems a lot longer than the credited 116 minutes. The only possible redeeming virtues are appealing performances by Nicole Kidman as Anniston’s college nemesis and Bailee Madison as Anniston’s annoyingly precocious daughter, and some nice Hawaiian locations.