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 stories in their own words.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information. Also available on Kindle.

Ricki and the Flash (5/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 102 minutes.

OK for children

This clicks every politically correct button known to today’s Hollywood, diversity, equity, homophobia, inclusion, multiculturalism, pluralism, racism, sexism, sexual orientation, and stereotypes. Inexplicably, it omitted undocumented immigrants and global interdependency but I guess there just wasn’t enough time. Oh, yeah, it also shows white, upper middle class people as stiff, inflexible, judgmental snobs.

Given that everyone involved in this, the director and the two stars (Jonathan Demme, Meryl Streep, and Kevin Kline respectively), have a political agenda, this is not too surprising, just disappointing. It would be nice if these talented people could just make a movie to entertain and not try to slip their political ideologies into it. But that’s a pipedream today. They all seem to have an agenda that they want to foist on an unexpecting audience.

Unfortunately, even a polemic like this needs a believable script (Diablo Cody) and situations, which this sorely lacks. The only thing that came close to saving it for me was, amazingly, the music. I say “amazingly” because having seen Meryl Streep destroy a wonderful musical, “Momma Mia,” my expectations for this were extremely low.

What a surprise, then, that the music is so good, due, in large part, to Rick Springfield (“Jessie’s Girl,” a 1982 hit), who plays Meryl’s boyfriend, and Streep herself. And the Flash, the band, plays music throughout that makes you want to get up and dance.

Despite the clichéd story of a dysfunctional family, the only part of this film worth seeing is the music. The rest is silly and soporific.