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.

Deadpool 2 (1/10)

by Tony Medley

Runtime 128 minutes.

R

The original Deadpool was an incoherent satire poking fun at superhero movies that has earned $783,112,979 as of May 14 on a budget of $48 million.

Because this is a parody on superhero movies, it should be something I would like, given my loathing of the genre. Oh, there are some inside jokes, lots of them, about movies and music, and other things. Probably worse are the self-congratulatory winks it gives itself throughout.

Ryan Reynolds again plays the caustic titular superhero, but there is not one second in this codswallop that is even the slightest bit entertaining, after you got the joke.

While the idea of putting down this junky genre is appealing, it would have been so much better had it not been so unremittingly violent. Shameful filmmakers like these must share some of the responsibility for influencing the myriad of school shooters by impressionable teenagers who view video games and films like this that are filled with violence without consequence.

But what a great money maker for Fox! I had actually sworn off this superhero junk, but this was a morning screening in Century City, easy to get to, easy parking, and I didn’t think it would be this long, so I went. I was squirming after the first ten seconds.

Written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (a writing credit was also given to star Reynolds), and directed by David Leitch, who was responsible for the despicably violent John Wick (2014) but also for the violent but entertaining Atomic Blonde (2017), this is primarily a vehicle for special effects and what some people might consider clever dialogue, given Deadpool’s smart-alecky statements throughout.

This film is just a video game gone wild, and that’s no compliment, but it has young teenaged boys panting in anticipation. Whether they are sophisticated enough to appreciate that these films mock the genre that so appeals to them is anybody’s guess.