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.

Sports Medley: The New York Giants are too stupid to compete in the NFL 16 Nov 15

by Tony Medley

The New York Giants’ coaching staff learned nothing from its inexplicable loss to Dallas on opening day when they completely botched clock management. In Sunday’s game against New England they were trailing 24 to 23 with two minutes and six seconds left and a first and goal on New England’s 5. New England only had one timeout left. The idea should be to run as much time off the clock before scoring so that miracle man Tom Brady doesn’t have enough time to come back and beat you.

So run the ball on first down. If you don’t score a touchdown the two-minute warning stops the clock. Run the ball on second down. If you don’t score a touchdown, New England calls its last timeout with, maybe, 1:50 left in the game. Run the ball on third down. If you don’t score a touchdown you can run the clock down to approximately 1 minute left in the game. Kick a field goal. That leaves New England less than a minute to move the ball the 40 yards which would put them in position to kick a field goal with no timeouts.

Instead, the Giants threw a pass on first down. Incomplete. Clock stops with 2:01 left in the game! The Giants didn’t even run enough time to get to the 2 minute warning, so New England preserves its timeout. The Giants threw a pass on second down. Incomplete. Clock stops for the two-minute warning with 1:56 left in the game. Giants have a running play on third down. New England calls its final timeout with1:50 left in the game (finally, but too late). Giants kick field-goal and kick off with 1:47 left in the game. New England takes a touchback so they have a first down on their 20 with 1:47 left in the game, which was just enough time for them to drive down to be into position to kick the game winning 53 yard field goal with one second left on the clock.

Had the Giants passed basic arithmetic and learned how to tell time, and chosen the only smart strategy, outlined above, they would have won the game because after a minute of play after the kickoff, the Patriots had only advanced the ball to their own 40 yard line which was not within field goal range and the game would have ended with the Giants victorious.

American barbarism: “It technically ends with (Ronda) Rousey flat on her back, looking like she might have been unconscious. She was certainly helpless and Holly Holm just wailing away on her face, just punching her left and right. I don’t watch a lot of this but that’s a disturbing sight.” Mike Greenberg, ESPN sports commentator.

Disturbing? Ya think? This is really what a civilized society calls entertainment? One woman beating another into unconsciousness and then continuing to hit her when she’s down and out? This type of “sport” is inhumane. It disgraces the participants, and it debases the people who watch it, the people who televise it, the people who report on it favorably, and our society as a whole. Mixed Martial Arts should be banned throughout the country, as should boxing.

UCLA Penalty Problem: UCLA’s loss on Saturday to Washington State can be traced directly to Jim Mora’s 4 year inability to coach a team that does not commit copious penalties. In their first possession of the game with first and goal on the 5 yard line, UCLA had two consecutive illegal procedure penalties on one down! Starting with first and goal on the 15 instead of the 5, the best they could do was a field goal instead of a touchdown. They lost by those four points (the difference between a field goal and a TD), racking up 13 total penalties. Mora’s flimsy excuse was that the opponents were mimicking quarterback Josh Rosen’s voice calling out signals. Oh yeah? So the opponents only do this against UCLA? Why don’t all teams have this problem? Say what you will, all these farcical penalties are due to nothing but inept coaching.