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: Josh Hamilton 13 Apr 15

by Tony Medley

Josh Hamilton: Arbitration is the worst of all dispute resolution remedies. The reason is that the arbitrator is not bound by the law or the facts. An arbitrator can render any kind of decision he or she wants and the parties are bound by it, even if the facts are clearly contrary to the decision. There are virtually no rights of appeal. This is where major league baseball and the Angels find themselves today.

Here’s what Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program says: “A Player who is determined by the Treatment Board to have not complied with an Initial Evaluation or a Treatment Program for a Drug Abuse (other than Marijuana, Hashish and Synthetic THC) will be subject to the discipline set forth below.” And it goes on to list various disciplines for first, second, and subsequent violations.

Josh Hamilton clearly violated the terms of the drug treatment program to which he was committed. He used prohibited drugs while he was in the treatment program. If that’s not a violation, what is? But baseball and the Angels are bound by the terms of their agreement with the Players Association to arbitrate disputes. Astoundingly, the independent arbitrator, called in when the four arbitrators, two from MLB and two from the union, split 2-2, found that Hamilton did not violate the drug treatment program.

The Angels are, naturally, incensed at this decision. They signed Hamilton to a five-year $125,000,000 contract, the terms of which required him to play baseball and stay off drugs. He did play baseball, although many may validly argue that the quality of his play wouldn’t have earned him a starting spot in Ponca City much less the major leagues, but he did not stay off drugs. The Angels are well within their rights to claim that he breached his contract and that they do not owe him any more money.

It’s equally astounding that there are people who criticize the Angels for taking this position. True, signing Hamilton to such a huge contract was lunacy from the outset. But had Hamilton simply complied with the terms of the contract and stayed off drugs he would’ve been able to collect his $125,000,000 despite his putrid performance, and the Angels would have paid it, hopefully learning an expensive lesson. But he didn’t stay off drugs. The Angels should continue to exert every effort to avoid paying him any more money. This is business and a contract is a contract. Just because someone is weak or stupid or drug addicted is no reason not to enforce the terms of the contract.

LVP (Least Valuable Player) Russell Westbrook: In response to criticism of the number of shots he takes (43  in 40 minutes of playing time, which averages out to more than one shot every 28 seconds for when OKCY had possession, on April 12 in another losing effort by Oklahoma City), Westbrook, who only spent one year getting education at UCLA, said, “I don’t really give a damn what nobody says, to tell you the truth.” Of course, that’s a double negative and what poor Russell really said was that he does give a damn about what people do say. But he probably doesn’t care about that, either.

Worst Person in Sports: If you’re the person in Los Angeles who watches Keith Olbermann’s TV show (and it’s not a bad show when he stays away from his virulent political rantings like the nickname “Redskins” and extolling sports figures for posing the fraudulent “hands up, don’t shoot”), then you know that one of his segments is to pick the three “worst persons in the sports world” for that day. On April 7, 2015, the day after the NCAA Final Four championship game that was totally bollixed by the NCAA’s incompetent referees, Olbermann chose as his third worst person the trainer for the baseball Kansas City Royals. For his second worst person, he chose the scoreboard operator for the NCAA championship game. And for his number one worst person of the day he picked somebody from baseball’s Miami Marlins. For not picking the NCAA’s basketball referees as the Worst Persons of the Day, I am choosing the Worst Person of That Day as…Keith Olbermann.