The Game - Review by Rayce McCulloch

 The Game centers on a snapshot of life with the Montreal Canadians during the 1978-79 NHL season, as the famous Canadian club marched toward its fourth consecutive title. This was Dryden's final pro season and he did it right.  This book was well written almost like you were on the ice with the team reading their thoughts and feeling the pressure.  This book was an easy read and very attention grabbing.

Ken Dryden took his knowledge of hockey from his days of playing and wrote his thoughts and how the team did with the same feelings he had for the sport itself.  I wish he wrote this book so if you didn’t follow hockey or understand how the sport is played you still knew what he was saying.  During the story he shares his thoughts and feelings it makes you feel like he just pulled you into his head and could feel everything he was saying as your eyes flowed across the pages. 

Ken Dryden shared the highs and the lows in his life in this book and also his team mates thoughts.  The team won the championship four straight times naming themselves the number one team in the hockey league.  Everybody knew about the Canadians and understood the emotion they put into the sport.  He words everything in a way that it hits your heart not bounce off of your eyes as you read.  I thought the book was a great book and I tell anybody that likes to read sport books to read it.  This book isn’t just words on a page it’s a life lesson hidden between each word in the book.

Tales from Michigan State Basketball - Review by Robbie Funk

Tales from Michigan State Basketball

By Gregory Kelser and Steve Grinczel

Review by Robbie Funk

Having never been on the Michigan State basketball team and probably never will Greg Kelser and Steve Grinczel made me feel like I was a part of the team when I read their book Greg Kelser’s Tales from Michigan State Basketball. In the gymnasium of Jenison Field House, Greg Kelser and the Michigan State Spartans go from being one of the worst teams in the state of Michigan to the top team in his four years in East Lansing. Not only did I feel like I was on the team, but I felt as if I were on the bench of the packed gymnasium when the Spartans flew past their opponents at home. Literally jumping out of the gym and slamming the ball down with authority. Magic, Greg, Terry Donnelly, and Jay Vincent running and executing the offense designed by head coach Judd Heathcote. Not only does the book talk about the season; it talks about the aftermath of playing at Michigan State and the careers of players after college.

The thing that really stood out to me about this book was that it was a recap of every game that the Spartans played, but it talks about the rest of Greg Kelser and his teammate’s lives along with their careers. I really enjoyed reading about all the different places that Greg and the team went. The book is set up so that you get a sense of imagery when you read it. Like I stated before, you feel like you are right there at the games when they played.

Did you know that Greg Kelser lived in Okinawa for part of his youth and moved to many different states? At one point he went to six different high schools in one year. He never was at a place long enough to win a high school championship. The last high school that he attended was Henry Ford High School in Michigan. Not only did he never win a championship, but also the farthest he and his team made it was to the district round of the tournament.  So until he graduated and went to Michigan State, “Special K”, as they called him, had never experience winning on the big stage. In fact it was until his junior year at MSU when a man by the name of Earvin “Magic” Johnson arrived on campus and turned it all around.

At six foot eight inches Magic ran the point and distributed the ball like a madman, averaging a double double in almost every game that he played as a Spartan. He could really do it all: pass, shoot, rebound, play defense, run the floor, and block shots. This man could play. In fact his freshman year he and Kelser led the team to a Big Ten Championship and to the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament. But before he even set foot on the campus as an enrolled student Magic had an impact on the culture and activity around it. He used to come and play in the pick up games at Jenison Field house. One time he came and had a bad cut on his hand. He wasn’t supposed to play at all so he played left-handed. He dribbled left-handed, passed left-handed, and shot left-handed with no affect on his game. Magic was easily the best player because of his ability to do everything with both of his hands.

Michigan State had a peculiar National Championship season; they didn’t have quite the regular season that everyone expected. Having only lost three games the season before. A season with more than five losses was very strange. The legendary game that the Spartans won verses Ohio State to get their season back on track was a strange win. Just before he was about to make his very first career start as a freshman Gerald Busby left the team and did not return. Not quite what you expect when you think of the caliber team that MSU was. After Ohio State the Spartans started to roll again. They split the Big Ten Championship and were co winners. The NCAA tournament was extremely tough to get into, even if you won your conference. So the fact that they made the tournament with five losses was a surprise.

Some of the incredible information that I learned when I read this book was amazing. Those two big paragraphs aren’t even a tenth of the information that I learned in Tales from Michigan State Basketball. Many don’t realize that the same season that they won the national championship in 1979 that Michigan State team represented the United States overseas and won a gold medal against the top ranked national teams. Not many people understand that they did that and how big of an accomplishment it was. Had I not read this book I wouldn’t know half of the things that went on at MSU during the four years Greg Kelser was there and the years beyond. 

This truly is the perfect book for anyone who loves sports history and learning about what it was like to play on the big stage back then and compare it to what it is like now. Like I said over and over before, this book is full of facts about Michigan State basketball and players that attended that amazing school of green and white. It really gives you the sense that had Earvin, Kelser, jay Vincent, Terry Donnelly, and others not played at MSU and won that national championship the legacy of Michigan State Basketball would’ve never been this amazing. Who knows if they would’ve had the Flint Stones, Mateen Cleaves, and Mo Pete? It’s hard to say, but reading this book will give you truth and the behind the scenes action that you have dreamt of your whole life.

This novel is a biography of Michigan State and the wonderful people who played and attended the university. This book is a tribute to the teams that played in the retired Jenison field house where Special K, Magic, and some of the boys would play games. Where they would laugh and have fun together as they went through some of the best times of their life.

The true theme of this book was that hard work pays off. Every day in the off season and even during the season the team would get together and work on their game. Sure they would mess around a little, but once they got down to business it was pure tough hard-nosed basketball. They weren’t just working hard, but they were having fun too. Because they worked hard in the off season they were able to have tons of fun during the actually season in 1978 and 79.

While these amazing stories about Michigan State basketball took place almost thirty-five years ago, the team chemistry is what really shows today. Back then that team was the most together team probably in the entire United States at the time. The 1979 Michigan State National Championship still is the most watch title game to this day. This book reflects on that season and gives an entirely different view of the Michigan State University basketball team from 1973 all the way to some of the players from the 2000 season. Any MSU fan would enjoy this book and love reading about all of the players/staff who helped with the incredible Michigan State program. I think even if you are a Michigan fan you would enjoy reading about the hall of fame players that went through the program of Michigan State University. Greg Kelser’s Tales of Michigan State basketball is one of the few books that I enjoyed reading, which is a big statement coming from a guy who hates reading. So if you’re unsure give this book a shot to blow your mind like the way March Madness does every single year. Anything could happen. All the book needs is a chance.

Divergent - Review by Renae Morton

Divergent

By Veronica Roth

Review by Renae Morton

I have never been faced with a choice in choosing between loyalties; between friends family or what you wish to do, but that is what Beatrice, the main character, must do in Divergent by Veronica Roth.  What would you choose?  Go with your heart or stay loyal to your family?  I know I would have a hard choice.  Disappointing my parents by going a different route or follow their steps in life?

Beatrice ends up making her choice and surprising everyone.  Her choice was not foreseen, but it was foreshadowed in the first chapter.  Her choice goes against all that she is, but she ends up finding a way to make it all work out.  This was a start of a great book, and that is what kept me reading until the novel was finished. 

 She ends up meeting a boy called Four and falls in love.  It is a dangerous love to handle because he is a higher authority in her new city.  There are factions that she can choose from to live her life.  She ends us choosing the faction that keeps her alive but watched.  People have a hard time seeing how she is surviving by herself in her stature, small, skinny and frail. 

Caleb is Beatrice’s brother who wound up in a different faction than what she was in.  Because of this they were never supposed to see each other, but they bent the rules to try and figure out a mystery that had started.  Living in different factions only make piecing the puzzle together even harder for them.

With so many different characters working to get out of training and into the real jobs, they all fight to get there.  This creates drama within the courters that the trainees stay at, since they are co-ed.  From night fights to leaving (to be factionless is like being homeless) to suicide, you have no idea what the characters will be doing next.

Beatrice also holds more power than normal, with some extra power within her genes.  She is not like the others; she could have had three different factions to choose from.  That is dangerous for the countries leaders because they do not respond to any trickery that the leaders play on the faction populations.

I appraise this author for coming up with such a great first book in the trilogy.  Being only 23, her ideas were some that I would have expected to come out of an older writer.  She has surprised me in many ways in the detail she has expressed in this book.

The major problem that arises though is someone wanting to take over all the factions.  The only way to do so is to kill factions off one by one until surrender.  Beatrice, Four, and Caleb all are fighting to stop this from happening, but three against a few hundred controlled faction followers don’t make the job any easier.  What will happen to the DIVERGENT’s?

Phantoms - Review by Elijah Piepkow

Book Review

Elijah Piepkow

Phantoms by Dean Koontz is a great book. Koontz always seems to find a way to keep you holding his books until you pass out. Phantoms starts off with Dr. Jennifer Paige driving her little sister up to the remote mountains in Snowfield, where Jennifer lives.

The thing about Koontz is his superb way at using imagery throughout the whole book. He even finds use of a long boring drive up to the mountains in the first few pages. “The trees- pine, fir, spruce- looked as if they had been fashioned from the same felt that covered billiard tables”(Koontz pg.10). Then, just as soon as they get to the mountains things get suspicious. Even though this place is basically a ghost town out of ski season, there is no one walking down the street and there is an eerie silence.

They reach Jennifer’s office/house and call the maid with no reply and there was no note saying that she had left. Jennifer’s little sister walks around the isle in the kitchen and makes a horrendous discovery, Hilda Beck (the maid) was dead. The scene was odd, she had signs of being dead for days; however, the food on the countertop was still warm. There was no sign of resistance and it seemed as if it had happened quickly as she was in mid-scream when she had died.

            They leave to tell the deputy, but they find him in the same state. They walk around the small town to find that the residents are like this or missing. Well, all except for the owners of the bakery. Jennifer and Lisa (her sister) walk into the bakery and find a very gruesome scene. A pair of dismembered hands stuck to a rolling pin along with a couple of decapitated heads in the ovens. The imagery through these parts of the book only increases the excitement of wanting to finish this book.

            Something mysterious is lurking in the remote mountains of Snowfield. To find out what is attacking all of the people and if/how they attempt to stop it, you’ll just have to get this book and delve deep into the mind of the master himself.



The Last Shot - Review by Joey Penny

The Last Shot: Book Review

            I’ve never been to the projects, but Darcy Frey makes it seem better then what it is, Coney island is filled with drugs, violence, horrible living conditions, condemn buildings, homeless, and lots of talent laying around, rotting away-unused- as if no one cared about it.  Some use this talent to try to get out of the ghetto, go on to something bigger and better, or it’s wasted; by things such as drugs, crime, bad grades, ACT’s, and SAT’s. They take the shot, putting in all of their heart, blood, sweet, tears, life, career, faith, willingness, and all of their power to make The Last Shot.

            The in-depth look at how these superstars where made is the best part. The practices they do are intense like P90X. The skills they have are amazing, they wow me in the NBA on TV, but the details Darcy Frey puts in is better than watching them move fast and swiftly around the defenders, driving to the hoop. The court is where the best action takes place, but off the court is where the drama and romance takes place. The air is filled with hormones and dumb filled brains of the high school students.

            It’s not the romance that keeps you interested in this book to the point where you can put it down, and that is the hope of the young men trying to get out, get out of the ghetto and into the world, to get out and do better than family members of the past. Theirs failure, and success but it all comes with a price. They all pay the price for the shot of getting that division 1 scholarship, playing for a top dog-while getting there four year bachelor’s degree at one of the leading schools across the nation-earning their spot in the world. That’s their real goal, the goal of getting a degree, a better education, to get a good paying job, to get out and escape their past and the ghettos.

            Darcy Frey makes every second of The Last Shot very energetic and enthusiastic. The details and time she puts into every sentence keeps you reading to see what happens. The literary terms used in this book are unbelievable for two reasons. The first reason is how well their connected together and flow from one to another. The second is how well the reader is able to analysis it. This book clearly deserves a10 out of 10 for a rating, or 5 out of 5 stars. It’s one of the best all around books I’ve read in a long time, especially when it comes to sports.

Moneyball - Review by Joe Barr

Moneyball

By Michael Lewis

Review by Joe Barr

I have never been a manager or a scout of a baseball team, but Michael Lewis takes you first hand into the Oakland Athletics baseball club and what he did to make an unorganized and pathetic team into a booming World Series contending team, all for their great coach Billy Beane. Never knowing how Beane was capable of such a thing, he takes you through his journey of off season training, a scouting report, spring training, and the long journey of the first season. Lewis made me feel like I was a part of Moneyball.

Moneyball is associated with the Oakland Athletics, a major league baseball team. I love this book because I am a huge follower and fan of baseball.  The Athletics only start with a couple decent players and moved their way up onto some three star and eventually some four star players. This book really explains how many people can work together and make a masterpiece.

The reader will realize what coached will do on a daily basis during practice. During the book you will be in the atmosphere of the stadium or in a business seat listening to other people talk about the draft and what they are going to pick or trades that could possibly be made. This makes me want to want to jump through the words in the book and start taking ground balls with the players.

This book is based on a true story about the baseball club and if they ever were able to get back financially and become a good baseball franchise. This is only one of the many reasons to read Moneyball. If you think this book is just about baseball, you’re wrong. This book has more about financial problems. This book really is an eye opener for the everyday baseball guru and also the guy that doesn’t like the game.

The character of Billy Beane really shows readers that anything is possible with hard work, integrity, and discipline. Many times Billy would show readers how to make the best out of the worst scenario possible. Billy had to outsmart many of the higher budgeted programs and take undeveloped baseball players into a new revolution of baseball.

Being a fan of baseball, I have read Moneyball by Michael Lewis and have enjoyed every flip of the page. He connects you with the things that are happening, and it encourages you to keep reading when you think you have to put the book down. This book was well rounded with really motivating parts and a lot of action coming to you. This book is a must read for any baseball fan.

Moneyball was awarded the number one New York Times bestseller. Michael Lewis also wrote some other popular books such as The Blind Side, The Big Short, and Liar’s Poker. Moneyball  is an amazing book, and I would recommend it to anybody.

Iceman - Review by Garrett Latta

The book I read was Iceman by Chuck Liddell. If I were to rate this book, I would give it a 9/10.  The author really makes you feel like you are inside the ring fighting for the light heavyweight title. The way Chuck walks you through each one of his fights and even what first started his passion for the sport of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).  Chuck puts a lot of detail in each one of the fights he is describing. Chuck describes every punch that was thrown.           

            Reading this book makes you feel as if you are in the front row of the stadium watching each one of these fights go down. The part I like is before Chuck entered the UFC, he talks about how he used to get in fights all the time on the street and how he was always sort or poor.  Chuck talks about how he always went to The Pit (his gym) and trained when he was bored and this got him noticed by UFC president Dana white which lead to a few fights when he wasn’t getting paid very much for but after he won a few it got him more and more noticed.

            The experiences Liddell faced are the reason I loved this book he makes you feel like he feels when he wins the light heavy weight belt the detail makes you feel as if you are right there in the ring with him and you feel excited for him.  Other parts such as when one of his family members passes away you feel sad for him the detail in this book really drives you emotion to the way Chuck was feeling in the book. Every fight he wins feels like you are winning.

Chuck goes through every step he had to take to get the belt he starts off when he was a little kid and talks about how he liked fight, then he takes you into his teenage years when he

was doing wrestling and the goes through his years as a adult whether he was fighting Tito Ortiz or Babalu he tells you about every fight and every training regiment he had to go through to become the champion.

            I feel that this is one of the few books I could read more than once because the hole time when he’s describing a fight you are always rooting for him to knock the other guy out Chuck Liddel is a legendary fighter who was known for his quick and heavy hands and a positive “he knocks me out or I knock him out ether way this fight is gonna end in a knockout attitude” after being the champion for some time liddel got into the UFC hall of fame and then I feel he wrote a 9/10 great book.