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12 sports books make a summer reading potluck

These 12 books range from the story of a family of baseball catchers to a tribute to the knuckleball to an introspective exploration by a woman rower and beyond. Together they offer a summer full of good reading.

10. ‘Not a Game: The Incredible Rise and Unthinkable Fall of Allen Iverson,’ by Kent Babb

  • By Ross Atkin Contributor

Despite standing only 6 feet tall and weighing 165 pounds, Allen Iverson emerged as one of the NBA’s most exciting and grittiest players during a 17-year career in the league that ended in 2010. But his troubled past and defiant, hard-living, and controversial ways didn’t position him well to come down off his athletic pedestal, and according to Not a Game, his precipitous drop from superstardom has seen him blow $150 million in his basketball earnings. Washington Post sportswriter Kent Babb lays out the rise and fall of this enigmatic athlete through extensive interviews with those closest to him. 

Here’s an excerpt from Not a Game:

“One thing Iverson did know how to do was get others to do things for him. He rarely drove his own cars, and there was a network of sycophants and coattail riders who were happy to do all manner of task: keep his schedule, buy his clothes, book his travel. Even when his playing career faded and his fortune dissolved, Iverson retained his sense of entitlement – and several of the contacts who would do anything for him. Fame is a powerful thing in modern America: Without personal history or prior relationships, many people want little more that to please a well-known personality or sports figure – favors offered and normal standards abandoned. It is warm and comfortable even in close proximity to fame, that glow too snug to jeopardize with honesty and tough love, explaining the entourage phenomenon that Iverson came to know so well.”

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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