The Punch : One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball...

Your browser does not support JavaScript.To view this page, enable JavaScript if it is disabled or upgrade your browser. Click Here. Double your traffic. Get Vendio Gallery - Now FREE!Feel free to contact seller regarding additional information relating tocondition, photos, description or pricing.Item Description:Little Brown, New York, 2002. by JohnFeinstein.Collectible Hardcover.Book Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. 8vo- over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 366 pages; 0316279722 Beautiful clean, tightbook, beautiful, clean, bright dust jacket. orange lettering on the frontjacket cover an spine of jacket, gray boards with orange spine, bright silverlettering on the spine When a fistfight broke out between the Houston Rocketsand the Los Angeles Lakers one night in 1977, All-Star Rudy Tomjanovitch racedto break it up. He was met by Kermit Washington, a good player with a great reputation,and by an astonishingly ferocious punch, a single blow that has reverberated inboth men's lives ever since. The punch dislodged Tomjanovitch's skull andnearly killed him. Neither man was ever quite the same is again. This is theastonishing story told by one of sports' finest writers.About the book:In 1977, Rudy Tomjanovich and Kermit Washington became entwined ina single punch that would change not only their lives, but how professionalbasketball is played today. Because the punch dislodged Tomjanovich's skull andnearly destroyed both men's careers, the scuffle never settled as a dusty bitof NBA trivia. Instead, it nearly superseded both men's notable achievements.The history of that punch (it could not, by any standards, be considered afight) and the fate of the two men are the subjects of John Feinstein'sThe Punch.In the early days of the NBA, teams had their stars and their"enforcers." Enforcers such as Washingtonprotected star players on the court with their willingness to mix it up. Withconcise prose, Feinstein reports on this era, following strings of trades,drafts, and personal relationships to their nexus. Those who do not think aboutbasketball on a statistical level may occasionally find themselves lost, butFeinstein, ever conscious of his subject, ties the tangents neatly to the coreof the scuffle that led to the infamous punch.Thorough and thoughtful, Feinstein does not make any excuses, nordoes he vilify. He simply traces the web of both men's lives back to theiradolescent years when it was not about the NBA, nor the punch, but about thegame. Anyone who has ever wondered about these two men, or the history of theNBA, will want to read this book.--Karin RosmanAbout the Author:John Feinstein is the bestsellingauthor of THE LAST AMATEURS, A CIVIL WAR, THE MAJORS, and other books. He is acolumnist for America Online and GOLF MAGAZINE and a contributor to theWASHINGTON POST and the WALL STREET JOURNAL. He is a commentator on NationalPublic Radio and an essayist for CBS Sports. He lives in Potomac, Maryland,with his wife, Mary, and their son and daughter.Jacket design by Scott LevineJacket art Courtesy of NBC4, Los AngelesAuthor Photograph by Phil Hoffman(BASKETBALL HISTORY VIOLENCE SPORTS RECREATIONGENERAL A Sports Sports::Basketball) (NBA Basketball Rudy Tomjanovich Kermit Washington) (NONFICTIONSPORT SPORTS TEAM TEAMS TECHNIQUES HISTORYHOW TO COMPETITION COMPETITORSCOMPETE FIGHT PLAY ATHLETESTRATEGIES TACTICS DEFENSE OFFENSIVE RULESREGULATIONSOPPONENT POSITION GUARD DEFENSIVE OFFENSE WIN LOSE ATHLETICSCORECHAMPION CHAMPIONSHIP...)Your browser does not support JavaScript.To view this page, enable JavaScript if it is disabled or upgrade your browser.