Jack McCallum

Documents the story of the Olympic squad that won the gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games, assessing the achievements and legacy of some of the NBA's greatest players, including Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Charles Barkley.

How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever

Dream Team

Sports Illustrateds" chief NBA writer offers an insiders view of the Phoenix Suns and takes a season-long look at the NBAs most exciting and controversial team.

My Season on the Bench with the Runnin' and Gunnin' Phoenix Suns

Seven Seconds Or Less

Recounts how the Celtics' 1990-91 season fell apart after Bird, McHale, and Parish were injured and the innovative coach was criticized in a city rife with racial tension for using young black players to change the Celtic's style

On and Off the Court with the 1990-91 Boston Celtics

Unfinished Business

"During their 1971-72 championship season, the L.A. Lakers won thirty-three games in a row ... a run of uninterrupted dominance that predated by decades the overwhelming firepower of today's Warriors, a revolutionary team whose recent seasons include some record-threatening win streaks of their own. Tying together the two strands [of the] story is Hall of Famer [Jerry] West, the ferociously competitive Laker guard who later became one of the key architects of the Warriors"--Amazon.com.

West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball

Golden Days

Crispus Attucks High School, Oscar Robertson, and the Hidden History of Hoops

Real Hoosiers

An in-depth biography of the famed Japanese American restaurateur, his rags to riches story, his determination in business, and his zest for life. "Traveling the world with my father, watching him interact with people, famous and ordinary, observing up close his balls-out sense of adventure, and having a larger-than-life personality to live up to had a profound effect on me and the formation of my character." —From the foreword by Steve Aoki, Grammy–nominated producer and Billboard Award–winning DJ Hiroaki "Rocky" Aoki was a man who succeeded in everything he pursued—from world-class wrestling, ballooning, underwater exploration, and car and boat racing to founding Benihana. Rocky's passion for life infected all around him and accelerated the exchange of Japanese culture and cuisine with America. His rags to riches story, from dishwasher and busboy to owner of a multi-million-dollar restaurant empire, is a wild American dream realized unlike any other. Running and expanding the business would be all-consuming for most people—not to mention battling the perception of otherness—but Rocky would not be deterred. His determination for the business rivaled the drive he demonstrated in his other interests, some of which almost killed him. American Hiro by Jack McCallum, who had full access to Rocky Aoki and those in his enterprises, provides the only full inside account of one of the most famous symbols of cultural assimilation and capitalistic zeal in modern US history—a champion in business, sports, and life.

The Adventures of Benihana's Rocky Aoki and How He Built a Legacy

American Hiro

Jon Wertheim

From two senior Sports Illustrated writers comes an explosive, fast-paced satire that will do for today's NBA what North Dallas Forty did for the NFL a generation ago. Just months from his Yale graduation, street-smart whiz kid Jamal Kelly leaves school to take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the front office of the Los Angeles Lasers. Once on the West Coast, Jamal gets a quick introduction to a subculture awash in big egos and fast cars, as well as an introduction to the charms of the team's new hard-charging beat writer, Jilly Forrester. In the spirit of Primary Colors and The Devil Wears Prada, Foul Lines peels back the curtain on the trappings of big-time professional basketball. No other sport encapsulates so many cultural hot-button topics, and Foul Lines at once exposes and lampoons this parallel universe.

A Pro Basketball Novel

Foul Lines

The bestselling author of Dream Team tells the interconnected stories of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and the early-1970s Los Angeles Lakers, two extraordinary teams playing in extraordinary times and linked by one extraordinary man: Jerry West. With an update on Jerry West’s new gig In Golden Days, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum uses two teams—today’s Golden State Warriors and the L.A. Lakers of the early 1970s—to trace the dynamic history of the National Basketball Association, which for much of the last half-century has marched memorably through the state of California. Tying together the two strands of McCallum’s story is Hall of Famer Jerry West, the ferociously competitive Laker guard who later became one of the key architects of the Warriors. With “the Logo” as his guide, McCallum takes us deep into the locker rooms and front offices of these two era-defining teams, leveraging the access and authority he has amassed over his forty-year career to create a picture of the cultural juggernaut that the NBA has become. Featuring up-close-and-personal portraits of some of the biggest names in basketball history, from Wilt Chamberlain to Steve Kerr to the transcendent duo of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, as well as an update on the Warriors’ continuing run of dominance and West’s first season with the L.A. Clippers, Golden Days is a history, not just of a changing sport, but a changing America. Featuring vintage photos and contemporary shots of NBA greats including Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Pat Riley, and more. “Full of juicy anecdotes and wagging fun . . . McCallum holds legitimate claim for being the greatest NBA writer of all time.”—The Wall Street Journal “Only one writer I know could pull all this together: two iconic champions, two roundball revolutions, and the deadeye legend whose silhouette binds them both. If basketball writing had a logo, it would be the image of Jack McCallum.”—Lee Jenkins, senior writer, Sports Illustrated “I had the pleasure of playing with, coaching with, and coaching for Jerry West, one of the great influences in the history of the NBA. Golden Days gets at the essence of the man as a player and an executive, while also exploring today’s game through the Golden State Warriors.”—Pat Riley, president, Miami Heat “An original, fascinating, and breezy read.”—Zach Lowe, senior writer, ESPN

Army Chief of Staff, Medal of Honor winner, commander of the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War, Governor General of the Philippines, and presidential candidate, Wood was one of a select cadre of men that transformed the American military at the turn of the century, turning it into a modern fighting force and the nation into a world power.".

Rough Rider, Surgeon, Architect of American Imperialism

Leonard Wood

For the last 20 years, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED has collected and featured weekly signs from the world of sports that the Apocalypse is upon us: Tales of frenzied fans, egomaniacal coaches, Hall of Famers who run afoul of the law, mind-boggling bureaucracy, violent behavior and tastelessness run amok. In 18 humorous chapters, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED brings us all the sports insanity, including examples like: 12/27/93 In an effort to help notoriously dour Norwegians appear more cheerful during the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, local officials planned to distribute 80,000 “smile holders"—strap-on devices equipped with plastic hooks that tug the wearers’ mouths into grins. 9/22/08 A 33-year-old Green Bay woman allegedly stole her estranged 15-year-old daughter’s identity and enrolled in high school because she wanted to be a cheerleader. 1/29/07 A Chicago woman had labor induced three days early so her husband could attend the NFC championship game. THE SPORTS ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE APOCALYPSE presents two decades of proof that people who play sports, coach sports, run sports, cover sports and watch sports are sometimes out of their collective mind.

Jack McCallum

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