Full Court Pressure

by Curt Sampson

In the brave new world of the NBA, players are marketed like cartoon characters and image is all: pro basketball has become the most hyped product on the planet. Amid the relentless selling of the NBA, it's become increasingly hard to get close to the game, and more importantly, to the human beings who live and breathe hoops: the coaches and players. That's what Full Court Pressure - a detailed, hilarious, poignant look at the Seattle Sonics - accomplishes. Curt Sampson spent the 1993-94 season with the Sonics on and off the court. He casts a jaded and very funny eye at the NBA promotion machine, and he gives the true fan all the X's and O's they want.

Genres: Basketball

255 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Curt Sampson, golf professional turned golf writer, came to golf the old-fashioned way—as a caddie. He looped for his father for a few years on summer Saturday’s, then turned pro, in a manner of speaking, at age 12, as one of the scores of disheveled boys and men in the caddie pen at Lake Forest Country Club in Hudson, Ohio. His golf game developed from sneaking on LFCC at twilight, an occasionally nerve-wracking exercise because the greens keeper intimated a readiness to call the cops on trespassers. Sampson—never caught—progressed as a player and as an employee, scoring a job as starter/cart maintenance boy at age 16 at Boston Hills CC, a public course, also in Hudson. His high water mark as a young golfer was a win in the Mid- American Junior in 1970. Sampson attended Kent State University on a golf scholarship and managed a municipal course for two years following graduation, worked a couple more as an assistant pro at clubs in South Carolina and Tennessee, then bummed around as a touring pro in Canada, New Zealand, and Florida.

In November 1988, Sampson began to write full-time, mostly about the game of his father, golf. Texas Golf Legends, his first book, was collaboration with Santa Fe-based artist Paul Milosevich. Researching TGL gained Sampson introductions with people he has written about many times since: Hogan, Nelson, Crenshaw, Trevino, and a few dozen others. His next book–The Eternal Summer, a recreation of golf’s summer of 1960, when Hogan, Palmer, and Nicklaus battled–is still selling 15 years after its debut, a rarity in the publishing world. Sampson’s biography of the enigmatic William Ben Hogan struck a chord. Both Hogan and his next book, The Masters, appeared on the New York Times bestseller lists. Subsequent books and scores of magazine articles cemented Sampson’s reputation as readable and sometimes controversial writer with an eye for humor and the telling detail.

Reviews

[Judd Vance · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping this would be another "The Franchise." (Cameron Stauth's epic book on the 1989 Pistons). However, it wasn't. Keep in mind, however that "The Franchise" is one of the all-time greats. This book follows the Seattle Sonics through the 1993-94 season--the season in which they finished with the league's best record and became the first #1 seed to lose to a #8 seed in the playoffs.

The book isn't as much on the inside as "The Franchise" and only covers the team aspect, instead of the entire Sonics organization. You see George Karl on and off the court. You see his strong views about today's overpaid crybaby pampered basketball players. You can read more about this in Karl's book "This Game is the Best! (So why Don't They Stop Screwing with It?)." You also learn about the coaching staff's philosophy and you also learn about each of the players on the team, from the superstars like Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton, to the role players like Michael Cage and Nate McMillan, to the practice players like Steve Scheffler. The book runs through the season, the playoffs and through the NBA draft.

You also not only learn about the player's past and Karl's past but also the history of the Sonics franchise.

So what is wrong with it? I personally have a dim view of writers who rely too heavily on vulgarities. Quoting vulgar people is one thing, but peppering your writing with it shows a poor command of the language. It detracted from the story.

Also, it wasn't as in-depth as I had hoped. Also, the story is a bit sad -- no fault of the author's -- because you know the Sonics are going to choke.If you run across the book and don't want to buy it, at least read the story on the back cover, because it is hilarious.