What do you think?
Rate this book
Bubbleball: Inside the NBA's Fight to Save a Season
A captivating account of the NBA’s strangest season ever, from shutdown to championship, from a prominent national basketball writer living inside the bubble
When NBA player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2020, the league shut down immediately, bringing a shocking, sudden pause to the season. As the pandemic raged, it looked as if it might be the first year in league history with no champion. But four months later, after meticulous planning, twenty-two teams resumed play in a "bubble" at Disney World-a restricted, single-site locale cut off from the outside world.
Due to health concerns, the league invited only a handful of reporters, who were required to sacrifice medical privacy, live in a hotel room for more than three months, and submit to daily coronavirus testing in hopes of keeping the bubble from bursting. In exchange for the constant monitoring and restricted movement, they were allowed into a basketball fan's dream, with a courtside seat at dozens of games in nearly empty arenas.
Ben Golliver, the national NBA writer for the The Washington Post , was one of those allowed access. Bubbleball is his account of the season and life inside, telling the story of how basketball bounced back from its shutdown, how players staged headline-grabbing social justice protests, and how Lakers star LeBron James chased his fourth ring in unconventional and unforgettable circumstances. Based on months of reporting in the exclusive, confined environment, this is an entertaining record of an extraordinary season.
When NBA player Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2020, the league shut down immediately, bringing a shocking, sudden pause to the season. As the pandemic raged, it looked as if it might be the first year in league history with no champion. But four months later, after meticulous planning, twenty-two teams resumed play in a "bubble" at Disney World-a restricted, single-site locale cut off from the outside world.
Due to health concerns, the league invited only a handful of reporters, who were required to sacrifice medical privacy, live in a hotel room for more than three months, and submit to daily coronavirus testing in hopes of keeping the bubble from bursting. In exchange for the constant monitoring and restricted movement, they were allowed into a basketball fan's dream, with a courtside seat at dozens of games in nearly empty arenas.
Ben Golliver, the national NBA writer for the The Washington Post , was one of those allowed access. Bubbleball is his account of the season and life inside, telling the story of how basketball bounced back from its shutdown, how players staged headline-grabbing social justice protests, and how Lakers star LeBron James chased his fourth ring in unconventional and unforgettable circumstances. Based on months of reporting in the exclusive, confined environment, this is an entertaining record of an extraordinary season.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 4, 2021
55 people are currently reading
371 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews
June 2, 2021
Man, I really wanted to like this book. I'm a fan of the author and I listen to his podcast. I was hoping this book would be an in-depth analysis and behind-the-scenes look at the NBA playoff bubble in 2020. There IS some of that, but only about 25 percent of the book. The rest is just a cut-and-dried, staid recapping of the playoffs. There's way too much writing about the actual games. A lot of it reads like a Wikipedia page of the 2019-20 NBA season -- just a listing of facts. I was disappointed how dry the writing is. I'm not sure who this book is for. If you're a big NBA fan, you followed the playoffs and already know all this info. If you're not an NBA fan, you won't care enough to read the book.
April 12, 2021
When the NBA shut down operations on March 11, 2020 after Rudy Goebert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the coronavirus, the entire sports world, as well as the league, was thrown into disarray. Amid all the uncertainty, the NBA was working on a plan to try to salvage the season and crown a legitimate champion. How the league did this is captured in this excellent book by Washington Post NBA writer Ben Golliver.
Usually when an author who is not an athlete or part of the subject inserts themself into a book, I believe that it distracts from the actual topic. That was not the case for this book, as Golliver's experiences in the "bubble" where all personnel associated with the league's restart – players, coaches, officials, media and others – were housed and worked, was not only enlightening but absolutely necessary to illustrate what everyone was going through at the Disney sports complex.
Another excellent aspect of the book was how the players responded to the shooting of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake – the most prominent cases of police shootings of Black people. The social justice messages that were on display on the court, player jerseys and stated by players and coaches were just as much a part of the bubble experience as basketball and virus testing. The section on the atmosphere and discussion in the Milwaukee Bucks dressing room when they learned about the Blake shooting was especially profound. Because the locker rooms were much smaller than those of NBA arenas and the soundproofing was not as effective, Golliver was privy to information that he normally wouldn't be and as a result, it was a moving section about the Bucks' decision to not play the Orlando Magic that night.
Of course, the basketball writing was very good as well. He covered all rounds of the playoffs and the completion of the regular season with just the right amount of detail. He didn't get too bogged down with play-by-play descriptions, but these were more than just brief overviews as well. As well as the prose was written, however, when the Los Angeles Lakers were crowned as the 2020 champions after the Miami Heat surprisingly gave them six tough games in the Finals, much like the players, readers will find themselves glad that the odyssey was coming to end. Basketball aficionados will love this book for the inside look of life in the bubble while more casual fans will appreciate this look at the strange but completed 2019-20 NBA season.
I wish to thank Abrams Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Usually when an author who is not an athlete or part of the subject inserts themself into a book, I believe that it distracts from the actual topic. That was not the case for this book, as Golliver's experiences in the "bubble" where all personnel associated with the league's restart – players, coaches, officials, media and others – were housed and worked, was not only enlightening but absolutely necessary to illustrate what everyone was going through at the Disney sports complex.
Another excellent aspect of the book was how the players responded to the shooting of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake – the most prominent cases of police shootings of Black people. The social justice messages that were on display on the court, player jerseys and stated by players and coaches were just as much a part of the bubble experience as basketball and virus testing. The section on the atmosphere and discussion in the Milwaukee Bucks dressing room when they learned about the Blake shooting was especially profound. Because the locker rooms were much smaller than those of NBA arenas and the soundproofing was not as effective, Golliver was privy to information that he normally wouldn't be and as a result, it was a moving section about the Bucks' decision to not play the Orlando Magic that night.
Of course, the basketball writing was very good as well. He covered all rounds of the playoffs and the completion of the regular season with just the right amount of detail. He didn't get too bogged down with play-by-play descriptions, but these were more than just brief overviews as well. As well as the prose was written, however, when the Los Angeles Lakers were crowned as the 2020 champions after the Miami Heat surprisingly gave them six tough games in the Finals, much like the players, readers will find themselves glad that the odyssey was coming to end. Basketball aficionados will love this book for the inside look of life in the bubble while more casual fans will appreciate this look at the strange but completed 2019-20 NBA season.
I wish to thank Abrams Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
June 13, 2021
My expectation was that this was going to have a lot of behind the scenes stuff, that the experience would be like reading a Michael Lewis or Bob Woodward book. Instead we get 70% game recaps , and 30% basic info about how the Disney bubble worked, none of which we didn't already know. I knew as much about how the bubble worked before reading this book. I was looking forward to this, & left very disappointed
October 31, 2021
A fascinating look at the 2020 NBA season in the bubble. Confined to Disney World in the summer of social unrest and BLM, still grieving the loss of Kobe Bryant, while a global pandemic raged, was basketball still important?
Trying to bring some normal in a time that was anything but, this was a terrific glimpse behind the scenes.
Trying to bring some normal in a time that was anything but, this was a terrific glimpse behind the scenes.
May 16, 2022
Wasn’t bad, but I expected more behind the scenes information. I enjoyed the commentary on the protests and everything that happened around the refusal to play the bucks game, but most of the information wasn’t anything I didn’t already know just by being a big basketball fan.
January 15, 2023
As as basketball fan, I knew I had to read this and having been "on the frontlines" in Southern California (2019-2022) during my medical residency, I wanted to see how a basketball journalist and not just any journalist, but Ben Golliver, a fellow native Oregonian, whose parents live the place I call home in the greater Portland area, had seen and experienced things on the "outside". I witnessed the LA area when the tragedy of Kobe Bryant's sudden tragic death occurred, on top of the chaos of 2020 unfolded with all the changes - of course, including the sudden, dramatic shut-down of the NBA season and what followed when it re-started in the "bubble"
Though I knew about the games which Ben goes through in the meat of the book, I didn't mind it - though I know many have complained about this aspect of the book. As a whole, it was still great to read through how things went down and his view of it. And I think it was important to document, for posterity, how all these events, both within and outside of the basketball community, went down.
Though I knew about the games which Ben goes through in the meat of the book, I didn't mind it - though I know many have complained about this aspect of the book. As a whole, it was still great to read through how things went down and his view of it. And I think it was important to document, for posterity, how all these events, both within and outside of the basketball community, went down.
June 17, 2023
Really enjoyed this one. It has the fear that Covid brought, the relief of the distraction that basketball brings and the seriousness of all the social unrest in 2020.
December 4, 2023
Interesting book about a fascinating time in the NBA and society as a whole. I watched every bubble game because I was so thirsty for for sports, so this book was right up my wheelhouse. Drags a little towards the end, which I think is because the book functions more as a recap with little tidbits sprinkled in. You can tell the author is a basketball fan, which makes the book even better because he speaks the language and doesn’t sound like an outsider. Highly recommend for basketball fans
April 4, 2021
This book is the first one I've seen about a major sports league trying to make a go of it during the 2020 pandemic. It's a worthy read about the subject.
The initial chapters were a struggle for me. I first thought it was because the book was boring and not for me. But as I read on and reflected, I realized that Golliver was expertly recounting the feelings of aimlessness and general despair most of us had. It is still viscerally uncomfortable for me to think about what was happening in March and April 2020. I wasn't prepared to recount it so soon.
The action in the book picks up once Golliver reaches the bubble. I enjoyed the little details he talked about, like taking pictures of the same egret and seeing different coaches and luminaries while out on his walks. It's this type of atmosphere that takes a reader to a place instead of reading a bunch of bland facts. I can get that information from wire reports from those games. It's the behind the scenes action that I read these types of books for. Golliver certainly delivered in the regard.
The social justice crises around the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as the Jacob Blake shooting were expertly discussed. The anecdotes captured the anger with the Floyd and Blake incidents, as well as the helplessness when Taylor's killers weren't indicted. the discussions about the stoppage of play because of the Milwaukee Bucks was especially enlightening. I didn't feel like there were good or bad guys in that situation, just people processing their grief differently. If only all writing about the horrors of police brutality could be so evocative, perhaps the country could experience the fear and pain of people of color.
I recommend this book to all fans of the NBA, as well as people who want a snapshot of how one group of people dealt with the 2020 pandemic.
The initial chapters were a struggle for me. I first thought it was because the book was boring and not for me. But as I read on and reflected, I realized that Golliver was expertly recounting the feelings of aimlessness and general despair most of us had. It is still viscerally uncomfortable for me to think about what was happening in March and April 2020. I wasn't prepared to recount it so soon.
The action in the book picks up once Golliver reaches the bubble. I enjoyed the little details he talked about, like taking pictures of the same egret and seeing different coaches and luminaries while out on his walks. It's this type of atmosphere that takes a reader to a place instead of reading a bunch of bland facts. I can get that information from wire reports from those games. It's the behind the scenes action that I read these types of books for. Golliver certainly delivered in the regard.
The social justice crises around the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as the Jacob Blake shooting were expertly discussed. The anecdotes captured the anger with the Floyd and Blake incidents, as well as the helplessness when Taylor's killers weren't indicted. the discussions about the stoppage of play because of the Milwaukee Bucks was especially enlightening. I didn't feel like there were good or bad guys in that situation, just people processing their grief differently. If only all writing about the horrors of police brutality could be so evocative, perhaps the country could experience the fear and pain of people of color.
I recommend this book to all fans of the NBA, as well as people who want a snapshot of how one group of people dealt with the 2020 pandemic.
April 5, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: I WAS A HOSTAGE AT “THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is an endless list of things that are life-changing… and life-ending… due to the worst pandemic the world has encountered in over one-hundred-years. Then… below that list is professional sports. There is definitely a benefit of continuing the lower-level value of sports… or otherwise FDR would not have seen the importance to give the Presidential approval to continue Major League Baseball during World War II… for the entertainment of the United States citizens. But when baseball returned it wasn’t purposely marred with continual political protests… non-player and non-team verbiage on the back of jerseys…and on the actual playing surface of the courts… and just about every other game commercial.
The question of how we got to this current situation/dilemma… is the subject of this well written and defined book by Ben Golliver. The country and the world are losing massive amounts of lives… and jobs… and at a lower level of importance… professional sports is losing many… many… lifetime fans in America. It is almost like going to a church or synagogue to pray and look for peace… and then a basketball… baseball… or football game breaks out… right in the middle of your prayers and respectful solitude! People dealing with personal yearlong quarantines… and the death of loved ones… turn to their beloved sports… and are inundated… and literally forced to hear and watch political rants and protests… when all the individual was trying to do was forget the stark realities of the world for an hour or so. TV sets and hearts and minds are being clicked off perhaps forever and the long term implications of diminished interest and revenues could be felt for decades. And as you will soon learn that no matter how they try to mask the true intentions of the NBA playing during this time in our history… it’s all about the money. And the author makes that clear!
“MONEY WAS NO SMALL FACTOR. NBA TEAMS CLEARED $2 MILLION PER REGULAR SEASON GAME, ON AVERAGE, AND ROUGHLY 40 PER PERCENT OF THE NBA’S $8 BILLION ANNUAL REVENUE CAME FROM GAME-RELATED SOURCES LIKE TICKET SALES, PARKNG, AND MERCHANDISE.”
The average fan may also wonder… why did the NBA settle on a specific number of games to play? Well of course… it had to hit an already contracted for minimum amount of games to not void their multi-billion dollar TV contracts.
Wrapped around all the money-issues… which is really all the NBA truly cares about… is the wonderful chronological… almost wide-eyed reporting by the author. He starts right from the beginning… his own fears… uncertainties… and his entire world… like ours… that changed completely in the blink of an eye. He also started dealing out possible blame from all sides… from politics… to business ethics… and the players who put their greed for money right up there with health safety. It’s almost nauseating when players that are literally making TENS-OF-MILLIONS-OF-DOLLARS-PER-YEAR… complained… whined… cried… and acted like it was a near death experience to spend ninety-odd-days… in a five-star hotel… with round the clock room service… gourmet meals… chartered fishing boats… and more. Well Hell! I’m an **HONORABLY*DISCHARGED*VIET*NAM*ERA*VETERAN**… let them serve a tour lying face down in a rice paddy or sand dune while hearing enemy gunfire… being paid near minimum wage… before you demand sympathy from a pandemic ridden world!
To me the most enjoyable parts of the book is surely the author’s growth as he really learns first hand not only his circumstance in the mix of the daily survival in the unique bubble… but how the NBA down to the smallest detail invested in making the completion of this historic season possible.
To the NBA’s credit… in addition to constant temperature checks… wrist bands that beeped if people got too close together… covid tests… security boundaries throughout the multiple hotels… and even… “THE REFEREES ATTACHED LITTLE BAGS TO THEIR WHISTLES TO CATCH SPITTLE.”
As the bigger picture of the author’s shrinking geographic world and shrinking personal freedom really permeated his mind… he stated: “In a way, the dystopian Big Brother elements of my new life represented a public health utopia. Deep in Central Florida, I was getting a taste of what life was like in Taiwan, New Zealand, and other foreign countries that had been hailed for their coronavirus response. The rules and routines bogged me down, but I felt thankful for my privileges. And guilty about them too.”
Perhaps the most grievous… tone deaf… I DON’T CARE WHAT THE ACTUAL PAYING CUSTOMERS FEEL… is this quoted statement from Michele A. Roberts, Executive Director of the NBA Players Association: “IF A FAN GENUINELY FINDS THE IDEA OF BLACK LIVES MATTER SO OFFENSIVE THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO WATCH BASKETBALL, I’M NOT LOSING SLEEP OVER IT”.
A suggestion to the NBA to decrease the amount of fans that are jumping off the NBA fan boat without even worrying about a life preserver… each televised game should have an option similar to clicking a “sub-title” button on their screen… that gives an option to watch a game WITH-OR-WITHOUT-POLITICAL PROSELYTIZING!!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is an endless list of things that are life-changing… and life-ending… due to the worst pandemic the world has encountered in over one-hundred-years. Then… below that list is professional sports. There is definitely a benefit of continuing the lower-level value of sports… or otherwise FDR would not have seen the importance to give the Presidential approval to continue Major League Baseball during World War II… for the entertainment of the United States citizens. But when baseball returned it wasn’t purposely marred with continual political protests… non-player and non-team verbiage on the back of jerseys…and on the actual playing surface of the courts… and just about every other game commercial.
The question of how we got to this current situation/dilemma… is the subject of this well written and defined book by Ben Golliver. The country and the world are losing massive amounts of lives… and jobs… and at a lower level of importance… professional sports is losing many… many… lifetime fans in America. It is almost like going to a church or synagogue to pray and look for peace… and then a basketball… baseball… or football game breaks out… right in the middle of your prayers and respectful solitude! People dealing with personal yearlong quarantines… and the death of loved ones… turn to their beloved sports… and are inundated… and literally forced to hear and watch political rants and protests… when all the individual was trying to do was forget the stark realities of the world for an hour or so. TV sets and hearts and minds are being clicked off perhaps forever and the long term implications of diminished interest and revenues could be felt for decades. And as you will soon learn that no matter how they try to mask the true intentions of the NBA playing during this time in our history… it’s all about the money. And the author makes that clear!
“MONEY WAS NO SMALL FACTOR. NBA TEAMS CLEARED $2 MILLION PER REGULAR SEASON GAME, ON AVERAGE, AND ROUGHLY 40 PER PERCENT OF THE NBA’S $8 BILLION ANNUAL REVENUE CAME FROM GAME-RELATED SOURCES LIKE TICKET SALES, PARKNG, AND MERCHANDISE.”
The average fan may also wonder… why did the NBA settle on a specific number of games to play? Well of course… it had to hit an already contracted for minimum amount of games to not void their multi-billion dollar TV contracts.
Wrapped around all the money-issues… which is really all the NBA truly cares about… is the wonderful chronological… almost wide-eyed reporting by the author. He starts right from the beginning… his own fears… uncertainties… and his entire world… like ours… that changed completely in the blink of an eye. He also started dealing out possible blame from all sides… from politics… to business ethics… and the players who put their greed for money right up there with health safety. It’s almost nauseating when players that are literally making TENS-OF-MILLIONS-OF-DOLLARS-PER-YEAR… complained… whined… cried… and acted like it was a near death experience to spend ninety-odd-days… in a five-star hotel… with round the clock room service… gourmet meals… chartered fishing boats… and more. Well Hell! I’m an **HONORABLY*DISCHARGED*VIET*NAM*ERA*VETERAN**… let them serve a tour lying face down in a rice paddy or sand dune while hearing enemy gunfire… being paid near minimum wage… before you demand sympathy from a pandemic ridden world!
To me the most enjoyable parts of the book is surely the author’s growth as he really learns first hand not only his circumstance in the mix of the daily survival in the unique bubble… but how the NBA down to the smallest detail invested in making the completion of this historic season possible.
To the NBA’s credit… in addition to constant temperature checks… wrist bands that beeped if people got too close together… covid tests… security boundaries throughout the multiple hotels… and even… “THE REFEREES ATTACHED LITTLE BAGS TO THEIR WHISTLES TO CATCH SPITTLE.”
As the bigger picture of the author’s shrinking geographic world and shrinking personal freedom really permeated his mind… he stated: “In a way, the dystopian Big Brother elements of my new life represented a public health utopia. Deep in Central Florida, I was getting a taste of what life was like in Taiwan, New Zealand, and other foreign countries that had been hailed for their coronavirus response. The rules and routines bogged me down, but I felt thankful for my privileges. And guilty about them too.”
Perhaps the most grievous… tone deaf… I DON’T CARE WHAT THE ACTUAL PAYING CUSTOMERS FEEL… is this quoted statement from Michele A. Roberts, Executive Director of the NBA Players Association: “IF A FAN GENUINELY FINDS THE IDEA OF BLACK LIVES MATTER SO OFFENSIVE THAT THEY DON’T WANT TO WATCH BASKETBALL, I’M NOT LOSING SLEEP OVER IT”.
A suggestion to the NBA to decrease the amount of fans that are jumping off the NBA fan boat without even worrying about a life preserver… each televised game should have an option similar to clicking a “sub-title” button on their screen… that gives an option to watch a game WITH-OR-WITHOUT-POLITICAL PROSELYTIZING!!!!
May 21, 2021
Loved the firsthand accounts of life inside the bubble. Felt a bit repetitive once the recaps of the playoff games began due to them being such a recent memory.
May 26, 2021
A great summary of the bubble/pandemic/social justice movement of 2020 viewed through the subjective lens of someone who lived it, a fun read.
June 6, 2021
When the NBA season went on hiatus in March of 2020, there was no guarantee that the season could be finished in any meaningful way with the spike in cases of COVID-19 throughout the nation. As a brand, the NBA had to balance the responsibility to health concerns as well as its desire to crown a champion and keep its many employees (not just the players or coaches, but the staff at arenas and so on) from losing their livelihood. The compromise solution turned out to be a "bubble" in which teams and media could live on the ground of Disney World in Florida, playing out the rest of their season as almost prisoners at the Happiest Place on Earth. To say that it was a surreal scenario would be an understatement.
Ben Golliver of the Washington Post was one of the media members allowed on "campus" at Disney World, and one of the few to go the distance for what ended up being 93 days on the job, covering all aspects not just of the basketball on the court but the social justice movements that sprang up in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. Add in the pressure of trying not to contaminate the bubble with a positive COVID test, and the pressures on the teams and those around them were enormous. And yet, somehow the NBA was able to make it all work. "Bubbleball" is as inside a chronicle of that weird season as any you'll find, and while it might seem too soon to look back at the event, it's nonetheless a great eyewitness account of how the players and media members responded to the conditions imposed on them by a global pandemic and a reckoning with America's long history of racial injustice.
Golliver traces the peculiar conditions of being in the bubble, the threat of boredom and the quest for something to keep the mind distracted, and he also shows how the bubble was a positive experience for social justice movements in that, with the players all in one place and (mostly) all of one voice, they could amplify their dismay, disgust, and outrage at the murders taking place with a megaphone that might have been easier for the world at large to ignore if they were dispersed throughout the country. A writer who's covered the NBA for over a decade, Golliver knows how to get to the heart of the story, providing illuminating profiles in miniature of the players who made an impact during the bubble run (from the usual suspects in superstars like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler, to the lesser-known but important figures in both basketball and social justice movements). Balancing the on-the-court access with the behind-the-scenes drama, and capturing the odd atmosphere of playing in a virtually empty arena far from home, Golliver brings to life the hardships and hard-fought-for moments of playing your sport in circumstances unprecedented in history.
For now, it seems that we're potentially turning a corner from the impact that COVID-19 has wrought, and we may never need to retreat to bubbles to ensure the safety of ourselves and others. But it could just as easily be that another wave of this pandemic, or a new one not yet dreamed up by all the most professional risk-assessment experts the world over, could strike again in our lifetime. For the moment that the NBA got together to play and to protest, "Bubbleball" is a great documentation of what we can only hope is a once-in-a-lifetime set of circumstances.
Ben Golliver of the Washington Post was one of the media members allowed on "campus" at Disney World, and one of the few to go the distance for what ended up being 93 days on the job, covering all aspects not just of the basketball on the court but the social justice movements that sprang up in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and other Black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. Add in the pressure of trying not to contaminate the bubble with a positive COVID test, and the pressures on the teams and those around them were enormous. And yet, somehow the NBA was able to make it all work. "Bubbleball" is as inside a chronicle of that weird season as any you'll find, and while it might seem too soon to look back at the event, it's nonetheless a great eyewitness account of how the players and media members responded to the conditions imposed on them by a global pandemic and a reckoning with America's long history of racial injustice.
Golliver traces the peculiar conditions of being in the bubble, the threat of boredom and the quest for something to keep the mind distracted, and he also shows how the bubble was a positive experience for social justice movements in that, with the players all in one place and (mostly) all of one voice, they could amplify their dismay, disgust, and outrage at the murders taking place with a megaphone that might have been easier for the world at large to ignore if they were dispersed throughout the country. A writer who's covered the NBA for over a decade, Golliver knows how to get to the heart of the story, providing illuminating profiles in miniature of the players who made an impact during the bubble run (from the usual suspects in superstars like LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Jimmy Butler, to the lesser-known but important figures in both basketball and social justice movements). Balancing the on-the-court access with the behind-the-scenes drama, and capturing the odd atmosphere of playing in a virtually empty arena far from home, Golliver brings to life the hardships and hard-fought-for moments of playing your sport in circumstances unprecedented in history.
For now, it seems that we're potentially turning a corner from the impact that COVID-19 has wrought, and we may never need to retreat to bubbles to ensure the safety of ourselves and others. But it could just as easily be that another wave of this pandemic, or a new one not yet dreamed up by all the most professional risk-assessment experts the world over, could strike again in our lifetime. For the moment that the NBA got together to play and to protest, "Bubbleball" is a great documentation of what we can only hope is a once-in-a-lifetime set of circumstances.
June 2, 2021
Getting into this book at first was like acclimating, I imagine, to life inside the NBA bubble. I didn't really know what to expect and I was beginning to get bored with Ben Golliver's descriptions of what he packed for the trip, the issues of getting to Orlando and his fears of the pandemic.
But then I realized he did that to set up both the tedium of the seclusion of the bubble mixed with the excitement of the games and the book became a brilliant look at a very bizarre time in our sports world.
The game recounts were excellent and Golliver added anecdotes about players and back history that really added to the enjoyment of this book. While, maybe at first monotonous, his walks around the track at the Orlando complex became something to look for. He also added insight into the development of the virus and the fears we all had early on when it was beginning. Golliver may have been a tad paranoid about wearing masks and being too close to people, but in hindsight and after thousands and thousands died in the U.S., that fear seemed more validated.
Covid really messed up sports and at that time, in bitter resentment, I quit following them as closely as I normally, obsessively do. I knew who won the championship, but didn't know much details. Golliver's book provides all that detail, stories about the players, the NBA's insane, yet doable, idea to save the sport and all the behind-the-scenes things. (I had no concept of the massive amounts of packages that were sent to and from the resort complex daily, and, although I was a reporter for three decades, didn't even think of how they'd be put in the "worst" of the hotels while the higher-seeded basketball teams were in the most luxurious digs).
This one could be considered a history book years down the road. While Michael Lewis may have penned the best look at the virus and its impact, Golliver's book captures a societal moment in sports.
But then I realized he did that to set up both the tedium of the seclusion of the bubble mixed with the excitement of the games and the book became a brilliant look at a very bizarre time in our sports world.
The game recounts were excellent and Golliver added anecdotes about players and back history that really added to the enjoyment of this book. While, maybe at first monotonous, his walks around the track at the Orlando complex became something to look for. He also added insight into the development of the virus and the fears we all had early on when it was beginning. Golliver may have been a tad paranoid about wearing masks and being too close to people, but in hindsight and after thousands and thousands died in the U.S., that fear seemed more validated.
Covid really messed up sports and at that time, in bitter resentment, I quit following them as closely as I normally, obsessively do. I knew who won the championship, but didn't know much details. Golliver's book provides all that detail, stories about the players, the NBA's insane, yet doable, idea to save the sport and all the behind-the-scenes things. (I had no concept of the massive amounts of packages that were sent to and from the resort complex daily, and, although I was a reporter for three decades, didn't even think of how they'd be put in the "worst" of the hotels while the higher-seeded basketball teams were in the most luxurious digs).
This one could be considered a history book years down the road. While Michael Lewis may have penned the best look at the virus and its impact, Golliver's book captures a societal moment in sports.
June 9, 2021
Subtitled: Inside the NBA’s Fight to Save a Season
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Ben Golliver covers the NBA for the Washington Post, and while I don’t follow the NBA very closely I couldn’t resist reading about how they handled the end of the 2020 NBA season and playoffs in the Disney bubble.
Golliver blends in a small amount of background about the Covid-19 virus, its rapid spread around the world, and the underestimation and mishandling of the crisis by the Trump administration, but the real story begins when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for Covid prior to a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The shockwave from that positive test led to the postponement of the NBA season.
Bubbleball details the measures taken by the NBA that resulted in making the Disney complex one of the most secure places on earth with regard to preventing Covid infections – sadly, even more secure than the White House. There is also a lot of material focusing on the actual basketball played in the bubble, with extensive stories about the teams and players who advanced to the latter stages. As I said before, I don’t follow the NBA closely but I enjoyed reading about teams and players that I wasn’t very familiar with.
I gave Bubbleball five stars. Despite Golliver’s tales about the daily grind and pressure of life in the bubble, I couldn’t help but think it might have been a pretty cool place to be anyway.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
Ben Golliver covers the NBA for the Washington Post, and while I don’t follow the NBA very closely I couldn’t resist reading about how they handled the end of the 2020 NBA season and playoffs in the Disney bubble.
Golliver blends in a small amount of background about the Covid-19 virus, its rapid spread around the world, and the underestimation and mishandling of the crisis by the Trump administration, but the real story begins when Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tested positive for Covid prior to a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The shockwave from that positive test led to the postponement of the NBA season.
Bubbleball details the measures taken by the NBA that resulted in making the Disney complex one of the most secure places on earth with regard to preventing Covid infections – sadly, even more secure than the White House. There is also a lot of material focusing on the actual basketball played in the bubble, with extensive stories about the teams and players who advanced to the latter stages. As I said before, I don’t follow the NBA closely but I enjoyed reading about teams and players that I wasn’t very familiar with.
I gave Bubbleball five stars. Despite Golliver’s tales about the daily grind and pressure of life in the bubble, I couldn’t help but think it might have been a pretty cool place to be anyway.
March 11, 2023
Ben Golliver presents a faithful retelling of the NBA’s relationship with the Covid 19 Pandemic and their determination to keep the 2020 season going during the height of the pandemic. Golliver leaves no detail out and presents an accurate and (mostly) unbiased account of many of the social, political, and economic issues that surrounded the NBA’s restart in the face of a global health crisis, stacked with the strain of the George Floyd protests and a heated presidential election.
2020 isn’t really a year I find myself wanting to revisit, but the value of reading a detailed account of the early days of the shutdown, like that in Bubbleball, allows you to fully appreciate and reflect on moments that felt so immediate and overbearing to live through — moments that I think a lot of people repress. For me, this was a cathartic read at times because it allowed me to release some of those repressed memories and emotions, and Ben does a great job of highlighting the key moments and making them feel approachable to analyze and reflect on.
As for the basketball side of the book, I enjoyed it. I follow the NBA really closely so I pretty much knew everything that was written here aside from little anecdotes specific to Golliver’s experience in the Bubble. Nevertheless, that season and post-season were really fun so I had no problem reliving those contested playoff series in such detail.
I would say 4.5/5 stars if I could — really good read for a basketball fan, or someone who didn’t see that season live and wants to learn more about it.
2020 isn’t really a year I find myself wanting to revisit, but the value of reading a detailed account of the early days of the shutdown, like that in Bubbleball, allows you to fully appreciate and reflect on moments that felt so immediate and overbearing to live through — moments that I think a lot of people repress. For me, this was a cathartic read at times because it allowed me to release some of those repressed memories and emotions, and Ben does a great job of highlighting the key moments and making them feel approachable to analyze and reflect on.
As for the basketball side of the book, I enjoyed it. I follow the NBA really closely so I pretty much knew everything that was written here aside from little anecdotes specific to Golliver’s experience in the Bubble. Nevertheless, that season and post-season were really fun so I had no problem reliving those contested playoff series in such detail.
I would say 4.5/5 stars if I could — really good read for a basketball fan, or someone who didn’t see that season live and wants to learn more about it.
July 14, 2021
Usually I would think that A) I'd never want to read about a 2020 experience and B) Anything where the author includes him/herself as much as Golliver does in this book. But you know what? It was perfect. 2020 was sooooo odd that the combination works perfect. Washington Post basketball writer stayed in a bubble for three months to write this compelling, well-researched, well written detailed story about the NBA playoffs that year. Although the events in this book happened less than a year ago, some of the events felt like 10 years ago while some felt like last week. This book does not seem like just a basketball book, although that's the main theme. But it's also a book on COVID-19 as well as Black Lives Matter issues. It's a powerful book at times and a book that I believe will hold the test of time even more as time goes on. It's a five-star book now, but will be even more appreciated as time goes on. I see myself re-reading this book every five to 10 years at least just to remind myself of some things, not just that my favorite team, the Lakers, win the title. Golliver also has great stories on the Bucks, Clippers, Nuggets, Jazz, Blazers, Celtics, 76ers, Raptors, just to name a few. Very well done. Mr. Golliver, you've earned my respect. Look forward to reading more. If you're a basketball fan, this is a MUST.
July 30, 2021
It's an interesting look at the 2019-2020 NBA season, especially (of course) after the pandemic hit. Golliver was a journalist inside the bubble for the entire time journalists were allowed to be in the bubble, so he's well positioned to write this book. The best parts are on the weirdness of life in the bubble, and how tight all security precautions were - so tight, that the NBA never had a single positive test inside the bubble. The book is pretty good, but once the games are re-started, it becomes a bit more pro forma - a standard recount of an unstandard season. It's a recount by a decent writer, but he focuses more on the normal than the abnormal. For someone like me, who is hardly a basketball fan, it was hard to keep the teams and players straight. (This book could really use an index, or a list up front of teams and key players). One other thing -- there's a long (10 pages?) eulogy about Kobe Bryant and how much he meant to the Lakers and the people of LA and the basketball community in general and what a terrible loss and ... OK, that's all fine and understandable, but are you really gonna go on for so long on Kobe and not even mention the rape trial (not even to give context to his career). No? Just gonna totally memory-hole that one.
Read
May 26, 2021It’s a little tricky to understand who this book is for. Most of us that follow the NBA closely know the main story beats of the 19-20 season... Morey’s pro-democracy pro-HongKong tweet, the rivals in LA, Giannis in the east, Kobe’s untimely death, Rudy testing positive for Covid, the decision to do the Disney Bubble in the midst of the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests, and then we all know who won and lost all the games. The most interesting part of the book, then, is the personal behind the scenes peeks into Bubble life. The two best parts of the book were when he covered the Bucks game boycott and when his bus got stuck in a protest for Salaythis Melvin on the way back to the hotels after a Lakers game. The coverage of the players attempts to highlight the Black Lives Matter movement were some of the most interesting tidbits.
Ben Golliver loves basketball and if you love basketball you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s just not as surprising as I hoped.
Ben Golliver loves basketball and if you love basketball you’ll probably enjoy this. It’s just not as surprising as I hoped.
January 22, 2022
I started following Ben Golliver when he was reporting from inside the NBA bubble in 2020. I was excited to hear he was writing a book on his experience. As a casual basketball fan I thought the book was a good mix of sports reporting and the author's opinions of different situations. I cannot imagine staying in the same room and general area for over 90 days, although he kept plenty busy writing stories, attending games and doing 2 podcasts. My favorite story from inside the bubble is of the referees having intense pickleball matches with each other every day. Being an Oregonian, I appreciated Ben's references to living in the beaver state and the hard times we had during the wildfires in September of 2020. Good job on the book Ben, looking forward to your next endeavor.
This book would be a good addition to the casual sports fan or die-hard NBA fan's collection.
This book would be a good addition to the casual sports fan or die-hard NBA fan's collection.
January 17, 2024
Bubbleball was an extremely interesting story about Ben Golliver’s stay in the “bubble” in Disney World in Florida for the 2020 NBA Playoffs. He details the story starting the shutdown in March 2020, all the way through the NBA Finals in October of the same year.
He did a fantastic job of detail not just the championship series itself but the buildup from the rounds beforehand. From the fringe teams that failed to even make the playoffs to the 2020 champion Los Angeles Lakers.
What I really enjoyed about this book was his detailed accounts of day to day life on the Disney Campus surrounded by only workers, few media members, and team personnel. He really described what it was like for the 93 days he was there and how much work everyone did to make the show go on during a time that not much else was happening in the world of sports.
This was such a great read I would highly recommend to anyone, not just sports fans, who would even have a slight interest in how it all went down.
He did a fantastic job of detail not just the championship series itself but the buildup from the rounds beforehand. From the fringe teams that failed to even make the playoffs to the 2020 champion Los Angeles Lakers.
What I really enjoyed about this book was his detailed accounts of day to day life on the Disney Campus surrounded by only workers, few media members, and team personnel. He really described what it was like for the 93 days he was there and how much work everyone did to make the show go on during a time that not much else was happening in the world of sports.
This was such a great read I would highly recommend to anyone, not just sports fans, who would even have a slight interest in how it all went down.
May 2, 2022
This is a very interesting account from Golliver, a Washington Post national NBA reporter about what it was like to be one of the few members of the media in the NBA bubble at Disney World during the COVID-19 pandemic. Golliver describes what the process was like to get approval to enter the bubble, and the day-to-day life inside, not just the play on the court. While these players were isolated in a bubble, away from the outside world, that outside world was impossible to not acknowledge, especially with ongoing racial justice protests in the wake of the police murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, not to mention the ongoing pandemic which disproportionately affected Black communities. While I had been keeping up with the action on the court, it was super interesting to read the account of somebody who was in the bubble from start to finish, covering the whole thing.
November 13, 2023
*Listened to the audiobook
This was a fine read. it retold many of the games moments that took place within the bubble and did so with excitement and detail. It also touched on many of the issues going on with the players at the time such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the mental health issues of being in the bubble for 3 months. The author doesn't provide as much behind the scenes stories as I would like but his access was also very limited due to the strict restrictions in place by the league so it's understandable. I could see this being a bit boring for someone that consumes basketball at a very high level but for a more casual fan it would be great. It also feels like a time capsual, reminding us of what the world was dealing with at the time. I applaud the way the NBA handled the situation and enjoyed this retelling of it.
This was a fine read. it retold many of the games moments that took place within the bubble and did so with excitement and detail. It also touched on many of the issues going on with the players at the time such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the mental health issues of being in the bubble for 3 months. The author doesn't provide as much behind the scenes stories as I would like but his access was also very limited due to the strict restrictions in place by the league so it's understandable. I could see this being a bit boring for someone that consumes basketball at a very high level but for a more casual fan it would be great. It also feels like a time capsual, reminding us of what the world was dealing with at the time. I applaud the way the NBA handled the situation and enjoyed this retelling of it.
June 3, 2024
“The bubble was for the diehards, and the diehards should never forget it.” Man my boy Golliver couldn’t have summed it up with a better closing line. Seriously though, that really kind of sums up my feelings. There honestly wasn’t too much in this book that was new to me about the bubble, I guess that’s actually a big disappointment so ironic I’m giving it a full five stars, but it was pretty well written and described the drama of the times pretty well.
That last line sums it up for me, because I loved the NBA bubble as a fan. Basketball all day, and my favorite team made it to the finals and my favorite player won it all. He did a good job of reciting the crazy surprising storylines, and the uniqueness of the whole thing. Maybe the Bubble didn’t get its flowers from everyone, but it did from me.
That last line sums it up for me, because I loved the NBA bubble as a fan. Basketball all day, and my favorite team made it to the finals and my favorite player won it all. He did a good job of reciting the crazy surprising storylines, and the uniqueness of the whole thing. Maybe the Bubble didn’t get its flowers from everyone, but it did from me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2021
If you're interested in the weirdness of an NBA season occurring as a global pandemic and social unrest define the summer, the first half of this book is fascinating, outlining the parameters that led to the NBA "Bubble" and the social ramifications.
If you want a more traditional look at the rest of the playoffs that season, the second half has you covered. I found this part to be less interesting and a bit more "navel-gazey" than the first half, and ultimately skimmed to get it finished. (Or, perhaps the navel gazing was more welcome in the first half, as the author talked about a situation he himself was a part of ... once it gets to "NBA players playing NBA games," the author's story became less relevant.)
If you want a more traditional look at the rest of the playoffs that season, the second half has you covered. I found this part to be less interesting and a bit more "navel-gazey" than the first half, and ultimately skimmed to get it finished. (Or, perhaps the navel gazing was more welcome in the first half, as the author talked about a situation he himself was a part of ... once it gets to "NBA players playing NBA games," the author's story became less relevant.)
November 3, 2021
Maybe 3 1/2 stars?. I know journalists are not supposed to insert themselves into the story, but in this case, what's a guy supposed to do? I liked the autobiographical stuff more than the basketball stuff. Not that the basketball stuff was bad or poorly written (in fact it was quite good), it's just that the book felt a bit historical and all of this is very recent history. As a former member of the Open Floor Globe I was excited that "Playing with purpose, not a purpose" and "The best ability is availability" slogans made it into the story. Also got this new chestnut courtesy of Kevin Durant, "Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard." I kinda wish I read it six or seven years from now when this story would be less memorable.
October 10, 2022
Been a fan of Ben Golliver's for a while and he provides a unique perspective of what life was like in the NBA Bubble! Provides great insights of everything that unfolded inside ofThe Bubble when The Bucks refused to play their playoff game against The Magic in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob Blake.
Although it didn't happen in the bubble, I wished he provided more info in the epilogue about how NBA Teams reacted to when The Capitol Riot occurred on Jan. 6, 2022.
Fantastic read for anyone whose a fan of the NBA. Of everything I've read about what life was like in the NBA Bubble, Golliver's book is by far the best account! Can't wait to read more books by NBA Players, Coaches, and/or journalists about their experiences in the NBA Bubble.
Although it didn't happen in the bubble, I wished he provided more info in the epilogue about how NBA Teams reacted to when The Capitol Riot occurred on Jan. 6, 2022.
Fantastic read for anyone whose a fan of the NBA. Of everything I've read about what life was like in the NBA Bubble, Golliver's book is by far the best account! Can't wait to read more books by NBA Players, Coaches, and/or journalists about their experiences in the NBA Bubble.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 29, 2022
20 years from now, when a basketball fan is eager to know how the NBA Bubble came to be during the Covid-19 pandemic, this book should serve as the initial reference point. Granted, most of the content can be found online, but there are additional narratives here and there that Ben Golliver goes into painstaking detail. Given how limited press passes were allocated to media members to cover the Bubble in Orlando, I wish there were other content beyond recaps of games that were a Google click away. However, since the media was prohibited from entering the hotels where the players were staying in, I understand why this story was told with a certain degree of distance and detachment.
December 11, 2021
I'm not a huge NBA fan but I do enjoy the current Bucks team so I somewhat paid attention to the NBA bubble until they exited it so some of the events described in the book I knew already. But there was plenty of insight into life in the bubble that was interesting. If I were an NBA fan and a sports writer without kids, life in the bubble could have been a really fascinating way to experience the final months of the 2020 season as you got some different experiences and interactions with players and coaches than you typically do as Golliver described.
January 7, 2022
I was hoping he would focus more on his experience inside the bubble, and less about the actual playoffs. Being a huge NBA fan myself, I was already well aware of how the playoffs went. Whereas I didn't have any inside info about the experience inside the bubble. He clearly knows a lot about the NBA, but I felt this book wasn't the right platform to showcase his insights and knowledge about the actual game. There are hundreds of reporters and blogs that have analysis on the games, but again, not on the bubble.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 73 reviews