What do you think?
Rate this book
Tall Men, Short Shorts: The 1969 NBA Finals: Wilt, Russ, Lakers, Celtics, and a Very Young Sports Reporter
This "part memoir, part sports story" ( Wall Street Journal ) from the New York Times bestselling author of The Big Bam chronicles the clash of NBA titans over seven riveting games—Celtics versus Lakers, Russell versus Chamberlain—covered by one young reporter. Welcome to the 1969 NBA Finals!
They don’t set up any better than this. The greatest basketball player of all time - Bill Russell - and his juggernaut Boston Celtics, winners of ten ( ten! ) of the previous twelve NBA championships, squeak through one more playoff run and land in the Finals again. Russell’s opponent? The fearsome 7’1” next-generation superstar, Wilt Chamberlain, recently traded to the LA Lakers to form the league’s first dream team. Bill Russell and John Havlicek versus Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. The 1969 Celtics are at the end of their dominance. The 1969 Lakers are unstoppable.
Add to the mix one newly minted reporter. Covering the epic series is a wide-eyed young sports writer named Leigh Montville. Years before becoming an award-winning legend himself at The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated , twenty-four-year-old Montville is ordered by his editor at the Globe to get on a plane to L.A. (first time!) to write about his luminous heroes, the biggest of big men.
What follows is a raucous, colorful, joyous account of one of the greatest seven-game series in NBA history. Set against a backdrop of the late sixties, Montville’s reporting and recollections transport readers to a singular time – with rampant racial tension on the streets and on the court, with the emergence of a still relatively small league on its way to becoming a billion-dollar industry, and to an era when newspaper journalism and the written word served as the crucial lifeline between sports and sports fans. And there was basketball – seven breathtaking, see-saw games, highlight-reel moments from an unprecedented cast of future Hall of Famers (including player-coach Russell as the first-ever black head coach in the NBA), coast-to-coast travels and the clack-clack-clack of typewriter keys racing against tight deadlines.
Tall Men, Short Shorts is a masterpiece of sports journalism with a charming touch of personal memoir. Leigh Montville has crafted his most entertaining book yet, richly enshrining luminous players and moments in a unique American time.
They don’t set up any better than this. The greatest basketball player of all time - Bill Russell - and his juggernaut Boston Celtics, winners of ten ( ten! ) of the previous twelve NBA championships, squeak through one more playoff run and land in the Finals again. Russell’s opponent? The fearsome 7’1” next-generation superstar, Wilt Chamberlain, recently traded to the LA Lakers to form the league’s first dream team. Bill Russell and John Havlicek versus Chamberlain, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor. The 1969 Celtics are at the end of their dominance. The 1969 Lakers are unstoppable.
Add to the mix one newly minted reporter. Covering the epic series is a wide-eyed young sports writer named Leigh Montville. Years before becoming an award-winning legend himself at The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated , twenty-four-year-old Montville is ordered by his editor at the Globe to get on a plane to L.A. (first time!) to write about his luminous heroes, the biggest of big men.
What follows is a raucous, colorful, joyous account of one of the greatest seven-game series in NBA history. Set against a backdrop of the late sixties, Montville’s reporting and recollections transport readers to a singular time – with rampant racial tension on the streets and on the court, with the emergence of a still relatively small league on its way to becoming a billion-dollar industry, and to an era when newspaper journalism and the written word served as the crucial lifeline between sports and sports fans. And there was basketball – seven breathtaking, see-saw games, highlight-reel moments from an unprecedented cast of future Hall of Famers (including player-coach Russell as the first-ever black head coach in the NBA), coast-to-coast travels and the clack-clack-clack of typewriter keys racing against tight deadlines.
Tall Men, Short Shorts is a masterpiece of sports journalism with a charming touch of personal memoir. Leigh Montville has crafted his most entertaining book yet, richly enshrining luminous players and moments in a unique American time.
352 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2022
97 people are currently reading
535 people want to read
About the author
Leigh Montville
20 books27 followersLeigh Montville is a highly respected sportswriter, columnist and author. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut.Montville is married to Diane Foster and has two children. He lives in Massachusetts and is an ardent supporter of the Boston Red Sox.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews
September 20, 2021
They were longtime champions, but in 1969, no one expected the Boston Celtics – the fourth-place team in the East – to make it to the NBA Finals, let alone win. But in the final quarter of Game 7, they clinched a shocking victory. The thrilling story of how Boston triumphed over the Los Angeles Lakers is chronicled in “Tall Men, Short Shorts: The 1969 NBA Finals: Wilt, Russ, Lakers, Celtics, and a Very Young Sports Reporter” by Leigh Montville.
Click here to read the rest of my review in the Christian Science Monitor!
Click here to read the rest of my review in the Christian Science Monitor!
April 2, 2025
Grew up as a Celtic fan in the 1970s and, while I don't have personal memories of the 1969 NBA finals, I have read several books and watched game film on YouTube on this series and this book was a welcome addition to my sports library. The book was more a memoir of the author's experiences in covering the finals for the Boston Globe rather than a "nuts and bolts" analysis of the series - which I liked. Overall, a good entertaining read.
July 4, 2021
Leigh Montville, a well-known Boston sportswriter, covered the 1969 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers for the Boston Globe and it was one of the biggest assignments in his burgeoning career. His reflection on both his writing about that event and the two teams involved is the subject of his latest book.
The book reads like the current septuagenarian Montville wants to talk to his 25-year old self. However, that isn't because he has advice that he has learned over the years and wants his younger self to treat the plum assignment any differently. Instead, it reads almost like a time travel memoir in which the older man is back in 1969 and viewing what his younger self was doing while covering the last hurrah for one of the longest dynasties in professional sports.
In 1969, the Celtics were getting older as their star throughout their dominance in the 1960's, Bill Russell, became their player-coach and knew that his time left to play was getting short. They were not their usual dominant selves in the regular season but had enough left to make it back to the finals, where they had won 10 of the last 12 NBA championships. On the other side were the Lakers, who were frequent victims to the Celtics in those years. They too had their superstars, had just recently acquired Wilt Chamberlain to match up against Russell and also had an aging star, Elgin Baylor, who wanted his one last shot at a title.
The writing in the book on the teams and the players (including other stars on the teams like Jerry West and Sam Jones) was very good- and much of it was due to his columns written during that series. However, it is the manner in which he reflects on his more daring self during that time that makes the book a great read. Montville refers to his younger self never by name but by "the bright young man" or TBYM. This is the case even when that TYBM makes some youthful mistakes, but these are never documented in a scolding or regretful way. Indeed, the whole book reads like one great wonderful memory from his youth and that is why it is such a fun basketball book for any fan, of any era.
While the Celtics did go on to win that series in seven games and capture that 11th title in 13 years, it is not one that only Celtics fans should read, nor is it the typical sports memoir. As noted above, anyone who enjoys basketball should read it.
I wish to thank Doubleday for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
The book reads like the current septuagenarian Montville wants to talk to his 25-year old self. However, that isn't because he has advice that he has learned over the years and wants his younger self to treat the plum assignment any differently. Instead, it reads almost like a time travel memoir in which the older man is back in 1969 and viewing what his younger self was doing while covering the last hurrah for one of the longest dynasties in professional sports.
In 1969, the Celtics were getting older as their star throughout their dominance in the 1960's, Bill Russell, became their player-coach and knew that his time left to play was getting short. They were not their usual dominant selves in the regular season but had enough left to make it back to the finals, where they had won 10 of the last 12 NBA championships. On the other side were the Lakers, who were frequent victims to the Celtics in those years. They too had their superstars, had just recently acquired Wilt Chamberlain to match up against Russell and also had an aging star, Elgin Baylor, who wanted his one last shot at a title.
The writing in the book on the teams and the players (including other stars on the teams like Jerry West and Sam Jones) was very good- and much of it was due to his columns written during that series. However, it is the manner in which he reflects on his more daring self during that time that makes the book a great read. Montville refers to his younger self never by name but by "the bright young man" or TBYM. This is the case even when that TYBM makes some youthful mistakes, but these are never documented in a scolding or regretful way. Indeed, the whole book reads like one great wonderful memory from his youth and that is why it is such a fun basketball book for any fan, of any era.
While the Celtics did go on to win that series in seven games and capture that 11th title in 13 years, it is not one that only Celtics fans should read, nor is it the typical sports memoir. As noted above, anyone who enjoys basketball should read it.
I wish to thank Doubleday for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
September 10, 2021
The author's device of (constantly) referring to any younger version of himself as either "The Bright Young Man" or "TBYM" was distracting and annoying beyond belief. Whoever decided that this was a good construct to use for a first-person account was not all that bright.
April 4, 2022
Tall Men, Short Shorts. Great title for a basketball story, and I love the set up: a septuagenarian sports writer sitting down during the 2020 Covid NBA Finals to pen a memoir-history of the 1969 Russell-Chamberlain Finals. Montville nicely sets the mood of both 2020 and 1969, but this story takes some time to get going. He spends the first five chapters setting the stage, describing the pop-cultural and geopolitical happenings of the time as well as the history of the Lakers and Celtics. This in my opinion is a narrative mistake. Why not jump into the action of the series and intersperse background information between retellings of the games?
Montville loves to take detours. He’ll talk about the significance of Bill Russell appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated before the first game of the Finals — how everyone knew this augured a Lakers victory — and then spend several pages recounting the history of the magazine and his failed attempt to land a job there. Not everyone will find these detours uninteresting, but for me they halted the narrative flow. I just wanted to read a story about the tall men and short shorts featured on the book’s cover, and for this reason, I left this book feeling somewhat disappointed.
Montville loves to take detours. He’ll talk about the significance of Bill Russell appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated before the first game of the Finals — how everyone knew this augured a Lakers victory — and then spend several pages recounting the history of the magazine and his failed attempt to land a job there. Not everyone will find these detours uninteresting, but for me they halted the narrative flow. I just wanted to read a story about the tall men and short shorts featured on the book’s cover, and for this reason, I left this book feeling somewhat disappointed.
August 17, 2022
It's hard to argue with the notion that, among the three major sports in this country, baseball is the most literary. After all, many of the best writers in our history have either talked about baseball or worked as sportswriters whose primary beat was baseball. It's a contest of individuals and also a clash between collections of men engaged in a semi-formal version of battle (almost like the ways in which armies with muskets faced off against each other during the Civil War, when baseball first became a popular sport). But I'd argue that some of the other sports we read about or follow in American life are worthy of literature status, in terms of how they're conveyed. Football has always been more brute strength than anything else, but the strategy is multi-layered and the down time between games (on both the college and pro level) has sometimes made books more readable than you'd think (Roy Blount's "About Three Bricks Shy of a Load" is a prime example of this sort of immersive sportswriting). Tennis, golf, even NASCAR have provided me with some personal favorites in terms of books written about them, almost never in total but about specific campaigns or players. And so it is that basketball, the game of almost intricate chess played out with men and women much taller than myself, is the most fascinating when considered in terms of telescoping one season or series, and then drawing back to see the whole of not just the sport but of the nation at the time the particular series or season is unfolding.
All of this is to set up the fact that, for my money, "Tall Men, Short Shorts" (about the 1969 NBA Finals between Bill Russell's Celtics and Wilt Chamberlain's Lakers), by Leigh Montville, might be my favorite non-fiction book so far this year. It's certainly in the discussion ("Boom Town" by Sam Anderson is currently in the lead, and covers a lot of the same territory on a surface level, talking about Oklahoma City through the prism of one season following the Thunder). Montville, a longtime sportswriter and author, has penned a sort of memoir and sports chronicle all in one, adhering to the New Journalism vogue of the late Sixties during which he was first starting out, and has produced one of the most enjoyable and engaging sports books I've read in a while.
The story of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry (or Celtics-Lakers rivalry, if you prefer) is a long, storied epic that I first really encountered in "The Rivalry" by John Taylor many moons ago (and if you haven't read it, you really should). After Bill Russell's recent passing, I was of a mind to read something about his era and that of his rival and sometimes friend Wilt Chamberlain, who preceded him in death in 1999. This was a perfect look at the way in which the two men both benefited from each other's presence and suffered for it. Russell had the lion's share of rings, and was the first Black coach in the NBA (and perhaps in major sports, I think), but Chamberlain had the reputation as the best all-around player (and certainly the best shooter of the two) despite his relative drought in the Finals. The two men, taller than most, and Black men at a time when to be Black was not always viewed positively in this country, were the fire that fueled the rise of the NBA in the public consciousness, and their very real differences off the court (Wilt was a Republican, while Russell was a champion for civil rights) didn't hurt their ability to draw from each other and bring out the best in each other when they met on the hardwood of either the Forum or the Boston Garden.
Montville weaves in the stories of Russell and Chamberlain alongside those of their teammates (Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Sam Jones, John Havlicek, and others), as well as the evolution of the ways in which the sport was covered (still primarily on radio, though that was changing), and the ways in which it was covered by the media (including the rise of "Sports Illustrated" and the New Journalism that valued anecdotes and details over scores and stats). All in all, this is a fascinating journey through a much different time in America and in sports that nonetheless feels very similar to our own and just out of reach. Montville, often referring to his younger incarnation as "The Bright Young Man" (or TBYM, for short), has written as much about himself as he does about the events here, in order to provide a fuller portrait not just of the big names but of his own development as a young sportswriter, into becoming the author that he is now (I've only read his Ted Williams biography prior to this, but he's written several books and was a longtime writer for SI). I can't praise this book enough, it's a gem of a story that brings so much out of the well-tread story of how one team won and the other team lost. It is, at its heart, a story of endings and beginnings, of lost times and better times ahead, and of one moment when the world came together for a very bright young man to endure the back-and-forth cross-country travel, the brutal deadlines to keep up with for his newspaper job, and the excitement of witnessing history unfold before him night after night, in Los Angeles and Boston. This is a book for the ages, and not just in terms of sports.
If you're a fan of basketball, or of really great writing in general in non-fiction terms, do not miss your chance to read this book. It's an amazing chronicle, and worthy of any and all praise I or any other reviewer could come up with. It's just damn good.
All of this is to set up the fact that, for my money, "Tall Men, Short Shorts" (about the 1969 NBA Finals between Bill Russell's Celtics and Wilt Chamberlain's Lakers), by Leigh Montville, might be my favorite non-fiction book so far this year. It's certainly in the discussion ("Boom Town" by Sam Anderson is currently in the lead, and covers a lot of the same territory on a surface level, talking about Oklahoma City through the prism of one season following the Thunder). Montville, a longtime sportswriter and author, has penned a sort of memoir and sports chronicle all in one, adhering to the New Journalism vogue of the late Sixties during which he was first starting out, and has produced one of the most enjoyable and engaging sports books I've read in a while.
The story of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry (or Celtics-Lakers rivalry, if you prefer) is a long, storied epic that I first really encountered in "The Rivalry" by John Taylor many moons ago (and if you haven't read it, you really should). After Bill Russell's recent passing, I was of a mind to read something about his era and that of his rival and sometimes friend Wilt Chamberlain, who preceded him in death in 1999. This was a perfect look at the way in which the two men both benefited from each other's presence and suffered for it. Russell had the lion's share of rings, and was the first Black coach in the NBA (and perhaps in major sports, I think), but Chamberlain had the reputation as the best all-around player (and certainly the best shooter of the two) despite his relative drought in the Finals. The two men, taller than most, and Black men at a time when to be Black was not always viewed positively in this country, were the fire that fueled the rise of the NBA in the public consciousness, and their very real differences off the court (Wilt was a Republican, while Russell was a champion for civil rights) didn't hurt their ability to draw from each other and bring out the best in each other when they met on the hardwood of either the Forum or the Boston Garden.
Montville weaves in the stories of Russell and Chamberlain alongside those of their teammates (Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Sam Jones, John Havlicek, and others), as well as the evolution of the ways in which the sport was covered (still primarily on radio, though that was changing), and the ways in which it was covered by the media (including the rise of "Sports Illustrated" and the New Journalism that valued anecdotes and details over scores and stats). All in all, this is a fascinating journey through a much different time in America and in sports that nonetheless feels very similar to our own and just out of reach. Montville, often referring to his younger incarnation as "The Bright Young Man" (or TBYM, for short), has written as much about himself as he does about the events here, in order to provide a fuller portrait not just of the big names but of his own development as a young sportswriter, into becoming the author that he is now (I've only read his Ted Williams biography prior to this, but he's written several books and was a longtime writer for SI). I can't praise this book enough, it's a gem of a story that brings so much out of the well-tread story of how one team won and the other team lost. It is, at its heart, a story of endings and beginnings, of lost times and better times ahead, and of one moment when the world came together for a very bright young man to endure the back-and-forth cross-country travel, the brutal deadlines to keep up with for his newspaper job, and the excitement of witnessing history unfold before him night after night, in Los Angeles and Boston. This is a book for the ages, and not just in terms of sports.
If you're a fan of basketball, or of really great writing in general in non-fiction terms, do not miss your chance to read this book. It's an amazing chronicle, and worthy of any and all praise I or any other reviewer could come up with. It's just damn good.
June 6, 2022
Some decent information here on the 1969 NBA Finals, but nothing groundbreaking you can't find in the many other books on these teams from that era and the writing is just terrible. I'm sorry, but the editor who thought that the author should write this in a third person and refer to himself as "The Bright Young Man, later reduced to TBYM) over and over and over again? Fire that person. Fire that person now. So difficult to read and if Montville just wrote this like a normal look back at the 1969 NBA Finals while also occasionally including himself in it? Okay, fine. Also there is a story in the book that talks about how Montville did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING when another writer next to him continually used the N-word over and over again loudly. I'm sorry but it's not difficult at all to say, "Shut the hell up, you're in the wrong here" while comforting the person who the slur was directed at. Also, Montville doesn't get to call himself the "Bright Young Man" after that incident. Just call himself young after that since he is neither bright or a man after that situation. I'd rate this book a 1, but there was some game material that made it readable. But overall, avoid.
August 29, 2021
The Boston Celtics were a big part of my youth. I grew up near Boston and following the Celtics in the Bill Russell era was just the best. They were the greatest professional sports dynasty, winning the NBA Championship 11 out of 13 years from 1957 to 1969. This book detailed the finals series against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1969. The Celtics were old by this time but they somehow won this series and the championship. I remember listening to the games on the radio. The book was as much about the author in his early years as a newspaper reporter as it was about the Celtics. He was interesting but as a reader I was more interested in reliving this last Russell and Sam Jones championship.
November 19, 2021
Leigh Montville is one of the best sportswriters of all time. But he did slip a little with this work. It is good, there is no argument about that. But its writing style, a type of third person, makes the work weaker than it should be. The story would benefit from a larger context since most who read it now will not have been alive when the series happened. The book read more like some friends talking about a game they all played in and expected us to be able to follow along.
Not a bad book but not Leigh Montville's best.
Not a bad book but not Leigh Montville's best.
November 17, 2024
The bright young man(TBYM) was a new sportswriter for the Boston Globe in 69. TBYM went to the finals, one of his first big jobs, TBYM was excited about the opportunity. TBYM played basketball once with a tall drug addict, TBYM went to work for SI later. TBYM mentions he is TBYM about 200 times in the book cause TBYM thinks he is the story that people want to read about. TBYM talks in third person because TBYM likes to run a mildly amusing joke into the ground, TBYM (threw an extra one in for no reason). If that was annoying, then don't read this book. This is literally about half of the book. The other half or a little over is actually fairly good. It was one of the most exciting NBA finals that had major stars on both teams and an unlikely underdog winner. It was the former half that just kept this book from being any better than so so.
Can't recommend, again half or so of the book was pretty good, but it goes back and forth from good to TBYM bits.
Can't recommend, again half or so of the book was pretty good, but it goes back and forth from good to TBYM bits.
March 3, 2023
Loved this book! It may be a little on the niche side, but it’s totally my niche, so it was perfect for me. I really enjoyed the up-close reporter stories that fill this book from cover to cover. I think most any sports fan, and any NBA fan, would enjoy it!
The Lakers-Celtics rivalry was the heartbeat of my childhood and early teens. I vividly remember the 1985 Finals, when the Lakers finally defeated the Celtics in a championship series. One of my Dad’s most disappointing heartbreaks was the 1969 Finals, the story of this book. I remember Dad’s description of the “lucky” shot that bounced up and fell back in to seal the Lakers’ fate.
Dad passed away from COVID in January 2021, and then I saw this book a few months later. I know I would have gotten it for him, so I wanted to be sure and read it for him.
Really glad I did!
The Lakers-Celtics rivalry was the heartbeat of my childhood and early teens. I vividly remember the 1985 Finals, when the Lakers finally defeated the Celtics in a championship series. One of my Dad’s most disappointing heartbreaks was the 1969 Finals, the story of this book. I remember Dad’s description of the “lucky” shot that bounced up and fell back in to seal the Lakers’ fate.
Dad passed away from COVID in January 2021, and then I saw this book a few months later. I know I would have gotten it for him, so I wanted to be sure and read it for him.
Really glad I did!
August 24, 2021
A well-written, sometimes humorous account of a septuagenarian sportswriter looking back at his younger self covering an epic Lakers-Celtics final. Hard to believe it was the first time the Celtics -- who had won 11 of the last 13 championships -- enjoyed a parade after this title. I only wish he had interviewed some of the players who are still alive from that 1969 championship today for their memories. Anyway, a solid, engaging read, especially for a sports fan. @LeighMontville
February 18, 2022
Great insight into some of the greatest NBA players of all time.
November 11, 2021
Enjoyed this book but found the author’s constant reference to himself as the bright young man tiresome.
August 22, 2021
Just a terrific book by Montville. I admit to coming into the book enthusiastically, being a Celtics fan and a Lakers hater but I think Montville gives us substantially more than a look at the 1969 finals between the Lakers and Celtics. He brings us back to that point in time, giving us a reminder not only of the series but of the times, and the characters, including himself, that were of that time. Montville was a young sportswriter, just getting started, thrust into covering what turned out to be the last hurrah of the Bill Russell led Boston Celtics.
Montville does as good of a job as you can do unpacking all of the undercurrents involved in the 1969 NBA finals between the Lakers and the Celtics. He gives us a look, as mentioned, at some of the Boston sports beat writers, and that is not always a pretty view. Montville mentions the over the top racism of some of those writers, calling one in particular out by name. I found some of the press stuff to be fascinating and to me that is part of the worth of the book. It is more than basketball, but does not lose its focus on the main event. Montville, in my view, weaves the story together beautifully.
The Celtics-Lakers showdown in 1969 had so much storyline. Bill Russell vs Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West trying to break the string of losses to the Celtics in so many NBA finals, the decline of the Celtics dynasty, and the berth of a new super-team in the Los Angeles Lakers, with three bona fide superstars. Montville gets to all of them in a way that is understandable even if you are not all that acquainted with basketball in this era.
In this, Bill Russell’s last season, the Boston Celtics were indeed an aging team that struggled through the NBA regular season, finishing in fourth place in the East, the last eligible playoff slot. They were a better team than that, but age and injury slowed them over the long NBA season. As the playoffs started not many gave them a chance to advance far in the playoffs. They defeated the second place Philadelphia team that had traded Chamberlain to the Lakers. That team, with Chamberlain, was and is considered to be one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Without Chamberlain the Celtics rolled over them in the playoffs. They then faced off against a New York Knicks team with Clyde Frazier, Willis Reed, and (mid season pickup) Dave DeBusschere. This was the Knick team that would rise to greatness in the years to come, especially 1970. The Celtics disposed of them in six games. I mention the run up to the NBA Finals because the folklore was always that Russell won because he had better teams. It was not true in 1969, even before the Finals. It was not true before 1969, but that is a story for another book.
Even before we get to the series the Chamberlain-Russell rivalry is examined in the context of Chamberlain’s long history of losing to Russell led teams. Montville gives us some quotes from Wilt on the role of luck in some Celtic victories of prior years. We Celtic fans called that Wilt whining. We get to look at the regular season match-up between these two teams, although the regular season, especially for Boston, was not very important. (Lakers won 4 of the 6 regular season games)
As a Celtic fan I always took some unkind pleasure in the misery Boston imposed on Jerry West throughout his career. As much as Wilt was tormented by the losses to Russell West was severely traumatized by the many losses to Boston in the NBA finals. The trauma, I am sure, was exacerbated by Boston’s perceived arrogance. His psyche was not helped by Red Auerbach blowing cigar smoke in their faces after Boston wins. With the addition of Chamberlain the Lakers finally had a center that could match up with Russell, and West made it clear that 1969 would be the year that the Celtics got a well deserved comeuppance.
As mentioned Montville talks not only about the series but also the media coverage. I was also very young, but I remember listening to games one and two from Los Angeles on radio (no TV coverage) with Johnny Most doing the play by play. Those first two games, both won by the Lakers, exhibited the already established greatness of West, and the real beginnings of the greatness of John Havlicek. West had 53 in game one, and 41 in game 2. Havlicek was immense, pouring in 37 in game 1, and 43 in game 2. The series was played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with the first two in LA. On the return to Boston the Celtics won game 3, and that brought us to one of the pivotal moments of the series in game 4. Those two Boston games were blacked out in the Boston tv market, forcing fans on to the radio dial with Johnny Most. But, indignity of all indignities the Celtics were bumped to the FM dial in game four, which in 1969 was not in many homes. My dad had a stereo console that had an FM receiver, and so I was able to listen to one exciting game. The Lakers had the game won, with a one point lead and the ball with seconds left, but a late Celtics steal led to a timeout. In that timeout the Celtics called a play that they had not used before (came to be known as the Ohio play) that had a triple pick being set at the top of the key for Sam Jones, who managed to get the shot off while jumping off the wrong foot after slipping. The ball hit the front rim, the back rim, and dropped through the net for the Celtics win. Maybe Wilt had a point about good luck!
After trading home court wins it all came down to game 7 in Los Angeles. Each team had won every home game, and the Lakers were sure of victory. Of course Montville had to talk about the victory balloons that Jack Kent Cooke had in the rafters at the Fabulous Forum for the sure victory that was to come over the hated Celtics. That game was televised in Boston, starting at a very late hour in Boston, and it truly was reflective of the series. The Celtics raced to an early lead, Chamberlain got hurt in the second half, but the Lakers came storming back with Chamberlain on the bench, and nearly overtook Boston. As in game 4 the Celtics benefitted from a play that led to a Don Nelson shot from the foul line that hit the back of the rim, went straight up, and came back down right through the net. That shot broke the back of the Laker comeback, and Russell had done it again, winning his 11th championship in 13 years. What about Chamberlain? Although injured he shook it off and requested to come back in to the game. Laker Coach Bill van Breda Kolff, happy with the Laker rally, declined to put Wilt back in the game. That decision would be hotly debated for years to come. West, in losing again, had 42 points in game 7, and was declared the Series MVP, the first and only time a member of the losing team had won that honor. West averaged 37.8 points per game in the final, and he was truly an unstoppable force.
After the series Russell eventually announced his retirement. What more could he achieve? His last win may have been his greatest, but there were so many to choose from. His supporting cast was a bit on the older side, but they had talent. Sam Jones, John Havlicek, Bailey Howell, Emmett Bryant, Don Nelson, and Larry Siegfried all were outstanding. Sam went out with Russell, retiring with ten rings.
If you are a Celtics fan this book will bring some team history back, but it also brings back the media history, some of Montville’s personal history, and the feel of a time that has passed. I thought I would enjoy the book, but it was better than I expected. Pick this one up and enjoy a trip back in time.
Montville does as good of a job as you can do unpacking all of the undercurrents involved in the 1969 NBA finals between the Lakers and the Celtics. He gives us a look, as mentioned, at some of the Boston sports beat writers, and that is not always a pretty view. Montville mentions the over the top racism of some of those writers, calling one in particular out by name. I found some of the press stuff to be fascinating and to me that is part of the worth of the book. It is more than basketball, but does not lose its focus on the main event. Montville, in my view, weaves the story together beautifully.
The Celtics-Lakers showdown in 1969 had so much storyline. Bill Russell vs Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West trying to break the string of losses to the Celtics in so many NBA finals, the decline of the Celtics dynasty, and the berth of a new super-team in the Los Angeles Lakers, with three bona fide superstars. Montville gets to all of them in a way that is understandable even if you are not all that acquainted with basketball in this era.
In this, Bill Russell’s last season, the Boston Celtics were indeed an aging team that struggled through the NBA regular season, finishing in fourth place in the East, the last eligible playoff slot. They were a better team than that, but age and injury slowed them over the long NBA season. As the playoffs started not many gave them a chance to advance far in the playoffs. They defeated the second place Philadelphia team that had traded Chamberlain to the Lakers. That team, with Chamberlain, was and is considered to be one of the greatest teams in NBA history. Without Chamberlain the Celtics rolled over them in the playoffs. They then faced off against a New York Knicks team with Clyde Frazier, Willis Reed, and (mid season pickup) Dave DeBusschere. This was the Knick team that would rise to greatness in the years to come, especially 1970. The Celtics disposed of them in six games. I mention the run up to the NBA Finals because the folklore was always that Russell won because he had better teams. It was not true in 1969, even before the Finals. It was not true before 1969, but that is a story for another book.
Even before we get to the series the Chamberlain-Russell rivalry is examined in the context of Chamberlain’s long history of losing to Russell led teams. Montville gives us some quotes from Wilt on the role of luck in some Celtic victories of prior years. We Celtic fans called that Wilt whining. We get to look at the regular season match-up between these two teams, although the regular season, especially for Boston, was not very important. (Lakers won 4 of the 6 regular season games)
As a Celtic fan I always took some unkind pleasure in the misery Boston imposed on Jerry West throughout his career. As much as Wilt was tormented by the losses to Russell West was severely traumatized by the many losses to Boston in the NBA finals. The trauma, I am sure, was exacerbated by Boston’s perceived arrogance. His psyche was not helped by Red Auerbach blowing cigar smoke in their faces after Boston wins. With the addition of Chamberlain the Lakers finally had a center that could match up with Russell, and West made it clear that 1969 would be the year that the Celtics got a well deserved comeuppance.
As mentioned Montville talks not only about the series but also the media coverage. I was also very young, but I remember listening to games one and two from Los Angeles on radio (no TV coverage) with Johnny Most doing the play by play. Those first two games, both won by the Lakers, exhibited the already established greatness of West, and the real beginnings of the greatness of John Havlicek. West had 53 in game one, and 41 in game 2. Havlicek was immense, pouring in 37 in game 1, and 43 in game 2. The series was played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with the first two in LA. On the return to Boston the Celtics won game 3, and that brought us to one of the pivotal moments of the series in game 4. Those two Boston games were blacked out in the Boston tv market, forcing fans on to the radio dial with Johnny Most. But, indignity of all indignities the Celtics were bumped to the FM dial in game four, which in 1969 was not in many homes. My dad had a stereo console that had an FM receiver, and so I was able to listen to one exciting game. The Lakers had the game won, with a one point lead and the ball with seconds left, but a late Celtics steal led to a timeout. In that timeout the Celtics called a play that they had not used before (came to be known as the Ohio play) that had a triple pick being set at the top of the key for Sam Jones, who managed to get the shot off while jumping off the wrong foot after slipping. The ball hit the front rim, the back rim, and dropped through the net for the Celtics win. Maybe Wilt had a point about good luck!
After trading home court wins it all came down to game 7 in Los Angeles. Each team had won every home game, and the Lakers were sure of victory. Of course Montville had to talk about the victory balloons that Jack Kent Cooke had in the rafters at the Fabulous Forum for the sure victory that was to come over the hated Celtics. That game was televised in Boston, starting at a very late hour in Boston, and it truly was reflective of the series. The Celtics raced to an early lead, Chamberlain got hurt in the second half, but the Lakers came storming back with Chamberlain on the bench, and nearly overtook Boston. As in game 4 the Celtics benefitted from a play that led to a Don Nelson shot from the foul line that hit the back of the rim, went straight up, and came back down right through the net. That shot broke the back of the Laker comeback, and Russell had done it again, winning his 11th championship in 13 years. What about Chamberlain? Although injured he shook it off and requested to come back in to the game. Laker Coach Bill van Breda Kolff, happy with the Laker rally, declined to put Wilt back in the game. That decision would be hotly debated for years to come. West, in losing again, had 42 points in game 7, and was declared the Series MVP, the first and only time a member of the losing team had won that honor. West averaged 37.8 points per game in the final, and he was truly an unstoppable force.
After the series Russell eventually announced his retirement. What more could he achieve? His last win may have been his greatest, but there were so many to choose from. His supporting cast was a bit on the older side, but they had talent. Sam Jones, John Havlicek, Bailey Howell, Emmett Bryant, Don Nelson, and Larry Siegfried all were outstanding. Sam went out with Russell, retiring with ten rings.
If you are a Celtics fan this book will bring some team history back, but it also brings back the media history, some of Montville’s personal history, and the feel of a time that has passed. I thought I would enjoy the book, but it was better than I expected. Pick this one up and enjoy a trip back in time.
August 1, 2021
It’s probably inevitable. You get to a certain point when it’s natural to look back at key points of your life. Unlike many of us, Leigh Montville has the ability to do so in a way that is at once entertaining, educational and self-serving (the latter of which I mean in the best way possible).
Unless you’re the queen of England, to be on a job for more than 50 years is an amazing feat. It means that you have to be pretty good at what you do. But even the best of us have to start somewhere at the bottom of the food chain. Montville talks us through his “origin” story as a reporter for the Boston Globe on his first major assignment: covering the 1969 championship series between his city’s Celtics and their cross-country rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers.
The finals pitted two of the most dominant centers in the history of the game: the former’s playing coach Bill Russell and the latter’s Wilt Chamberlain. It was also a contest between the dominant but aging Celtics, who had won more finals than fingers to accommodate the championship rings, and the Lakers, who represented a new generation of athletes as the country moved from the swinging ’60s into the next decade.
Montville refers to himself throughout his account as “the bright young man” (or TBYM). Whether that’s tongue-in-cheek or self-aggrandizing is for the reader to decide; I choose to go with the former. Everything is new to him, from the traveling to the filing of stories to the intimidating necessity of interviewing reticent players and coaches.
About half of the book consists of reprints of stories and columns by the author and those of colleagues and competitors about the games, examples of the differing styles and methods. It is an homage to the men --- exclusively men since the events in TALL MEN, SHORT SHORTS predates the inclusion of women in that profession --- from whom Montville learned valuable lessons in what to do (and not do).
The more interesting half consists of his recollections of those days, admittedly not always accurate as some details have grown hazy over time. That candidness and wistfulness add to the book��s charm.
Montville is the author of two outstanding baseball works --- THE BIG BAM: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth and TED WILLIAMS: The Biography of an American Hero --- among other titles. Once again he shows his unique talent and lighthearted approach to his subject.
Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
Unless you’re the queen of England, to be on a job for more than 50 years is an amazing feat. It means that you have to be pretty good at what you do. But even the best of us have to start somewhere at the bottom of the food chain. Montville talks us through his “origin” story as a reporter for the Boston Globe on his first major assignment: covering the 1969 championship series between his city’s Celtics and their cross-country rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers.
The finals pitted two of the most dominant centers in the history of the game: the former’s playing coach Bill Russell and the latter’s Wilt Chamberlain. It was also a contest between the dominant but aging Celtics, who had won more finals than fingers to accommodate the championship rings, and the Lakers, who represented a new generation of athletes as the country moved from the swinging ’60s into the next decade.
Montville refers to himself throughout his account as “the bright young man” (or TBYM). Whether that’s tongue-in-cheek or self-aggrandizing is for the reader to decide; I choose to go with the former. Everything is new to him, from the traveling to the filing of stories to the intimidating necessity of interviewing reticent players and coaches.
About half of the book consists of reprints of stories and columns by the author and those of colleagues and competitors about the games, examples of the differing styles and methods. It is an homage to the men --- exclusively men since the events in TALL MEN, SHORT SHORTS predates the inclusion of women in that profession --- from whom Montville learned valuable lessons in what to do (and not do).
The more interesting half consists of his recollections of those days, admittedly not always accurate as some details have grown hazy over time. That candidness and wistfulness add to the book��s charm.
Montville is the author of two outstanding baseball works --- THE BIG BAM: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth and TED WILLIAMS: The Biography of an American Hero --- among other titles. Once again he shows his unique talent and lighthearted approach to his subject.
Reviewed by Ron Kaplan
April 25, 2021
In the 1960s and 1970s, I lived in Southern California and was a huge fan of professional basketball in general and the LA Lakers in particular. I followed the team closely, every season, through the playoffs, with the too-frequent finale being a loss to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Championship Finals. Back in the late 60s, there was a 24-year old, inexperienced sports reporter named Leigh Montville covering the Celtics and, although he didn’t keep a journal during 1969, he has a great memory that he put to good use writing Tall Men, Short Shorts. Subtitled The 1969 NBA Finals: Wilt, Russ, Lakers, Celtics, and a Very Young Sports Reporter, it is a fascinating look at how the sport and the league used to be, and wow, has it changed.
In 1969, it seemed a given that the L.A. Lakers were destined to win the title, and as Bill Russell’s career was coming to an end, the Boston Celtics were struggling to even get to the Finals at the end of the season. Sports were different then in both Boston and LA: “Baseball was the undisputed king in both cities. Hockey is second in Boston, football or horse racing second in Los Angeles.” To emphasize the way things have changed for basketball, “...best indicator of the NBA’s place in the 1969 world is that none of the first four games of the series …will be shown on television in Boston.”That young sportswriter got on a plane for the first time in 1969 and flew from Boston to LA to cover the Finals. Back then, a reporter’s job was wildly different: he “had to look in the phone book, the Yellow Pages, to find a Western Union office,” where someone else would retype his words and send them to his paper. Things were different in LA: “Hair was long, skirts were short…Marijuana was everywhere.” He went on to a prize-winning career writing for the Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated, and this book captures his love for the game and the team, as well as the details of all seven games. Spoiler Alert: he went home happy at the end of the series. A great read for any fan of basketball in general, and Celtics fans in particular will LOVE it. Four stars, and thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for this honest review.
In 1969, it seemed a given that the L.A. Lakers were destined to win the title, and as Bill Russell’s career was coming to an end, the Boston Celtics were struggling to even get to the Finals at the end of the season. Sports were different then in both Boston and LA: “Baseball was the undisputed king in both cities. Hockey is second in Boston, football or horse racing second in Los Angeles.” To emphasize the way things have changed for basketball, “...best indicator of the NBA’s place in the 1969 world is that none of the first four games of the series …will be shown on television in Boston.”That young sportswriter got on a plane for the first time in 1969 and flew from Boston to LA to cover the Finals. Back then, a reporter’s job was wildly different: he “had to look in the phone book, the Yellow Pages, to find a Western Union office,” where someone else would retype his words and send them to his paper. Things were different in LA: “Hair was long, skirts were short…Marijuana was everywhere.” He went on to a prize-winning career writing for the Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated, and this book captures his love for the game and the team, as well as the details of all seven games. Spoiler Alert: he went home happy at the end of the series. A great read for any fan of basketball in general, and Celtics fans in particular will LOVE it. Four stars, and thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for this honest review.
November 20, 2022
This book was a bit of a disappointment. It was handed to me from a teammate of mine who I play basketball with. While I never played on the level that Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Bill Russell, John Havlicek, and the other players from those Lakers and Celtics teams did, I’m always interested in learning more about those players and teams that preceded my time here on Earth. Why was this book a disappointment? The clash of these two teams occurred during a time of great upheaval and included an interesting cast of characters, but I don’t think the author spent enough time going into depth on the players and coaches. There was too much background on newspaper reporting and the author’s work on submitting articles, etc., which I’m sorry to say, is boring. The second half of the book is better than the first half. There were a lot of reprinted articles on the games, and not necessarily written by the author. Most of these were just reporting game facts and don’t translate well to a retrospective book about this championship series. Once again, boring. (Exception: Bill Russell’s submissions to the Boston Globe were interesting). And I have to say, the use of the third person to describe the author as “the bright young man” was just plain annoying. Why do it? But there was a good epilogue at the end, which I think always works well when covering sports. Props to the author though for a great book title.
February 5, 2022
I have enjoyed Leigh Montville's work in the past - SI and books on Babe Ruth most notably. I was very interested in reading this memoir and it did not disappoint me at all. Montville goes back to the 1969 NBA Finals - Boston vs. LA Lakers and all of the "Big Men" are present - the focus is on Bill Russell as player coach, but we get the big names - Chamberlain, West, and Havlicek. Montville was a "rookie" journalist for the Boston Globe getting a shot at covering a big series, he refers to himself as the TBYM - The Bright Young Man - as he tries to get an angle; or a unique storyline to go with the covering the games on both coasts. It's an interesting look at the NBA so long ago when the games on the NBA Finals were blacked out in home cities in the games were not sold out and not always the "top sports stories" in the news. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into the everyday workings of both a journalist and the NBA back in 1969 - the travel, the hotels, the aging Boston Garden - all detailed wonderfully. It was also great to read the game coverage and actual stories penned by the TBYM at the time. It may not be for everyone looking for an expansive story of the season that led up to the seven game final, but it's a great piece of sports/journalistic history and a fascinating look at a league that is nothing like the "Showtime" league it is today.
May 11, 2023
RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: 69 NBA FINALS GREAT… AUTHOR’S SCROOGE VISITS WITH HIMSELF IN THE PAST AWFUL!
****************************************************************************
The stories told about one of the most intriguing NBA finals in history between the perennial finals combatants’ the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in 1969 is historically compelling… and wonderful if for no other reason than possibly educating the younger readers as to how great… and tough… players like Bill Russell… John Havlicek… Wilt Chamberlain… Jerry West… and the player who before Jordan… before Doctor J… was probably the acrobatic high flyer that was the best of them all at that time… Elgin Baylor. (Who also happened to be Doctor J’s idol!).
Author Leigh Montville…now seventy-seven years old… wrote this book during the 2020 NBA “BUBBLE playoffs… and goes back to his twenty-six year old life… and his first plane flight… and first real column writing experience. He starts off with a “shtick”… that at first is a little bit cute… and clever… but very quickly… becomes obscenely overused… and is like your tenth grade biology teacher constantly scraping her fingernails on the blackboard in your fifth period class… every day for twenty-five years! (Yes… twenty-five years… it is so distracting… and obnoxious… that it’s impossible to concentrate in class… so you fail that class twenty-five years in a row… and never graduate high school!) Why is Montville’s fingernails on the blackboard a non-stop crime? He refers to himself in addition to other third… fourth… fifth… person… Ad Nauseam manners… as **THE-BRIGHT-YOUNG-MAN** (TBYM)… and maybe the first… second… third… fourth time… it might… just might… be clever or cute… then… AND without any exaggeration… when it gets to the fiftieth to seventy-fifth time… you are gagging for air… and are deciding whether to vomit… throw the book through a window or both!
The back and forth from 1969 to the present and almost every time in between has some interesting dichotomies… from him chain smoking on a plane flight coast to coast… inhaling so many cigarettes the ash tray in the arm of his seat is overflowing… that it makes a non-smoking reader dizzy… and if you’re old enough to have flown on those smoking allowed flights… (hard to believe they allowed that)… thoughts go back to when you got home and had to hang your jacket outside for 48 hours to get that horrid smell out of it. For true old school fans… the difference between players of our youth… who played true bad-ass physical games… and sometimes three games in four nights… and there were REAL FIGHTS… AND I MEAN REAL FIGHTS… not the spineless wussy big talk no action falsifications of machismo… when today’s players like Clay Thompson and Chris Paul stick their chins out and talk like they’re Mike Tyson… the minute ten guys and two ref’s and five coaches are between them… and even a Tomahawk Missile couldn’t reach them.
A classic example by the author… comes when he’s discussing the greatest winner in the history of basketball… Bill Russell… now a player-coach at the end of his career… who in addition to coaching and playing in a championship series… also is dictating his feelings after each game to a newspaper for a contracted “writing” assignment:
“The 2019-2020 Celtics media guide in the far-off future lists seven basic assistant coaches to help head coach Brad Stevens, then adds a player enhancement coach, a director of player development and two strength coaches, assorted scouts, analyst, a video coordinator, and his assistant. RUSSELL HAS NO ASSISTANTS. NONE. HE DOES ALL THESE JOBS HIMSELF, EXCEPT THE ONES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN INVENTED.”
Oh yea… Russell also performs the center jump to start the game!
Thankfully… somehow the author does find time… in the midst of almost constant and endless… third party “TBYM” references… (sscccrrreeeeccchh… what the hell is that sound? Oh,,, I forgot it must be time for fifth period Biology!)… to show his talent in poetic basketball descriptions. Here is one of the best… AND… most accurate… regarding the legendary Elgin Baylor… as injuries were bringing him to a sad career ending.
“HIS CAREER WAS DISCUSSED IN BEFORE AND AFTER TERMS. IN THE BEFORE, HE ARGUABLY WAS THE BEST PLAYER WHO EVER HAD DRIBBLED A BASKETBALL. HE WAS ALMOST AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL WONDER, SEEN ONLY IN COMIC BOOKS OR THAT MOVIE ABOUT MARY POPPINS, THE FIRST PLAYER WHO COULD FLY. HE WOULD LIFT INTO THE AIR, GUARDED BY TWO DEFENDERS, EVERYONE LEAVING THE FLOOR AT THE SAME TIME. THE TWO DEFENDERS THEN WOULD COME BACK DOWN, SAME AS THE APPLE FROM THE TREE IN ISAAC NEWTON’S BACKYARD. BAYLOR WOULD HANG FOR AN EXTRA MOMENT, SEEMED LIKE AN ETERNITY, FINISH HIS BUSINESS WITH THE BASKETBALL, THEN DESCEND.”
The storytelling covers not only game days of the 1969 finals… but the off days as well. The author… in addition to sharing a microscopic look at the greats and non-greats on these two magnificent teams… but he gives the good and the bad of a great many sportswriters and announcers during these periods.
The greatness of Russell… can never be forgotten because no player is ever again going to win eleven World Championships in thirteen years again… at least not on this planet! And as for Wilt… here we are fifty-two years later… and… “The numbers were staggering. No one ever had done what he had done. In 2020 he still held SEVENTY-TWO NBA RECORDS… he scored 65 or more points fifteen times. Fifty or more points 118 times. He still was the career rebounding leader.” He averaged over 50 points per game for 82 games… scored ONE-HUNDRED-POINTS IN A GAME… GOT 55 REBOUNDS IN A GAME…
“Mister-Clutch” Jerry West is still “THE LOGO”… John Havlicek died over two years ago… and is still running… and still not tired! And Elg was the poetry shared above.
NOTE-HISTORICAL-STATISTICAL-MISTAKE-IN THIS BOOK: On page sixty-two when the author is discussing Bill Russell’s accomplishments in college at USF he states: “he still had things to prove running through his head during all of those fifty-five wins and those two NCAA championships.”
CORRECT STATISTICS: Bill Russell’s team at USF won SIXTY STRAIGHT GAMES…(1954-1956) (Including the 1955 and 1956 NCAA titles.) the NCAA all-time record until UCLA won EIGHTY-EIGHT STRAIGHT (1971-1974)
****************************************************************************
The stories told about one of the most intriguing NBA finals in history between the perennial finals combatants’ the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers in 1969 is historically compelling… and wonderful if for no other reason than possibly educating the younger readers as to how great… and tough… players like Bill Russell… John Havlicek… Wilt Chamberlain… Jerry West… and the player who before Jordan… before Doctor J… was probably the acrobatic high flyer that was the best of them all at that time… Elgin Baylor. (Who also happened to be Doctor J’s idol!).
Author Leigh Montville…now seventy-seven years old… wrote this book during the 2020 NBA “BUBBLE playoffs… and goes back to his twenty-six year old life… and his first plane flight… and first real column writing experience. He starts off with a “shtick”… that at first is a little bit cute… and clever… but very quickly… becomes obscenely overused… and is like your tenth grade biology teacher constantly scraping her fingernails on the blackboard in your fifth period class… every day for twenty-five years! (Yes… twenty-five years… it is so distracting… and obnoxious… that it’s impossible to concentrate in class… so you fail that class twenty-five years in a row… and never graduate high school!) Why is Montville’s fingernails on the blackboard a non-stop crime? He refers to himself in addition to other third… fourth… fifth… person… Ad Nauseam manners… as **THE-BRIGHT-YOUNG-MAN** (TBYM)… and maybe the first… second… third… fourth time… it might… just might… be clever or cute… then… AND without any exaggeration… when it gets to the fiftieth to seventy-fifth time… you are gagging for air… and are deciding whether to vomit… throw the book through a window or both!
The back and forth from 1969 to the present and almost every time in between has some interesting dichotomies… from him chain smoking on a plane flight coast to coast… inhaling so many cigarettes the ash tray in the arm of his seat is overflowing… that it makes a non-smoking reader dizzy… and if you’re old enough to have flown on those smoking allowed flights… (hard to believe they allowed that)… thoughts go back to when you got home and had to hang your jacket outside for 48 hours to get that horrid smell out of it. For true old school fans… the difference between players of our youth… who played true bad-ass physical games… and sometimes three games in four nights… and there were REAL FIGHTS… AND I MEAN REAL FIGHTS… not the spineless wussy big talk no action falsifications of machismo… when today’s players like Clay Thompson and Chris Paul stick their chins out and talk like they’re Mike Tyson… the minute ten guys and two ref’s and five coaches are between them… and even a Tomahawk Missile couldn’t reach them.
A classic example by the author… comes when he’s discussing the greatest winner in the history of basketball… Bill Russell… now a player-coach at the end of his career… who in addition to coaching and playing in a championship series… also is dictating his feelings after each game to a newspaper for a contracted “writing” assignment:
“The 2019-2020 Celtics media guide in the far-off future lists seven basic assistant coaches to help head coach Brad Stevens, then adds a player enhancement coach, a director of player development and two strength coaches, assorted scouts, analyst, a video coordinator, and his assistant. RUSSELL HAS NO ASSISTANTS. NONE. HE DOES ALL THESE JOBS HIMSELF, EXCEPT THE ONES THAT HAVE NOT BEEN INVENTED.”
Oh yea… Russell also performs the center jump to start the game!
Thankfully… somehow the author does find time… in the midst of almost constant and endless… third party “TBYM” references… (sscccrrreeeeccchh… what the hell is that sound? Oh,,, I forgot it must be time for fifth period Biology!)… to show his talent in poetic basketball descriptions. Here is one of the best… AND… most accurate… regarding the legendary Elgin Baylor… as injuries were bringing him to a sad career ending.
“HIS CAREER WAS DISCUSSED IN BEFORE AND AFTER TERMS. IN THE BEFORE, HE ARGUABLY WAS THE BEST PLAYER WHO EVER HAD DRIBBLED A BASKETBALL. HE WAS ALMOST AN EXTRATERRESTRIAL WONDER, SEEN ONLY IN COMIC BOOKS OR THAT MOVIE ABOUT MARY POPPINS, THE FIRST PLAYER WHO COULD FLY. HE WOULD LIFT INTO THE AIR, GUARDED BY TWO DEFENDERS, EVERYONE LEAVING THE FLOOR AT THE SAME TIME. THE TWO DEFENDERS THEN WOULD COME BACK DOWN, SAME AS THE APPLE FROM THE TREE IN ISAAC NEWTON’S BACKYARD. BAYLOR WOULD HANG FOR AN EXTRA MOMENT, SEEMED LIKE AN ETERNITY, FINISH HIS BUSINESS WITH THE BASKETBALL, THEN DESCEND.”
The storytelling covers not only game days of the 1969 finals… but the off days as well. The author… in addition to sharing a microscopic look at the greats and non-greats on these two magnificent teams… but he gives the good and the bad of a great many sportswriters and announcers during these periods.
The greatness of Russell… can never be forgotten because no player is ever again going to win eleven World Championships in thirteen years again… at least not on this planet! And as for Wilt… here we are fifty-two years later… and… “The numbers were staggering. No one ever had done what he had done. In 2020 he still held SEVENTY-TWO NBA RECORDS… he scored 65 or more points fifteen times. Fifty or more points 118 times. He still was the career rebounding leader.” He averaged over 50 points per game for 82 games… scored ONE-HUNDRED-POINTS IN A GAME… GOT 55 REBOUNDS IN A GAME…
“Mister-Clutch” Jerry West is still “THE LOGO”… John Havlicek died over two years ago… and is still running… and still not tired! And Elg was the poetry shared above.
NOTE-HISTORICAL-STATISTICAL-MISTAKE-IN THIS BOOK: On page sixty-two when the author is discussing Bill Russell’s accomplishments in college at USF he states: “he still had things to prove running through his head during all of those fifty-five wins and those two NCAA championships.”
CORRECT STATISTICS: Bill Russell’s team at USF won SIXTY STRAIGHT GAMES…(1954-1956) (Including the 1955 and 1956 NCAA titles.) the NCAA all-time record until UCLA won EIGHTY-EIGHT STRAIGHT (1971-1974)
August 11, 2021
Subtitled: The 1969 NBA Finals: Wilt, Russ, Lakers, Celtics, and a Very Young Sports Reporter
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I was 8 years old when the championship series this books revolves around happened, so while I was familiar with the big-name players, most of the role players on each team were unknown to me. Author Leigh Montville was a 25-year-old sportswriter just getting the feel of what it meant to cover big sporting events when he was assigned to cover the series for his newspaper.
The book examines the series through a combination of contemporary newspaper articles written by Montville and others along with current-day observations about how the NBA and sports media in general differs today versus what they were more than 50 years ago. The series matched the star-studded Lakers (Chamberlain, West, Baylor) with the workman-like Celtics dynasty (Russell, Havlicek). The Lakers had traded for Wilt Chamberlain in the off season with the specific aim of countering Boston center Bill Russell and finally defeating the Celtics for the NBA title.
I gave Tall Men, Short Shorts four stars on Goodreads. From a statistical standpoint, the Celtic dynasty still doesn’t quite make sense to me but after reading this book I got a little bit of a grasp on how Boston’s approach was so successful.
I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.
I was 8 years old when the championship series this books revolves around happened, so while I was familiar with the big-name players, most of the role players on each team were unknown to me. Author Leigh Montville was a 25-year-old sportswriter just getting the feel of what it meant to cover big sporting events when he was assigned to cover the series for his newspaper.
The book examines the series through a combination of contemporary newspaper articles written by Montville and others along with current-day observations about how the NBA and sports media in general differs today versus what they were more than 50 years ago. The series matched the star-studded Lakers (Chamberlain, West, Baylor) with the workman-like Celtics dynasty (Russell, Havlicek). The Lakers had traded for Wilt Chamberlain in the off season with the specific aim of countering Boston center Bill Russell and finally defeating the Celtics for the NBA title.
I gave Tall Men, Short Shorts four stars on Goodreads. From a statistical standpoint, the Celtic dynasty still doesn’t quite make sense to me but after reading this book I got a little bit of a grasp on how Boston’s approach was so successful.
July 23, 2021
Awesome read. I breezed through it and laughed all the way. I work in the newspaper field and worked at The Boston Globe, so I know of the place and the names. God, I worshipped all the Globe writers as I was growing up, Montville at the top of the list. His style is refreshing and funny. I loved reading all the newspaper stories from that time, a great touch, and his own stories of covering the team. His humility as he covered these legendary ball players as a TBYM is authentic. So many great stories and characters intertwined in this book, and not all basketball players. Montville talks newspaper greats — and not so greats — other literary stars of the time and mixes in cultural moments of the time to put you there in 1969 America.
I’ve been fascinated about the 1969 NBA Finaks for years, always seeing old clips and the cliff notes version of what happened. But in Tall Men, Short shirts, Montville puts you right in the action, in the storied buildings, in the locker room, on press row, in the hotels, on the transcontinental flights and finally in the victory parade.
I could relate to many situations covered in the book and was amazed at many more. This book truly takes you back to a time of great social upheaval the country and how these men endured and triumphed.
I’ve been fascinated about the 1969 NBA Finaks for years, always seeing old clips and the cliff notes version of what happened. But in Tall Men, Short shirts, Montville puts you right in the action, in the storied buildings, in the locker room, on press row, in the hotels, on the transcontinental flights and finally in the victory parade.
I could relate to many situations covered in the book and was amazed at many more. This book truly takes you back to a time of great social upheaval the country and how these men endured and triumphed.
May 3, 2022
As a Celtics fan of 60+ years and one of the remaining 85,000 weekday print subscribers of The Boston Globe, this book touched me on many levels. It was a great trip down the memory lane of Boston sportswriting. My knowledge of Celtics history and their championship legacy is pretty solid. I was more enamored by a mere 25 year old sportswriter’s quest and challenge to cover an historical NBA Finals which was both a competitive and political endeavor for him personally.
The book is a fine companion to Dan Shaughnessy’ “Wish it Lasted Forever” about his covering the Bird era. Also, I know people were put off by the author’s use of TBYM to describe himself throughout the book. Don’t let that gimmick distract you from the big picture.
Montville has always been one of my very favorite sportswriters. But, when he was with the Globe, his weekly essays in the Sunday Globe Magazine, which were not related to sports, were must reading. I thoroughly enjoyed his anecdotes about other Globe writers whose work I also read and enjoyed, most of whom are now deceased.
I was surprised by the nostalgia and sadness this book aroused in me. A print edition of the Boston Globe will need to be pried from my cold, dead hands.
The book is a fine companion to Dan Shaughnessy’ “Wish it Lasted Forever” about his covering the Bird era. Also, I know people were put off by the author’s use of TBYM to describe himself throughout the book. Don’t let that gimmick distract you from the big picture.
Montville has always been one of my very favorite sportswriters. But, when he was with the Globe, his weekly essays in the Sunday Globe Magazine, which were not related to sports, were must reading. I thoroughly enjoyed his anecdotes about other Globe writers whose work I also read and enjoyed, most of whom are now deceased.
I was surprised by the nostalgia and sadness this book aroused in me. A print edition of the Boston Globe will need to be pried from my cold, dead hands.
August 16, 2021
(Audiobook) This book looks at the 1969 NBA Finals, perhaps one of the most competitive and most notable in the history of the league. It involved the two premiere franchises in league history, with perhaps some of the greatest stars in their final great moment. In recapping the 7-game series (won by Boston in LA), Montville looks back at not only the events on the court, but the whole context of basketball, sports, sports media and the individuals involved in that pivotal series. The author recounts his time as a young journalist, following the events of that time and what those events mean to him 50 years on. Those individuals involved, from Wilt Chamberlin to Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Red Auerbach, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Johnny Most, Chip Hearn and so many others are among the giants of the game. This was such a remarkable time, series and the author makes it so engaging. It is not too on-court specific, but it doesn’t try to throw too much of the social, history-defining aspects that others might try with this. It places the series and all associated with it in the proper level on context. Worth it for any sports fan, no matter the format.
March 21, 2023
Cozy, relatable, frequently funny, constantly involving. One of the few benefits of the COVID pandemic (and the ensuing lockdown) was the abundance of free time everybody suddenly had to take stock of things. Leigh Montville clearly took notice: more than once does he specify his reason behind writing "Tall Men, Short Shorts" as wanting to shelter from the 2020 storm by diving into his memories covering the 1969 NBA Finals for the Boston Globe. The personal angle is what makes this so special; there have been many good books/movies/tv shows/podcasts about special athletic moments, but this one has the benefit of not just being written by someone who was there, but by very specifically about being there. There are reminders, everywhere, that most of the people involved in either the actual Finals or the reporting on them are either dead or soon-to-be. But what they did and what they wrote, the art they concocted, will be chiseled in stone forever. I think it's telling that Montville doesn't just include Bill Russell's statistics, but his actual written thoughts on how it all went down. All around great.
October 15, 2021
Leigh Montville, 50 years later, writes about himself as a starting 25 year old sports reporter (The Bright Young Man or TBYM ) for the Boston Globe who is assigned to cover the 1969 finals between the Celtics and the Lakers. He brings all the star players to life - Russell, Havlicek, Jones, Chamberlin, West, and Baylor). Not only do we get the reliving of those games through his interviews conducted at that time, but we also appreciate how overawed he was at the daunting assignment for a young 25 year old. Moreover, we are regaled rereading the sports writers columns by the great Bud Collins and James Mason of the Globe and Milton Gross of the Post. Boy could they write!
As an illustration, one comments that although Charles DeGaulle is 6’4”, he wouldn’t make a good addition to either team as he predictably always goes to his right.
A great book for sports journalism and for reliving the NBA greats.
As an illustration, one comments that although Charles DeGaulle is 6’4”, he wouldn’t make a good addition to either team as he predictably always goes to his right.
A great book for sports journalism and for reliving the NBA greats.
December 30, 2021
If you wanted to watch the first couple games of the 1969 NBA finals, you had to pay money and go to a movie theatre and see them on closed circuit or else listen on the radio.
The finals featured the immortal Bill Russell and John Havlicek and SamJones for the Celtics and Wilt the Stilt Chamberlain and Jerry West and Elgin Baylor for the Lakers.
But this story is more than the NBA at that stage of its development. Just as interesting and in my mind more interesting is that it details what sports journalism was like at that time in history, 1969. The two controlling media were radio and newspapers. The author, Leigh Montville now 77 was 25 years old at the time and got to cover the finals for the Boston Globe.
This was a very enjoyable read. The author publishes a number of columns that he and his colleagues wrote while covering the 1969 NBA finals. These columns, many of which are gems were a great addition to a fun to read story.
The finals featured the immortal Bill Russell and John Havlicek and SamJones for the Celtics and Wilt the Stilt Chamberlain and Jerry West and Elgin Baylor for the Lakers.
But this story is more than the NBA at that stage of its development. Just as interesting and in my mind more interesting is that it details what sports journalism was like at that time in history, 1969. The two controlling media were radio and newspapers. The author, Leigh Montville now 77 was 25 years old at the time and got to cover the finals for the Boston Globe.
This was a very enjoyable read. The author publishes a number of columns that he and his colleagues wrote while covering the 1969 NBA finals. These columns, many of which are gems were a great addition to a fun to read story.
April 7, 2022
A great book for NBA aficionados; part sports lore, part sports-reporter memoir. Everything you always wanted to know about the Celtics' unlikely 7-game victory in the 1969 NBA finals, Bill Russell's 11th in 13 years. Two pieces of memorable sports nuggets out of many in this book. When Russell won his first championship with the Celtics (1953?), he looked up from his seated position in the winning lockerroom and said, almost wondrously, "I won three championships this year."
Along with the NBA finals, he had won the Olympic gold medal (1952 Summer Olympics) and the NCAA basketball championships. Also, when Jerry West of the Lakers won the MVP for the 1969 finals, he became the last player to win the MVP but play for the losing team. He averaged 39 points per game on an injured hamstring. No finals-losing NBA player has since won the MVP, and that was 53 years ago.
On both of those achievement's, Wow!
Along with the NBA finals, he had won the Olympic gold medal (1952 Summer Olympics) and the NCAA basketball championships. Also, when Jerry West of the Lakers won the MVP for the 1969 finals, he became the last player to win the MVP but play for the losing team. He averaged 39 points per game on an injured hamstring. No finals-losing NBA player has since won the MVP, and that was 53 years ago.
On both of those achievement's, Wow!
April 12, 2023
This was a very enjoyable book capturing a moment in time that I was just developing an interest in the NBA at 13 years of age. The first thing that struck me was the lack of public interest in the game such that virtually none of the games were televised to the nation and hometown blackouts were routine despite sellout crowds. My how thing have changed over the decades. Montville tells his story largely from his notes, columns and memories, and it is amusing to encounter when the archived days new of the Boston Globe on one particular Saturday just did not exist so he pretty much had to quote the box score and his limited memories for that game. it is a clever concept for a man of 77 years to tell of his activities of 52 years prior referring to himself as the bright young man (TBYM). Very endearing
August 27, 2021
The Way Things Used To Be
Leigh Montville goes back in time to 1969 and reminds us about the greatness of Bill Russell in his final championship run. And so much more.
Leigh digs into his own mindset at the time, as a young reporter full of himself, as we all were at 25. He avoids writing in first person with an interesting literary device that takes the awkward “I” and “me” out of this book.
Young Leigh is as much a character in this book as Russell and Auerbach because this is not only a story about hoops, it’s a tale of how newspaper stories were written and filed by Western Union.
If you were once a newspaperman, Tall Men, Short Shorts has added resonance. But if you are just hear for the hoop stories, enjoy the ride.
Leigh Montville goes back in time to 1969 and reminds us about the greatness of Bill Russell in his final championship run. And so much more.
Leigh digs into his own mindset at the time, as a young reporter full of himself, as we all were at 25. He avoids writing in first person with an interesting literary device that takes the awkward “I” and “me” out of this book.
Young Leigh is as much a character in this book as Russell and Auerbach because this is not only a story about hoops, it’s a tale of how newspaper stories were written and filed by Western Union.
If you were once a newspaperman, Tall Men, Short Shorts has added resonance. But if you are just hear for the hoop stories, enjoy the ride.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 87 reviews