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When the Game Was Ours

by Larry Bird

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Holister said: " While Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird do most of the reminiscing, Jackie MacMullan, a longtime Boston sportswriter, weaves the recollections of teammates and family members to write about the greatest sports’ rivalry between these men. This boo While Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird do most of the reminiscing, Jackie MacMullan, a longtime Boston sportswriter, weaves the recollections of teammates and family members to write about the greatest sports’ rivalry between these men. This book starts off with Magic and Bird talking about their relationship with each other during their basketball career in the 80’s when they were constantly playing against each other. They were both competitive, dominant players in the NBA and Magic played for the Lakers and Bird played for the Celtics. These two teams were the main focus during this time because Magic and Bird battled hard and were always giving each other a challenge. They were the best and their rivalry was so strong that they could not show the public any hint of them looking up to one another and admiring how each of them plays the game of basketball. However, the reader eventually sees them open up finally when they have their first conversation together. This is a huge plot development in the book because now their rivalry developed into a friendship and their bond between each other grew deep. During the rest of the novel, MacMullan continues writing about their powerful bond, as well as their rivalry through action on and off the court and the reader learns everything that went on between these two unbelievable, extraordinary men and gods of the hardwood.
When The Game Was Ours is a great read that I enjoyed the whole time. The amount of information the reader learns about these two great basketball players is substantial and every piece of it is incredible which keeps the reader captivated throughout the whole book. MacMullan does an amazing job at not only writing about the lives of these two men during their basketball career and the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry but writes about the issues of racism and HIV going on during this time. Magic and Larry were of opposite color and their relationship caused problems with fans and the public but made people realize that race does not matter and if Magic and Larry can get along and be friends, then everyone should be able to. AIDS was a huge epidemic going on in the 80’s and Magic was among the millions who got it which affected his life and others significantly. Magic, his family, and all of his fans were shocked and devastated and MacMullan goes into depth with all of this and explains to the reader how it changed the lives of Americans, including Magic, as a whole. I personally love the game of basketball too so that is another reason why I loved this book because I was able to relate to when Bird won his first NBA title in 1984 and their finals duel in 1987 and understand everything that was happening. I would highly recommend this book to all of the sports fans out there, especially for people that are passionate about basketball. The rating I would give When The Game Was Ours is a nine out of ten. ...more "

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(page 340 of 340)
— May 23, 2018 12:26PM

May 23, 2018 07:11PM · see review