Sugar: Micheal Ray Richardson, Eighties Excess, and the NBA
- ISBN-10
- 1496206126
- ISBN-13
- 9781496206121
- Series
- Sugar
- Category
- Sports & Recreation
- Pages
- 192
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2018-04
- Publisher
- U of Nebraska Press
- Author
- Charles Rosen
Description
The 1980s were arguably the NBA's best decade, giving rise to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan. They were among the game's greatest players who brought pro basketball out of its 1970s funk and made it faster, more fluid, and more exciting. Off the court the game was changing rapidly too, with the draft lottery, shoe commercials, and a style driven largely by excess. One player who personified the eighties excess is Micheal Ray Richardson. During his eight-year career in the NBA (1978-86), he was a four-time All-Star, twice named to the All-Defense team, and the first player to lead the league in both assists and steals. He was also a heavy cocaine user who went on days-long binges but continued to be signed by teams that hoped he'd get straight. Eventually he was the first and only player to be permanently disqualified from the NBA for repeat drug use. Tracking the rise, fall, and eventual redemption of Richardson throughout his playing days and subsequent coaching career, Charley Rosen describes the life‑defining pitfalls Richardson and other players faced and considers key themes such as off‑court and on‑court racism, anti-Semitism, womanizing, allegations of point‑shaving within the league, and drug and alcohol abuse by star players. By constructing his various lines of narration around the polarizing figure of Richardson--equal parts basketball savant, drug addict, and pariah--Rosen illuminates some of the more unseemly aspects of the NBA during this period, going behind the scenes to provide an account of what the league's darker side was like during its celebrated golden age.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2018-04-01
- 192 pages
- Paperback
- U of Nebraska Press
-
- 2018-04
- 192 pages
- Ebook
- U of Nebraska Press
Similar books
-
Unbreakable: 50 Goals in 39 Games: Wayne Gretzky and the Story of Hockey's Greatest Record
By Mike Brophy, Todd DenaultInundated with offers, Gretzky's agent Gus Badali added Michael Barnett to Number ... took time to visit the set of the popular television show M*A*S*H, ...
-
A Season in Time: Super Mario, Killer, St. Patrick, the Great One, and the Unforgettable 1992-93 NHL Season
By Todd Denault... Roger Neilson formany years,”Olczyknow remembers, “and as soon asI stepped into the room he bluntly toldme that the trade had been Neil Smith'sdeal.
-
The Boston Red Sox Fan Book
By David S. Neft, Michael L. Neft, Bob CarrollBefore the deal could be completed , however , the player's union voiced its ... Todd Walker left as a free agent and was replaced by Mark Bellhorn ...
-
Sports Scandals
By Peter S. Finley, Laura L. Finley, Jeffrey FountainTODD BERTUZZI DISGRACES HOCKEY All-Star right-winger Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks lost ... The case generated a great deal of media attention.
-
Tales from the Montreal Canadiens Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Canadiens Stories Ever Told
By Robert S. LefebvreSubsequently, Savard and the team issued a standard “we will deal with this ... Describing the trade, Todd colorfully termed the blunder as “a full-scale ...
-
Fighting Irish: Legends, Lists, and Lore
By Karen Croake HeislerNineteen-year-old captain Al Fortin, who had been playing for Notre Dame for four years, blocked a field goal attempt to preserve the standoff.
-
NBA Coaches Playbook: Techniques, Tactics, and Teaching Points
By National Basketball Coaches AssociationThe special plays section, featuring many of the book's 450-plus Xs and Os diagrams, will be especially popular among coaches seeking the out-of-bounds and last-second plays that work when the game is on the line.
-
Pebble Beach: The Official Golf History
By Hotelling Neal Dost Joanne, Neal HotellingThere was a three-way tie at 85 with Mclaughlin, Kenneth Monteagle of San Francisco, and R. Walker Salisbury of Salt lake city, a four-time Utah amateur champion. an 18-hole playoff was required after the match play was finished. after ...
-
Driving with the Devil: Southern Moonshine, Detroit Wheels, and the Birth of NASCAR
By Neal Thompson... Franklin D., 18, 43,147,157 Roper, Jim, 289, 292, 293 Rose, Mauri, 184,204, 207 Rubirosa, Porfirio, 348 Rum, 55, 56 Russell, D.C. “Fat,” 200, 204, 205, 224, 277m Ruth, Babe, 7, 359 Salisbury, North Carolina, 107, 109 Samples, Eddie, ...
-
Team Spirit: Life and Leadership on One of the World's Toughest Yacht Races
By Brendan HallThe 2010 winner was 28-year-old Brendan Hall and his crew in Spirit of Australia.