Red And Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend (2009) - Plot & Excerpts
As an avid basketball fan, I first picked up this book to learn more about Bill Russel's account of how he and Red Auerbach forged a lifelong friendship during the time of the Celtic dynasty in the NBA. Learning about their player-coach relationship transform, and how they were able to accept each other as men while respecting their differences, all seemed to epitomize the ideal friendship. Through his life experiences and anecdotes, the author was able to help us understand how these two men became the best of friends, and why they could remain so close despite their irregular interaction after leaving the world of basketball. He was able to tie in the values he learnt from his father, his views on how a team should operate, and his mentality as one of the greatest defensive players of all time to give readers an inside look into one of the most exciting time periods in the NBA. The fact that this was a homage from Bill to his coach, Red, after Red had passed away, made this book come across as one of the most meaningful pieces of writing to the author himself. I found this novel to be a relaxing read, which had an elegant and flowing writing style. Personally, I would give this book a 4/5 rating because, while it was a wonderful read, it also seemed to stress the same set of points throughout, even though this was done creatively. Overall, I think this was a joy to read, and I would recommend it to any sports fan. Another transfer station find. I was a big Celtics fan back in the day. Not so much now...Done with a couple of nights ago. Not a standard sports memoir in that there's not a lot of sports detail. Seems pretty brief actually. More of a tight-lipped account of a man-love relationship. It seems like neither man really knew the other all that well. They respected each other and obviously had a very successful sports collaboration.Soooooo... Everyone who's interested knows that Bill Russell had a very prickly and to my mind limited personality. He became more likable as he aged. To me it's a bit much reading how the kid out of college was basically a co-coach with Auerbach right off the bat; or that his game was so perfect that he didn't need to be coached. What's more likely is that Russell was already so coach-resistant that Red, recognizing his very special abilities, decided to "go with it' and build around what Russell wanted to do. Hey... it worked! Basketball has been ever thus, a game more easily controlled by the talents of one player. That's because there are fewer players involved than any of the other major pro sports. Still, Russell was so great because he worked with Red's concept of the TEAM game.- a mistake in word choice on p.104 - Havlicek story...
What do You think about Red And Me: My Coach, My Lifelong Friend (2009)?
As recommended by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Joakim Noah (as reported on KAJ's FB page).
—vmlbender
Would recommend: NoI'm sure someone will like this book, but it just wasn't me.
—RBrenn
I enjoyed reading about the Coach/Athlete relationship.
—zadayawhitewind
