Even though I haven’t watched or paid attention to sports since Niko was born, I still like to read autobiographies/biographies of athletes, broadcasters, sportswriters, and sports in general.
I live in San Antonio and was a fan of the San Antonio Spurs for as long as I can remember, but again, I stopped in 2016. I am, however, very happy they got the number 1 pick in the 2023 NBA draft and am really hoping this Victor dude can being the Spurs back to the top of league.
This year, I have read books about Billy Martin, Bo Jackson, Stephen A Smith, Jemele Hill, Lisa Guererro, Kendrick Perkins, John Gibbons, LeBron James, Ralph Lawler, Dave Kindred., Ryan McGee (two of his books, one about his dad, a football official and the other one about him working for a minor league baseball team), Havery Araton, and am currently reading Kenny Smith’s autobiography.
Of all of them, Ralph Lawler, has been the best so far. He was the radio voice of the LA Clippers and the stories he told of games and players was amazing.
I was bookless the first weekend in April, and since I had nothing to read, I watched two really amazing sports documentaries on HBO Max: Shaq and Inside the NBA; both were awesome, and I really enjoyed them.
Shaq played high school basketball in San Antonio, and my dad and I got to see him play in between his senior year in high school and freshman year at LSU at the Alamo Convocation Center. It must’ve been 1988 or 1989, and in 2013, the Alamo Convocation Center got much needed renovations, and I was fortunate enough that the school district allowed me to get inside access to the gym and the football stadium during the renovation. On one of my visits to the gym, the power was off, and scaffolding was everywhere. I got to climb the scaffolding to the top.