Review of : The Art of a Beautiful Game by Chris Ballard

An unique glimpse into the work ethic of NBA players. Ballard's thesis is pretty much: NBA players (and I suppose professional athletes of all sorts) work way way harder than you think and that yes, they are very talented, but only the truly devoted rise to athletic superstardom, mostly due to the countless hours of hard work they put in off the court. I would say Ballard is of the new generation of sports writers, that is, the ones who look at sports (in this case, basketball) from a differen...more An unique glimpse into the work ethic of NBA players. Ballard's thesis is pretty much: NBA players (and I suppose professional athletes of all sorts) work way way harder than you think and that yes, they are very talented, but only the truly devoted rise to athletic superstardom, mostly due to the countless hours of hard work they put in off the court. I would say Ballard is of the new generation of sports writers, that is, the ones who look at sports (in this case, basketball) from a different angle, a la freedarko.com or http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_do... or Chuck Klosterman (in some cases) or David Foster Wallace (in some cases), viewing sports as representative as more than just the sport. I welcome this new generation.

Also, I learned that Lebron James does Yoga and that Dwight Howard's grip strength was measured at 90 pounds per square inch, the same as a dog's bite. So, if given the opportunity, don't ever shake his hand.