Camp Fire Site

Charlie Hustle.   Keith O’Brien.    The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and The Last Glory Days of Baseball.     The blog took a mild turn away from the normal book topics reviewed here to read a baseball story.   In fact, this is a story about the inspirational rise and depressing fall of one of the greatest hitters in major league baseball.      This story is about Pete Rose, also known as Charlie Hustle, and his upbringing on the west side of Cincinnati, his unlikely ascension to the hometown professional team and ups and downs as a player, coach and person.   The author Keith O’Brien compiled many notes, sources and details to produce a very interesting and fair account of the life and times of Rose.     Perhaps it helps that the author is a southwest Ohio native and was immersed in the big red culture as a youngster.     In any case, it is a worthy story neatly transcribed in a 330-page manuscr...

Kingdom On Fire. Scott Howard-Cooper. Kareem, Wooden, Walton and the Turbulent Days of the UCLA Basketball Dynasty. Most college basketball fans are aware of the string of championships that UCLA basketball put together beginning in the 1960’s. They may even know the names of the key players such as Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton, among many others. They likely have heard of the legendary coach John Wooden who guided the Bruins through golden years on the court including 27 years at the helm. But what most casual college basketball fans, even UCLA fans, may not know is the turmoil that occurred often during their dynasty run through the 60’s and 70’s. The UCLA Bruins won an astounding ten national championships in twelve seasons under head coach John Wooden beginning in the 1963-1964 season through the 1974-1975 season, which also was his last. So, this may beg the question, was there really trouble amidst the UCLA basketball program during that illustrious stretch of successful seasons?...