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Glory Days. L. Jon Wertheim.


 

Glory Days.   L. Jon Wertheim.

The Summer of 1984 and the 90 days that changed sports and culture forever.

Nostalgia is often elicited when reading about the good old days or watching a movie or even recalling a memorable milestone in our lives.     For those readers old enough to have lived through the 1980’s we can draw upon many instances where this hits us hard.     Author Jon Wertheim put together a book covering this very era but narrowed his scope to the summer of 1984 in his 2021 book Glory Days.   

At the barely ripe age of 17 by start of summer in 1984, this book reviewer was a known sports fan but also an intent follower of popular music in those days.    Drawing me to this book was the premise one would regal revisiting some of my past.   In a pleasant surprise, the author captures a number of transactions that not only defined the summer of that year but were impactful to the sports world in general and still have lasting impacts more than 40 years later.   

Book lovers are bound to be engaged in the varied topics included in this hard cover essay.    Readers will learn or be enriched about the Olympics, Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretkzy, Steven Jobs and the MAC, Martina Navratilova, and John McEnroe as well among several others.   At first, it felt like the sections in the book were separate from one another without obvious connections.   However, that changed upon advancing through the twenty-four chapters as Wertheim ties many of the topics together with tact and purpose.  

Wertheim, A senior writer for Sports Illustrated and a current 60 Minutes correspondent, also incorporates entertainment such as MTV, The Karate Kid and Pro Wrestling into the mix as worthy ties to the influence that the summer of 1984 has on sports culture.   The MTV mention was tied to popular singer Cyndy Lauper and the video she made with former wrestler and manager Captain Lou Albano.    Wertheim explains how the movie Karate Kid starring Ralph Macchio became a smash hit despite a modest budget.    The author connects this to sports by asserting the popularity of karate in American culture increased dramatically in that decade.    Pro Wrestling, much like ESPN, took advantage of the new fledging cable industry to promote their sport nationally more than had been done in the past.   Of course, ESPN did the same only bringing all sports to the American forefront all day long and year-round. 

Some of the stories were pleasant reminders of what transpired during the baseball season as the Chicago Cubs experienced their best season in years, or how Michael Jordan burst onto the scene not only as a player helping USA capture the gold medal as well as his arrival to the Chicago Bulls but also his partnership with Nike and the Air Jordan shoe line that perpetuated the athletic shoe market and advertisements.   However, the reader may learn more about a relatively unknown or forgotten businessman Peter Ueberoth being selected to lead the Olympics that year.   Wertheim points out his business savvy and creativity to spur interest in the games despite the Russian boycott and how they ultimately exceeded revenue expectations and revolutionized the way Olympics are now administered.    Although Tennis matches and stories were a central part of the book due to their rise in the sport’s popularity, the author asserts that unfortunately that year also represented the height of the American tennis boom.  

Perhaps the biggest downside to this book takes place in the latter chapter of the 1984 Olympics.    The issue pertains to including some data and numbers that interrupted the flow of entertaining stories.    Readers may decide to move quickly through the minutia of that chapter.  

Wertheim, the author of 10 books including This is your Brain on Sports, wrote in the conclusion of the book that he was questioned by former NBA commissioner David Faulk, another chief influencer of 1984 basketball culture, in a 2019 meeting about the premise of the book.    Wertheim justified his argument by citing all of the occurrences that had taken place that summer and have had a lasting impact for thirty-five years.   For that reason, we can recommend to majority of readers that this book is worth the effort.   Although it may feel a bit dated now, the history has not changed.    In a manageable, easy to read book of 285 pages, Wertheim skillfully elicits the wistfulness that some older book readers will experience but also rightfully enlighten the younger masses, too, that had missed out on the glory days.        

  

Suggested discussion questions:

How did popular culture influence sports and vice versa in the year 1984?

What was the most significant transaction in the summer of 1984 that was documented in the author’s book?

What are examples of how the author ties sports to pop culture in the 1980’s?  

 

·       You might like to read this book if you lived in or have an interest in reading about what happened in the year 1984.

·       You might like to read this book if you enjoy books about sports and history connected to the 20th century.   

·       You might like to read this book if you like to read about American history with a slant towards sports and popular culture. 

Learn more about the author by visiting the following websites:  https://x.com/jon_wertheim

 https://www.si.com/author/jon-wertheim


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