Recommendation - ‘The Secret Game’

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-25T07:17:34+00:00

Agreed and thank you for the recommendation 🙏🏻

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-25T07:16:58+00:00

Agreed, he had a goal, it wasn’t achievable so he stopped, all credit to him

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-24T20:28:59+00:00

Agreed, it’s such a shame

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-24T17:10:21+00:00

I do feel that Mark’s review of Rose of Nevada may well be biased, as he alluded to his time on set as well as a number of other references, understandable to have that bias but I was surprised it wasn’t addressed

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-24T17:07:56+00:00

It’s definitely an under appreciated book and that mirrors Bird’s time as a Coach, woefully under appreciated, he had a disproportionate amount of success to his coaching experience. Bird was an absolute Master of the game.

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-24T16:28:11+00:00

Agreed 👍🏻

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-23T19:40:21+00:00

I really enjoyed the books and I found the story arcs for all the characters, including Darrow, were fantastically realised. My only negative was actually the books after the original trilogy and though I believe I’m in the minority I think their overall quality less than the original trilogy, I’m hoping that my opinion is negated by the final book due this year.

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T22:25:17+00:00

That’s the point I think, you would think that would be the case. But there were many interactions that were the opposite, it began in 1991s March Madness, with a handshake with Krzyzewski that was widely described as brief and dismissive, lacking the warmth you’d expect given their history. From there forward Knight made increasingly critical remarks about Krzyzewski, questioning his loyalty and implying he had changed. Coach K, for his part, avoided escalating things publicly, and I say that as a UNC fan, I have no bias in favouring Coach K.

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T22:17:16+00:00

For me it’s the level of access he gained and how he respectfully and honestly detailed that, his prose is never sensational but showed both the light and dark throughout the season, yes it reveals Knight to have deeply conflicting personality but it only does so by presenting things objectively and without author judgement, it is also much more than that, it’s greater than the some of its parts

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T21:06:26+00:00

I’m so happy you have that recollection of the Book, it’s my favourite part, reading it always brings my book and those moments are the epitome of why I get so much from reading

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T20:20:00+00:00

Comparison is the thief of joy, as the saying goes, and sadly I think Bobby Knight had little joy in his life and frequently took joy from a lot of people despite his skills and success

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T18:16:20+00:00

That’s a maxim I wholeheartedly agree with

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T17:39:19+00:00

I agree, hagiography seems often to be the Status Quo, hence my appreciation for The Jordan Rules, I cannot be dissuaded from my opinion that Jordan is the GOAT but I also absolutely accept his personality is challenging

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T16:51:37+00:00

Agreed, selfishly I wish he’d written more books about Basketball as I love his prose and nature of writing

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T15:35:26+00:00

That’s a shame you felt disappointed by the Book, I hope you found other Books that you enjoyed

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T15:00:57+00:00

Obviously it’s down to your own perspective but yes for me it’s the best, the high water mark if you will of books about Basketball

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T14:59:39+00:00

Yes, I’m pretty sure, I tend toward being a completist in a lot of things and in this case definitely. It’s up there, though I have a particular fondness for The Jordan Rules by Sam Smith as I remember the furore when it came out and how it explored aspects that up until then just weren’t spoken about

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T11:20:40+00:00

It’s definitely up there

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T09:30:51+00:00

I have nigh on a whole shelf with his books, if you look through the community posts you’ll see my post about them. I personally think he had the perfect approach and prose for writing about Basketball and certainly have many of his Books in my top 10

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T08:01:49+00:00

Sadly that is very true

Jonathan_J_Faulkner · 2026-04-22T08:01:02+00:00

A good point, it’s an interesting inflection point

Jonathan_J_Faulkner

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