Before the "official" madness begins*

Anyone who knows me and my fondness for this time of year, has often heard me say I may have to start watching high-school basketball games to get away from the "big-business" side of not only March Madness, but college sports in general.  When my niece played in high school (and my son's niece just completed playing in high school), it was a real treat to see them both eloquently and strongly demonstrate the fundamentals of the game. Should you actually do something other than watch basketball during the next three weeks, but still want to be a part of the "madness," check out the following:


Michael D'Orso's Eagle Blue: A Team, A Tribe and A High School Basketball Season in Arctic Alaska "has a gift for bringing ball games to life." (The Washington Post)

From Publishers Weekly: Eight miles above the Arctic Circle, there's a village with no roads leading to it, but a high school basketball tradition that lights up winter's darkness and a team of native Alaskan boys who know "no quit." D'Orso follows the Fort Yukon Eagles through their 2005 season to the state championship, shifting between a mesmerizing narrative and the thoughts of the players, their coach and their fans. What emerges is more than a sports story; it's a striking portrait of a community consisting of a traditional culture bombarded with modernity, where alcoholism, domestic violence and school dropout rates run wild. One player compares Fort Yukon to a bucket of crabs: "If one crab gets a claw-hold on the edge... and starts to pull itself out, the others will reach up and grab it and pull it back down." Among D'Orso's unusual characters are the woman who built a public library in her home, the families who adopt abandoned children, and, of course, the boys for whom "hard" has an entirely different meaning (e.g., regularly trudging through "icy darkness" to board flights to Fairbanks for games). With a ghostlike presence, D'Orso lends a voice to a place that deserves to be known.

Can't recommend this book enough for the sense of place, community, self-sufficiency and, of course, basketball fundamentals.

*Technically, the "madness" began yesterday, but I'm sticking with the traditional slate of 64 teams and that "madness" begins tomorrow.