Loose Balls: Easy Money, Hard Fouls, Cheap Laughs and True Love in the NBA

by Jayson Williams

Book Overview

The first candid report from a land of fragile egos, available women, unexpected tenderness, intramural fistfights, colossal partying, bizarre humor, inconceivable riches, and desperate competition,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038549226X
• ISBN13: 9780385492263
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Loose Balls- Loose Story

I am not a big sports fan; however, I love the NBA pre- 2000 but anything beyond that I did not follow. I mostly know Jayson from his headlines in the news and not much about his skills. I decided to take a chance and read something different. I want to delve right into this. This novel really needed a good editor who could allow this book to flow with a nice storyline and not be stuck on basketball mechanics. What you get is a one man dialogue about some of the silly stuff that I had no interest in. Humor you get and so many times you find yourself reading just trash talking. What I found endearing is his human kindness and journeys that he weaves us through. The best part is the last chapter where he really pours his heart out and comes down to earth. If you are looking for something that is startling and can't put down, You're gonna be disappointed.

And you'll think you know Jayson, too.

If you live in New York or New Jersey, you know someone who knows Jayson Williams. You've heard a good Jayson story- you saw him speeding down Route 78 or in a restaurant somewhere. Well, if you're the one guy who somehow hasn't met Jay, read Loose Balls, and you'll know a suprising amount about him.He is the funniest man I have ever met. He makes people around him feel like they're tight. He loves kids, even your kids. And he tells some of the best damn stories about sports and athletes and people you'll ever hear. Not all are laugh-out-loud funny. Some are just modest smile inducers. Some are wet your pants funny.You can read it in an afternoon, or over a few days. Jump from vignette to vignette (you can't really call them "chapters") in no particular order, and enjoy a tour through the life of a ten million dollar man who is more down to earth than the guy who reads your electric meter. Sure, the book would have benefitted from a smooth, glitzy editing job-- but that's not Jayson. This is. It's not world peace or a cure for cancer (though proceeds from the book go to a Parkinson's foundation--his Mom has the disease). Smile a little and rest easy with the knowledge that there is at least one athlete who smiles, laughs and cries with the rest of us.

A must read for all profesional athletes

Coming from someone who knows Jayson very well, this book is all he said it was going to be! I've heard these stories a thousand times....and each time they get better! I didn't think I would react the same way to the stories beacuse his delivery is so unique, but I was wrong. I laughed just as hard as I did when I heard them the first time. I did worry a bit because I knew I was going to be in the book, but I even had to laugh at myself. This book is a must-read for sports fans of all kinds!

Loose Balls is a Must!

I have read over 200 books in the last 2 years and Loose Balls is the funniest, warmest, and most exciting book I've read in a long, long time! Jayson Williams makes this book easy to read by making this book into little stories through out the book. Plus it's for a great cause! He is donating all the money he makes from this book to a charity reguarding Parkconsin's disease. This is definenitly a must own! Please, you won't be disappointed!

Just a great book

This is a great read from one of the classiest guys in the NBA. He is brutally honest about himself and everyone in the NBA (the further you read, the more you'll discover just how disturbing an individual Armen Gilliam is). In true Jayson Williams fashion, all his proceeds from the book go to charity. This is entertaining all the way through, nearly impossible to put down...sports fans and non-sports fans alike will enjoy this one.

Funny and Sincere

I stumbled across Loose Balls while browsing through a bookstore this past weekend. Jayson had just appeared on Imus and Letterman and was both funny and charming. I had some time, so I curled up in a big leather chair to flip through the book. I never expected to either laugh out loud or weep in that chair. Yet, I found myself doing both. Jayson's humanity, generosity, kindness, spirit and wit are revealed in this compilation of both genuinely funny and sincerely heartfelt stories about his life, his family, his friends, the NBA and human nature. All the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to research for Parkinson's disease. It is encouraging to know that there are still some good people among us.