Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25 years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach. Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps said, "I used this book as an inspiration for the biggest win of my career when we ended UCLA's all-time 88-game winning streak in 1974."

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. Click the Book to read the players telling their stories in their own words. This is the book that UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan tried to ban.

Click the book to read the first chapter and for ordering information.

Great World of Sound (3/10)

by Tony Medley

This is a film about song sharking written, produced, and directed by Craig Zobel, whose father was a phony record producer, so Craig apparently knows whereof he writes. Song sharking occurs when people represent themselves as record producers looking for new talent. They audition prospects and then offer them a recording session in return for some cash up front. The recording session never occurs and the money is lost.

Zobel set up his stars, Martin (Pat Healy) and Clarence (Kene Holliday), in a couple of towns and actually auditioned real people who thought they were really auditioning. Afterwards Zobel showed them what was shot of their auditions and got their permission to use what he shot in the film. If they didn’t agree, he didn’t use the film.

As a result, some of this film is interesting. Unfortunately, there is too much of the auditions and scam, and too little script, acting, and story, all of which are superficial, except for Holliday, who is convincing as a scam artist up from the street.

At 106 minutes, the film is at least 30 minutes too long. The first hour really drags, but it picks up a little when Martin and Clarence start to think that maybe they aren’t working for a legitimate company and each reacts differently.

This is yet another film in which Hollywood tries to capture what it’s like in the business world. Unfortunately, even though Zobel’s father knew the business, Hollywood writers and directors often show their ignorance of the real world of business by creating unrealistic characters and situations, populated by equally unrealistic dialogue. This is clearly closer to the mark than the inept The Last Time earlier this year, but it still is too cartoonish to establish verisimilitude.