They Way it Outa Be........

I gotta admit, when I heard this book was coming out, I was pretty excited. What Hawkeye basketball fan wouldn't be? Roy is a Hawkeye icon. And the Iowa basketball program seems to be on the right track, just coming off a great season.
Wifey got me a Kindle for my birthday, so of course this was the first book I got.
The author does a great job of making you feel like you are back in the days of Hawkeye glory. The entire state was under the spell of Dr. Tom and the number one ranked Iowa Hawkeye basketball program. I had forgotten just how exciting it was back then and how everywhere you went people were talking about it. The streak. Being #1. Roy Marble. It was just a magical time. This book took me right back to that time. And that's really the strength of it.
Unfortunately, it has it's weaknesses as well. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was Roy's insights into the season. What was going on in the locker room? What were practices like after winning 18 in a row? What kind of guy was Ed Horton? Gerry Wright? BJ Armstrong? Brad Lohaus? Dr. Tom?
The book had none of that. In fact I felt like almost anyone could've written this book. It goes game by game taking each box score and telling who had how many points, rebounds, assists, etc. In some of the bigger games it gives some play by play which goes on too long in some situations. Several pages of "and Iowa scores, Michigan goes down the floor and scores, Iowa takes the ball and ties it up" can one read before monotony sets in? It seemed in many places, the author was trying to fill space.
Would I recommend this book to Hawkeye fans? Yeah, I guess I would. But I would also recommend that you temper your expectations. It will take you back and remind you of just how exciting it was to be a Hawk back then. And man, was it great! But it isn't going to give you any insights that you didn't have before.
Except for one little blurb about Jon D Miller. Seems when he was a lad, and things weren't going well for the Hawks, he............well I'll leave that for you to read.