Customer Reviews

The Big O: My Life, My Times, My Game

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At 50 I'm a little young to have followed Oscar Robertson's career other than the Milwaukee Bucks period. I have run into Robertson at Cincinnati ballgames and hotels when in the city although have not spoken to him. This is a biography written in typical form, "Here's what I did growing up, here's the influence of my parents and others, here's what I did that you know me for and here's what I'm doing now." But the difference is Oscar really has something to say and he's rattled a few cages saying it.

While many people come from poor backgrounds, particularly basketball players, Oscar's is particularly interesting due to the very rural nature of his upbringing in Tennessee. Most of his early life was centered on working in fields, church and family. A move to inner city Indianapolis was significant in his development as a basketball player. And this is where the book becomes very interesting as Oscar conveys the first noticeable slights from racism. Oscar has always been very well mannered projecting a great image. And maybe in many ways this hid the hurt he was feeling from racism or maybe I was just too young to hear about it.

After rising to a top star, Robertson commits to a smaller school, U of Cincinatti, amid rumblings of improper recruiting. He dispels most of this and introduces boosters or mentors who took his best interests at heart and helped him grow as a man. He also meets his wife who he describes in glowing terms, clearly a very strong marriage that eventually yields two daughters. This is another interesting part of the book as one of his daughters suffers from a disease requiring an organ transplant.

Robertson starts his pro career in his hometown of Cincinnati with an under funded team which creates conflicts throughout his career there as money and a good supporting cast is always short. Discussing his pro career you can really see his bitterness with the pre-free agent market and how he had to fight for his money and was often blamed for putting himself above his team. This for a man that averaged a triple-double. If you follow the NBA today, you will almost find the numbers thrown around as comical.

Clearly, this book has generated controversy as Robertson has alluded to racism throughout the book. While it didn't match the impression I had of Robertson, I found he supported his positions well even though you may not agree with the outcome.

Overall, I found this to be an excellent book of a basketball icon in the late 50s to 70s. If you have interest in sports in those periods, life in America in those periods, or a short view of race relations at that time, I think you will enjoy this book as much as I did.

I was a big fan of the Big O growing up. He was the most complete player on the basketball court. This book is very well written and well rounded, covering his triumphs and conflicts during the racially charged 50's and 60's. I highly recommned it, as it discusses college and professional basketball history extremely well - particularly the seminal period of the NBA in the 60's which I now only vaguley remember - but also discusses the societal environment in which the Big O' incredible career took place.

As a younger person who was not alive during the era that Oscar Robertson was alive I thought this would give me a good idea of what things were like back in the 60s and 70s. Although I particularly enjoyed the information of his early years including what it was like growing up and playing at the Dust Bowl and winning the Indiana State Championship, I felt that his continued effort to slam his opinions down your throat got tiresome.

I think most people understand that he was a good basketball player and also that racism was a very real subject he had to (has to?) deal with everyday. However, hearing him tell you how all the players in the 60s were better than conterperary players just sounds like an old man trying to make you feel sorry for him. Also, throughout the book you feel as if he thinks everyone was out to get him and in turn he had never done anything wrong. He was a great player and had amazing statisitcs every game and so that must mean that the reason he didn't win in Cincinatti was always some other person's fault.

I enjoyed the book but would only recommend this to die hard Oscar Robertson fans and people who can handle being spoonfed (over and over again..) one person's opinions about things that do come across as very arrogent, bitter and perhaps one sided.

Oscar Robertson tells it like it was as this book is as much about racism as it is about basketball. I played briefly against Oscar and we were both raised in the hot bed of Indiana basketball. Trying to become an accomplished player was one thing and dealing with discrimination back in the 1950s was quite another. Oscar tries to paint a picture for the reader showing what it was like to muster enough courage to play while being discriminated against. He performed brilliantly despite the bigotry, hatred and prejudice and , perhaps unknowingly to him at the time, used basketball as an instrument of change just as Jackie Robinson used baseball before him.

Oscar Robertson's book, The Big O should be looked upon not only as a sports book, but as a history book. If readers would like to add to their understanding of the trials and tribulations players went through in the Golden Era of Indiana basketball they might also enjoy my just published book titled Growing Up in Indiana: The Culture & Hoosier Hysteria Revisited.

I usually don't trust athletes to tell their own story well, especially the unsavory parts, but I read this anyway. And while their is not much for Oscar to hide, his experiences growing up in a racially divided town and state, and his experiences in college with racism, is fascinating, especially how his team intertwined with the famous small town, all white team of "Hoosiers" movie fame. Pro ball is about 8th on my list of sports to watch, but this is an engrossing book and story about a player many consider the best all around player ever.

What a wonderful book. I don't have a lot of time to read sports books so I'm very picky when I read one. Being a man of 50+ the Big O has always been one of my favorite players and I'm constantly amazed by the lack of credit he has been given with regards to his greatness as both a player and a man. This is a book that the true basketball fan can really appreciate. Like Jordan, Bird, West and Magic the O would be a star in any era.

TO READ, MUCH LESS REVIEW, THE "BIG O" YOU HAVE TO BE, AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, A TRUE LOVER OF THE GAME. IT IS AN AUTOBIOGRAHY OF THE IDIVIDUAL I HAVE ALWAYS CONSIDERED TO BE THE GREATEST OF ALL BASKETBALL PLAYERS - PAST & PRESENT. HIS EXPLOITS BOTH ON AND OFF THE COURT ARE REMARKABLE. IT'S A BOOK FOR EVERY BASKETBALL JUNKY, AND FOR OTHERS WHO WANT TO LEARN A GOOD DEAL ABOUT WHAT'S REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE EXCELLENCE IN ANY FIELD OF ENDEAVOR.
SINCE I CAN'T FIND REFERENCE TO A "GHOST WRITER, OR ANYONE ELSE INVOLVED IN WRITING THIS BOOK, I WILL ASSUME THAT OSCAR WROTE IT HIMSELF. IT WOULD BE WRONG TO JUDGE THIS BOOK ENTIRELY ON "EDITORIAL" GROUNDS, ALTHOUGH IT'S NOT BAD. OSCAR STYLE OF WRITING IS SIMILAR TO THE WAY HE PLAYED BASKETBALL - HE TAKES IT RIGHT TO YOU! "HERE IT IS, DEAL WITH IT IF YOU CAN." HE DOESN'T MINCE WORDS, TELLS IT LIKE IT IS, AND WAS, AND TO HIS CREDIT DOESN'T SEEM TO REALLY CARE, WHAT YOU OR I THINK ABOUT HIS OPINIONS - USUALLY NOT A GOOD IDEA, BUT COMING FROM HIM, AND GIVEN THE SUBJECT MATTER IT'S ABSOLUTELY PERFECT.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. WHAT HE WENT THRU AND HOW HE PERSEVERED. VERY GOOD BOOK AND THE PRICE COULDN'T BE BEAT

the Big O is One of the Greatest Talents in any sport Period. Wilt Chamberlin is to Me the Greatest Player in the NBA Ever but I could Put the BIG O right there with Him.He was unstoppable&One of the Game's true Ground-Breakers.in His Book He pulls no punches&Brings it here. He is a very down to Earth Soul brother&a Class act. He should Be running a Team in the NBA or something that showcases just How Important He was&is to the Game.Fantastic Book&strong read.

THIS BOOK IS A GOOD READ. OSCAR DOES A GOOD JOB DESCRIBING HIS LIFE ON AND OFF THE COURT. HE GOES INTO DETAIL ABOUT FORMER COACHES, TEAMATES, AND OPPONENTS DESCRIBING HIS RELATIONSHIPS AND FEELINGS. I FOUND OSCAR TO BE VERY HONEST BUT SOMETIMES BITTER AND DEPRESSED. STILL I THINK HE IS A PRETTY GOOD GUY AND HAD A LOT OF CLASS. I REMEMBER HIM AS A COMMENTATOR FOR CBS AND JUST LOVING HIM GETTING EXCITED DURING A GAME BY YELLING "OH WHAT MOVE BY KAREEM". THIS IS A REALLY GOOD BOOK FOR ALL FANS OF PRO BASKETBALL. ROLL ON BIG O.