FreeDarko presents The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today's Game (Hardcover)

by Bethlehem Shoals (Author), Dr. Lawyer IndianChief (Author), Silverbird 5000 (Author), Brown Recluse Esq. (Author), Big Baby Belafonte (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best of the Month, December 2008: From its mouthful of a name, you might expect The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac to be one of the new breed of fantasy-friendly stathead sports guides in the vein of the Baseball Prospectus. Or, from its blogger pedigree (via the popular FreeDarko.com), you might assume it's one of those quickie blog-into-book projects that repurposes new-media content into an old-media package. But it's neither--not even close. Bucking the data-crunching trend, the Almanac's pseudonymous authors instead embrace the mythical side of pro sports, reminding us that the difference between, say, LeBron and AI lies not just in 0.2 ppg but in the rich drama of potential, style, and lore that each star represents. And the Almanac is no blog: it's every inch a book, freshly imagined and gorgeously designed, with colorful, smart graphics that give dimension to figures from Tim "Mechanical Gothic" Duncan to Stephon "Hategoat" Marbury. With a foreword, fittingly, by Gilbert Arenas, the NBA star whose kooky, self-concocted "Agent Zero" persona often overshadows his knee-hobbled game, the Almanac is the ideal midseason treat for the casual fan and the deep obsessive alike. --Tom Nissley

In the illustrations below, artists from the Free Darko collective give their unique take on two of basketball's "Master Builders"--Kobe Bryant, the perfectionist, and Tim Duncan, a methodical player of gothic proportions. (Click the images to enlarge)

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From Booklist
*Starred Review* Where to start? This is not your father’s sports book. FreeDarko is a quirky pro basketball Web site. Its name refers to Darko Milicic, a number-two draft pick who was confined to the Detroit Pistons bench early in his career. The FreeDarko Manifesto eschews the tribalism of rooting for teams and instead celebrates the Primacy of the Individual. Most of the book is comprised of illustrated player profiles. But these aren’t the usual plucky tales of hardships overcome. Each profile—all of which offer insightful critiques of the game—includes a brief three-point introductory rationale: What He Gives Us, What He Stands For, and Why We Care. So why do we care about Celtics star Kevin Garnett? He embodies the ideal that a man can become bigger than the battles he fights. And what does enigmatic Laker Lamar Odom give us? The history of the world encapsulated in a flightless aircraft. The profiles also include illustrations—some are spot-on re-creations of the players’ signature moves, using odd little box-guys—and comparisons to similar players. The commentary runs to sweeping but unfailingly entertaining generalizations, especially about international basketball, e.g., the claim that, in France, the style of play is elegant, skittish, and somewhat annoyed. There is also a nifty chapter on basketball cancers (players who can ruin teams via toxic personalities). All in all, this is a wonderful basketball book that blends a unique perspective, arresting presentation, and superior knowledge of its subject. --Wes Lukowsky

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (November 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1596915617
• ISBN-13: 978-1596915619
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 9.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #20,140 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Will Blow Your Basketball-Loving Mind, November 11, 2008

By	J. Williams (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The authors of this book must be brilliant NASA engineers on the side or something. They approach the NBA with a ton of enthusiasm and brainpower. And quirkiness. They tell us answers to questions we would never have thought to ask: like why Lamar Odom can only be understood through a careful analysis of his facial expressions, why Tim Duncan's "spirit animal" is the nurse shark (Tracy McGrady's is the monitor lizard), and why the Egyptian pyramids would have gone up much faster if Phoenix Suns guard Leandro Barbosa had been in charge of building them.

There are some really impressive charts that prove the authors must have watched every second of every NBA game over the past several years. But even though the Almanac made me laugh out loud, and got me in the mood for this year's season, its look is what stands out most -- the art throughout is stunning. It's weird that the most beautifully designed book I now own is about pro basketball, but there it is....

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sports the way they were meant to be enjoyed - as postmodern mythology, February 14, 2009

By	Boutros Boutros Gali "redhourglass" - See all my reviews

I might as well just come out and say it: I'm an NBA fan, through and through -- rabidly, almost, it's kind of insane. I wasn't for awhile. I grew up living and dying with the Lakers, but somewhere between the second and third titles of the Shaq/Kobe era, I just lost interest. Politics, art, activism, music, and other interests took hold, and I thought I was leaving behind a banal, childish fixture for more sophisticated tastes. And while it wasn't the FreeDarko collective or their fabulous blog that brought me back into basketball (how THAT happened, I'll never figure out), they were responsible for convincing me that the NBA, despite its clamoring for mainstream appeal and the obsessive attempts to ingratiate itself to corporate America through not just its business model, but the leagues entire culture -- despite standing for so much that I am against, it was this group of writers that taught me that this sport is worthwhile. That not only is basketball sophisticated, it's fun.

The Macrophenomenal Almanac analyzes the league as it was meant to be seen -- in terms of the players, and is complemented perfectly by beautiful illustrations and graphs, and the purely genius "style guide". Thus, the authors spend a full chapter each on several of the most interesting, meaningful players in the game. And meaningful is of their own definition -- meaning in terms of symbolism, not wins and losses, which is why there is a chapter on Stephon Marbury, who for all his talent and ability may never play another game in his career, simply because he's such a nutjob, and not on more "deserving" players like former MVP's Dirk Nowitski or Shaquille O'Neal. That's because the book rests on a refreshing new basketball worldview, which is given in an incomplete form in the "Manifesto" which precedes the book: Basketball is fun. It is the league of style and improvisation, and a player's playing style is 1) an essential part of the game and 2) often the truest way to learn about the true personalities of millionaire celebrities who hide their quirks and most human traits for fear of losing product endorsements. But, dig deeper on the FreeDarko blog, especially come playoff time, and you'll see this manifesto fleshed out and sing. Basketball teams become gestalt personalities or group ideologies, and a basketball game becomes a battle of Hegelian dialectics of one team ideology versus another. So, this all sounds rather ridiculous, and they know it is. These folks make no bones about the fact that their intellectual language isn't entirely in place for the subject matter. But it follows their outlook on basketball perfectly -- intellect is their swag, and their swag is phenomenal.

Here's the real important part, though: rather than simply analyze basketball as detached academics, they come at the sport as impassioned fan, and they'll root for whichever style they favor. They fully bridge the two polar extremes of modern sportswriting -- the fanatic enthusiasm of the "fan's eye view" of sports with the sober expertise of a sports historian, and the result is incredible. Again, enough cannot be said about the phenomenal illustrations and design of this book, as well.

As dense as it acts from time to time, the Almanac reads actually as a more accessible introduction to the FreeDarko collective's nigh-impenetrable (more due to encyclopedic knowledge of the game and inside jokes than high-falooting language) blog, which is actually the greater ouvre, and I highly recommend it. But for those that have never read the blog, this is the perfect intro. And for those who already do, well, you already know why to read this.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing style+fantastic substance=a great sports book for people who don't normally like sports books, November 16, 2008

By	Barrettbowie (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews

Forgive the hyperbole I'm about to lather on, but I felt like this amazing, utterly unique book was written just for me. I fit into what I think is a rare demographic: the all-American basketball lover who just happens to also be a big fan of "literary" writing and hipster urban graphic design. By more than satisfying each of these seemingly incompatible interests, this book represents nothing less than THE standard for 21st century sports books. Seriously. A dry, quirky sense of humor that's never too arch or condescending couples nicely with penetrating statistical rigor and an acute knowledge of history and context. I think of this as a "post-blog" book in that it reads like a tidied up, bound summation of the best NBA blog posts by the best writers around. Think Bill Simmons or even a bit of David Foster Wallace combined with a mountain of interesting stats and stunning artwork. I can't think of a better holiday gift for anyone that's even remotely like me.