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Rus Bradburd

Paddy on the Hardwood: A Journey in Irish Hoops Hardcover – August 15, 2006

by Rus Bradburd (Author)

30 ratings

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Why would a successful college basketball coach walk away from a lucrative job in America's most glamorous sport? The burned out Rus Bradburd, enamored with Ireland and its music, took a job coaching in the lowly Irish Super League, but was unprepared for what he found. Perplexed by the small town Tralee's Frosties Tigers--a cast of misfits and underachievers more concerned with their day jobs, Gaelic Football, and Guinness--he turned to traditional Irish music for wisdom and solace.

Paddy on the Hardwood is partly Rus Bradburd's story of his struggle to transform Tralee's Tigers. But it is also the tale of a man making peace with his own life and career.

"No reader will come away from this irresistible, honest, and deeply human account without a profound appreciation for Ireland and the beguiling power of its people and culture. Paddy on the Hardwood is a basketball book, to be sure, but also one about questing and, ultimately, finding. And it's all the richer for how it engages things that seem distant from sports, but in the end aren't so unrelated at all."--Alexander Wolff, Sports Illustrated senior writer and author of Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure

"Paddy on the Hardwood is hilarious, heartbreaking, and touching--I couldn't put it down. I'm an avid reader, and it's the best sports book I've read in a long while."--Jerry West

Print length

247 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of New Mexico Press
Publication date

August 15, 2006
Dimensions

6.25 x 1 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0826340261
ISBN-13

978-0826340269
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Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

A burned out basketball coach takes a job in Ireland and is surprised by what he finds.

From the Back Cover

A burned out basketball coach takes a job in Ireland and is surprised by what he finds.

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Product details

Publisher : University of New Mexico Press (August 15, 2006)
Language : English
Hardcover : 247 pages
ISBN-10 : 0826340261
ISBN-13 : 978-0826340269
Item Weight : 1.4 pounds
Dimensions : 6.25 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,356,911 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #972 in Basketball Biographies (Books)
- #1,675 in Basketball (Books)

Customer Reviews:
30 ratings

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5 star		86%
4 star		5%
3 star		10%
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Patricia J. Petersen

Basketball, Fiddlin' and Life

Reviewed in the United States on November 10, 2009

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This is a book for coaches! It is first about a guy spending a couple of seasons in Ireland learning to fiddle and coaching a basketball team that would have to step up a few notches to be rag-tag. However, with Bradburd's history in the America collgiate ranks I saw the work as a metaphor for life in his attempt to coach the game he loves, succeed, and get out before the inevitble "bad ending". If he's like every other coach I've seen, he cannot stay away from the game and hopefully his bad-end journey will have just as many colorful characters filling the pages of that remembrance as did Paddy on the Hardcourt.

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C. Mahony

A Great read!

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2011

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If you have any interest in the intricacies off a professional basketball team, struggling to survive in one of the poorest paid leagues in the world, you will love this. Arrogant American players demanding free shoes, Irish players more interested in gaelic football then pro basketball, its all here. He supplements the basketball parts with tidbits about traditional music which provides some comic relief in the form of a philosophical and pensive fiddle teacher. Well written, interesting and engaging, one of the best hidden gems on the market. My favourite book of the year

One person found this helpful

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Sonny Marks

One of the best sports books I've ever read

Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2015

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I start many books and finish few. This is one I couldn't put down. It's one of my favorites, along with "Wrecking Crew" by John Albert, and "Bottom of the 33rd" by Dan Barry.

Reading "Paddy", I enjoyed getting to know Rus and his journey. He shares his life with honesty and with humanity.

One person found this helpful

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Bayou Seco fiddler

Paddy on the Hardwood

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2013

Verified Purchase

LOVE this book!!!! It is out of print. We know the author Rus Bradburd well and also Paddy Jones the fiddler. I just wanted more copies as loaners and gifts. Thanks Amazon for getting us together! Jeanie McLerie

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george scholz

great fun and writing with a sense of humor

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2015

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Loved every page
tears of laughter in several spots
A great read on Irish history and music
Been to Tralee and many of the places mentioned
Closed the Cobblestone with a beer and a Paddys in my hand
Know Bill Bussman and have one of his fine Octave Mandolins

One person found this helpful

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Donald L. Lyons

grea read

Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2010

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Anyone who wanted to know some of the inside life of Irish basketball this is a great book. It gives you detailed info. It was not some paid author to live in Ireland for a year. The author wanted to be there. Very heartwarming and enjoyable.

One person found this helpful

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Eamon S

Excellent read. Best described with a Star Trek analogy ...

Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2014

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Excellent read. Best described with a Star Trek analogy - "its basketball Jim, but not as you know it"

One person found this helpful

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Herndon@Large

Hoops, music, pubs, travel, and the writing life

Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2013

Verified Purchase

If you like these topics, you'll love this book as I did. Bradburd hits all these notes in the course of describing a mid-life course correction—and none of the notes are false.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

H. O'Sullivan

More respect and fewer insults would have earned this book 4 stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 3, 2016

Verified Purchase

I'm neither interested in basketball nor the author's journey to discover the soul of Irish fiddle playing. Living in Kerry, Ireland, I was curious about this book as it skims over a few months in the lives of two emerging stars of Gaelic Football (the Star that is Kieran Donaghy and midfielder Micheal Quirke), trying to balance their inter-county football careers with their interest in basketball, a non too popular nor widely played sport here in Ireland.

Just having finished reading the book, I was surprised at how quickly I devoured it despite my lack of interest in basketball or the author. The reason for this is the fact that it is really well written, with an easy flowing narrative that soon got me over the annoyance of reading about yet another American thinking we all here in Ireland are living a fantasy of diddle-ee-eye and tooralooraloora. "Local folks were going to take me in, teach me to play the jigs their great-grandfathers played [...], I was going to listen to their stories, help them cut fresh turf in the bog [...]" Oh, for God's sake!

Still, the author's style of writing is humorous and well structured which makes his book a joy to read. As long as you can ignore what I have learned to recognise as a not uncommon American lack of respect for other countries, a lack of sensitivity for other people's feelings, and a thoughtless bluntness that can result in offence and insults. The book having been published by a small University based publishing company, I assume it was never aimed at the Irish market, targeting an American audience instead that has an interest in basketball and appreciates the perceived oddness of - in this case, Ireland's - "backwardness" with regards to what some of us would call "foreign sports", and the resulting ridicule.

At various stages in the book, I wondered if it was the author's intention to belittle or embarrass certain people featuring in his book, or whether he was simply apallingly thoughtless in his writing. Even within the product details listed above, the Tralee basketball team members are described as "a cast of misfits and underachievers". Just how rude is that?! I ask myself if the children of Junior Collins, the Tralee Tigers' team manager, want to read about their father being described as a fat, dirty, messy, scruffy individual? I wonder if player Antoine Gillespie was impressed with the author announcing to the world (or at least, the readers of his book), that Gillespie was fraudulently drawing French social welfare benefits whilst receiving wages in Ireland? Although it's common knowledge in Kerry, was it for the author to record in his book, that Donaghy's parents are separated? (Still a no-go topic for many people in this country.)

So, for the author's indiscretions, his rudeness and lack of respect and his thoughtlessness, I'm awarding this book only 3 stars.

Cathy M.

Brilliant book combining insightful views on modern Ireland with a ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

Brilliant book combining insightful views on modern Ireland with a great story of his time training basketball in Ireland. I loved the style of short chapters and lack of flowery language. The authors love of Ireland and Irish music was a nice back story to the basketball You don't have to be a basketball fan or music fan to enjoy this excellent book.

Liam McCarthy

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2017

Verified Purchase

great book and fast service

Amazon Customer

Loved this book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 7, 2018

Verified Purchase

I loved the contrast of Gus finding what he was looking for musically while having to deal with the merrygoround that is Irish basketball

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2017

Verified Purchase

Great story beautifully thought out and written.

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