It’s easy to argue that the rise of the NCAA basketball tournament, the Final Four in particular, is one of the great sports stories of the past 65 years. It has grown from an almost second-rate affair in 1939 to one of the biggest events of the sports calendar. NCAA March Madness: Cinderellas, Superstars, and Champions from the NCAA Men’s Final Four is an excellent way to review how far the tournament has come, and to relive its great moments. The editors have collected some of the best basketball writers in the country Billy Reed, Frank Deford, Dick Weiss, Dave Kindred and Art Spander among them to review the Final Four, year by year. They get some help from John Wooden, winner of 10 championships as coach at UCLA, who contributes the book’s introduction. Just about anything Wooden says and does is worthwhile, so it’s wonderful to hear from this wise man here. The accompanying DVD of the highlights of the 1979, 1983 and 1987 Final Fours is a nice touch. Between the book and the DVD, March Madness is a great package.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.
