By Craig Meyer
October 7, 2018
There’s a certain point in Jim O’Brien’s “Looking Up: From the ABA to the NBA, the WNBA to the NCAA: A Basketball Memoir” that the reader realizes there’s a fundamental truth spread across the book’s 480 pages — that in most of the basketball tales being told, there’s almost always a connection to Pittsburgh, however large or small it may be.
In a sports-obsessed region, one whose teams and colors are as central to the civic identity as anything else, basketball can exist as something of a forgotten stepchild. With no professional team and a deteriorated pool of local talent, basketball in Pittsburgh can, at best, seem overlooked and, at worst, exist as an object of derision.
But through Mr. O’Brien’s experiences and anecdotes, collected over decades covering the sport in depth, a different world is illuminated.
The book isn’t specifically about basketball in Pittsburgh. Hundreds of pages and dozens of chapters are devoted to some of the most decorated figures in the sport’s history who had no connections to Western Pennsylvania.
In a book that’s personal to some extent — it is a memoir, after all — Mr. O’Brien, who became the first Pittsburgh native inducted into the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, deftly connects the sport he loves with the city he loves.
What results from it is an enjoyable and insightful read. For a basketball fan, particularly one who appreciates the nuances of the sport and its history, it’s an immersive experience, even if it may not be that way for those who don’t have a passion for the game.
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