‘Basketball (and Other Things)’ bounces back in hardcover
A few years ago, San Antonio author Shea Serrano took his hoops knowledge to the bestseller list with “Basketball (and Other Things),” a paperback collection of NBA essays so entertaining that former President Barack Obama gave it a ringing endorsement.
Now Serrano’s ode to the hardwood is getting a hardcover.
“Basketball” is bouncing back in a new hardback “Overtime Edition,” featuring two new chapters and new cover art by original “Basketball” illustrator Arturo Torres. There’s even a removable basketball card of movie hoops hound Air Bud. It goes on sale Tuesday.
In the introduction to the new “Basketball” hardcover, Serrano notes that the re-release now matches last year’s “Movies (and Other Things),” his first hardcover book. And as the ardent Twitter user said last October, he’s always loved the heft of such heavy stock.
“The print stuff just feels a little more substantial,” said Serrano, a staff writer on the sports, pop culture and tech website The Ringer. “It feels a little more prestigious.”
“Basketball” is packed with questions only an NBA geek like Serrano could answer, with wit, stats and pop-culture references as gonzo as Torres’s illustrations of NBA greats as comic-book characters. Chapter titles include “What Year Was Michael Jordan the Best Version of Michael Jordan?” and “If 1997 Karl Malone and a Bear Swapped Places for a Season, Who Would Be More Successful?”
For “Overtime,” Serrano adds a two-part look at NBA and WNBA stars who caught fire during a game. That starts with Tracy McGrady, who once dropped 13 points in 33 seconds to lift the Houston Rockets over Serrano’s hometown Spurs.
“It’s the air punch that I’ll always remember,” Serrano writes of McGrady’s victory.
No surprise, Serrano still gives “Basketball” love to the silver and black.
In addition to his wife and three sons, Serrano dedicates “Basketball” to Spurs greats Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker and coach Gregg Popovich. And he closes his “Overtime” additions with the time Ginobili scored 24 straight points against the Atlanta Hawks.
“Whenever you’re putting together a chapter or whatever, if there’s a reason for the Spurs to be mentioned then you can do it,” Serrano told the San Antonio Express-News in 2017 when “Basketball” was first published.
Serrano’s first book was “Bun B’s Rap Coloring and Activity Book.” He scored a bestseller with 2015’s “The Rap Year Book,” now an AMC documentary series. Then after 2017’s “Basketball,” he turned his whip-smart wit to cinema with last year’s bestselling “Movies (and Other Things).”
Serrano looks to conclude his “(and Other Things)” run with a return to his publishing roots. “Rap (and Other Things)” is slated for 2021.