SPECIAL EDITION
Bay Area readers on their most treasured books
Lindsay Gottlieb is head coach for the University of California women’s basketball team.
I fell in love with the game of basketball long before it became my career.
As a player, there was the competition and there were friendships. As a coach, there is the impact on others, the development of team chemistry, the challenges of running a college program.
Between life as a player and coach, there has always been The Game.
When I was in my first few years as a coach, my brother gave me a copy of “Hoop Roots,” by John Edgar Wideman, for Christmas. There has not been a season since when I have not taken it off the shelf and reread passages when I needed to be reminded of the beauty of the game.
Wideman’s memoir includes cultural commentary, history and the impact of basketball throughout his upbringing. What he has to say about the game itself is, quite simply, some of the most poetic and resonant writing I’ve ever read.
When the season takes a difficult turn or I simply need to remember that before there was a job, there was a game that I continue to love, I pull out “Hoop Roots.” Page 17, in particular, is worn by my touch, as I return to it often:
“Hoop’s like the people not blood kin you meet and love. ... Learn the game and play the game a certain way and what you feel about it can turn to more than you ever dreamed a game could be.”