Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond

Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond
by Paul Shirley

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Book Summary Information

Author: Paul Shirley
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-25
ISBN: 0345495705
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Villard

Book Reviews of Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond

Book Review: Wrote himself out of the the NBA
Summary: 2 Stars

I'm pretty sure Paul Shirley will never play in the NBA again. This has nothing to do with his basketball skill, but more of his no-holds barred recap throughout the book of his experiences in the league. It's obvious no team or management will want their choices second-guessed or laughed at in any other future book Shirley might have. This insight is the most interesting factor about this book. You get these tales and a sneak peak behind the scenes of the NBA. That's kinda neat.

However, Shirley's view on traveling, fans, and anything foreign (i.e. not from his hometown of 600 people in Kansas) is just aggravating. A little appreciation of his life and experiences could have really made this an exciting story to read, instead it's a woe-is-me view that is frustrating to a well-read or well-traveled reader.

The writing has it's moments. The quality is there, and as another reviewer noted - the editor could have gone a long way to curb some of the unnecessary banter. Shirley's second and third-guessing of his own phrasing, writing, and stories are distracting and drags interesting stories into self-indulgent and unnecessary debates (that he has with himself.) As a fan of Shirley's blog and articles, I found myself disappointed with this book.

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Summary of Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond

He's been called a journeyman. Even Paul wouldn't dispute that classification. Regardless, Bill Simmons, ESPN.com's "The Sports Guy," has said of Paul Shirley, "We could finally have an answer to the question 'What would it be like if one of our friends was an NBA player?"

There's no denying that Paul Shirley is the closest thing pro basketball's got to Odysseus. In Homeric fashion, he has logged time practically everywhere in the roundball universe, from six NBA cities to pro leagues in Spain and Greece to North America's pro ball Siberia, the minor leagues. Hell, he's even played in the real Siberia. And in Can I Keep My Jersey?, Shirley finally puts down roots long enough to deliver one of the great locker-room chronicles of the modern age.

With sharp elbows and an even sharper wit, Shirley-whose writings have been described as "wildly entertaining" by The Wall Street Journal-drops hilarious commentary, revealing which teams have the best cheerleaders (he's spent many a time-out watching them ply their trade), why Christ is rapidly becoming every team's "sixth man," and even the best ways to get bloodstains out of your game uniform, using only an ordinary bar of soap and a hotel bathroom sink.

From sharing the court with Kobe and Shaq to perusing the food court at some mall in a bush-league burg; from taking pregame layups to getting laid out by a stray knee from an NBA power forward; from hopping a limo to the team's charter jet to dashing to catch the van home from a B-league game in Tijuana, Shirley dishes on what it's like to try to make it as a professional athlete. Can I Keep My Jersey? is a rollicking, thoughtful, even thought-provoking insider's look at a pro baller's life on the fringe. Like Jim Bouton's Ball Four or John Feinstein's A Season on the Brink, Shirley's odyssey deserves to find a home on every sports fan's bookshelf.

From the Hardcover edition.

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