John Edgar Wideman

Most people who know me know I love basketball. In honor of the recent NBA regular season tip-off, I wanted to introduce readers to John Edgar Wideman. Mr. Wideman, a controversial writer, has some interesting pieces on basketball and was a former All-Ivy League forward for U of Penn. His daughter, Jamila Wideman, played in the WNBA (thanks to former Stanford star Heather Owen for giving me the heads-up on this familial connection). Here is one paragraph from an interview with Mr. Wideman, where he weaves basketball within the larger context of life:

[B]asketball and other contact sports are all about testing, pushing, within arbitrary frameworks. They are all about physicality. So it was very natural to me. I trust the body. I trust pleasure. I trust pain. You can muck around with those a little, but after a while they win. They tell you they're the boss.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2838/is_2_34/ai_64397591/pg_1

Here is my favorite paragraph from Wideman:

Well, if something terrible happens, you've got to do something about it. Your choice is either to be crushed by it or to carry on. That's a choice all the time. At this point today, and in my work so far, I have tried to suggest that it is worth carrying on. That's in fact what I am doing. I think the best thing and the worst thing about life is that you don't know what is going to happen. The best thing and the worst.

http://www.salon.com/nov96/interview2961111.html

Wideman's most popular basketball book is Hoop Roots: Basketball, Race, and Love. I have not read it but hope to start it one day--right now, I am still working through Pat Conroy's delightful book, My Losing Season.