Who In The H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks is Paul Shirley?

Good question.  

Many of you may not have ever even heard of Paul Shirley, though some of our more diehard Chicago Bull fans/readers might have...  

Paul Shirley's a fella (rather large one, about 6'10") that played for parts of three different seasons with three different NBA teams.  LeBron James, this month, has had games that nearly eclipse Shirley's entire career totals. 

In my searches, the best description of Paul Shirley came from the About the Author of his book, which he likely wrote himself:

"Paul Shirley is a human being who sometimes plays basketball and sometimes writes books--although, to this point, he has done more of the former than the latter, as evidenced by the number of basketball  games in which he as played (approx. 700) versus the number of books he has written (exactly 1)."

And now, if you've read this far, you have to be wondering, why should I care?

Well, for those of you that read (no, this doesn't count, I'm talking about those things that are actually bound and have page numbers and covers--books, I believe?), I've got a suggestion for you if you're looking for a new page turner.

And no, Paul Shirley isn't paying me to say this.  Matter of fact, I barely paid him to be able to say this to you (more on that later).

The name of the book is "Can I Keep My Jersey:  11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond".  Initially, when I saw this book on the shelves of a local Barnes and Noble a while back, I thought, why on Earth would I want to read 300 pages about a guy that couldn't even play a lick in the NBA?

As it turns out, that's precisely why I'd enjoy reading it.  The great thing about this book is that it isn't just for NBA diehards.  Why?  Frankly, he's rarely in the league and can barely stand the types of guys that it tends to employ.   

Written in a journal format, Shirley details the four years of his basketball career which took him to nearly every corner of the Earth (from Phoenix to Kazan, Russia to Greece to Atlanta to...).  To call the book witty, honest, and interesting would be an understatement.

Amongst Shirley's seemingly endless rants are the following:

• Why religion has no place in sports.  That same guy with a tattoo that says "Only God Can Judge Me" will be the first to check the sports page in the morning to see what the beat writer had to say.
• The craziness that is the concept that people, worldwide, seem more than willing to pay him to play a game.
• His constant inability to relate to basically every NBA player.
• Stories about life in the ABA and European basketball. (A particularly interesting one:  in an ABA game, a referee knowingly blew calls against Shirley's team because the opposing Mexican team's officials threatened to kill him.  Shocking.  Scary.  Hysterical.)

And so, if this has piqued your interest, I have yet another suggestion.  If you're looking to buy books at Amazon.com or any other of those on-line book sites, make sure you buy them under the New & Used Section.  It cost me, with shipping, just over eight dollars.  Not bad.  

This book won't win Pulitzer Prizes, but it's an easy read, and an honest look at the life of a pro-athlete. I'd venture to say that most of our readers haven't played professional sports, and for that reason would like to know more about how it all works.  This book should help with that.  And, you'll definitely laugh along the way.