What do you think?
Rate this book
Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s
The New York Times bestselling author of Sweetness delivers the first all-encompassing account of the 1980s Los Angeles Lakers, one of professional sports’ most-revered—and dominant—dynasties.
The Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s personified the flamboyance and excess of the decade over which they reigned. Beginning with the arrival of Earvin "Magic" Johnson as the number-one overall pick of the 1979 draft, the Lakers played basketball with gusto and pizzazz, unleashing their famed "Showtime" run-and-gun style on a league unprepared for their speed and ferocity—and became the most captivating show in sports and, arguably, in all-around American entertainment. The Lakers’ roster overflowed with exciting all-star-caliber players, including center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and they were led by the incomparable Pat Riley, known for his slicked-back hair, his Armani suits, and his arrogant strut. Hollywood’s biggest celebrities lined the court and gorgeous women flocked to the arena. Best of all, the team was a winner. Between 1980 and 1991, the Lakers played in an unmatched nine NBA championship series, capturing five of them.
Bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost three hundred interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end—marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV—Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.
The Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s personified the flamboyance and excess of the decade over which they reigned. Beginning with the arrival of Earvin "Magic" Johnson as the number-one overall pick of the 1979 draft, the Lakers played basketball with gusto and pizzazz, unleashing their famed "Showtime" run-and-gun style on a league unprepared for their speed and ferocity—and became the most captivating show in sports and, arguably, in all-around American entertainment. The Lakers’ roster overflowed with exciting all-star-caliber players, including center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and they were led by the incomparable Pat Riley, known for his slicked-back hair, his Armani suits, and his arrogant strut. Hollywood’s biggest celebrities lined the court and gorgeous women flocked to the arena. Best of all, the team was a winner. Between 1980 and 1991, the Lakers played in an unmatched nine NBA championship series, capturing five of them.
Bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman draws from almost three hundred interviews to take the first full measure of the Lakers’ epic Showtime era. A dazzling account of one of America’s greatest sports sagas, Showtime is packed with indelible characters, vicious rivalries, and jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes stories of the players’ decadent Hollywood lifestyles. From the Showtime era’s remarkable rise to its tragic end—marked by Magic Johnson’s 1991 announcement that he had contracted HIV—Showtime is a gripping narrative of sports, celebrity, and 1980s-style excess.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published March 4, 2014
About the author
Jeff Pearlman
14 books378 followersJeff Pearlman is an American sports writer. He has written two books about baseball and was the author of the infamous John Rocker interview in Sports Illustrated. In October 2011 he released his fifth book, a biography of Walter Payton titled, "Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton." It spent four weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Pearlman was born and raised in Mahopac, New York. He got his start in journalism in 1989, when he interned at a weekly newspaper in Cross River, entitled "The Patent Trader". After graduating from the University of Delaware, he was hired as a food and fashion writer by The Tennessean in Nashville. In 1996, Pearlman was hired by Sports Illustrated, where he spent nearly seven years as a baseball writer.
In 2002, Pearlman left Sports Illustrated and spent the next two years at Newsday, but left to focus on writing books. He also keeps an unusually personal online blog, where he posts a weekly Q&A series, The Quaz, with athletes, politicians, actors, singers and many random people.
He was a frequent contributor to ESPN.com's Page 2, then as a columnist for SI.com. No stranger to controversy, Pearlman used his own website as a forum to call out the overzealous missionary goals of Tim Tebow's father as "pretty evil." In the fall of 2007, Pearlman wrote several controversial articles on Page 2 regarding the lack of a rivalry between the University of Delaware's and Delaware State University's football teams. The University of Delaware and Delaware State finally played a football game on November 23, 2007 at part of the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs. Delaware won the game with a score of 44–7.
Pearlman was born and raised in Mahopac, New York. He got his start in journalism in 1989, when he interned at a weekly newspaper in Cross River, entitled "The Patent Trader". After graduating from the University of Delaware, he was hired as a food and fashion writer by The Tennessean in Nashville. In 1996, Pearlman was hired by Sports Illustrated, where he spent nearly seven years as a baseball writer.
In 2002, Pearlman left Sports Illustrated and spent the next two years at Newsday, but left to focus on writing books. He also keeps an unusually personal online blog, where he posts a weekly Q&A series, The Quaz, with athletes, politicians, actors, singers and many random people.
He was a frequent contributor to ESPN.com's Page 2, then as a columnist for SI.com. No stranger to controversy, Pearlman used his own website as a forum to call out the overzealous missionary goals of Tim Tebow's father as "pretty evil." In the fall of 2007, Pearlman wrote several controversial articles on Page 2 regarding the lack of a rivalry between the University of Delaware's and Delaware State University's football teams. The University of Delaware and Delaware State finally played a football game on November 23, 2007 at part of the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs. Delaware won the game with a score of 44–7.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 306 reviews
January 13, 2015
Here's an overview of what I learned from the book:
- Magic Johnson basically ran that team throughout the 80's and could get whatever he wanted, including a cheeseburger from Jack Kent Cooke.
- Jerry Buss loved younger women and had a libido on par with Hugh Hefner.
- Jerry West likes to swear a lot.
- Kurt Rambis enjoyed living like a transient and hoarding soft drinks.
- James Worthy is a morose person and thought paying $150 for a blowjob in Houston was a good idea. It wasn't.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an asshole. To just about everyone.
- Byron Scott could never drive left to the basket.
- AC Green had an awesome, wet, juicy Jheri curl afro. Oh, and he was a virgin on the team.
- Michael Cooper was paranoid about being cut all the time.
- Oh, and even though he never played for the Lakers..... Olden Polynice still remains my favorite NBA player name. Even more than Uwe Blab.
- Magic Johnson basically ran that team throughout the 80's and could get whatever he wanted, including a cheeseburger from Jack Kent Cooke.
- Jerry Buss loved younger women and had a libido on par with Hugh Hefner.
- Jerry West likes to swear a lot.
- Kurt Rambis enjoyed living like a transient and hoarding soft drinks.
- James Worthy is a morose person and thought paying $150 for a blowjob in Houston was a good idea. It wasn't.
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an asshole. To just about everyone.
- Byron Scott could never drive left to the basket.
- AC Green had an awesome, wet, juicy Jheri curl afro. Oh, and he was a virgin on the team.
- Michael Cooper was paranoid about being cut all the time.
- Oh, and even though he never played for the Lakers..... Olden Polynice still remains my favorite NBA player name. Even more than Uwe Blab.
April 12, 2014
4.5 stars.
Solid, well-written overview of the greatest team of the greatest era in professional basketball. I'm a lifelong Lakers fan and I read, watch, and listen to almost anything Lakers-related, so perhaps my review should be taken with a grain of salt. Many of the stories here have been told before, but Pearlman manages to make it all seem fresh and new. There are even a few new anecdotes in here for die-hard fans.
My favorite part of this book were the early chapters focusing on Jack McKinney, the true genius behind the Showtime Lakers. There has not been enough written about him and Pearlman gives McKinney the long overdue credit he deserves. It's one of the great What Ifs of professional sports: What if McKinney doesn't have his freak bicycle accident and remains head coach -- do the Lakers go on to win five titles in 10 years? I believe any coach with Kareem Adbul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson could win championships, but the team might not have been as glitzy yet hard-nosed as they were under Pat Riley.
Pearlman also doesn't pull any punches, either, making sure the reader knows that Kareem is arrogant and unlikable, Magic is a sex addict and truly runs the Lakers, and Riley is paranoid and a megalomaniac. None of these are new revelations, but credit the author with creating a captivating and entertaining story out of such familiar material. This is a must-read for Lakers fans, but any fan of 80s-era basketball (even the most hardcore Celtics fan) will appreciate this.
Go Lakers!!!
Solid, well-written overview of the greatest team of the greatest era in professional basketball. I'm a lifelong Lakers fan and I read, watch, and listen to almost anything Lakers-related, so perhaps my review should be taken with a grain of salt. Many of the stories here have been told before, but Pearlman manages to make it all seem fresh and new. There are even a few new anecdotes in here for die-hard fans.
My favorite part of this book were the early chapters focusing on Jack McKinney, the true genius behind the Showtime Lakers. There has not been enough written about him and Pearlman gives McKinney the long overdue credit he deserves. It's one of the great What Ifs of professional sports: What if McKinney doesn't have his freak bicycle accident and remains head coach -- do the Lakers go on to win five titles in 10 years? I believe any coach with Kareem Adbul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson could win championships, but the team might not have been as glitzy yet hard-nosed as they were under Pat Riley.
Pearlman also doesn't pull any punches, either, making sure the reader knows that Kareem is arrogant and unlikable, Magic is a sex addict and truly runs the Lakers, and Riley is paranoid and a megalomaniac. None of these are new revelations, but credit the author with creating a captivating and entertaining story out of such familiar material. This is a must-read for Lakers fans, but any fan of 80s-era basketball (even the most hardcore Celtics fan) will appreciate this.
Go Lakers!!!
March 27, 2022
This was a fun read about the 1980’s “Showtime” Lakers. Several years are covered but I never thought anything was given short shrift.
Pearlman is a great story teller. The highs are a lot of fun and he never glosses over the lows.
Great cast of characters. The book is worth it for the story of Jack McKinney alone. I’d never heard of him.
Pearlman did a lot of interviews for this book and he also used a lot of contemporary sources - magazine and newspaper interviews, etc. It would have been nice to have been told whether something being said was said at the time or in hindsight. But that was a small complaint.
Pearlman is a great story teller. The highs are a lot of fun and he never glosses over the lows.
Great cast of characters. The book is worth it for the story of Jack McKinney alone. I’d never heard of him.
Pearlman did a lot of interviews for this book and he also used a lot of contemporary sources - magazine and newspaper interviews, etc. It would have been nice to have been told whether something being said was said at the time or in hindsight. But that was a small complaint.
January 16, 2016
4.5 stars.
I enjoyed this book from the very first page. It doesn't matter if you like the Lakers or not, this is a great read about the 80s Lakers. Lots of stories you may or may not know, and I thoroughly enjoyed how the personal stories of those involved were weaved in to fit chronologically as well as to tell you what was happening behind the scenes during those stellar seasons.
Kudos to telling the story of Jack McKinney! He's often left out and I never really hear much about him.
I enjoyed this book from the very first page. It doesn't matter if you like the Lakers or not, this is a great read about the 80s Lakers. Lots of stories you may or may not know, and I thoroughly enjoyed how the personal stories of those involved were weaved in to fit chronologically as well as to tell you what was happening behind the scenes during those stellar seasons.
Kudos to telling the story of Jack McKinney! He's often left out and I never really hear much about him.
March 30, 2023
I am, by no means, a basketball fan. I enjoy March Madness like many, I casually know of the comings and goings of the NBA, but, on 99% of my off time, you will not find me reading or watching basketball. And yet, when HBO announced the premiere of “Winning Time,” I was intrigued. I had watched “The Last Dance,” and found myself wishing I could have been alive for that brand of basketball. With Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman. That basketball, was what I wish I could watch today. So I watched episode one of “”Winning Time” and was hooked. Which lead me to this book.
Let me tell you, this book, is even better than the show. You only wish you could see it all in real life, but you truly feel like you get to know each major character in the Showtime story. It allowed you to go back and look up highlights and players, and by the end of it, you wished you could have lived it all.
I will never say that I am a basketball fan, but the way Pearlman writes, and how he describes a decades worth of incredible people and stories, it has made me want to learn even more about this era of basketball. And that, in itself, is worth reading.
Let me tell you, this book, is even better than the show. You only wish you could see it all in real life, but you truly feel like you get to know each major character in the Showtime story. It allowed you to go back and look up highlights and players, and by the end of it, you wished you could have lived it all.
I will never say that I am a basketball fan, but the way Pearlman writes, and how he describes a decades worth of incredible people and stories, it has made me want to learn even more about this era of basketball. And that, in itself, is worth reading.
December 31, 2023
Going out strong with this as my last completed read of the year. Jeff Pearlman is probably the heir apparent to David Halberstam when it comes to writing compelling books about sports and the athletes who populate our culture, and this is his masterpiece.
"Showtime" is an inside look at the dominant Lakers dynasty of the 1980's, whose storied five championships and multiple trips to the finals are hard for any NBA franchise (barring the Golden State Warriors) to emulate these days. This was the team of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Kurt Rambis, Pat Riley, and the two Jerrys (Buss and West). But most of all, it was the team of Magic Johnson, a superstar whose bright smile and fierce drive to win fueled arguably the greatest dynasty in sports history.
Pearlman does justice to the Lakers and their times, chronicling their highs and lows and ending the book with the moment that Magic revealed to the world his devastating HIV diagnosis (he's still with us about twenty-plus years, thankfully). In between are tales of life both on and off the court, capturing the crazy time when the Lakers were the best team in basketball and their rivalry with the Celtics (and Magic's with Larry Bird) *the* show to watch every year that they met in the Finals. It was glorious to be a Laker in the Eighties, with so many parks that many a marriage and career was destroyed in the process. But most of the players profiled wouldn't have traded it for the world.
"Showtime" is just a damn fun read, and I can see why HBO turned it into a TV show that is now (sadly) canceled. Jeff Pearlman is the best sportswriter working today, and "Showtime" is his masterpiece.
"Showtime" is an inside look at the dominant Lakers dynasty of the 1980's, whose storied five championships and multiple trips to the finals are hard for any NBA franchise (barring the Golden State Warriors) to emulate these days. This was the team of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Kurt Rambis, Pat Riley, and the two Jerrys (Buss and West). But most of all, it was the team of Magic Johnson, a superstar whose bright smile and fierce drive to win fueled arguably the greatest dynasty in sports history.
Pearlman does justice to the Lakers and their times, chronicling their highs and lows and ending the book with the moment that Magic revealed to the world his devastating HIV diagnosis (he's still with us about twenty-plus years, thankfully). In between are tales of life both on and off the court, capturing the crazy time when the Lakers were the best team in basketball and their rivalry with the Celtics (and Magic's with Larry Bird) *the* show to watch every year that they met in the Finals. It was glorious to be a Laker in the Eighties, with so many parks that many a marriage and career was destroyed in the process. But most of the players profiled wouldn't have traded it for the world.
"Showtime" is just a damn fun read, and I can see why HBO turned it into a TV show that is now (sadly) canceled. Jeff Pearlman is the best sportswriter working today, and "Showtime" is his masterpiece.
August 13, 2022
Jeff Pearlman is awesome! This is a fantastic book. This era was a little before my time, but I loved learning about it. The 80s Showtime Lakers were a great story, warts and all. I may decide to read every Jeff Pearlman book after living this one and The Bad Guys Won
October 15, 2015
(Audiobook). Decided to give this book a try when I came across it. In basketball, I am a Houston Rockets fan through and through, but I can appreciate great teams and talent. In the history of the NBA, you cannot mention the great teams in its history without talking about the Los Angeles Lakers teams of the 1980s. Given the nickname "Showtime" for their uptempo style of play, their star power and the overall ambiance associated with the franchise in LA in that decade, they became more than just a basketball team, but a separate form of entertainment in a city built on such things. The story starts with how the Lakers, who were not a terrible team in the late 1970s, but were not a great one, started to make the key moves that took them to a new level. Along the way, Pearlman introduces the reader one by one to the key personalities that played their part in the Lakers ascendancy. It is somewhat formulaic how Pearlman, after first mentioning a name in the context of the team will then provide the back story of how their lives and how they came to join the franchise. He take a chronological approach, starting from Buss' purchase of the team to the drafting of Magic Johnson, the 1980 title, the fall of Paul Westhead and the rise of Pat Riley, the start of the arguably the greatest iteration of the Celtics/Lakers rivalries. In between, Pearlman gives time to the superstars (Magic, Kareem, Riley) and the bit players (Rambis, Jones, Williams, etc). He also goes behind the known stories and images to reveal the faults and frailties of the personalities involved. There is a degree of hedonism in this time, with drug use, prodigious sexual activity, fast money and dumb decisions, but there is also some of the greatest basketball to have ever been played. It follows the dynasty of the "Showtime" Lakers, from creation to its apex, to its inevitable decline. Age, ego and an evolving series of opponents will eventually overcome all sports dynasties. While some could argue the end of Showtime came with the retirement of Kareem, or the Pistons sweep of the Lakers in 1989 or the firing of Pat Riley in 1990, but for Pearlman, the end of Showtime came with the announcement of Magic Johnson in Nov 1991 that he was HIV positive. Overall, it was an engaging read, and while the style was somewhat formulaic for sports writing, the stories involved were supremely engaging. For an audiobook, the reader was engaging, and while he would sometimes try to talk in quasi-accents, he did not go over the top. Perhaps the non-sports fan may not quite be as enthralled by this work, but for any sort of basketball fan, this is worth the time spent reading/listening to this work.
June 12, 2016
Once again a great book by Jeff Pearlman, possibly my favorite and he's done a bunch of good ones such as "The Bad Guys Won" on the 1986 Mets, "Sweetness" on Walter Payton and "Boys Will Be Boys" on the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s. This book is about the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. Included in this very detailed book are stories about Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Byron Scott, James Worthy, Jamaal Wilkes, A.C. Green, Michael Cooper, Pat Riley, Jerry Buss, Norm Nixon, Mychael Thompson, Spencer Haywood, Paul Westhead, Jack McKinney, Bob McAdoo and many others. Basically has short intro with how Jerry Buss bought the team and then goes right into the year 1979-80 when the Lakers won the championship in Magic's rookie year. Talks about not just the games, but conflicts going on off the court as well. Book chronicles all the years in the 1980s and ends around the time Magic calls it quits because he learns he has the HIV virus. If you are a Lakers fan, you MUST read this book. If you are a fan of the NBA, especially in the 1980s when it was at its best, you MUST read this book. Even if you're a Celtics fan you'll probably enjoy this one. Pearlman does very good research and writes very well. Can't wait to read his next one.
January 4, 2015
This iwas pretty good. As a kid growing up in Los Angeles during the 80s and 90s, I was all about Showtime. Magic, Coop, Kareem, Rambis. The machinations behind the personnel moves, the interactions, and the mentalities of the men who made all that happen are laid out in great detail. Things I didn't know, things I expected, timelines I only vaguely remember now that I'm old.
This is simply invaluable to anyone who was a basketball fan during this era, as well as anyone who wants a bit more insight as to how a championship team is built, maintained, and eventually crumbles.
This is simply invaluable to anyone who was a basketball fan during this era, as well as anyone who wants a bit more insight as to how a championship team is built, maintained, and eventually crumbles.
October 9, 2020
Fun read but how can so many reporters still be so unforgiving of Kareem.
June 22, 2016
I enjoyed this book during the 2016 NBA Finals. In some ways, Golden State's small ball run-n-gun is like a throwback to the early 80's Lakers. There is much time and paradigm difference between them, though. The three pointer was a novelty in the 1980s and it's hard to imagine coaches and pundits so blindly unaware of the inefficiency on offense back then. When you have a guy like Byron Scott shooting over 43% from 3-point range but he only takes a few a game, you're leaving points off the board. No analytics back then, alas. Tempo-free statistics would have been helpful to add to this book, it's a lot easier to get a triple-double when there are 120 possessions a game versus only 90. It is also hard to imagine that in the early 1980s the NBA Finals were not televised live on the West Coast so as not to preempt hit shows like the Dukes of Hazzard. Before Magic and Bird, and NBA highlight films by a more savvy media office, NBA stars were not so "super." I read Larry Bird's autobiography Drive which also looked at this era, but Bird's NBA was much less lecherous. This book is a good, sometimes humorous, chronicle of the Lakers' dynasty.
The story begins with the long-forgotten inventor of Showtime: Coach Jack McKinney, who is senile when the author interviews him. He was almost killed in a bike accident during the season and his brain never fully recovered-- he was replaced by Paul Westhead who won the 1980 running McKinney's fast-break style. Jerry Buss had wanted UNLV legend Jerry Tarkanian to be his first hire (or co-hire with Jack Kent Cooke who was passing his ownership to Buss). Tarkanian's agent sealed the lucrative deal but then was mysteriously murdered and discovered to have many ties with organized crime; Tark backed out of the deal and allegedly never recovered emotionally.
It is hard to imagine the era. Supposedly 80% of NBA players (and half the Lakers) were using cocaine. Magic Johnson was the first Buss draft pick and fit into the playboy Jack Buss' lifestyle. Buss lived like Hugh Hefner with multiple women and a party lifestyle; Magic famously enjoyed that lifestyle as well and paid heavily for it later with HIV. It was Buss who invented the Laker Girls and renovated the Forum Club to be an after-game place where players could engage with women and celebrities away from their wives. Magic (and Kareem) didn't drink or use drugs, but Magic was known to host Playboy-style orgies where profligacy was mandated. The cocaine-fueled downfall of Spencer Haywood and other Lakers is difficult and almost impossible to imagine today. Perlman doesn't chronicle it, but the epidemic seems to fade by the late 1980s. At one point, Mark Lansberger, who had an open relationship with his wife and other women, told his wife about his teammates' exploits on the road. His wife gossipped with the others and internal scandal insued. He was ostracized and later traded.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was always reading, never fooled, and unfriendly with outsiders. He was accused of "hating white people," ignored or belittled autograph seekers, and was the opposite of Magic, who he repeatedly scolded to "calm down" his rookie season. He only mellowed one time in the decade, when his house burned down and he lost his carpets and thousands of jazz records. Fans would send him their antique jazz records and he would show appreciation, but later became angry and distant again.
After Westhead won the 1980 title, he imposed his own odd system that was the opposite of McKinney's to the dismay of Jerry Buss and Magic Johnson. (Westhead would require his players to run the same way down the court every time, to run the same set plays where they stood around; the opposite of Showtime.) It took a whole season for the whole team to hate him, eventually Magic was the bad guy for getting him fired. It is interesting to hear of the rivarly between coach-and-players as well as teammates vying for playing time and positions. Norm Nixon and Magic competed both with the same women and at point guard. The 1981 Laker team basically imploded, which led Laker assistant and afterthought hire Pat Riley to be thrust into the limelight as coach, who was announced by Buss as a "co-coach" with Jerry West, which West vehemently denied. The Lakers wanted to force Norm Nixon out and hired private investigators to follow him, at which point he agreed to be traded. Magic was vilified in the media and roundly booed by Laker fans after signing a 10-year, $25 million contract. That lasted for all of 10 minutes as he reminded them what value he was on the court.
It wouldn't be a Showtime story without Magic versus Bird. The Lakers players interviewed for the book even use terms like "underrated" to describe Bird-- he was unstoppable for many of them. The Lakers' most satisfying championship was probably the 1987 one. Much of this part lined up with my memory of the battles from Bird's memory in Drive.
Perlman chronicles a lot of unsung heroes on the Laker teams like Jamal Wilkes. He gives the reader an idea of how weird Kurt Rambis was. AC Green later became an All-Star and stood out like a sore thumb in his virginity and desire to share the Gospel with his teammates. I was glad to hear that he was legit in his lifestyle. Michael Thompson filled in as a solid replacement for Kareem in his old age, and Michael Cooper apparently was accutely paranoid-- always convinced the Lakers were going to trade him and working to prove himself. Byron Scott was both tough-minded and an able teammate, a better shooter and athlete than often given credit for.
While Pat Riley introduced a grueling pre-season camp and physical practices, which the players appreciated, eventually he took it too far as a personality cult developed. He would forbid wives from coming on the road and demand that they have one mission during the season-- keep their husbands happy. Eventually, his ego got the best of him as he became ever more demanding and took every loss increasingly poorly. After he stole a Lakers' player's phrase "threepeat" and trademarked it, he became obsessed with obtaining it. He cost the Lakers' the 1989 crown by hosting a mini-camp before the series where he wore the aging players out, and then a grueling practice with unnecessary drills in Detroit caused an industry to Byron Scott that left the team undermanned. The team mutineed and Riley was replaced by Mike Dunleavy who did a good job getting the aged and worn-out Lakers to the 1991 finals against the Bulls-- the last gasp of Showtime.
The end of Magic's career is chronicled, along with the scare it put into players (his teammates quickly swapped lists of mutual partners), and Magic's young marriage. I enjoyed the insights into the aftermath of the careers of those who took part in Showtime.
In all, I give this book 3.5 stars out of five. As mentioned above, it lacks adding any analytical component. It is a nostalgic look back on the 1980s NBA and a team and rivalry (Lakers-Celtics) that launched the NBA into the modern era. It is profanity-laced and pretty insightful into the personal lives of highly-paid athletes in Los Angeles.
The story begins with the long-forgotten inventor of Showtime: Coach Jack McKinney, who is senile when the author interviews him. He was almost killed in a bike accident during the season and his brain never fully recovered-- he was replaced by Paul Westhead who won the 1980 running McKinney's fast-break style. Jerry Buss had wanted UNLV legend Jerry Tarkanian to be his first hire (or co-hire with Jack Kent Cooke who was passing his ownership to Buss). Tarkanian's agent sealed the lucrative deal but then was mysteriously murdered and discovered to have many ties with organized crime; Tark backed out of the deal and allegedly never recovered emotionally.
It is hard to imagine the era. Supposedly 80% of NBA players (and half the Lakers) were using cocaine. Magic Johnson was the first Buss draft pick and fit into the playboy Jack Buss' lifestyle. Buss lived like Hugh Hefner with multiple women and a party lifestyle; Magic famously enjoyed that lifestyle as well and paid heavily for it later with HIV. It was Buss who invented the Laker Girls and renovated the Forum Club to be an after-game place where players could engage with women and celebrities away from their wives. Magic (and Kareem) didn't drink or use drugs, but Magic was known to host Playboy-style orgies where profligacy was mandated. The cocaine-fueled downfall of Spencer Haywood and other Lakers is difficult and almost impossible to imagine today. Perlman doesn't chronicle it, but the epidemic seems to fade by the late 1980s. At one point, Mark Lansberger, who had an open relationship with his wife and other women, told his wife about his teammates' exploits on the road. His wife gossipped with the others and internal scandal insued. He was ostracized and later traded.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was always reading, never fooled, and unfriendly with outsiders. He was accused of "hating white people," ignored or belittled autograph seekers, and was the opposite of Magic, who he repeatedly scolded to "calm down" his rookie season. He only mellowed one time in the decade, when his house burned down and he lost his carpets and thousands of jazz records. Fans would send him their antique jazz records and he would show appreciation, but later became angry and distant again.
After Westhead won the 1980 title, he imposed his own odd system that was the opposite of McKinney's to the dismay of Jerry Buss and Magic Johnson. (Westhead would require his players to run the same way down the court every time, to run the same set plays where they stood around; the opposite of Showtime.) It took a whole season for the whole team to hate him, eventually Magic was the bad guy for getting him fired. It is interesting to hear of the rivarly between coach-and-players as well as teammates vying for playing time and positions. Norm Nixon and Magic competed both with the same women and at point guard. The 1981 Laker team basically imploded, which led Laker assistant and afterthought hire Pat Riley to be thrust into the limelight as coach, who was announced by Buss as a "co-coach" with Jerry West, which West vehemently denied. The Lakers wanted to force Norm Nixon out and hired private investigators to follow him, at which point he agreed to be traded. Magic was vilified in the media and roundly booed by Laker fans after signing a 10-year, $25 million contract. That lasted for all of 10 minutes as he reminded them what value he was on the court.
It wouldn't be a Showtime story without Magic versus Bird. The Lakers players interviewed for the book even use terms like "underrated" to describe Bird-- he was unstoppable for many of them. The Lakers' most satisfying championship was probably the 1987 one. Much of this part lined up with my memory of the battles from Bird's memory in Drive.
Perlman chronicles a lot of unsung heroes on the Laker teams like Jamal Wilkes. He gives the reader an idea of how weird Kurt Rambis was. AC Green later became an All-Star and stood out like a sore thumb in his virginity and desire to share the Gospel with his teammates. I was glad to hear that he was legit in his lifestyle. Michael Thompson filled in as a solid replacement for Kareem in his old age, and Michael Cooper apparently was accutely paranoid-- always convinced the Lakers were going to trade him and working to prove himself. Byron Scott was both tough-minded and an able teammate, a better shooter and athlete than often given credit for.
While Pat Riley introduced a grueling pre-season camp and physical practices, which the players appreciated, eventually he took it too far as a personality cult developed. He would forbid wives from coming on the road and demand that they have one mission during the season-- keep their husbands happy. Eventually, his ego got the best of him as he became ever more demanding and took every loss increasingly poorly. After he stole a Lakers' player's phrase "threepeat" and trademarked it, he became obsessed with obtaining it. He cost the Lakers' the 1989 crown by hosting a mini-camp before the series where he wore the aging players out, and then a grueling practice with unnecessary drills in Detroit caused an industry to Byron Scott that left the team undermanned. The team mutineed and Riley was replaced by Mike Dunleavy who did a good job getting the aged and worn-out Lakers to the 1991 finals against the Bulls-- the last gasp of Showtime.
The end of Magic's career is chronicled, along with the scare it put into players (his teammates quickly swapped lists of mutual partners), and Magic's young marriage. I enjoyed the insights into the aftermath of the careers of those who took part in Showtime.
In all, I give this book 3.5 stars out of five. As mentioned above, it lacks adding any analytical component. It is a nostalgic look back on the 1980s NBA and a team and rivalry (Lakers-Celtics) that launched the NBA into the modern era. It is profanity-laced and pretty insightful into the personal lives of highly-paid athletes in Los Angeles.
May 19, 2022
I got interested in this after watching the first series of the HBO show Winning Time, which I keep absentmindedly referring to as Emotional Basketball. The first season of the show covers the first 15 percent of the book, approximately, including many of the most shocking and emotional events. I love reading about careers I could never qualify for. Also, I am petty and gossipy, so I enjoyed learning which of the players and staffers were considered most promiscuous, most virginal, biggest hoarders, most litigious, most intelligent, stupidest, most hostile to fans, most scandal-plagued, most paranoid, most arrogant, laziest, least talented, and so on. There's plenty of What Does It All Mean in here, but often it was the smallest anecdotes I liked the best. Imagine hiring a basketball player that you think is six foot seven and it turns out he's six foot three. Can you sue the guy? Ehhh, it's not worth it. Anyway, according to this book Jerry West is much nicer than he's portrayed on the HBO show and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is much meaner. But I still am sympathetic to Abdul-Jabbar because he faced so much racism and anti-Islamic prejudice.
July 5, 2023
This is a very fun read.
I liked the Lakers in the 80's, especially Magic. I had the Magic Johnson poster. But I didn't love them; with a bunch of family up in New England I quickly started drifting towards the Celtics (having a Minnesota guy like McHale on the team helped) since we didn't have a team in MN any longer. But there was some affinity for the Lakers, since they used to be here. So I saw a lot of the Lakers in the 80's because they were great and all we ever saw was the national games...any they didn't show the dogs.
This book looks at the whole Laker scene back then, taking a pretty unvarnished look at everything that was Showtime from the perspective of the Lakers. There's no doubt for all that Pearlman is a fine journalist (and excellent storyteller) that he's got some real fondness for these Lakers. That said, he still gets critical and honest enough about what happened, while leaving final judgment on things to the reader. Its a reasonable approach.
This book easily could have come with a sticker saying, "brought to you by hookers and blow" because holy cow. Especially the sex. So. Much. Sex. This crew were the biggest bunch of dogs you can imagine. Outside of the famously virginal AC Green, they all just had so much sex. The way things play out, it seems like the cocaine faded away early in the 80's, and this is where Pearlman's lack of criticism hurts a bit: it just doesn't seem realistic that coke really was banished from Lakerdom after about '82, and he's a little too accepting of fringe Lakers who said, "nah, it wasn't that much, we never let it take over" (except for Spencer Haywood).
The stuff on the coaches is especially interesting in that very few people remember Jack McKinney, who lost his chance to coach the Lakers after a tragic bike accident. Paul Westhead is another figure who comes and goes rather quickly, but still winning a title before Pat Riley comes on board to run the show. None of these guys are obvious choices (McKinney probably had the best rep), especially Riley so to see how they work is interesting. And as much as I knew about the NBA, I had forgotten that Riley, winner of 4 NBA titles as a Laker had in fact been fired by the end of the decade. Ego run amok wrecked him.
Kareem probably gets the harshest treatment overall: he was a difficult personality, especially back then, prickly at best something of an asshole at worst. Despite a lot of reasons for why acted like this, he doesn't get a lot of sympathy. He does however still get plenty of respect for his skill as a player, and even when he's being a dick he still commands the locker room whenever he wants it.
Really there's only two things missing from this book: deeper insight into more of the players (Worthy is mostly a cipher, for example, and despite tons of emphasis on Magic, there's not a lot on what makes him tick), and a little better perspective on how this team fit in against the rest of the league. Boston and Philly get some attention as worthy rivals, but Houston doesn't get all that much attention, and they probably should, even in a book about the Lakers as one of the only teams to challenge them and their implosion.
The dirty little secret about Showtime is how bad the west was for most of their run. Rarely challenged, they were able to cruise through to the finals most years against much weaker teams. Pearlman doesn't have a great feel for this stuff (at one point he refers to AC Green as having developed into one of the best 3 or 4 power forwards in the game...at a time when McHale, Barkley, Malone, Tom Chambers were running around? Green wasn't better than Rodman or Buck Williams either. It's a silly sort of statement that vastly overrates Green, who was a nice player but made 1 all-star team and didn't deserve that one) and it does hurt his ability to put the Showtime Lakers in historical context.
Still a really entertaining and interesting book that's easy to read and hard to put down.
I liked the Lakers in the 80's, especially Magic. I had the Magic Johnson poster. But I didn't love them; with a bunch of family up in New England I quickly started drifting towards the Celtics (having a Minnesota guy like McHale on the team helped) since we didn't have a team in MN any longer. But there was some affinity for the Lakers, since they used to be here. So I saw a lot of the Lakers in the 80's because they were great and all we ever saw was the national games...any they didn't show the dogs.
This book looks at the whole Laker scene back then, taking a pretty unvarnished look at everything that was Showtime from the perspective of the Lakers. There's no doubt for all that Pearlman is a fine journalist (and excellent storyteller) that he's got some real fondness for these Lakers. That said, he still gets critical and honest enough about what happened, while leaving final judgment on things to the reader. Its a reasonable approach.
This book easily could have come with a sticker saying, "brought to you by hookers and blow" because holy cow. Especially the sex. So. Much. Sex. This crew were the biggest bunch of dogs you can imagine. Outside of the famously virginal AC Green, they all just had so much sex. The way things play out, it seems like the cocaine faded away early in the 80's, and this is where Pearlman's lack of criticism hurts a bit: it just doesn't seem realistic that coke really was banished from Lakerdom after about '82, and he's a little too accepting of fringe Lakers who said, "nah, it wasn't that much, we never let it take over" (except for Spencer Haywood).
The stuff on the coaches is especially interesting in that very few people remember Jack McKinney, who lost his chance to coach the Lakers after a tragic bike accident. Paul Westhead is another figure who comes and goes rather quickly, but still winning a title before Pat Riley comes on board to run the show. None of these guys are obvious choices (McKinney probably had the best rep), especially Riley so to see how they work is interesting. And as much as I knew about the NBA, I had forgotten that Riley, winner of 4 NBA titles as a Laker had in fact been fired by the end of the decade. Ego run amok wrecked him.
Kareem probably gets the harshest treatment overall: he was a difficult personality, especially back then, prickly at best something of an asshole at worst. Despite a lot of reasons for why acted like this, he doesn't get a lot of sympathy. He does however still get plenty of respect for his skill as a player, and even when he's being a dick he still commands the locker room whenever he wants it.
Really there's only two things missing from this book: deeper insight into more of the players (Worthy is mostly a cipher, for example, and despite tons of emphasis on Magic, there's not a lot on what makes him tick), and a little better perspective on how this team fit in against the rest of the league. Boston and Philly get some attention as worthy rivals, but Houston doesn't get all that much attention, and they probably should, even in a book about the Lakers as one of the only teams to challenge them and their implosion.
The dirty little secret about Showtime is how bad the west was for most of their run. Rarely challenged, they were able to cruise through to the finals most years against much weaker teams. Pearlman doesn't have a great feel for this stuff (at one point he refers to AC Green as having developed into one of the best 3 or 4 power forwards in the game...at a time when McHale, Barkley, Malone, Tom Chambers were running around? Green wasn't better than Rodman or Buck Williams either. It's a silly sort of statement that vastly overrates Green, who was a nice player but made 1 all-star team and didn't deserve that one) and it does hurt his ability to put the Showtime Lakers in historical context.
Still a really entertaining and interesting book that's easy to read and hard to put down.
December 30, 2014
ARC provided by LibraryThing early reviews
During the 1980’s the sports world was dominated by one team: The Los Angeles Lakers. Led by number one pick Earvin “Magic” Johnson, featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and led by slicked-back hair, Armani suit strutting Pat Reily, the team played in nine NBA championship series over eleven years winning five of them. The Lakers became known for their “showtime” style of play and entertaining millions across the globe.
While there are countless other books on the Lakers, including this era, Jeff Peralman’s abilities as a writer make this a standout one. He does an impeccable job of drawing from over three hundred interviews to bring the the 80’s era Lakers to life, from their rise, to its sudden end with Magic Johnson’s announcement that he had contracted HIV. From these interviews he pieces together a story that flows smoothly, brings history to life, and is entertaining to read...its a talent that not many other writers have. More than that though, Pearlman exposes everything and removes the blinders that so many other writers have to the Lakers dynasty, discussing Kareem growing old, Riley wearing out his welcome, the drugs, the women, everything is laid bare.
If you’re a fan of the NBA, of the Lakers, or of any of the people with the showtime team this is a must have book. You won’t go wrong with picking it up. I give it four out of five stars.
During the 1980’s the sports world was dominated by one team: The Los Angeles Lakers. Led by number one pick Earvin “Magic” Johnson, featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and led by slicked-back hair, Armani suit strutting Pat Reily, the team played in nine NBA championship series over eleven years winning five of them. The Lakers became known for their “showtime” style of play and entertaining millions across the globe.
While there are countless other books on the Lakers, including this era, Jeff Peralman’s abilities as a writer make this a standout one. He does an impeccable job of drawing from over three hundred interviews to bring the the 80’s era Lakers to life, from their rise, to its sudden end with Magic Johnson’s announcement that he had contracted HIV. From these interviews he pieces together a story that flows smoothly, brings history to life, and is entertaining to read...its a talent that not many other writers have. More than that though, Pearlman exposes everything and removes the blinders that so many other writers have to the Lakers dynasty, discussing Kareem growing old, Riley wearing out his welcome, the drugs, the women, everything is laid bare.
If you’re a fan of the NBA, of the Lakers, or of any of the people with the showtime team this is a must have book. You won’t go wrong with picking it up. I give it four out of five stars.
September 14, 2022
I couldn’t help but compare Jeff Pearlman’s Showtime to Dan Shaughnessy’s Wish It Lasted Forever. Shaughnessy tells the story of the Laker’s great rival, the Boston Celtics, and although his account is not as comprehensive, he skillfully evokes nostalgia for those simpler times. Perhaps the Celtics were a happier bunch than the Laker, or perhaps Shaughnessy is a happier soul than Pearlman. It must be the latter, right? I mean, Magic Johnson was happiness incarnate, and certainly he and his teammates (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar excluded) had some great times, both on and off the court. Pearlman has written a competent history of the team, but I would have preferred a little more fun and fluff.
February 24, 2016
Giving this four stars instead of five because supposedly all of the stories are fake, but there's still plenty of entertainment value. The '80s LA Lakers were one of the best basketball teams of all time and also one of the most ridonkulous. They had crackheads, Magic Johnson banging three or four girls per day, Jerry Buss taking advantage of teenagers at the Playboy Mansion, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar beating up furriners in the mall, and all kinds of crazy shit, all of which is recounted here with barely concealed glee. Essentially, this is a rote overview of each season from when Magic was drafted in '79 until he had to retire from having "attained" HIV in 1991, interspersed with all kinds of wild rumors and accusations. The actual basketball stuff gets kinda tedious at times, if you don't really give a shit, but the off-the-court antics more than make up for it, I'd argue.
May 9, 2015
This was a hard book for me to read. I grew up two years behind Magic in a small town outside Lansing, MI and read of his high school exploits in the Lansing State Journal. And rejoiced when he decided on attending Michigan St. And thought he could do no wrong. Of course this all crashed when he announced he had contracted AIDS. But this book's in depth revealing of the sexual exploits of Magic, Dr. Buss (the Lakers owner) and much of the Laker players during the Showtime era was deeply disturbing. Great read for the Laker uninitiated.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 23, 2023
First time that an HBO cancellation has compelled me to purchase a book!
I was probably 11 years old when my dad took the family to his alma mater and pointed to the library where he said he cried when he heard the news (via Walkman radio) that Magic Johnson had HIV and was retiring. This was a little ridiculous to my brother and me, and we laughed because we 1) did not care about sports, and 2) had never seen our dad cry. Fast forward a decade plus, and I feel like the power of sport has clicked for me.
The book is interesting in a way that I don't think is on purpose. Most of it is dedicated the the athletics exploits of the truly phenomenal Showtime era Lakers, but scattered throughout are anecdotes of just how awful and toxic and misogynistic all the powerful men of the organization were at the time. It's a fascinating tension that I find more interesting than the five titles.
I read this for you, dad!
I was probably 11 years old when my dad took the family to his alma mater and pointed to the library where he said he cried when he heard the news (via Walkman radio) that Magic Johnson had HIV and was retiring. This was a little ridiculous to my brother and me, and we laughed because we 1) did not care about sports, and 2) had never seen our dad cry. Fast forward a decade plus, and I feel like the power of sport has clicked for me.
The book is interesting in a way that I don't think is on purpose. Most of it is dedicated the the athletics exploits of the truly phenomenal Showtime era Lakers, but scattered throughout are anecdotes of just how awful and toxic and misogynistic all the powerful men of the organization were at the time. It's a fascinating tension that I find more interesting than the five titles.
I read this for you, dad!
June 11, 2022
I’ve read several of Pearlman’s books and he’s a damn fine sport writer.
Fluent, able to write in varied ways over subjects that can seem redundant, and his humanity and love of what he’s telling you always shines through.
His showtime presents substantively different characterizations than the show of the same name.
I’d be interested in how he felt about the differences.
Fluent, able to write in varied ways over subjects that can seem redundant, and his humanity and love of what he’s telling you always shines through.
His showtime presents substantively different characterizations than the show of the same name.
I’d be interested in how he felt about the differences.
Read
August 5, 2021Great book.
May 18, 2022
This was a fantastic read, and thanks to my friend Jason I read it before the HBO series came out. S/o Jason
October 2, 2023
If you want to read descriptions of basketball games from 40 years ago, this is the book for you. If you want to learn anything remotely interesting about the lives and personalities of the actual human beings who ran and played for the legendary 80s Los Angeles Lakers, be prepared to wade through page after page of dry recitations of stats and scores. Sure, I'm not much of a sports fan in general, but I find it hard to believe anyone gets anything out of a description of defensive techniques or how a given player's shot looked. Maybe I'm just naive. These guys must exist, and may the lord have mercy on their wretched souls.
February 23, 2024
Love Jeff Pearlman’s books and it was fun to read about past rivalries.
December 14, 2013
Jeff Pearlman has carved out a nice little niche for himself chronicling the more sordid off-the-field aspects of some of the most beloved teams and athletes of yesterday. From Sweetness, a very complicated portrait of Walter Payton that pulled no punches, to books such as Boys Will Be Boys (covering the athletic, litigious, and criminal exploits of the 1990s Cowboys and their staff) and The Bad Guys Won (doing much of the same for the 1986 Mets) the former writer for Sports Illustrated sticks to this rather sound formula for his latest book Showtime, a comprehensive look at the Los Angeles Lakers of the eighties. It is a solid effort that will appeal to basketball fans and readers interested in the glitz, glamor, and excessive amounts of sexual escapades and cocaine in the NBA of the 1980s.
Pearlman's books are generally longer than the average sports book (for what that's worth) and thus finding engaging subjects is especially crucial. The 1980s Lakers certainly deliver on that front.
The team was full of enigmatic and idiosyncratic players and leaders such as the womanizing owner Jerry Buss, the egomaniac head coach Pat Riley, the aloof and curmudgeonly Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the preternaturally charismatic Magic Johnson. I could go on but my sentences run on enough as it is. The book is filled with insights and anecdotes from almost everyone associated with the organization over the period and the first-hand accounts are really where the book shines. Chronicles of past seasons can often devolve into re-hashings of the major events of a few seasons without any real additional material provided. To fans of the franchises in question (presumably the bulk of the target audience for something like this) the entire book can feel like a tired recap of events that are already very familiar to them. Showtime is able to mostly avoid this pitfall by featuring constant commentary from individuals such as Magic Johnson and Jeanie Buss among many others. Some of the subjects are incredibly open with the author, especially Spencer Haywood, who admits to a strong cocaine addiction and attempting to have head coach Paul Westhead killed. So while there were certainly times where the season summaries blended into each other and I lost some of my interest, these instances were usually quickly ended by a truly entertaining story or trivia tidbit and the book would then get back on its rails.
Showtime is structured as a chronological history of the Lakers during the period ranging from 1979 (when Jack McKinney took over as head coach) to Magic Johnson's 1991 retirement announcement. It is equally interested in the team's on-field performance as it is with its extracurriculars, of which there were plenty. In addition to winning several championships and introducing "three-peat" into the sports lexicon (and US Patent office) the team engaged in heaping quantities of marital infidelity and featured a seemingly revolving door of truly strange characters (and I'm showing some restraint here by avoiding steering clear of an obvious central casting reference). The team once employed players such as Mark Landsberger who upon joining the team asked Pat Riley "do you guys have any rebounding plays?" and Earl Jones, a two time high-school All-American who decided to attend the Division II University of District of Columbia. Recollections such as how Jones decided to skip a practice and take a $100 fine rather than pay $50 for a taxi to the arena (interesting cost-benefit analysis there) were some of my favorite sections of the book. Pearlman also predictably devotes significant quantities of ink to stars such as Kareem and Magic and he is so meticulous with his research and approach that he is able to share quality material about them as well.
Overall, while Showtime lacks the shock value of a book like Sweetness (its not like there was ever a Spencer Haywood Man of the Year Award), it is a worthwhile read for basketball fans. Pearlman is a strong writer who diligently mined the media of the era to fill in any gaps from his plethora of interviews. I found some of his on-court descriptions to be generic at times which made the book drag during some portions but on the whole the book was an enjoyable read. There is also definitely enough new information here to appeal to even the most die-hard Laker fans.
In Sum
Readers familiar with Pearlman's other books will know what to expect here. Showtime is a readable, informative, and entertaining look at the 1980s' greatest NBA team and their associated exploits. There may not be enough interesting material to propel a general sports fan through all 450+ pages but basketball fans will get a lot out of Showtime.
7/10
Pearlman's books are generally longer than the average sports book (for what that's worth) and thus finding engaging subjects is especially crucial. The 1980s Lakers certainly deliver on that front.
The team was full of enigmatic and idiosyncratic players and leaders such as the womanizing owner Jerry Buss, the egomaniac head coach Pat Riley, the aloof and curmudgeonly Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the preternaturally charismatic Magic Johnson. I could go on but my sentences run on enough as it is. The book is filled with insights and anecdotes from almost everyone associated with the organization over the period and the first-hand accounts are really where the book shines. Chronicles of past seasons can often devolve into re-hashings of the major events of a few seasons without any real additional material provided. To fans of the franchises in question (presumably the bulk of the target audience for something like this) the entire book can feel like a tired recap of events that are already very familiar to them. Showtime is able to mostly avoid this pitfall by featuring constant commentary from individuals such as Magic Johnson and Jeanie Buss among many others. Some of the subjects are incredibly open with the author, especially Spencer Haywood, who admits to a strong cocaine addiction and attempting to have head coach Paul Westhead killed. So while there were certainly times where the season summaries blended into each other and I lost some of my interest, these instances were usually quickly ended by a truly entertaining story or trivia tidbit and the book would then get back on its rails.
Showtime is structured as a chronological history of the Lakers during the period ranging from 1979 (when Jack McKinney took over as head coach) to Magic Johnson's 1991 retirement announcement. It is equally interested in the team's on-field performance as it is with its extracurriculars, of which there were plenty. In addition to winning several championships and introducing "three-peat" into the sports lexicon (and US Patent office) the team engaged in heaping quantities of marital infidelity and featured a seemingly revolving door of truly strange characters (and I'm showing some restraint here by avoiding steering clear of an obvious central casting reference). The team once employed players such as Mark Landsberger who upon joining the team asked Pat Riley "do you guys have any rebounding plays?" and Earl Jones, a two time high-school All-American who decided to attend the Division II University of District of Columbia. Recollections such as how Jones decided to skip a practice and take a $100 fine rather than pay $50 for a taxi to the arena (interesting cost-benefit analysis there) were some of my favorite sections of the book. Pearlman also predictably devotes significant quantities of ink to stars such as Kareem and Magic and he is so meticulous with his research and approach that he is able to share quality material about them as well.
Overall, while Showtime lacks the shock value of a book like Sweetness (its not like there was ever a Spencer Haywood Man of the Year Award), it is a worthwhile read for basketball fans. Pearlman is a strong writer who diligently mined the media of the era to fill in any gaps from his plethora of interviews. I found some of his on-court descriptions to be generic at times which made the book drag during some portions but on the whole the book was an enjoyable read. There is also definitely enough new information here to appeal to even the most die-hard Laker fans.
In Sum
Readers familiar with Pearlman's other books will know what to expect here. Showtime is a readable, informative, and entertaining look at the 1980s' greatest NBA team and their associated exploits. There may not be enough interesting material to propel a general sports fan through all 450+ pages but basketball fans will get a lot out of Showtime.
7/10
February 18, 2022
If you were here for the Showtime Lakers, you want to read this book!
I like a good story. I love a good behind-the-scenes story. Given my husband's and sons' involvement in sports, if we're not watching a sports contest, ESPN is undoubtedly on in the background. Yet, my love for basketball precedes my 30+-year marriage, in part because of the Showtime Lakers. You couldn't be a fan of the game in the 1980s and not love watching the Los Angeles Lakers do their thing (even if it was against your team.)
Jeff Pearlman does a stupendous job of distilling the certainly mountainous amount of facts, stats, rumors and back story he faced into reading enjoyment. The Showtime story has all the epic battles, ego, power struggles, sex, cautionary tales and good old basketball any fan will desire and non-fan can appreciate and even enjoy.
This is my second Pearlman book, the first being Three Ring Circus. It is far from my last.
I like a good story. I love a good behind-the-scenes story. Given my husband's and sons' involvement in sports, if we're not watching a sports contest, ESPN is undoubtedly on in the background. Yet, my love for basketball precedes my 30+-year marriage, in part because of the Showtime Lakers. You couldn't be a fan of the game in the 1980s and not love watching the Los Angeles Lakers do their thing (even if it was against your team.)
Jeff Pearlman does a stupendous job of distilling the certainly mountainous amount of facts, stats, rumors and back story he faced into reading enjoyment. The Showtime story has all the epic battles, ego, power struggles, sex, cautionary tales and good old basketball any fan will desire and non-fan can appreciate and even enjoy.
This is my second Pearlman book, the first being Three Ring Circus. It is far from my last.
October 13, 2019
I loved the Lakers in the 80's. I mean really, really loved them. I was devestated when Magic announced his retirement. I ditched school and headed to the DTLA celebration when they won the championship in 1985. I was at a Laker game when the officers who beat Rodney King were acquitted and LA rose. My friends were prohibited from calling me when the Lakers were playing back when people actually called each other. I picked up this book as soon as I heard of it and it did not disappoint. It's filled with all sorts of history, some of it extremely informative and other more sordid. There are tales of egos, dedication, and what it takes exactly to build a championship dynasty team. If you were a fan of the Showtime Lakers, you should definitely pick up this book.
December 8, 2021
A thorough and compelling read about one of the NBA's greatest dynasties. What puts this book into the category of great sportswriting IMO is it focuses on some of the lesser-known names associated with Showtime, like Jack McKinney to even the draft busts like Billy Thompson. Showtime understandably gives the well known names of the 80's Lakers like Magic, Kareem, Riley, Buss and Worthy its fair share of attention, but it also excels in presenting insights and anecdotes from almost everyone associated with the organization over the period.
The only slight niggle is that I would have loved a little section on Chick Hearn, the voice of the Lakers and the demise of Showtime lacks considerable detail, but these are only slight issues in what is an excellent read.
The only slight niggle is that I would have loved a little section on Chick Hearn, the voice of the Lakers and the demise of Showtime lacks considerable detail, but these are only slight issues in what is an excellent read.
March 11, 2018
I am a hugh basketball fans and I love LA SHOWTIME lakers very much. It have three HOF players. Not only it is fun to watch but also it can win championship. Perhaps 80 becomes the best basketball time because it has Dr J, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan for their competitors. Magic Johnson no look pass become the signature of Showtime. And Pat Riley probable the greatest coach in the 80 to win 5 championship.
I would recommend those who love basketball and want to understand more.
I would recommend those who love basketball and want to understand more.
July 13, 2017
Jeff Pearlman, the veteran sports writer (and Delaware-adjacent homeboy), has a masterpiece with "Showtime" an amazing look behind the life and times of the 80s LA Lakers dynasty - all the gory details included! Magic Johnson's partying and locker room politicking, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's aloofness, and of course - championship basketball, sex, drugs and strife. You don't even have to be a Laker fan to enjoy this books, it's SO well-written.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 306 reviews