This is the book to choose if you are serious about getting into shape without requiring any gyms. The workouts are fashioned after a real boxing regimine. The calisthenics are creative and very challenging. I am sure once you implement this routine into your workout, fitness is a given.

Wow! This 250-page account of the Knick's 50 year history is spectacular. Recapping everything from Ned Irish's idea of a professional NY basketball team to the Knicks' signing of Allan Houston, this books is not only great to look at(thanks to George Kalinsky's pix) it is also insightful and nostalgic to read(this thanks to Phil Berger's text). If you love the Knicks, this book is a must-have! If you like the Bulls?...Maybe not. Knick fans: Also, check out a rare photo of Clyde Frazier in a Cavs uniform(!) on pg 149.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Basketball writers and commentators don't understand the greatness of a Pistol Pete Maravich. Even today, he is criticized by modern sports writers who never had his ability, and never will. This is the first book that appreciates the skills, mind, and talent of such an athlete. For years, I've been telling my sons about Pete, now I can show them! I didn't know that his father was a former pro-athlete, and was so brilliant. All of those drills, just for Pete! Fundamentals are not part of today's game, and the importance is overlooked. THANK YOU PHIL BERGER! I heard about the book in the LA Times.

I just read "forever showtime" and think it is a great read. I have always admired the basketball ability of Pete Maravich, and feel he has been much maligned by the current media. It irritates me when they call Jason Williams the "new" Pete Maravich. After most media types did nothing but criticize Pete when he played. I disagree with the reader from Atlanta. Your home is what shapes you in life, Pete did not have a "Perfect Life". I would like to meet the person that has had one. This is a guide, for anyone that has admired someone like Pete. This lets them know that its O.K., to have problems in your life and deal with them. Discoveries and awakenings come in all forms, religious or otherwise. It is obvious from the authors acknowledgements and contents that Phil Berger did a lot more than rehash old news clips. I counted more than sixty sources that Berger talked to, ranging from relatives and neighbors of Press Maravich to high school, college and NBA team mates and coaches of "The Pistol, including Elgin Baylor, Bill van Bredakoff, Ritchie Guerin, Herb White, Rich Kelly, Jim Washington, Walt Bellamy, Neil Walk, and Paul Griffen. Did this reader miss the fact that the author interviewed Press Maravich? We would all like to think that someone as "The Pistol", led a charmed life but that would be ficticious. I am very happy that the genius of Press Maravich was exposed,because a "Pistol Pete" just cannot happen. If the reader from Atlanta wants a fairytale version rather than real life account of how things were, i suggest "MOTHER GOOSE".

"Forever Showtime" is the best basketball biography I've had the pleasure to read. Phil Berger captures in vivid detail the life of Pistol Pete Maravich-- the basketball player and, until he found religion, the tormented soul. Pistol Pete was special, and so is this book.

THIS BOOK IS ONE BIG WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY. IT COVERS BEHIND THE SCENES CONCERNING THE KNICKS 1969-70 CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON. WELL IT DOES WITH A BUNCH OF TRIVIAL BORING FACTS. WHO CARES WHAT COLOR T- SHIRT BILL BRADLEY WEARS TO PRACTICE OR IF BILL HOSKET WEARS PAJAMAS TO BED. HARDLY ANYTIME WAS SPENT ON GAME TO GAME ACTION CONCERNING WHY THEY WON OR LOST. IT JUST RUNS THROUGH THE WHOLE SEASON AND PLAYOFFS MENTIONING HARDLY ANY GAME ACTION OR STATS. I FOUND THIS BOOK VERY DISAPPOINTING, I SKIPPED OVER MANY PAGES OF FACTS THAT ARE TOTALLY REDUNDENT AND HAD NO IMPACT ON ANYONE EXCEPT THE AUTHOR. NOT WORTH READING UNLESS YOU SUFFER FROM INSOMNIA.

Phil Berger's Miracle on 33rd St. was first published right after the New York Knicks won their first NBA title in 1970. The team is one of most beloved of all time in New York sports and was made up of several NBA legends. Mr. Berger was a beat writer and his inside story on this magical team is an immensely enjoyable read. The players on the team seem almost like characters created for a novel. The smooth and stylish Walt "Clyde" Frazier, the leader Willis Reed, the studious Bill Bradley (who would go one to be a US Senator and run for President), the scrappy, iron tough Dave DeBusschere, the understated but invaluable Dave Barnett and the supporting players all have interesting personalities on and off the court. The late, great Red Holzman coached this team to greatness. The book is even more interesting to read now, some thirty years later, as it serves as a history lesson in what the NBA used to be like. Marv Albert provides a humorous introduction. A great sports book and a great read.

This is the book that launched Phil Berger's career. Controversial upon its publication 30 years ago, it freezes in time that great Knicks team. Willis Reed in his glory, Holzman at his best, Bradley struggling with his own popularity. The nerdy young Phil Jackson envious of that popularity. There's enough wry humor, revelation and wisdom to qualify "Miracle" as a treasure. God bless Phil Berger.

Roland Lazenby
author of Mindgames, Phil Jackson's Long Strange Journey

A strange, nervous little book that I picked up at a bus station to have something to read on the journey and found myself engrossed by. The device is simple - Berger starts with the career of one obscure comic and follows it, weaving in and around it the careers of endless other comics - an initially obscure Lenny Bruce among them - and the book just goes on in one long series of anecdotes and bits and gags to tell the history of the business from mid-century or so and towards the present day. The book has a slightly antiquated, out of date feel to it - it's definitely about the era that preceded today's comics and the people they watched on TV - but it does capture something of the DRIVE of these people and their compulsiveness. Not a book to browse, a book to listen to like a long, long monologue. Full of the sweat of comics long ago shut down and gone to Florida to sell aluminium siding. Yes - that's one of the good things about this book - it's not a glam bio and tells it like it usually was - long, and difficult and here and there quite funny as well as painful.

Lions belong to a class of animals, which is famous for its biting prowess. My father once said that any thing that bites a lion to death is strong. I agree. Smokin' Joe is one such thing. A very strong one!
This 1964 Olympic Heavyweight Champion, as well as an ex-World Heavyweight Champion will kill a lion with one "bite", if it is all it will take to become champion. This his autobiography makes no exaggeration of this fact.
Frazier is one of the most respected heavyweights on Ali's mind. He handed The Greatest his first professional defeat, (in the Fight Of The Century). He is also, the only one to take him to the "door of death", (in the Thrilla In Manila). Although Ali refused to pass through that "door", he didn't forget what he saw. Joe is a ferocious fighter: an armoured car! George Foreman and Muhammad Ali were the only fighters capable of handing him convincing defeats. But each one testified that this Main-Battle-Tank of a man always rises as soon as he hits the canvas.
Ring animosity apart, Joe is one of the few fighters that Ali wanted for a friend. Foreman once feared him; and still respects him. This autobiography is down-to-earth.

I rated this book so well because it deserves every star. Frazier makes himself heard without using a bad attitude and keeping up his Mr Nice Guy cherade. I enjoyed the criticism of Muhammad Ali Frazier displayed. He told all how Ali could only bring the public on his side by racially abusing frazier and making him seem like a bad image to the african american public. Ali used fraziers words against him as frazier clearly says "I am the peoples champion" while Ali or Clay as frazier names him made his words sound like "I am the white peoples champion". Although Frazier is a perfect gentlemen he has a vicious bite to his story and isnt afraid of displaying his actual feelings. Although I am a loyal supporter of Muhammad Ali, I feel Frazier really is the Greatest and should be considered a role model to all boxing fans.

you know is frazier speaking when you read this book and not his ghost writer for most of the book. i enjoyed the bad talk about Ali, in particular his defense against Ali's saying he was the white man's pawn. frazier's voice comes in loud and clear here. id like to see the documetary that he and his son are producing.

I did a book report on this two years ago. I the whole book. But had Alot of bad language in it. It tells you alot about him but not great for young children to read for reports. I read that when I was 10.