A Way of Life: Basketball in Kentucky

This unassuming little tape, which follows several Kentucky high schools through their 1998-99 basketball seasons, has cleared up a perennial mystery for me: why are sports so important? Why are newspaper sections, news broadcast segments, and entire TV channels devoted to what seems the height of ephemera? Well, I now know that for many, many people, sports fills a void in their lives; provides camaraderie and common goals for whole schools, towns, counties, and states; is no respecter of social or economic class; and above all, is just flat something to do. Via wonderful segments with players, coaches, refs, fans, parents, media, and even security personnel, I got completely caught up in the road toward Kentucky's 1999 state championship, rooting for my favorites, and completely enjoying my sports-epiphany. A good bit of the tape does replay hefty chunks of that tournament--some of those scenes could have been cut--and I was turned off by the use of "it's" for "its" on screen, but, other than that, this tape is highly recommended for sports fans and pop culture students in non-Kentucky libraries, and is essential for Kentucky libraries. Aud: H, P. (K. Glaser)