A Sense of Where You Are

For some time John McPhee's first book, A Sense of Where You Are, had been sitting on my shelf, waiting for attention. The book focuses on Bill Bradley's time a Princeton, a time when Bradley put up some prodigious numbers (29.8 points per game over the course of his career) despite not being particularly big (6'5") or fast or high-jumping or anything. In the end I think this is kind of the underlying moral of the story: Bradley as the Great White Hope,* the exemplar of all that Anglo-American culture holds dear, in a sport that was rapidly being taken over by phenomena like Wilt Chamberlain (probably the most threatening of all), Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Cazzie Russell (a more dominant college than NBA player) and others. Though nowhere is this foregrounded or even, perhaps, foreminded by McPhee, who has offers nothing but praise or marvel for black players.

The hagiographical nature of this book shines through most clearly in one key dimension: it's just a crappy book (like so much hagiography). McPhee is overly gaga for Bradley** and he's just not much of a sportswriter. I was surprised to see that McPhee was already 34 when the book came out in 1965. I had always supposed that McPhee and Bradley were more or less contemporaries, but apparently that is not the case. Per Wikipedia McPhee started at Time magazine in 1963. I have to wonder what he was doing before that.

Not to rag on McPhee at all. It's remarkable to see that he's something of a late bloomer as a writer and, indeed, that his style matured and evolved pretty rapidly. The Headmaster, about the guy who ran Deerfield Academy, came out in '66, The Pine Barrens, about the region of New Jersey with the same name, was published in '68. Neither of those books feel as wooden as the Bill Bradley book. Tellingly, Levels of the Game, about a match between Arthur Ashe and Clark Graebner, saw the light of day in '69. Also not McPhee's best work, though at least the contrast between the two offers him something to chew on. Mostly, McPhee just hasn't found sports writing to be his truest metier. We are fortunate that he kept writing and blooming.

*BTW we obviously have never gotten away from the Great White Hope thing. Hence all the excitement for every John Stockton, Steve Nash, Luka Doncic, Cooper Flagg and even Jason Williams, Mac McClung and Jordan Kilganon that emerges from the great mosh pit of the balling world. White kids need to believe they have a chance. 

**I also am far from down on Bradley. Though I haven't studied his political career closely, I always thought he would have made a great President. But of course I do. I too am a pretty classic WASP Ivy Leaguer, if far from as accomplished as Bradley.