Please join the Newtown Bookshop as we welcome Mike Sielski, award-winning Philadelphia Inquirer columnist and author of the bestselling Kobe Bryant biography,  The Rise  to the Free Library of Northampton Township on Wednesday, February 12th at 6:00pm! Mike Sielskiwill be in conversation with Phillies television play-by-play broadcaster, Tom McCarthy.Mike and Tom will be talking about Mike's new book,  Magic in the Air: The Myth, the Mystery, and the Soul of the Slam Dunk . ABOUT THE BOOK From the author of the bestselling Kobe Bryant biography The Rise comes the legend of the most powerful shot in basketball: the slam dunk. The evolution of basketball, and much of the social and cultural change in America, can be traced through one powerful act on the court: the slam dunk. The dunk's history is the story of a sport and a country changed by the most dominant act in basketball, and it makes Magic in the Air a rollicking and insightful piece of narrative history and a surefire classic of sports literature. When basketball was the province of white men, the dunk acted as a revolutionary agent, a tool for players like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell to transform the sport into a Black man's game. The dunk has since been an expression of Black culture amid the righteous upheaval of the civil-rights movement, of the threat that Black people were considered to be to the establishment. It was banned from college basketball for nearly a decade--an attempt to squash the individual expression and athleticism that characterized the sport in America's cities and on its playgrounds. The dunk nevertheless bubbled up to basketball's highest levels. From Julius Erving to Michael Jordan to the high flyers of the 21st century, the dunk has been a key mechanism for growing the NBA into a global goliath. Drawing on deep reporting and dozens of interviews with players, coaches, and other hoops experts, Magic in the Air brings to life the tale of the dunk while balancing sharp socio-racial history and commentary with a romp through American sports and culture. There's never been a basketball book quite like it. ABOUT MIKE SIELSKI Mike Sielski is the author of four books, including the bestseller The Rise: Kobe Bryant and the Pursuit of Immortality. A columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer, he was formerly a reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and his work has been anthologized three times in The Best American Sports Writing and The Year’s Best Sports Writing. He lives in Bucks County, PA, with his wife and two sons. Mike Sielski's author photo (credit Bob Zilahy) ABOUT TOM MCCARTHY Now with 24 seasons in the big leagues, Tom McCarthy is 17 years into his second tour of duty with the Phillies doing television play-by-play. In his first stint with the club, he spent five seasons (2001-05) as the host of the pre- and postgame radio shows, while also doing radio play-by-play. He also hosted his own weekday afternoon-drive show on ESPN Radio 920 AM, which concentrated on local sports. He spent the 2006-07 seasons as a radio broadcaster with the New York Mets on WFAN before returning to the Phillies in November 2007. A graduate of The College of New Jersey (BA degree in communications), Tom spent six seasons with the Trenton Thunder, the former double-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. He was hired as director of public and media relations in 1993 and promoted to assistant general manager in 1996, while also working as one of the team’s broadcasters, doing play-by-play on radio and television for CN8. Tom has done extensive broadcasting for collegiate sports in his career. He currently does NFL games for CBS, baseball for FOX, basketball and college football play-by-play for CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) and NFL and college basketball games for Westwood One, after three years of doing NFL games with Sports USA Radio. Previously, he worked as the radio voice of the Saint Joseph’s University men’s basketball team (2004-09) and the play-by-play voice for Rutgers University football (2001-03), as well as Princeton University football (1995-2000) and men’s basketball (1995-2003). In 2000, Tom earned a Mid-Atlantic Emmy Award for his work on CN8 and is a two-time winner (2002 & 2004) of the Achievement in Radio Award for Best Local Sports Coverage. He also received the Radio/TV Excellence Award from the New Jersey Sportswriters Association in January 2007 and the Good Guy Award in 2009. He was inducted into the Trenton Baseball Hall of Fame in the summer of 2011 and had the radio booth at Trenton’s Waterfront Park named after him. Additionally, he was named the 2013 Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association and was inducted into the Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame in June 2019. In March 2022, Tom received the Bob Vetrone Award, which recognizes those whose service, professionalism and commitment have made a lasting contribution to the student-athletes and institutions of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Born in Jersey City, N.J., Tom and his wife Meg live in Allentown, N.J. They have two sons, Patrick and Tommy, and two daughters, Maggie and Kerri. Patrick, a broadcaster for the New York Mets, filled in for his dad for a few games in 2021-22 when he was with triple-A Lehigh Valley. Tom McCarthy's photo (credit Philadelphia Phillies/Major League Baseball)

Information Source: Newtown Bookshop | eventbrite

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