FREE: Sports Babylon: Sex, Drugs, and Other Dirty Dealings in the World of Sports

The listing, Sports Babylon: Sex, Drugs, and Other Dirty Dealings in the World of Sports has ended.

Very interesting book! No book jacket, sorry. Ex-library book so it still has pocket, slip and markings. Smoke-free home. 278 p.; photos!

If this book were written today, it would include the exploits of modern sports scoundrels like Plaxico Burress, Barry Bonds, and Ron Artest and would probably make for a boring read. Now any time an athlete gets too carried away on a night out, we get cellphone photos the next morning (Michael Phelps) and the ESPN shoves it down our throats for the next two weeks.

In 1988 maybe a book like Sports Babylon was a good introspective at athletes behaving badly, but would hardly be relevant today. However, while it relived the exploits of household names like Doc Gooden and Billy Martin, it also introduced characters lost to a generation. It produced little known gems like Dave Stewart sleeping with a transvestite hooker, Orlando Cepeda picking up two suit cases of marijuana at the airport, and the unbelievable story of NCAA runner Kathy Ormsby abandoning the track mid-race in a possible suicide attempt.