Doug Merlino

In the mid-80s, Doug Merlino is a member of a Seattle youth basketball team that brings well-off white boys and inner-city black boys together in an experience that is eye-opening for all and door-opening for some. Twenty years later, Merlino sets out to reunite the team and discover how the social experiment has impacted the lives of his teammates as adults.

This is a story more about sociology than basketball. And the story is fascinating, if familiar in many ways. Merlino does an excellent show more job of researching the history of Seattle and race in the United States and examining how that history impacted the experience of his teammates. An excellent, thought-provoking work for anyone interested in race, distribution of wealth, and the role sport can play in uniting disparate individuals. show less

Beast tells the stories of four MMA fighters at differing points in their respective careers. Jeff Monson, a battle worn veteran looking to go out on a high that becomes ever more elusive the longer he continues; Mirsad Bektic, a hyped featherweight prospect who fled war torn Bosnia as a child; Daniel Straus, an ex-con, now Bellator title contender, trying to move away his past and support himself and his family; and Steve Mocco, a celebrated wrestler looking to move into professional MMA show more and test his mettle against the best. All four train out of the illustrious American Top Team based in Florida and we also follow coaches from the team as they assist and cajole the above fighters in their quests.

Using four stories instead of one really captures the various stages of a successful MMA path from starting out to prospect to contender to aging veteran struggling to let go and not knowing what career there is after fighting. Merlino also includes potted roots of MMA and UFC histories to give a broader spectrum and visits the issues of fighter pay and the chasm between the reality of being a fighter and the portrayal in promotional packages.

The great thing about this book is that it's accessible to the hardcore fan or the newcomer. There's no overwhelming glut of technical data and it's full of interesting tidbits including the fact the Gracies are descended from Scottish immigrants. This really reignited my passion for MMA, which is something that's been more than a sport to me as it triggered my ambition to get healthier and shed a lot of extra weight I'd put on. Living in the UK and having a son who's approaching the terrible twos it's hard to give up sleep/vast amounts of time to watching fights like I used to be able to, so I'm maybe just catching main events here and there when I can. This book reminded me of everything that goes on behind that and the work and struggles that not just these four, but every fighter must go through.

It's a sport that will continue to grow with new superstars cropping up and creeping further in the mainstream media (see Ronda Rousey hosting SNL). This book is the perfect place to learn/expand knowledge on this sport, which as the book highlights is as much psychological as it is about skill.

I look forward to whatever project Merlino gets into next as his writing here is excellent with some chapters/sections being structured in unique ways and he shows a clear attachment to those he's covering that make this more than just straight reporting. show less

We follow the training and fights of four mixed martial artists from American Top Team, a top mma gym, for two years. The four athletes are from different backgrounds and at different stages in their careers: "Mirsad Bektic, a young Bosnian refugee who started in karate as a boy in Nebraska, dreams of stardom. Jeff Monson, a battered veteran at forty-one, is an outspoken, tattooed anarchist enjoying a bizarre burst of celebrity in Russia. Steve Mocco is a newcomer--a former Olympic wrestler show more from a close-knit intellectual family. Finally there's Daniel Straus, who, from a life short on opportunity, fights his way up to title contention." They also embody different training and general lifestyles, with the veteran Monson being the most colorful character. He is also a tragic one, continually taking new fights and not accepting that his body, at 41, has started to decline. The book gives a good view of how varying the MMA scene and its practitioners are, and of the dangers of their profession. It is also clear on how demanding, like many other sports at the elite level, this profession is, something that is underlined by the title, where the word "Beast" is probably used somewhat ironically, ref. this paragraph towards the end: "The fighters, the good ones, knew that for all the strength they might have one day, the advantage may shift to their opponent the next time. These were men who trained six days a week, for years, to reach where they were. They had family and friends behind them, a team, a coaching staff-even, in the case of American Top Team, a financial benefactor. No one was really a beast. There were no superhuman powers. Everything was training, preparation, will, discipline, controlled aggression at the right moment. And ultimately, the making of champions happened in the quieter moments. It wasn't just how hard you could punch, kick, or strangle someone, but how much you could sit with your fear and uncertainty and still keep going." Recommended. show less

In the 1980s, as a junior high youth, Doug Merlino was a member of an amateur basketball team composed of inter-city blacks and mostly suburban whites. In its year together, the team won a local championship. Twenty years later, Merlino, then a reporter, decided to explore and explain what had become of his teammates.

The resulting book is much more a study of the workings of race and social class than of basketball. Although the events of the book happened in Seattle, similar events might show more have taken place in almost any American city. Race and class work much the same everywhere in urban America. Merlino provides much information, appreciated by this reader, about the history of blacks in Seattle, the spread of crack cocaine in the 1990s, resultant incarceration rates, and about attempts to integrate one particular prep school. All this is placed within a story of how overprivileged and underprivileged boys came together in a common project. Nevertheless their varied family origins largely determined their separate futures. Merlino has a better understanding than most Americans of how culture, class, and race intersect in our society or fail to intersect.

This book deserves the widest possible readership due to its readability and for what it implies about our efforts to deal with some of America's most important public policy issues. show less