On my reading list, LeBron's "Shooting Stars"

It's a stretch to recommend a book that you haven't read, but what the heck. I'm giving a nod to Shooting Stars, the new LeBron James memoir. I like that the book's focus is James's formative years in Akron, Ohio, and bonds forged with teammates on and off the court. That interests me a lot more than the more predictable superstar pap about life in the fishbowl of the NBA.

Full disclosure: James' co-author Buzz Bissinger, was a college classmate and a fellow editor of mine at the Daily Pennsylvanian back in, uh, well, during the Pleistocene Period. Buzz, author of the classic Friday Night Lights, also generously blurbed my book. He may be two feet shorter than James but this is a rare case in which the athlete and his collaborator are of equal stature.

The life and times of a 2-year-old billiards champ

Keith O'Dell Jr.'s parents reveal the following in this news report about their now 25-month-old billiards prodigy.

Their first date was at a pool hall.

Keith Jr. plays two to three hours a day.

They're not pushing him. "He's getting good on his own. We're not really helping him too much," his mom says.



The O'Dells are traveling the media circuit. Here they are recently on Good Morning America. Four adults trying to coax a toddler into performing pool tricks.

Thanks to Jessie Bennett.