Life is Not an Accident (Book Review)

Title: Life is Not an Accident
Author: Jay Williams
Publication: Harper Collins, 2016 Hardcover
Genre: Memoir

Description: Jason Williams, the outgoing Duke guard, who helped lead my beloved Blue Devils to a national championship, left Duke after his junior year (earning a Sociology degree in three years by amassing credits in summer school). He was drafted by the Chicago Bulls and had a frustrating rookie season where his mistakes were magnified and his successes were mostly ignored. Just as frustrating, the team was in a rebuilding phase and in the first few weeks of the season the Bulls lost more games than he’d lost at Duke in three years. However, he continued to work hard and was convinced his second year as a pro would be a breakthrough season. Sadly, in June 2003, he was in a terrible motorcycle accident that nearly killed him. In this heartbreaking and all too candid memoir, Jay reflects on the arrogance of a healthy college basketball star, the desperation and self-reproach he experienced after the accident, and the 10+ years he has spent recovering physically and emotionally from the fateful day he picked up the keys to a motorcycle for which he never bothered to obtain a license.

Audience: Duke alumni, college basketball enthusiasts, sports fans.  I am a Duke alumna but college hoop fans who are not Dukies or did not follow his accident will be interested in his story and be glad that he has made a successful post-NBA career as an ESPN commentator.

What I liked: This is a painful read but fascinating portrayal of a smart young man and how he recovered from tragedy. By being so candid about his inner self – his behavior in college, his excesses during his one year as an NBA player, and his various addictions and poor decisions during prolonged rehab - Jason risks alienating the reader whose approval he seeks. However, his story is so beautifully written that it would take a much harder heart than mine not to be moved by what he has gone through. I wondered if he used a ghost writer but, if so, it was not mentioned. 

Admittedly, I liked the parts about Jason’s adolescence and recruitment and time at Duke better than the painful aftermath of an accident that all but destroyed him but I found the book very readable and recommend it. I was at one of the first college games he played – a tournament at Madison Square Garden – and have always had a special feeling for him, and admired not only how he played but also what seemed to be a very happy personality. I enjoy his thoughtful commentary now that he is a basketball analyst; I would prefer to see him working with Dick Vitale but that is ESPN's fault.

What I disliked: My ARC does not include an author’s note so I am curious about what made Jason (renamed Jay after he left Duke due to two other Jason Williams but, as he reveals in this book, without much input by him) decide to write this book. He (or HarperCollins) calls it a memoir of reinvention. Does he finally feel he’s at peace with what happened to him? I think he is smart enough to realize he will always have regrets (which will hit him when he least expects it) about the poor decision making that damaged his basketball career and nearly cost him his life. What is sadder is his depiction of the venom and personal attacks people use to try to make him worse about the fateful motorcycle ride. Human beings can be vile.

I can tell Jason believes he is still on a quest of self identity and it is unfortunate that his “warts and all” approach reveals some regrettable things about the parents who love him so much. I wish he had left them their privacy and dignity. He also goes on at some length about how leaving college to attempt to play in the NBA is a good move, ignoring the fact that most young players would not have had his good options if their NBA careers did not work out so should obtain a degree while they are fortunate enough to be able to do so for free.

Source: I received an advance reading copy of this book from HarperCollins in return for an honest review. Recommended.

Devils at the White House

The Duke Blue Devils visited President Obama today to accept his congratulations on being NCAA champions and to show him how to fill out his bracket. . . I was glad to see the president enjoying himself as I am sure that is rare these days.

Duke to meet Butler in NCAA Finals

It was actually fun to watch unless you were a West Virginia fan, a Duke hater, or a gambler with the Mountaineers and 2.5 points.

Woe is Me

It's always so sad when the basketball season ends but to watch my cherished Blue Devils get blown out by Villanova was agony. Jon Scheyer kept doggedly trying to get the offense going but the magic he had during the ACC Tournament was mysteriously gone. It also seemed all wrong to be up in section 303 when I am so used to sitting in great seats at the Garden for the Beanpot. Really, I would have seen better on TV. It felt very odd for the Blue Devils to be at the Garden at all!

Can it be true that my players are too nice to be sufficiently aggressive? Where is Christian Laettner when you need him? Making a very cute commercial with Rick Pitino . . .

Duke wins ACC Tournament!

Sign seen in the crowd at the ACC tournament . . .

Duke fans celebrate a 79-69 win over Florida State in the Atlantic Coast Conference men's tournament championship in Atlanta, Sunday, March 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

What a terrible sports weekend!

Friday:

Harvard men lose to Brown in hockey AND basketball!

Saturday:

Harvard hockey loses second game to Brown and is eliminated from ECACs! Is this *because* my parents went to Aruba on Tuesday or were they simply spared the misery of watching?

Harvard basketball beats Yale (good) but I wasn't there (bad) and because of losing on Friday, we finish below .500 which is very annoying.

Women's hockey upset by RPI! That is more surprising to me than the men's hockey team losing.

Newton North boys basketball loses to archrival Brockton (after beating Durfee last week!).

Sunday:

Celtics lose (and Rondo is injured so Marbury started (boo) - no, it wasn't Marbury v. Madison, I like that Marbury).

Bruins lose to Rangers (Not very vested in the NHL this year but it's part of a big slump, a pity when they were doing so well).

Duke plays one good half, then runs out of steam in the second half, losing to the Tarheels. Now we have to play BC again (if they beat UVA in the first round of the ACC tournament).

(It wasn't a good weekend for Granny either. She fell last week, went to the emergency room, although didn't spend the night, and has been in great pain ever since.)

Red Sox:

Opening day is less than a month away!

John Feinstein

A great interview with John Feinstein - not as curmudgeonly as usual. I wish he would come to Harvard to see Jeremy Lin play! Perhaps next year.

Here is the second part of the interview.

Duke-Purdue

After all my years of working with people from Indiana (seven, and no jokes about counting in dog years as I am very fond of many of them), it seemed odd for Duke to be playing the Boilermakers in West Lafayette, yet not have anyone I knew talking trash to me all day (she observed disappointedly). It's not as if I am hard to find, but maybe they didn't realize Duke has never lost a game in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and did not intend to do so tonight. Kyle Singler played extremely well, and looked very happy (albeit a bit goofy) on the court. Jon Scheyer just looks intense but was also in good form.

I did email Joe Wikert but cravenly he has not yet replied (I doubt his new job has reduced his time for sports because he was badmouthing my Patriots a day or so ago). I did not bother to email Dave Linn because I would have been so disappointed if he and his wife, both Purdue alums, were not watching.