Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA… by Lance Allred

Admittedly I have a pretty limited experience with sports memoirs given my complete lack of interest in sports in general. However, I started this book hoping that Lance’s experience as a Deaf athlete and growing up in a polygamist compound would comprise the greater portion of his story. In that regard I was somewhat disappointed. While the author does spend a fair amount of time relating his polygamist experiences growing up (and throwing in a few lectures besides) the story of his “Deaf” experience is sadly lacking and seems merely to entail reminding the reader repeatedly that being deaf means he can’t hear. As it turns out, this is the least of my problems with his story. Early on Allred relates how his older sister has no time for him, considering him essentially a spoiled brat. After completing his memoir I am inclined to think her opinion was not merely sibling rivalry. Halfway through the book I began to recognize a theme in Allred’s view of himself, that of a perpetual victim. Not that he would say that, rather I believe he would argue the opposite. And yet consistently he portrays himself as having to overcome abuse or unfair treatment from coaches, fellow teammates, family members, and friends. He acknowledges how his own behavior may have contributed to some of his more unfortunate situations but in a way that left me feeling that he didn’t really believe it himself, and perhaps only included it to soften his apparent self-righteousness. His basketball stories seemed an endless litany of “the coach gave me dirty looks”, “I played even though I was injured and nobody acknowledged it”, “I did my best and nobody cared”. Eventually I didn’t care either, and more importantly, I began to view his story as a long succession of adolescent perceptions and complaints. My view in this regard was encouraged by the inclusion of footnotes. Normally used to clarify a point or provide additional information, Allred and his editor use them instead as an opportunity to expound on his views of other people’s behavior, and not in a flattering way. In one notable comment he announces that those who speak with a lisp make him angry as they are merely too lazy to speak correctly, making it difficult for him to understand them.

The bottom line is that despite the potential to be a GREAT story and a fascinating memoir, the author’s thinly veiled, continual litany of judgments, complaints and personal sacrifice left me out in the cold. I just didn’t like him and in the end, the book’s finer points could not overcome that. ( )