Little is more subjective than “Underrated.” Underrated sports literature should share timeless, valuable, and clear lessons.
Great books deserve to be reread as they reveal new lessons and reinforce older ones.
Here are a few:
The Boys in the Boat - by Daniel Brown
Brown tells three stories woven with brilliant journalism. The Great Depression spawned millions of desperate Americans with hard work and dreams. Joe Rantz parlays a chance at the University of Washington crew team to become an Olympic oarsman. The team competes against great odds in the 1936 Olympics during the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany.
Brown's lessons inspire belief in hard work and competition, the possibility of overcoming long odds to earn a chance at becoming a champion. Both never go out of fashion.
Application: Most NBA players don't emerge from a privileged few. They often overcome hardscrabble upcoming to find excellence through extreme commitment. Feeling sorry for ourselves earns us nothing.
Maybe your life was hard. You probably weren't tossed out of your family at 15, the "biggest mouth to feed" during the Great Depression...left to fend for yourself.
The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh
Walsh was the consummate coach and executive. He believed in his "Standard of Performance" a comprehensive philosophy centered on core concepts that prioritize preparation and mental excellence over immediate results. Professionalism mattered for the staff answering phones, workers striping the field, and coaches and players' attention to detail.
Application. Few endeavors in life involve more collaboration than NBA teams. As great as individual players can be, they don't win by themselves. From the top of the organization on down, success demands total team effort.
Relentless attention to detailed, winning process earns results.
Book summary. Sometimes innovation is met with ridicule, even when it's winning championships.
Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Ming Tan
Chade-Ming Tan was a Google engineer who shared his expertise in mindfulness, mental training that raised individual and team performance in one of America's most successful companies. The author shares how mindfulness works on a physiologic and anatomic basis in non-technical terms, and explains how everyone can benefit with raised focus and achievement, less stress and depression, as well as better immunity and sleep. He demystifies mindfulness in a practical sense.
Application: Most elite professionals and Olympians have a mindfulness practice. This helped Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James just to mention a few.
Neglecting the mental side, your software, leaves athletes and coaches less than they can be.
Lagniappe. Coaches have to give bad news. Former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss explains how.
What’s the best way to deliver bad news? Say, “I’ve got bad news,” pause for about a second, then share it. Never blindside someone/ They need a moment to prepare, no matter how serious it is. Wait too long and their mind starts spiraling. Skip the dramatic buildup. Give them a… pic.twitter.com/YcpoqiwEap
— Christopher Voss (@fbinegotiator) December 23, 2025
Lagniappe 2. The ball has energy.
🎙️ Kon Knueppel on the importance of ball movement:
— r/CharlotteHornets (@HornetsReddit) December 24, 2025
"That's how the game was designed to be played. Obviously, great players are gonna dominate the ball sometimes, but the game is designed to play together and as a team against the other team. When the ball is moving, it's the… pic.twitter.com/9WRZaQ0zxi
Merry Christmas.
