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A very special guest graced us with his presence ahead of his upcoming book release.
Jon Finkel is a respected author who’s written several sports and family oriented books. He’s also a certified hoops junkie.
I actually just stumbled upon his Twitter profile and immediately knew I had to invite him on the Kentucky Dad Podcast and cross my fingers I’d hear back.
Not only did I hear back, but quickly discovered that his new book — 1996: A Biography — includes a chapter dedicated solely to Rick Pitino and his ‘96 National Championship team.
Jon, a die-hard Boston Celtics fan, obviously had some passionate takes on Pitino and all the ‘96 guys who somehow ended up playing in Beantown.
The chapter is titled “Pitino’s Bombinos” and you’ll be able to check it out next week when his book is officially available to the public. You can snatch it at your local book retailer or Amazon on May 11th.
The title of his book kind of says it all, but when Jon really slowed down and walked me through all that was the year 1996, it quickly becomes eye-opening just how much implication that one 365-day stretch truly had.
Without spoiling the historic details that you may have forgotten, I can say that you’ll be intrigued by the way it’s presented in chronological order.
One spoiler: Happy Gilmore was released in theaters in 1996. That’s a year’s worth of accomplishment right there if you ask me.
Again — Jon is a true basketball fanatic and has had the opportunity to work with some incredible athletes and coaches over the duration of his career. He detailed working on a project with former NBA dunk champion Nate Robinson among others.
We covered the usual topics on the podcast and also dove into the NBA2Lou movement just a bit towards the latter portion. One of Jon’s books is about the Seattle SuperSonics so he had an educated point of view around Louisville’s chances at landing an NBA expansion team at some point in the future.
Make sure you keep your eye out for his book release and check out some of On Finkel’s other work. He’s somewhat of a hidden gem in the basketball world that I believe ‘Cat fans will appreciate.
Follow him @Jon_Finkel
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