Being Sugar Ray: Sugar Ray Robinson, America's Greatest Boxer and First Celebrity Athlete | 
 enlarge | Author: Kenneth Shropshire
Publisher: Basic Civitas Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $3.50
You Save: $13.45 (79%)
New (34) Used (10) from $3.43
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 1238118
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0465078044
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9780465078042
ASIN: 0465078044
Publication Date: December 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Gift quality -- and I'll send it immediately! Read my 100% feedback!
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Muhammad Ali memorably referred to Sugar Ray Robinson as “the king, the master, my idol,” and rarely a fight fan has chosen to argue too much with those words. With a career spanning three decades, multiple championships, over two hundred fights (without once taking a 10-count), and more victories than Joe Louis and Ali combined it was no surprise when RING magazine named Robinson “pound for pound, the best boxer of all time.” In Being Sugar Ray, acclaimed scholar Kenneth Shropshire contends that Sugar Ray Robinson’s influence extends far beyond the ring. It was Robinson who introduced America to the athlete as entrepreneur and celebrity. From his business empire to his prized flamingo pink Cadillac, described as the Hope Diamond of Harlem, Sugar Ray was the trailblazer whom every athlete since has been trying, consciously or otherwise, to emulate.
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Being Sugar Ray.....(or others) November 22, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of the worst biographies I have ever read. The author, instead of giving us new information on Sugar Ray, compares his life and deeds to that of many other athletes, in many different sports, in many different eras. There are many bio's of Robinson available, all of them much better than this one.
 Past and Present come together April 10, 2007
Being Sugar Ray...The First Celebrity Athlete, is a read that provides an examination of the life and times of Sugar Ray and a studied insight into the superstar athletes of today. Although Charles Barkley and others resist the title of role model, Sugar Ray Robinson created the mold.
Not in the sense of an athlete to be emulated by our youth, but in creating the vision for young athletes of what Celebrity entails and looks like and from whence it came. Shropshire deftly utilizes his years of experience in the sports world to bring us closer to understanding how and why today's athletes do what they do on and especially off the playing fields. More than understanding how to train to succeed in sports, the author seeks to shed some light upon the darkness of celebrity that many of today's star represent and continue to experience. It represents an intriguing guide to the inside of sports, athletes and their vulnerability to being in the spotlight that we cast upon them. A valuable addition to a sports fan library...especially for the young superstar in training!
Bro2much
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See what's free at AOL.com.
 A Puzzling Pseudo-Biography April 7, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Sugar Ray Robinson was the consummate professional, entertainer, and businessperson. How do today's athletes measure up compared to Sugar Ray Robinson?" And unfortunately for the focus of the book, author Kenneth Shropshire spends too much valuable space in the 220 pages trying to find Robinson's trifecta in the athletes of today.
For nearly 190 of those pages Shropshire takes small snippets from Robinson's life and attempts to weave comparisons & contrasts through stars like Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Terrell Owens, Ron Artest, Randy Moss, Roger Federer, Pat Tillman, Mike Tyson, Shaq, Michael Jordan, Paul Pierce and Allen Iverson. It is oftentimes a very frustrating read as Shropshire fails to tie these loose strands together in so few pages.
And, ultimately, Shropshire questions his approach in the closing paragraph: "There is no evidence that Sugar Ray consciously led the postsegregation celebrity athlete transition. Maybe athletes today are accomplishing something unconsciously. Time will tell."
The book starts out with so much promise - chronicling Robinson's final farewell to boxing in December 1965 - and his years as an amateur fighter, with special emphasis on how he "found" his ring name and nickname. But the spotlight doesn't again fully focus on Robinson until the closing chapters of the too-often tragic boxing story of a former great champion; major financial problems to go along with severe physical debilitation from taking too many hard blows in a career lasting far too long.
I would give Shropshire the benefit of the doubt of being overly-ambitious if only somewhere in the title describes how he theorizes the evolution of Walker Smith Jr. into Sugar Ray Robinson has impacted the new generation of celebrity athletes.
"Suger Ray lived the moment," concludes Shropshire. It is too bad that Sugar Ray's moment is muddled in this book.
|
|
|
