Hardcover - 272 pages (September 25, 2001)
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.ca
Toronto Star sports columnist Chris Young--like legions of ball-heads north of the 49th parallel--has been in awe of Toronto Raptors dunk-junkie Vince Carter since the team scored him in the 1998 NBA draft.
Drive tries to balance the hype and reality.
Getting to the Carter story first entails a rumination on the out-bound procession of players, staff, and ownership. Young succinctly dismisses the lot: "Those earlier names ... belong to a prehistory from which the Raptors have emerged with Carter as their saviour."
Whether he digs it or not, Carter's the reigning golden boy of the NBA's perpetual marketing machine--and not solely because of his skills. Young enthuses about Carter as a "wholesome package," meaning: "No tattoos, no piercings, no gangsta posing, no entourage."
Still, his on-court stealth and pyrotechnics are already legendary, even if the living man off-court remains aloof. "You never know who is listening, and how they're going to take it," the star says. "You can't say anything." And that's led to potshots from teammates, other players, pundits, and, as Young writes, an outright questioning of "his desire for the game."
Meanwhile, his mom is regularly besieged for sound bites.
Drive is a comprehensive chronicle of the Raptors' lurid genesis, their bizarre growing pains, and the arc of their ascent. It yields glimpses of the man at the centre of this "foreign outpost" poised to bust down the door to the NBA's pantheon, and will make the cut with ballers and bandwagon fans alike.
--Sigcino Moyo
