Verbatim ★★★★★ as good as it gets ★★★★ a keeper ★★★ worth considering ★★ ho-hum ★ in the bin ON WARNE THE BAD BOYS OF FOOTY CHAPPELLI BY GIDEON Haigh, Penguin, $35 BY MATThew WEBBER, EBURY AusTRalia, $34.95 LIFE, LARRIKINS AND CRICKET At the speed that popular culture goes these Marvel at them on the field; mystified by them off it. The hold that trouble-making BY IAN CHAPPELL, RANDOM HOUSE, $??.?? days, it won’t be too long before Shane Warne will footballers have on our culture is deeply fascinating, whether your reaction to their As our Drinks With (page 34) this month prove, Ian Chappell is one of the most be largely known for being famous, that antics is relish or repulsion. Webber, who penned the intriguing inside-the-rooms account astute and fearless cricket minds in the country – but you knew that. What we could all-purpose yet ill-defined celebrity. Haigh’s latest of Gold Coast’s first AFL season House of the Rising Suns, casts a keen eye across the only have only guessed at was the colourful life he has led in his 69 years, afforded book is tonic, an attempt to reclaim Warne as the infamous and notorious of our four codes (yes, there is at least one union player in there), by first his cricketing and then his broadcasting lifestyle. This is not his historic cricketer he was. and lands on a vital truth: that every flawed footballer is flawed in his own way. autobiography: it’s more informal than that – closer in tone to the bloke across a bar Drawing back to his first meeting with a –JC ★★★ rather than fronting a lectern. Recovering alcoholics might find it a bit challenging, 25-year-old Warne, an assignment for this though: there appear to have been oceans of ales downed in his colourful sojourns magazine, Haigh observes his subject through five ENCYCLOPEDIA OF over the years, as he crosses paths with an eclectic range of characters, with quite a frames of reference: the fortuitous way Warne AUSTRALIAN few adventures detailed in charming style. Okay, so it’s not going to win the Booker came to cricket, his revival Prize. But it’ll keep you entertained, no risk. KONG CRICKET PLAYERS ★★★★ of the dying leg-spinning THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A SURFING LEGEND BY KEN PIESSE AND CHARLES DAVIS, – GS art, his relationship with BY GARY ELKERTON WITH PETER MCGUINNESS NEW HOLLAND, $??.?? his peers, brushes with his This is a puzzling project. Any cricket fan own bad impulses and, In surfing’s parade of shall we say “colourful” characters, Gary Elkerton has always been one of a kind. A nomadic childhood obviously had something to do worth his or her salt knows that there is an BLACK CAVIAR finally, a cricket world that already existing “encyclopedia” of world changed markedly around with his unconventional ways: he grew up on a prawn trawler, and learned to surf THE HORSE OF A LIFETIME on remote reef breaks. His fearless, powerful riding style took him to the top of cricket, including all the Australian players’ BY GERARD WHATELEY, ABC BOOKS, $45 him. The picture that stats, updated in each annual edition: it is the professional tree – almost. He never won a world championship – until 2000, Gerard Whateley must be just about the busiest bloke in sports media. You’ve no emerges is one of the called the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac. It is when he won a Masters title. His nickname Kong refers to his bullish aggression doubt heard his commentary for the ABC, as he hosts Melbourne’s Grandstand and true outlier, in the pretty much the most famous sporting in the water – a trait that spilled over into his lifestyle habits: we can very calls games (when the Olympics aren’t on …) He also hosts AFL 360 on Fox Sports Malcolm Gladwell sense book in the world. It has existed for only comfortably say he lived very large. Quote: “I was an arrogant, foolish young man during the footy season, and is a regular on the ABC’s Offsiders on Sunday mornings. – for a figure such as 149 years. Why then produce a door stop with talent, celebrity and opportunity but without a shred of respect for my Can call a horse race! Brilliantly. And now writes a book – and a really good one at that, Warne to arrive where he (over 600 pages) on quality stock, while blessings. The problem, of course, is that cocaine is the perfect enabler for just if horse racing is your thing. Maybe even if it isn’t … I’ve noticed over the last year or did in his time and place, including only the barest details on each this kind of dickheadedness.” This is a highly readable, thoroughly enjoyable two, as Black Caviar’s pile of wins has mounted up, that Gerard’s voice and a thousand improbable player, in one of the most romp through several decades of surfing mayhem. descriptions of the animal have become increasingly gooey (I hope he won’t mind me things had to line up, – Graem Sims ★★★★ incomprehensible layouts every invented saying that): the guy is clearly besotted, and has channelled his passion into this both good and bad. in the history of publishing? No balls. detailed recounting of the career of this marvellous unbeaten mare. A top read. For those all too ready to dismiss Warne as a – Graem Sims naif whose failings were only excused by his – GS ★★★★★ ability to take wickets, On Warne presents a rather different picture. Many sections of CRICKET MUSCLES opinion came around grudgingly to the idea that CONFLICTS AND CONTROVERSIES THE STORY OF BY KERSI MEHER-HOMJI, NEW HOLLAND, $29.95 Warne was deprived of the Australian captaincy KEN ROSEWALL aeroplanes, even hot air balloons. Kersi is a friend of the magazine, but that Ken ROsewall as TOLD FORZA HORIZON that he deserved – that in the realm of cricket, at TO RichaRD NaughTON, XBOX 360, MicROSOFT, $99.95 It’s important to drive stylishly least, Warne was indeed as smart as they come. qualification actually supports our throughout these events too with a SlaTTERY MEDia, $39.95 I went into Forza Horizon blindly Pseudo-celebrity seems a strange fate for the recommendation for this colourful look in popularity system taking into Tennis great Rosewall is expecting another simulation racer rare person who attained such mastery of cricket’s rear-vision mirror: the guy is a cricket account your burnouts, drifts, naturally associated with the in the vein of Gran Turismo – the their sphere. fanatic who sure knows his onions. Okay, cricket slipstreaming and so on. sheen of Australia’s 1950s – Jeff Centenera ★★★★★ has a long history so there was plenty to choose type of massive game that involves There’s way too much to see and golden-era sporting success. from, and some of the big controversies are dozens of laps and hours of do in Forza Horizon to list here and The diminutive man known as obvious inclusions grinding to unlock new cars. the online aspect of the game is Muscles was on the scene for – and these all get However I was pleasantly second to none. With an open-world so long – winning his first a good workout. surprised. Forza Horizon basically playing field of this size, you’d HELL-BENT Australian Open in 1953, and BY Benjamin LORR, BlOOmsBURY, $29.99 But beyond the takes the assets from previous expect the graphics to take a hit appearing in his last Grand Slam final in 1974 – Bodylines and Bob Forza games (detailed licensed too but the environments, cars and John Cleese explained that one of his that he became near ubiquitous. But the most interesting Woolmers, there cars, meaty engine sounds, an effects are top shelf. Don’t be inspirations for A Fish Called Wanda was an part of this copiously researched tome is the intervening are plenty of juicy unprecedented level of vehicle fooled by the less sim-driven, more infomercial with a guy touting, “Buddhism will give years from the mid-1950s to late 1960s, the period before inclusions in here customisation) and throws them fun focus of Forza Horizon – it’s you the competitive edge.” Championship yoga is the open era arrived, where Rosewall played his best I hadn’t heard of into an open-world racer set in still a long, deep and rewarding the same kind of idea, and Lorr’s exploration of tennis, working manfully to get a pro tour going but or had forgotten. If football games are about the Colorado during the Horizon game and a welcome addition to this highly athletic and supremely weird unable to compete at the likes of Wimbledon. His final NBA 2K13 Thoroughly XBOX 360/PS3, 2K SPORTS, $88 team, the NBA is about the individual festival – a fictitious X Games-type the stellar Forza series. subculture is quite the romp. No critical distance rejoinder is interesting: “Could a 5’7” player with stars. The 2k series tapped into this affair where you’ll not only here – Lorr gets right into it, taking up Bikram entertaining for The undisputed hoops game on the ‒ Al Bender ★★★★★ cricket fans. magnificent groundstrokes compete against today’s with MyPlayer, the most-played mode compete against fellow drivers but Yoga, the famed “hot” players? I don’t think so?” market has gone in for the full pop in the game, which allows players to – GS ★★★ – JC ★★★ yoga favoured by culture immersion, proof of its create their own hardwood star. In celebrities exploding popularity with gamers. An past games, it was a grind to get your everywhere, and along eminence no less than Jay-Z was player out of humble benchwarmer the way tries to come brought in to consult on the game’s status – this year, the mode is deeper to an understanding of DON’T BE WHERE THE BALL AIN’T overall aesthetic, and the linkage and more elaborate (love how you can its colourful guru, THE WORDS AND WISDOM OF JACK DYER between NBA and hip hop culture request meetings with the general EDITED BY JOE ST JOhn, New HOllanD, $24.95 Bikram Choudhury.