Word: hustler
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...line, where Dave Grannis will center wings Bruce Thomas and Dave Morse. Grannis, the high scorer on last year's Yardling team with 20 goals and 24 assists, has what Weiland calls, "perhaps the best shot on the team." Thomas at left wing, generally conceded to be the best hustler on the squad, and Morse at right, both picked up over thirty points last year. With Grannis they give Weiland a line which with steady improvement should be excellent by the middle of the winter...
Junior guard Mike Donohue was usually the fifth starter, although Dave Grayer took his place several times. A ferocious hustler, Donohue barely missed double figures for the year, as he netted a 9.8 average. His speed on fast breaks was often decisive, but his fiery spirit got the best of him on several occasions, and near-fights ensued...
...Born Loser. For Author Tevis a poolroom at 9 a.m. can seem like a "large church." But Eddie only knows the stale cigar and cigarette smoke, the massiveness of mahogany tables squatting impersonally, the lone hustler practicing shots. Hours may pass in a close game when the only life the hustler sees consists of shaded light on the brushed green cloth, the movement of balls elegantly cued, the sensuous dropping of globes into pockets. When it is over, win or lose, he wanders out into the streets that are usually slummy and unfriendly and back to a hotel room whose...
...story picks up Eddie at the point where he has become so good a hustler that only the biggest man in pool stands between him and the top. Minnesota Fats makes his headquarters at Bennington's in Chicago. In Eddie's world, Fats's name is spoken with reverence. Huge, lardy and gross. Fats plays with the grace of a virtuoso. Eddie takes him on, and for 40 hours they match their delicate skills. At one point Eddie is $18,000 ahead, and the great Fats seems to have met his master. But it is Eddie...
...moral of The Hustler is obviously sententious, the love story is a cliche, and Author Tevis' writing is sometimes too painfully exact. What remains is a succession of scenes in which a smoky, seedy world becomes sharply alive, and where crises are intense even though the scene is grubby and the game is only pool...