- Hardcover: 216 pages
- Published: 7/1/25
- IBSN: 9781636142302
- e-IBSN: 9781636142319
- Genre: Nonfiction
Catalog » Browse by Title: B » Bobbito’s Book of B-Ball Bong Bong! A Memoir of Sports, Style, and Soul
Bobbito’s Book of B-Ball Bong Bong! A Memoir of Sports, Style, and Soul
A Radio Hall of Famer and sneaker culture icon, Bobbito García is also a basketball sage who chronicles his unlikely experiences in and around the game as a Latino raised on hip hop.
Now available for preorder. All preorders will ship on or before July 1, 2025.
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Forthcoming: 7/1/25
What people are saying…
“Bobbito García is a pioneer of basketball lifestyle culture, an expert of the game’s history, and a visionary. His memoir is a must read—tap in!”
—Baron Davis, two-time NBA All-Star and entrepreneur
“Bobbito García’s memoir is a mesmerizing and inspiring journey into the heart and soul of the game, overflowing with jaw-dropping stories about legendary players and pivotal cultural moments. Bong Bong is one of the defining pieces of basketball literature ever written.”
—Jesse Washington, New York Times best-selling coauthor of Rich Paul’s Lucky Me: A Memoir of Changing the Odds
“With Bong Bong, b-ball icon and hip hop legend Bobbito García gives us more than a memoir of his life, he offers us a moving tribute to an essential part of NYC culture: playground ball. With great humor and his signature voice, García takes us through the courts, legends, and games that shaped him into the man he is. His stunning book is a tale of passion, dedication, and creativity—learned from a game, but deployed into a whole, big, beautiful life. Pure fire.”
—Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times best-selling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
“Bobbito García is a national treasure, and this book—exuberant and poignant, encyclopedic and intimate—is a triumph. It’s easy to overlook the fact that undergirding the industry of basketball is the culture of basketball: an indelible landscape of courts, characters, dreams, dunks, crossovers, and friendships. But after you read this singular memoir, you’ll never forget again.”
—Adam Mansbach, author of The Golem of Brooklyn
“Bobbito García is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the history of NYC basketball, and his memoir demonstrates why his knowledge is so respected.”
—Rod Strickland, LIU head coach and 1998 NBA assists leader
Description
BASKETBALL ON NEW YORK CITY’S 700+ OUTDOOR COURTS was bubbling during the seventies and eighties and coincided with the birth of hip hop and sneaker culture. Bobbito García came of age during this era and caught an uncontrollable fever to be a ballplayer, witnessing firsthand the gumbo of sports, music, and fashion in the local parks. The game influenced his style, language, movement, creative thought, and, in a personal manner, his well-being. He couldn’t go anywhere without a ball in his hand, practice shorts under his pants, and kicks on his feet, ready for action at any point, any day (including his first job interview).
In the 1990s, Bobbito became a world-famous hip hop radio host as well as the progenitor of sneaker journalism, but his world never stopped revolving around living and breathing at every local court he could find. Simultaneously, the outdoor basketball aesthetic emerged as a force in the sports/entertainment/footwear industry, a catalyst to market authenticity when a brand wanted to garner street credibility. Bobbito stood firmly at this cross section of subcultures, not only as a historian, photographer, writer, filmmaker, and active participant, but as a curator of the shift itself. Advertising legend John Jay, former global creative director at Wieden+Kennedy, called García his “cultural DJ” after they collaborated on Nike’s groundbreaking “NYC City Attack” ad campaign. The lifestyle of the park pickup player, now exposed, went on to impact the world, and the ripple effect could even be seen on the hardwood floors of the NBA.
In 2013, the New York Times referred to Bobbito as “an ardent ambassador for New York City street basketball.” This book is an intimate view into his life as a ballplayer, announcer, and performer. It doubles as a profound document for the unspoken folklore and history of the outdoor game, while speaking volumes to the roots of García’s favorite pastime—putting up jumpers and getting busy with the rock in his hands. In his words: Basketball is a religion. The park is my church . . .
- Subjects: Edge of Sports, Forthcoming, Nonfiction
- Tags: Bobbito García, Bobbito's Book of B-Ball Bong Bong!
Book Details
Author
BOBBITO GARCÍA, a New York City native, is a visionary creative who has put an indelible footprint on multiple urban movements. As the progenitor of “sneaker journalism,” he penned his landmark Source article “Confessions of a Sneaker Addict” in 1990, then in 2003 became the critically acclaimed author of Where’d You Get Those? NYC’s Sneaker Culture: 1960–1987. García also wrote the foreword for A History of Basketball in Fifteen Sneakers, and contributed an essay and photography to City/Game: Basketball in New York. During the 1990s, the legendary on-air personality was one half of The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show on WKCR; in 2023, the duo was inducted into the NAB Radio Hall of Fame. García has since had a diverse career in entertainment, hosting programs for ESPN and NBATV, performing in Nike’s landmark “Freestyle” ad, voicing EA Sports’s popular NBA Street video game, and directing several documentaries, including Doin’ It in the Park: Pick-Up Basketball, NYC. García aka “Kool Bob Love,” currently produces his 1-on-5 basketball tournament, FC21, in thirty international locations, and is the proud author of a children’s book, Aim High, Little Giant, Aim High! For more information, visit www.koolboblove.com.