We owe a special debt of gratitude to Lynn Nesbit, warrior agent, for finding the right home for Sacred Hoops. We are also deeply grateful to Todd Musburger, John M. Delehanty, and Bennett Ashley for their inspired teamwork and undying faith in the project.
Thanks to Bob Miller and Leslie Wells at Hyperion for recognizing what this book could become and helping us bring it to fruition.
Thanks to Helen Tworkov and Carole Tonkinson at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review for putting us together and planting the seed for the book in our minds.
Thanks to Pam Lunsford for her dedication and hard work; to Tex Winter for his basketball genius; to B. J. Armstrong, Bill Cartwright, Jim Cleamons, Craig Hodges, Michael Jordan, Jerry Krause, and John Paxson for their insights; and to Tim Hallam and Tom Smithburg for a team effort beyond the call of duty.
We are also indebted to Landon Y. Jones for his support and encouragement; to Amy Hertz for nurturing the book from the start; and to Dan Wakefield and Steven Winn for their perceptive reading of the manuscript. In addition, we would like to thank the following for their invaluable contributions: Richard Baker, Charlotte Joko Beck, Anna Christensen, Eugene Corey, John J. Delehanty, Mark Epstein, Elise Frick, Mike Her Many Horses, Melissa Isaacson, Charles and Joe Jackson, Sheldon Lewis, Ted Panken, John Sloss, Paul Weinberg, Martha White, Workman Publishing, and, last but not least, the Empress of Blandings.
Finally, we would like to thank our children, Elizabeth, Chelsea, Brooke, Charley and Ben Jackson, and Clay McLachlan, for teaching us spiritual lessons that could never be learned from a book.