Expatriate Games: My Season of Misadventures in Czech Semi-Pro Basketball

In his first book, lawyer and pro basketballer wannabe Fromm offers an entertaining and often hilarious account of his year in Prague playing point guard in a semipro league and attending political science courses at Central European University. Fromm was 23 years old and admits that he was unready for law school or the demands of full-time employment. So instead, in the fall of 1994, he embarked on a thoroughly unplanned trip to a country he barely knew, with somehow stumbled upon a league and a team, and while struggling to learn Czech and Czech customs, get along with his teammates, and earn a degree, Fromm found love, or what he first thought was love. Fromm recounts his adventures with candor and self-deprecating humor, crafting a modest, worthwhile book about discovering yourself and following your passions. The lengthy and numerous basketball game recaps can grow tiresome, but this is an otherwise brisk and breezy read. Recommended for public libraries.

if he were a slow-footed, non-jumping, pump-faking point guard from Massachusetts who took his game to Prague on a dare to himself. Of hmmm, hard, but writes like a comic genius. –Will Blythe, author of To Hate Like This is To Be Happy Forever

In his first book, lawyer and pro basketballer wannabe Fromm offers an entertaining and often hilarious account of his year in Prague playing point guard in a semipro league and attending political science courses at Central European University. Fromm was 23 years old and admits that he was unready for law school or the demands of full-time employment. So instead, in the fall of 1994, he embarked on a thoroughly unplanned trip to a country he barely knew, with somehow stumbled upon a league and a team, and while struggling to learn Czech and Czech customs, get along with his teammates, and earn a degree, Fromm found love, or what he first thought was love. Fromm recounts his adventures with candor and self-deprecating humor, crafting a modest, worthwhile book about discovering yourself and following your passions. The lengthy and numerous basketball game recaps can grow tiresome, but this is an otherwise brisk and breezy read. Recommended for public libraries.

A droll and utterly charming Gen X tale of a man and a country rediscovering themselves through sport. I couldn’t put it down.

For anybody who reads this delightful memoir, the result is as perfect as a 360-degree, buzzer-beating dunk to win a playoff game. Part travelogue into the secret side of Prague, part game-by-game drama, Expatriate Games demonstrates how the game reflects the culture, and vice versa. Told in nimble prose, this is a book not to be missed by even the most casual basketball fan.

Have you ever had a dream that was so crazy and seemingly unrealistic you never even tried to follow it? This book is about a guy who followed that dream all the way to Prague and discovered that, sometimes, the journey is more important than the dream itself. Read it and you might find yourself willing to take a few more chances.