John McPhee was a young writer at The New Yorker when he decided to watch a kid from Missouri play basketball at Princeton. That kid was Bill Bradley. This was the early sixties. Nobody knew then that Bradley would go on to win two NBA titles with the Knicks, become a U.S. Senator, or run for President. But McPhee saw something. He saw a level of discipline that felt almost alien.
He eventually turned that profile into his first book. It’s called John McPhee A Sense of Where You Are. Honestly, if you care about sports writing or just how someone becomes "great" at anything, you've gotta read it. It isn't just a box score. It’s a study of a human being who treated a hardwood court like a laboratory.
The Mathematical Perfection of Bill Bradley
Most people think basketball is all about raw athleticism or jumping out of the gym. Bradley wasn't that guy. He was slow. He couldn't jump particularly high. Yet, he was the best player in the country. How? McPhee explains it through what he calls "the sense of where you are."
There's this famous scene in the book. McPhee is watching Bradley practice in an empty gym. Bradley is hitting shots with his eyes closed. He's not guessing. He knows exactly where the hoop is because he has memorized the floor. He tells McPhee that he has a "sense of where he is" at all times. This wasn't magic. It was the result of thousands of hours of repetitive, boring, grueling practice.
Breaking Down the Mechanics
McPhee’s prose is famous for being meticulous. In this book, he treats a jump shot like a Swiss watch.
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- The Vision: Bradley had incredible peripheral vision. Doctors actually tested him and found he could see nearly 200 degrees wide.
- The Passing: He didn't just throw the ball; he anticipated where a teammate would be three seconds before they got there.
- The Discipline: He practiced individual moves—the reverse pivot, the hook shot, the baseline drive—until they were reflexive.
It's kinda wild to think about now. We live in an era of highlight reels and dunks. But Bradley's game was about efficiency. He was an "Abstract Expressionist" of the game, according to his coach, Butch van Breda Kolff. He played with a style that made winning look like a byproduct of correct behavior.
Why John McPhee A Sense of Where You Are Changed Everything
Before this book came out in 1965, sports books were mostly ghostwritten autobiographies or cheap "rah-rah" stories for kids. McPhee changed the game. He brought the "New Journalism" style—deep immersion and literary flair—to the locker room.
He didn't just interview Bradley. He interviewed his teachers. He talked to his doctors. He spent time in Crystal City, Missouri, trying to understand why a bank president's son would spend his summers shooting 500 free throws a day in a humid gym. Basically, McPhee proved that sports could be as intellectually rigorous as politics or science.
The Princeton Legend
In 1965, Bradley led Princeton to the Final Four. Think about that. An Ivy League school in the Final Four. They didn't win the whole thing, but Bradley scored 58 points in the consolation game against Wichita State. That record for a Final Four game stood for ages. McPhee’s book captures that specific lightning-in-a-bottle moment.
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It wasn't just about the points, though. It was the fact that Bradley was a Rhodes Scholar. He was a guy who led Sunday school classes. He was the "white hope" of the era, though he hated that label. He just wanted to be a ballplayer who happened to be smart.
The Lasting Legacy of the "Sense"
What's the takeaway here? Is it just a book about an old basketball player? Not really.
The title has become a metaphor for life. Having a "sense of where you are" means more than knowing where the basket is. It's about self-awareness. It's about knowing your limitations and working within them to achieve something perfect. Bradley knew he wasn't the fastest, so he became the smartest.
He also knew when to walk away. He went to Oxford instead of jumping straight to the NBA. He eventually joined the Knicks and became the ultimate team player, famously moving without the ball to create space for others. That "sense" never left him.
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Read This if You Want to Write (or Win)
If you're a writer, study how McPhee uses verbs. If you're an athlete, study Bradley’s work ethic. Honestly, even if you don't like basketball, the book works as a character study. It’s short. You can finish it in an afternoon. But the ideas in it—the notion that excellence is a choice—will stick with you for years.
Actionable Insights from the Book:
- Master the fundamentals: Greatness is rarely about the flashy stuff; it's about the "boring" basics done perfectly.
- Develop your "peripheral vision": In any field, success comes from seeing the whole "court," not just what's right in front of you.
- Practice with purpose: Bradley didn't just "play" basketball; he engineered his game through specific, targeted drills.
Pick up a copy of A Sense of Where You Are. It’s a reminder that before the fame, the Senate, and the Hall of Fame, there was just a kid in a gym, a writer with a notebook, and a very clear idea of where they both wanted to go.