Let me give you some background. When we travel to Orlando for the Cavs-Magic games, it seems like you can't get out of Amway Arena without running into Pat Williams.

Williams is the founder and senior vice president of the Magic, as well as being an accomplished motivational speaker. He's spent 45 years in professional baseball and basketball as a player and executive.

He has also written 53 books, including "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inside Basketball." There are times when writers accept one of his books and then leave them at the Marriott across the street.

That would have been a mistake with "Chicken Soup." I loved it, and I'm not ashamed to tell you a shed a few tears while reading it. There are stories in it about or written by several people I know, including Mike Fratello, Phil Jasner and Sam Smith, among others.

All of the stories are inspirational in nature. They are feel-good stories for the most part, about overcoming long odds. One that I really enjoyed was by Ann Meyers-Drysdale, the former UCLA star who tried out for the Indiana Pacers.

Believe me, it's worth reading. And, as an added bonus, I swear the photo of the basketball player on the cover of the 373-page book is Cavs guard/forward Wally Szczerbiak.