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Title: “Slo Mo! My Untrue Story.”

Author: Rick Reilly

Publisher: Doubleday

Price: $23.95

Just for fun, read this book.

Just for fun, Rick Reilly wrote it.

Sports Illustrated’s last-page-of-the-magazine columnist set out to construct a Forrest Gump for the sports world, or, as one NBA teammate tells the main character: “You are, without a doubt, the biggest Gomer in the history of Gomers.”

The Gomer is 17-year-old Maurice “Slo Mo” Finsternick, 7 feet 8 and 195 pounds, and with a level of naivete more spectacular than his height. He hails from a bizarre cave-dwelling cult in Colorado and a shady agent cuts a deal with his small Catholic high school padres to get him onto the NBA’s “New Jerseys” roster as a high school junior.

Slo Mo sets up residence at the Newark Airport Ramada, where he believes he has a secret admirer.

* “This secret admirer has been doing nice little things for me like leaving little mints on my pillow and newspapers outside my hotel room,” he tells the reader.

How naive is he? Upon moving into the Ramada, he discovers a shopping mall next door. “I was amazed because of all the things I saw, including fantastic stores like the Gap and Banana Republic and Sharper Image, stores that I’ll bet no other mall in the world has.” Slo Mo’s teammates are bugged constantly by two facets of their “7-8 hat rack.”

* His inept ways with women.

* His fondness for health food and refusal to eat hamburgers.

Both come into to play as Slo Mo finally has his first date. Slo Mo writes: “Lisa and I were supposed to meet at one of my favorite restaurants in town, Sorghum City. Usually I just go through the drive-thru there--but I wanted a table, so I got there an hour early, just to make sure we could get my favorite booth, right near the tofu dicer.”

Another element in the lovable big lug’s tale is his search for his long-lost, 7-foot father, Ghengis Korn. It’s a mindless, quick read--almost a giggle a page.