Travel Team

Twelve-year-old Danny Walker may be the smallest kid on the basketball court -- but don't tell him that. Because no one plays with more heart or court sense. But none of that matters when he is cut from his local travel team, the very same team his father led to national prominence as a boy. Danny's father, still smarting from his own troubles, knows Danny isn't the only kid who was cut for the wrong reason, and together, this washed-up former player and a bunch of never-say-die kids prove that the heart simply cannot be measured.

Mike Lupica is the author of many novels for sports fans, including Red Zone, Bump and Run, and Wild Pitch. His columns for the New York Daily News are syndicated nationally, and he is a regular on ESPN's The Sports Reporters. Partial to little guys, Mr. Lupica enjoys coaching youth basketball. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and their four children.