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Time for another installment of Four for the Month, the book recommendation column that's sweeping through Simi Valley (actually, one of our writers thinks he heard a guy talking about it at the bookstore, but we'll take whatever we can get).

Before jumping headfirst into March Madness in a few weeks, contemplate passing the time with one of these tomes from the world of sports:

"Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball's Lunatic Fringe"

Author: Sam Walker

Amazon.com price: $6.99

Sam Walker was a columnist for the Wall Street Journal when he decided to put life as he knew it on hold to chase a Rotisserie baseball championship full time.

Walker spends a lot of his own money, $50,000 or so, traveling to spring training games, gathering data and building a team of experts.

He uses his media access to speak with professional players and coaches. This information, teamed with detailed statistical player analysis, are the ingredients to instant Rotisserie baseball immortality, Walker, a fantasy novice, assumes.

The author is invited to the ultra-exclusive Tout Wars, where he's pitted against many of the pioneers of fantasy baseball reporting, the créme de la créme of the nerd circuit, so to speak. As Walker chronicles, these guys are deadly serious about the game they play.

Competing in an American Leagueonly expert league for nothing more than pride, Walker gradually transforms from near-normal fantasy fan to raging roto weirdo. It's a fascinating transformation. "Loose Balls: The Short, Wild

Life of the American

Basketball Association"

Author: Terry Pluto

Amazon.com price: $21.95

"Loose Balls" could captivate someone who drinks 50 cans of Red Bull per day, has the attention span of a tsetse fly and considers MTV's "The Hills" highquality drama.

The history lesson reads like an action-packed roller coaster ride otherwise known as the ABA, the NBA's screwball stepbrother.

Terry Pluto lets the characters involved do most of the talking, with players, coaches, general managers, owners, agents and announcers recalling hilarious stories in brief, brilliant anecdotes.

Want to know how Julius Erving blossomed into a superstar, why Marvin Barnes refused to board a "time machine" or what Bob Costas said on air during his first job? Get the dirt here.

These stories can be told over and over again at a barbecue, in a favorite dive bar or near the water cooler/copy machine/mechanical bull at work.

With the release of Will Ferrell's comedy movie "SemiPro" this week, don't be surprised to see scenes influenced by "Loose Balls," the funniest book ever written on professional basketball.

"Triumph: The Untold Story

of Jesse Owens and

Hitler's Olympics"

Author: Jeremy Schaap

Amazon.com price: $10.17

The 1936 Olympics were all about race. Hitler loathed Jesse Owens' race- he's African American- and Owens couldn't lose a race.

With the 2008 Beijing Olympics only a few months away, it may be a good time to pick up Jeremy Schaap's book on Owens, who arguably performed better than any athlete at any Olympics.

Schaap's book focuses on the '36 games, which were hailed as Hitler's Olympics with Berlin as the backdrop. As Germany's dictator began his rise to power, many critics wondered if the United States should even be participating overseas.

In the end, Owens not only competed for the U.S. track and field team, he ruined Hitler's party. Owens broke or tied four world records in about an hour's time, proving he was the greatest athlete on the planet.

"The Good, the Bad, and the

Ugly Los Angeles Lakers: HeartPounding, JawDrop

ping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Los Angeles

Lakers History"

Author: Steven Travers

Amazon.com price: $13.57

With 14 NBA championships, the Lakers are arguably the greatest basketball franchise of all time.

Since the team moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, the Lakers have provided many highs and lows for their loyal fan base.

Travers' book delves into the team's history and all of its impressive records, including the 33game winning streak in 197172 and all-time great Lakers from legendary Jerry West to the team's most recent star, Kobe Bryant.

In addition to having legendary celebrities such as Jack Nicholson courtside, the Lakers have played host to flamboyant and oversexed players such as Wilt Chamberlain and Magic Johnson. Conversely, some Lakers, specifically Kareem AbdulJabbar, attacked the phony, plastic Hollywood lifestyle.

This book is filled with behindthescenes stories about the Lakers and is an easy read. Although some information is redundant, Travers, a huge Lakers fan, has done a remarkable job describing everything a person needs to know about the franchise.