Empires in Decline: Henry Kissinger on the Los Angeles Lakers

The following three paragraphs were adapted from an adaptation, in "The Wall Street Journal", of Henry Kissinger's "On China", to be published Tuesday by the Penguin Press (we made them about basketball):

Hostage Crisis: Chris Paul and the NBA Ring Chase

When I was a kid, I loved Cracker Jacks.  I used to always open the box and jam my whole forearm down into the layers of caramel-coated popcorn.  My whole arm grew sticky and came out smelling like a warehouse full of cardboard, and if I hadn't gotten hold of the prize I so desperately sought, I might have felt dirty.  The thing is, every Cracker Jack box guaranteed a prize.  There was no doubt, so it was always worth it.