A group of troubled but charismatic boys in a tough Buffalo, NY neighborhood play basketball at a local park and dream of winning a state high school championship. Driven by raw talent and killer instinct, they dominate the court, but everywhere else, they feel like losers.HAMMOND is told through the eyes of James Lombardi, a precocious but mentally ill boy who believes winning a championship will ease his "Evil Thoughts" and save his family, long haunted by generations of substance abuse, uncontrollable rage, and suicide.A dark but humorous coming-of-age novel, HAMMOND offers a poetic and disturbing look inside the complex mind of an adolescent boy as he slowly learns that having the heart of a champion can sometimes be more burden than blessing.