From the courts to books. Idol Oscar Schmidt launched the book "Conquering Success – Oscar Schmidt's Journey in Basketball and Life" this Thursday at a bookstore in Rio de Janeiro's South Zone.

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Always in a good mood, Mão Santa said that writing a book isn't that difficult:

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"Anyone can write. I wrote it myself. But they removed a lot of the swear words from here," he said, laughing. "But seriously, this book was a lot of work; it came about during the lectures I give all over Brazil. It's a different book, not a biography," he assures, at 51 years old.

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Seven years after retiring, Oscar still has fond memories of Flamengo, the club with which he ended his career. He said the Red-Blacks were responsible for realizing a long-held dream:

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"It was thanks to Flamengo that I was able to play with my son. It was only ten matches, but it was amazing," recalls the player, who was delighted with Patrícia Amorim's election as Flamengo president.

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"Patrícia was the best thing that could have happened. She's a Flamengo fan, or rather, a red-and-black fan, and she has everything it takes to do a great job," he praised.

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Between one autograph and another, Oscar met up with a good old acquaintance: former coach Ari Vidal, with whom he worked for years and experienced one of the most exciting moments of his career, in 1987, when he won the Indianapolis Pan American Games against the USA.

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- Look, this guy here has a place of honor in any book I write - says fan Oscar Schimidt.