The Cockroach Basketball League
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Book Overview
The Cockroach Basketball League follows the tribulations of hard-driving coach Bob Lassner of the Savannah Stars, a team in the Commercial Basketball League-a fiction drawn from Rosen's own nine years experience coaching in the minor-league Continental Basketball Association. Lassner is an aging hippie and divorce who hails from a Bronx tenement. His obsession with the game of basketball animates this kinetic, gritty ramble through the sport's minor leagues. Lassner is either red with rage or soft with compassion as he struggles to deal with his wayward players. His top scorer is selfish and arrogant; another player faces a grand jury for a point-shaving scheme; still others are drinking and taking drugs. Lassner also faces a meddlesome team owner, racial tension, and the threat of losing his job if he doesn1t produce victories. With The Cockroach Basketball League, Rosen provides a poignant portrait of men-both players and coaches-who may not ever make it to the NBA. Through this look at life in the minors, Rosen offers a unique perspective on college and pro basketball, media hype, and the psychology of dreams deferred.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1888363789
ISBN13:9781888363784
Release Date:October 1998
Publisher:Seven Stories Press
Length:288 Pages
Weight:0.90 lbs.
Dimensions:0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"
Related Subjects
Basketball Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Literature & Fiction Sports Sports & OutdoorsCustomer Reviews
1 rating
Fun, raucous romp through basketball's minor league.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
The Commercial Basketball Association (wink, wink) may be minor league, but Charley's novel describing a year there certainly isn't. This is as honest a portrayal as we are likely to see about any sport. Exposing the dark side of the basketball business -- and most of it's participants -- at first left me yearning for a more wholesome, less complicated (and more naive) view of the game. Soon the story hooked me and I was able to look at the ugly, and alongside it the excitement and beauty as well. It is a human triumph that one's love for the game, and for one's teammates, survives assaults of all kinds. Charley's love shines through. If you love hoops, this is one of a handful of books I'd call, "must read."
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