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Cousy: His Life, Career, and the Birth of Big-Time Basketball
by Bill Reynolds
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (2005-02-01)
ISBN: 0743254767
EAN: 9780743254762
Dewy Decimal #: 796.323092
Hardcover: 320 pages
SKU: C082TXC
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Clean unmarked pages. Clean unmarked cover. Dust Jacket has shelf wear. 100% satisfaction guaranteed. All orders include an e-Book about starting your own Internet Business in PDF format. FREE Domestic DELIVERY CONFIRMATION! We ship daily Mon-Sat and will let you know when your item has shipped along with your e/DC number. [HI, AK, PR, VI, GUAM, SAIPAN & West Coast customers, please use Expedited Shipping, otherwise it may take longer than the estimated 14 business days.] Items are from a smoke free and air conditioned environment.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
It was an era when the game was played for the love of it, and a fledgling NBA struggled for mainstream attention. Bob Cousy was at the heart of basketball's emergence as premier entertainment, a dynamo whose talent and ingenuity dazzled fans and players. The MVP of the 1957 season and veteran of six NBA championships with the Boston Celtics, his trademark behind-the-back dribble and no-look pass gave us basketball as no one had seen it before -- a one-man revolution that set the stage for Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Bill Russell, and others. Here is the fascinating, in-depth story of Cousy's life -- his tenement childhood, his drives and motivations, his little-known personal life, and his record-breaking career -- set against one of the most exciting generations in sports history.
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Customer Reviews
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"Cousy": Lousy
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-02-01
After reading 75% of this book (258 of 342 pages), I am putting it down. Why? It's boring and, inasmuch as I'm reading much of the same "information" three or sometimes four times, now a waste of time.
The best point about the book is that it is very breezy: an average reader can probably finish it within four hours of reading time and will not have to worry about being taxed intellectually in any way (except perhaps trying to figure out what word the author was actually searching for upon encountering one of the many usage problems herein). Well, the cover looks nice, too.
You can read about Auerbach's treatment of players at least four times, this being useful, I guess, in case you've forgotten what was written in the previous chapter.
Much of the time, actually, the book does not have much to do with Cousy or with the NBA or "big-time basketball" per se. The author summarizes what (from the list of sources in the aftermatter) seems to be mostly a bunch of other second- or third-hand hackwork (ghostwritten sports accounts, magazine puff pieces, and the like) from roughly the times Cousy was an active player. If you're younger than 40, this stuff will bore you (as there is given no context in which to place the information); if you're older than 40, this stuff will bore you (because you'll know it already, probably better than the author).
I cannot think of any reason to recommend this book.
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Completely unaffected
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-08-29
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
It may be that you've got to be at least 50 years old to appreciate this book fully. Why? Because Cousy reflects on a game that doesn't exist anymore. It was a time when people did not take three steps to the basket, when palming the ball was a turnover, and when good sportsmanship was the standard. It was also a time, and this is what is so hard to believe, when a guy like Cousy, who came along just in time to save the financially failing NBA, worried each and every year about making the team. It was a time when a hard nosed Red Auerbach, who didn't even want Cousy because he thought him a showoff, coupled Cousy's playmaking with Russell's defense to make a team, the only team in fact, that dominated its sport as the Yankees did in baseball. Cousy was Auerbach's first big hitter, and despite his success as a player, coach and university president, Cousy remains humble, reflective, and self effacing. Cousy is a we guy, not an I guy. Refreshing.
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A GREAT BOOK
Rating  (3)
Date: 2006-07-24
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
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A solid biography
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-09-01
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Reynolds tells a wonderful story about an interesting person. Initially, the story was supposed to be about the pioneering era of basketball, but he decided since Cousy was such a focal point on this era and professional basketball's climb to greatness, that he would write about Cousy himself. Cousy, a private man, agreed through mutual acquaintances to go along and provided information and interviews.
The story starts with Cousy's young life during the depression in a New York ghetto, and his life in a dysfunctional home. He used basketball as a means of acceptance and eventually as a means to greatness. Ironically, he was cut by his high school team in his freshman and sophomore seasons, which drove him and spurred on his killer instinct. When he made the team, he went on to become the captain of the all-city team.
Then, Reynolds describes how Cousy picked Holy Cross for his college education, and how, contrary to the myth, he did not "lead" Holy Cross to the NCAA Championship his first year. He goes through his spats with his first head coach in college "Doggie Julian", and his great respect for his successor, "Buster" Sheary. He also covers how Cousy wound up on a Boston Celtics team that didn't want him and how legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach took jabs in the press at Cousy, so that he would know who was in charge, despite the press' love of Cousy.
He goes through the hard years of success without championships and then the great championship run that came after the Celtics drafted Bill Russell. He also covers Cousy's business ventures off of the court and his life after basketball.
What sets this book apart from a simple factoid book of the 1950s was how Reynolds digs past the surface to show how Cousy's upbringing created an irrational fear of failure and an unhealthy competitive streak that Cousy had to learn to deal with throughout his life. Depsite his success, Cousy was in many ways a tortured soul, feeling like he had to do all he could to provide for his family, yet regretting the time he spent away from home and the sleepwalking and nervousness he felt as he went through his career, trying to satisfy his competitive urges.
Why 4 stars? I rate basketball books agaisnt each other. 5 stars is the top 1/5 of books. This is a very good book, and 4 stars is a high compliment.
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An Early Superstar From the NBA's Beginnings
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-06-25
6 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
You can be either a casual or even a non-fan of professional basketball and still enjoy Bill Reynolds's book on Bob Cousy. He will take you back to a time in the late 1940's and early 1950's when professional basketball was merely a filler sport between football and baseball. I feel the book is really two stories told in one book, the life of Bob Cousy and the role he played in professional basketball's beginnings and also the birth of the struggling NBA when they played in minor league cities such as Syracuse, New York, and Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is also the story of early NBA superstars from other teams such as George Mikan of the Minneapolis Lakers, Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks, and Oscar Robertson of the Cincinnati Royals. Cousy also tells of his childhood insecurities while growing up in New York City, his decision to attend Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, after playing only one and one half years of high school basketball, and how he became a Boston Celtic when coach Arnold "Red" Auerbach preferred to have two other players which were chosen in a dispersal draft. The Celtics weren't able to become the NBA champs until they added Bill Russell, a big man to play center. How the Celtics managed to draft Russell with the third pick is an interesting story in itself. NBA fan or not! Boston Celtic fan or not! You will enjoy this book.
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