Find Underbelly Hoops: Adventures In The CBAA.K.A. The Crazy Basketball Association Presented By Carson Cunningham Document

you live in the USA and have done nothing but play and watch basketball all your life you might find this book slightly interesting or a might amusing, Afterpages I was forced to give up as I kept falling asleep and decided instead watch the grass grow in my back yard, It seemed to move with more pace than this egocentric pile of "Then I Did nonsense" Sorry Mr Cunningham I don't usually stop reading a book before the end but this is a rare one where I found it impossible to finish.
A unique look into the underbelly of professional basketball its buckets! This is a very entertaining and insightful view of what players that have such a deep love for the game are willing to go through in their quest to continue playing.
With a wide array of characters coaches and players alike the reader is able to see the talent, as well as the shenanigans, that occur behind the scenes, It was a great read and I would highly recommend it! A top college basketball player for Oregon State and Purdue and a native of Indiana who believed he could one day play in the NBA, Carson Cunningham came close.
Well sort of close. He ended up in the minor leagues of professional basketball instead, in the storied and now defunct CBA, a league that has turned out a recordsetting number of NBA players and coaches, such as Phil Jackson and George Karl.
It wasnt glamorous, in fact the playing conditions in the CBA were pretty grim nearempty arenas, interminable bus rides to nowheresville, oddball coaches, little loyalty from management, meager pay, these were a few realities of CBA life.
And yet, even as it chipped away at your dignity and made little economic sense to remain, the CBA drew you in with the allure of action and the prospect of an NBA callup.
And it could inspire, like when you and your teammates caught a rhythm that made you remember why basketball is such a beautiful game, or when you saw guys continue to strive, to persevere, even if their dreams weren't fully realized.


Carson writes honestly, hilariously and often touchingly of his running and gunning days as a CBA alsoran, with flash backs to his college days where the future seemed brighter than a new pair of Nikes.
A top recruit with superior ballhanding and shooting skills along with a sixth basketball sense, inCarson was a Sporting News AllAmerican freshman who broke Gary Payton's freshman scoring record and a few years later helped his team at Purdue get within a game of the Final Four.
Loved this book! For basketball fans or athletes who get what it's like to eat, sleep, and live your sport and what you go through when that world starts to end and another begins.
Well written and super engaging, Carson captures every emotion. Really gained a deeper understanding of him and his passion for the game and life, T the contents of the book will strike you at times as appalling and at other times humorous, You may find yourself rooting for all the players and it really shows how hard it is to make it to the highest level of basketball, The parts covering how they came to be in the CBA were enthralling but this takes a backseat to the actual games heading to the playoffs,

Underbelly Hoops: Adventures in the CBA, . . is more than just a story of one man's pursuit of a professional career in basketball, As he returns to the game that offered him so much throughout his youth he begins to find somewhat of a throughline that is connecting professional aspirations, childhood dreams and a lifelong passion.
As he is pushing his body, challenging his preconceived notions about adulthood or maybe dragging his feet a bit before making the next inevitable plunge into careerhood he has some revelations.
Carson has brilliant flashes on the court as he showcases the talent that garnered interest from his coach but he also demonstrates that he has a clear lens of perspective.
Read into this 'Underbelly Hoops' adventure as it speaks to the visions of many a young lad, This book was an entertaining look at the minor league of basketball, You don't need to be a hard core basketball fan to enjoy this I'm not, If you are a sports fan in general, this is a must read,

The book was meticulously researched and includes footnotes, The colorful characters that Carson encountered and the crazy stories made for an engrossing book, My favorite characters included his coach, Boss Closs, and Ronnie Fields, Absolutely hilarious! The book was based on a diary that Carson kept during the season which enabled him to remember all of the funny little stories,

The story also had a balance of drama as Carson endured the coaches constant threats of cutting him, I found myself rooting for him just to stay on the team, This was a refreshing change from the typical sports drama where the story hinges on a championship moment,

As Carson Cunningham told the story, he often discussed some of each players background, While I found this interesting for the main characters, the nature of minor league basketball is that there is a lot of roster churn so I found this distracting for some of the other players who had only a brief appearance.
This is what kept the book from beingstars, I figured this would be similar to the stories I've read of minor league baseball players, It isn't. Certainly parts are the same, It seems there's a mix of the young players out of college or high school looking for a way up to the NBA as well as older, seasoned players, some with issues, some trying the US after or before a foreign league.
And the pay is lousy, the fans often absent, the travel unglamorous, the team close to bankruptcy, And like minor league baseball, for the players it's all about the game, But in the CBA, sort of minor league basketball, there are fewer games than baseball, making each one more important, This puts incredible stress on the players and coaches, and based on this book, I'd say it makes folks, well, crazy, Cunningham's take on the coach of his team, the Rockford Lightening, is so much less than flattering, albeit with some appreciation of the accomplishments, He makes Bobby Knight look like Gandhi in comparison, The players seem to be almost comic book exaggerations, although it seems those characterizations are true, Any bad game, and a player, or even all players, could be replaced, possibly ending their basketball careers, Having lived in a CBA town, I never realized the level of stress those teams were under,

Cunningham writes very folksy, and I found his writing refreshing, I did catch a few chapters where he was blowing his own horn, but by and large most of the book seemed to be "tell it like he saw it", not ego driven.
The author doesn't meet his lofty goals for

his season not even close, but that also makes the journey enjoyable and real, And humorous. When the coach cajoles the trainer into stealing tape from almost defunct teams and soap from third tier hotels, you know you are reading about people on or a bit over the edge.
Good behind the scenes insight that I love, Helps me understand the game more, It meant a lot more to me since I played high school ball with Carson and could relate to a lot of things he talked about, My latest book, ALONGSIDE HAMILTON, is historical fiction, It tells the story of two unlikely friends who go to Cuba to fight in the Spanish American War, Rory Mac, a poor, fatherless former newsboy goes to rescue his first true love, a Cuban heroine, Hamilton Ton Fish Jr. goes out of principle, to free Cuba, But they go together, and they go as members of Teddy Roosevelts famed Rough Riders, the most uncommon lot of soldiers America has ever seen, Together they face up to the incredible possibilities and harsh realities of life and come to represent the magnificent potential of America itself, Prior, I wrote FALLEN STARS, which looks at the startling lives remarkable times of five war hero American athletes who died in military service My latest book, ALONGSIDE HAMILTON, is historical fiction.
It tells the story of two unlikely friends who go to Cuba to fight in the Spanish American War, Rory Mac, a poor, fatherless former newsboy goes to rescue his first true love, a Cuban heroine, Hamilton "Ton" Fish Jr. goes out of principle, to free Cuba, But they go together, and they go as members of Teddy Roosevelts famed Rough Riders, the most uncommon lot of soldiers America has ever seen, Together they face up to the incredible possibilities and harsh realities of life and come to represent the magnificent potential of America itself, Prior, I wrote FALLEN STARS, which looks at the startling lives remarkable times of five war hero American athletes who died in military service from the lateth century Spanish American war to America'sst century war in Afghanistan.
The men covered in FALLEN STARS are Pat Tillman NFL standout who died serving in Afghanistan, Bob Kalsu Okla, Sooner All American, only NFL player killed in Vietnam War, Nile Kinnick Heisman Trophy winner, World War II pilot, Hobey Baker WWI pilot, Princeton football standout, hockey great, and Ham Fish crew champion, boxer, first Rough Rider killed in the Spanish American War.
Thest CENTURY ADVENTURES of HUCKLEBERRY FINN, covers the remarkable story of how, one hundred and seventy years after falling into an Arctic ice hole, Huck Finn is discovered, thawed out, and brought back to life, unleashing his original personality upon the modern world.
UNDERBELLY HOOPS is a memoir about my days playing professional basketball in the Continental Basketball Association CBA, AMERICAN HOOPS covers the history of the U, S. Men's Olympic Basketball team from Berlin to Beijing, And BEFORE THE CURSE is a collection of vintage Chicago Cubs articles, with introductions to the articles by Dr, Randy Roberts and me. In, I earned a Ph, D. in history from Purdue, and inI completed an MBA at DePaul, I'm the head men's basketball coach at the University of the Incarnate Word, My wife Christy, essentially superwoman, and I have six children, Word Up! sitelink.