Commentator, analyst, author, and all-around pro basketball presence, Charley Rosen may seem like a natural, sprung upon the sports scene with the NBA in his blood. Phil Jackson, Rosen’s longtime collaborator, might agree; after all, he attributes the statement on a plaque on his desk to Charley: “Basketball isn’t just a metaphor for life—it’s more important than that!” And yet how Rosen arrived at his present position comfortably overseeing basketball at its finest is a story as unexpected as it is delightful, documenting basketball travels as unlikely as they are nomadic and eclectic.   Rosen’s story begins during his undergraduate days at Hunter College, where his basketball exploits were equally triumphant and embarrassing, including a pickup game against Wilt Chamberlain. Things really got interesting when he made his way into the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), the breeding ground for nothing less than the second-best gathering of basketball players in the world. In the circus that was the CBA, Rosen found his place alongside Phil Jackson, then the newly hired coach of the Albany Patroons. Life in the CBA, as Rosen tells it, was never dull, with players doing illegal substances on van rides through snowstorms and teams financed by porn producers. His journey from the CBA to a desk at Fox Sports is a one-of-a-kind basketball story—only to be believed in the words of the guy who actually lived it. “Rosen applies a large dollop of humor, much of it self-directed, to his recounting of [his years as a coaching the Continental Basketball Association]. The shining star here isn’t Rosen or any of the players, it’s the game itself. The last half-dozen pages will bring a tear to the eye of anyone for whom the game was—or is—a passion.”—Wes Lukowsky, Booklist starred review     “Fast-paced, fanatical, and broken up by snippets of good-natured humor. . . . Crazy Basketball [is] a great read, for any casual basketball lover, insight into the former crazy league, but also a crazy coach who was a touch softened by it. For [Charley] Rosen, it was not only the Crazy Basketball Association, but his crazy association with basketball.”—Krystina Lucido, Press Box   Published On: 2011-09-15 “[Rosen’s] journey from the [College Basketball Association] to a desk at Fox Sports is a one-of-a-kind basketball story—only to be believed in the words of the guy who actually lived it.”— Foreword   Published On: 2011-03-03 Charley Rosen is an NBA analyst for FOXSports.com and the author of more than a dozen books including The Pivotal Season , The Wizard of Odds , and Players and Pretenders (available in a Bison Books edition). Phil Jackson is head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers and has won eleven NBA titles.