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The First Tip-Off: The Incredible Story of the Birth of the NBA |  | Author: Charley Rosen
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $7.05
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Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 838986
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 0071487859
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.323640973
EAN: 9780071487856
ASIN: 0071487859
Publication Date: September 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"Charley Rosen has undertaken the challenge of documenting the latest and greatest history of the game professionally--and has done so to great success. . . . . When I finished the book it seemed as if I had gone through another season, injuries and all. . . . Rosen skillfully leads readers through the NBA's first steps along its journey toward what it has become today.”
--Phil Jackson, from the Foreword "Rosen, a wonderful sportswriter . . . had forgotten more basketball history than the best fans will ever know."
Booklist, on No Blood, No Foul Go back to a time when basketball players wore knee pads and itchy cotton jerseys. When even the team's leaders were grateful for dry towels, hot showers, and $60 paychecks. When winning was all that mattered. In this vividly rendered and meticulously researched book, endorsed with a Foreword by Los Angeles Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, sportswriter Charley Rosen takes you on a rollicking tour of the NBA's first season. Filled with rare archival photographs and exclusive interviews, The First Tip-Off brings to life a cast of unforgettable characters--including Chuck Connors, clown prince of the BAA, and Jumping Joe Fulks, ex-Marine turned basketball's first superstar--as Rosen deftly unfolds the dramatic events of that formative season. It's enough to make you believe once again in the spirit of the sport.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Cool stuff March 11, 2009
David H. Peterzell (San Diego, CA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Charley Rosen has immersed himself in the first years of the NBA (atually the BAA) and produced two new, enjoyable books. One is best characterized as non-fiction (The First Tip-Off), and the other is best characterized (more or less) as fiction (No Blood, No Foul). Real-life characters and situations from the early history of the league inhabit both books, albeit painted in different ways. Not surprisingly, I'm finding that the two books go better together. The second book is about about the life-transformations of an all-too-human basketball-loving vet who through some of the book finds himself working as a ref for the BAA, warts and all. ("No blood, no foul" refers to how the refs in the league were supposed to call the games, at one point. The title is reminiscent of Chick Hearn's old line, "No Harm, No Foul".) I hope to describe in a later review how the books jibe together. I'm a bit surprised that the books weren't marketed together more aggressively. But "The First Tip-Off" certainly can stand on its own two feet without the other book, so here is my review of it...
Rosen tells the story of how the league (BAA; soon to become the NBA) was founded, as well as each team's story. It covers the playoffs, including the rather baffling playoff brackets that followed an archaic scheme that used to be used for hockey playoffs.
Even if the teams and names are not familiar, the stories are amusing and poignant given the realities of postwar America. As a starting point, Rosen had access to 45 hours of interviews with key people from that first season (interviews were conducted by Phil Berger in from '81 to '82). Add to that Rosen's sense of the era (including, e.g., the difficulties attracting fans during hard times, corruption, flawed technologies [including obsolete airplanes that had frequent midair malfunctions while transporting players] and cultural attitudes following WWII), and you can imagine how the story gains momentum.
Rosen has (and perhaps Berger had) a knack for catching the offbeat behaviors that in many ways defined the new league. To wit, here are just a few of them:
--One member of the Providence Steamrollers stuck chewing gum in his ear to calm himself during stressful games.
--Members the Washington Capitols carried a wooden Buddha-like figure for good luck... until their luck... and its luck... ran out.
--The coach of the St Lewis Bombers (a lawyer, pop pianist, and poet) nearly made good on his philosophy that "in order to achieve team unity and singleness of purpose, all players should hate the coach."
--The Washington Capitols stopped a game while their mascot, a big, mean, rodent-killing alley cat, had kittens... much to the joy of the cheering fans.
Modern-day fans of the game will find things that will interest them. For instance, one can learn about how the NY Nicks got their name. Or one can learn about Red Auerbach's early career for better and ... worse. Rosen's presentation featuring Red is part description and part evisceration, IMHO. One can learn about how many conventions in NBA basketball were influenced by its association with hockey. Not to be missed is the chapter "of money, time, and justice," with its discussion of the league's decisions regarding race, corruption, on-court violence, and other eternal, socially-relevant issues.
If I had a wish, it would be that Rosen, or somebody, had a website in which one could make additions or corrections to the stories in the book. Although Rosen captured parts of the stories, and the opinions of some, there are always others who have different versions of key events.
At this point, I'm a diehard Rosen fan. I read his MSN/Fox column regularly, and I've read a few of his books. I think it is great that Rosen has written this book and that he's carried it off in entertaining fashion.
Anyway... thumbs up! Highly recommended.
Charley Rosen - The Premiere Basketball Historian and Lover December 28, 2008
Michael Idlis (Jupiter, FL)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
From fact to fiction, Charley Rosen is today's premiere Basketball historian and storyteller. The First Tip-Off brings to life the extreme beginnings of the NBA, where barnstorming across the country in a crowded van was the norm, and the game was played for the love of the sport. Nobody gets to the heart of the game like Charley Rosen. I am always religously looking forward to another writing from him. The bottom line on Charley Rosen is this: He has actually TOUCHED the Holy Grail (the original rules of basket ball)...need I say more?
Michael Idlis - Jupiter, FL
 Disapointing!!!! October 28, 2008
Pistol Pete Fanatic (New Orleans, LA,)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Just read this book last night. Interviews of the living would have corrected the interviews of the dead. Appreciate the homage to Phil Berger, since I knew and worked with Phil. The information would have been better written if it was fact checked. For example: The majority of players were called by Paul Birch to play on his team. NONE of them liked him, because of his temper. Birch wanted to play the game for his players, not coach them. Press knew Birch from his playing days, and did idolize him. He also outscored him when he played against Birch, which started the rivalry played out in the Ironmen's season. Birch also didn't like that the other players respected Press. Birch benched Press for most of the season. Eddie Melvin aka Bebbers Milkovich did play at Duquesne, NOT Press Maravich. Press was academically unable to attend. Bebbers Milkovich was Press' childhood friend as well as peer. Press finally attended Davis and Elkins college after attending night school for academic eligibility. Would have appreciated an interview with the Lalich brothers or Pete Lalich since they were there and Pete is still alive. Pictures of the Ironmen would have been great as well. I didn't know what to believe since the most of the facts were untrue or distorted. Sorry, this had the makings for a great book.
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