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Loose Balls  By  cover art

Loose Balls

By: Terry Pluto
Narrated by: Bo Foxworth, Jack Garrett, William Harper, Michael McConnohie, J. D. Jackson, P. J. Ochlan
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Publisher's summary

What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association.

The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today's NBA is still -- decades later -- just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball.

Loose Balls is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It's a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports -- told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league's nine seasons.

©1990 Terry Pluto (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Memories for the middle aged male

I grew up in North Carolina in the early seventies and I was occasionally able to watch the Carolina Cougars. The ABA was a freewheeling league, where a lot of weird things happened; and the game appeared to be a lotta fun; both for the fans and the players. I watched the game where George McGinnis set a new rebounding record by banging the ball of the rim and backboard and catching it a few times. I can still remember the voice of the Cougars; Bob Laney of WSOC-AM doing the play-by-play as I lay in my room on the bottom bunk at night while my little brother slept in the top bunk.

When I originally listened to this book the narrator was horrible, now there are several different voices telling the story and when they quote the players, coaches, executives of the league it even sounds like them. There are limits to how relevant some of the information is since this book was originally published in 1990. The changes in the world , not to mention the world of professional basketball have been legion in the last 30 years. If you're a hard-core fan of the ABA; or a fan of old school hoops from the seventies; this will probably be an excellent listen for you. For those who weren't even alive during the time of the ABA it is a look back at a world that might be hard to conceive of in today's sports climate. It was a mirror as to what the sport would become; The 3 point shot began there as did the original slam dunk contest. The league was years ahead of the NBA in promoting stars instead of teams, and focusing on providing the fans a show if not always great basketball. So like the fans of this mostly forgotten league did back in the day, sit back and enjoy.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good read only if you lived then

If you're a basketball fan and lived during the ABA heyday and knew the great players from back then, it's a great story. However, it's too long and the narrators regularly mispronounced names which was a real distraction

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Interesting Read

This is a very well researched and interesting book. I did not realize how much the NBA tool from the ABA.

I also did not realize how many great players came rom the ABA.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

It's pronounced de bush er. Not debooshay

A fine oral history with just one GIANT caveat. Mispronounced names are never ending. Through the entire book. The fact the pronunciations even change for the same name during the same chapters. From chapter one thru the conclusion it is non stop.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Basketball Heart

You know that you have a basketball heart when you spend the better part of two days listening to this book. I know that some of the inside stories are just a crock; The story about how the Dr. got his nickname has been proven incorrect buy the Doctor himself. So when you know that piece of information it does reduce the credibility of the rest of the "insider" story. However, if you love basketball and lived a few of these stories yourself then sitting down for an afternoon with this Audible book is not such a bad way to spend the afternoon.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great Stories of a fun league

The ABA is presented as something that was almost started on a whim and only survived through a combination of great ideas, the right investors at the right time, and sheer dumb luck. The multiple readers help you with the oral history nature of it. The owners, coaches, and players all make for fun characters, and it is good for younger NBA fans to learn that many of the best parts of today's game only came in with the NBA/ABA merger. Had a great time listening.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

And I hate sports. Listen to Crime and sports after if you enjoy this book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great in depth history

Detailed account filled with off the wall stories. Good book for any basketball history fan.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fun and an education on some of the building blocks of what we now call the NBA!

What a roller coaster ride this book is. Up, down and around. Surprises around every turn. Too bad that so little is preserved for the annals of history. However, this book allows for the stories to live on through its pages. The narration is mostly done by the actual characters recalling the stories they lived through in their own words.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great History Lesson

I have always heard about the ABA but it was before my time; great to have such a book!

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