Settling A Score Scored an Orange Badge from Amazon

What great news! My short story, Settling A Score is a No. 1 New Release in Teen & Young Adult Baseball Fiction.

Authors often write about what they know, and this story is as much my childhood as any other. Little league baseball, playoff games, an older brother, sibling rivalry, Bronx-street games, and the 1960s-70s were all part of my childhood. While the names and locale may be different for many of us, the basics are universal, as we have all played in the big game, felt like a loser, and experienced rivalries while trying to figure out who we were at a time when we were still toying with the building blocks of our identity—still children maneuvering through storms without the gas tank of experience that steadies our adult life. 

The Birth of Madness: The Man Who Changed Basketball

Sylvester Stallone has about as much to do with the resurrection of Hank Luisetti than anyone. 

When Rocky was released in 1976, I was a sophomore at Monsignor Scanlan High School in the Bronx, and my life’s goal was to become a film actor. I was bitten by the acting bug in 1973 when Ron MacFarland, a dynamic teacher at my grade school, put on a rock and roll musical. 

Prior to that, when grownups asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d say doctor, lawyer, or centerfielder for the New York Yankees. 

After high school, I went to Queens College for a year, dropped out, and enrolled in H.B. Studio acting school in the summer of ‘79. I worked as a waiter at night, attended acting classes during the day, and life was good. 

However in 1981, I made two decisions that dramatically altered my direction: I got engaged to be married, and I went into my own business—assuming that if I were the boss I’d have control over my life. I’d have to quit acting school for a while, but I was convinced that it would all pay off in the end. 

Madness - A Fictionalized Novel Based on the Basketball Achievements of Hank Luisetti

Madness is a historical fiction novel based on the basketball achievements of Hank Luisetti.
Some actual events, aspects, and characters have been fictionalized.

Only on Amazon

Madness is available as a screenplay. 

Inquire at greentbooks@hotmail.com

Who’s the greatest basketball player ever? 

The majority of searches say Michael Jordan, but many others oppose this. While Jordan’s rank is debatable, a respectable dream team would include Kevin Durant, Bill Russell, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dr. J, Tim Duncan, Jerry West, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird, Shaquille O'Neal, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Stephen Curry, Michael Jordan, and Hank Luisetti. 

Chances are, you've never heard of Hank Luisetti, but this wouldn’t be a legitimate discussion without the Hall of Fame legend whose celebrity caused a basketball revolution. 

James Naismith invented basketball in 1891; Hank Luisetti reinvented it in 1936. 

Hank changed basketball’s genetic footprint when he popularized the one-handed shot. He could jump so high and stay up so long he seemed to defy gravity. Was Luisetti better than Jordan? That’s impossible to say because they played in different eras, but Hank Luisetti was basketball’s first superstar and what he did for the game was unprecedented. 

Madness is the intriguing story of Hank Luisetti --- the predawn of March Madness --- and how modern basketball was born.