BIO Craig Leener got his start in organized basketball at the age of 9 in a Southern California YMCA youth league. He later secured a roster spot on the varsity squad at Van Nuys High School, where he was considered to be the 13th-best basketball player on a team of 13 players. Craig earned a bachelorâ??s degree in Radio/TV/Film from California State University, Northridge. While at CSUN, he served as a board op at campus radio station KCSN 88.5 FM, engineering live broadcasts of menâ??s basketball games. Today he sits on the board of directors of CSUNâ??s Journalism Alumni Association, where he mentors student journalists. Craig worked in human resources management within the entertainment industry for many years before landing his dream job as a sports journalist at The Signalnewspaper in Santa Clarita, California. One summer, while working as a staff writer for The Signal, he traveled to every Major League Baseball stadium with his son, Zachary, delivering a series of articles from the road on fathers and sons and baseball. Craig lives in the suburbs of Los Angeles with his wife, Andrea, and their two mischievous but well-meaning dogs, Sophie and Beau. Craig purports to be an 87-percent free-throw shooter on his backyard home court, a claim that has never been independently verified. He is a passionate, lifelong opponent of the instant replay in sports. â??This Was Never About Basketballâ?? is Craigâ??s debut novel. BOOK SUMMARY Seventeen-year-old high school basketball star Ezekiel â??Zekeâ?? Archer has it all: a sweet jump shot, a full-ride scholarship to a Midwestern basketball powerhouse, and the brightest future. But when Zekeâ??s temper gets the better of him in the city championship, he is expelled from school, has to forfeit his scholarship, and is left to ponder his once-hopeful future. While finishing his final high school days in the California educational systemâ??s version of purgatory, Zeke makes a stunning discovery. With the help of a young autistic classmate Zeke befriends, he learns that the mysterious 7th Dimension, which brought basketball to Earth more than a century ago, has decided to take the game away for good â?? all because of the ugly event Zeke set into motion in his final game! As he embarks on the ultimate cross-country road trip to save basketball, Zeke must confront his unsettled past â?? including a father heâ??s not heard from in years and a brother fighting in a war half a world away â?? in order to set his life on the right path and rescue the game he loves.