The Subway Series
From the Bridegrooms and Giants to the Mets and Yankees, discover 136 years of epic clashes that made the Subway Series a legendary rivalry. For nearly thirty years, the modern-day tradition of the Subway Series has featured epic moments and iconic players squaring off to capture ultimate New York baseball bragging rights. With origins predating the advent of Gotham City's subway system in 1904, the clash between New York's original American Association (AA) clubs: the Metropolitans and Atlantics along with their original National League (NL) baseball counterpart, the Gothams, is a tradition that dates back over 143 years. After adopting new nicknames in the seasons following their inception, the Yankees, formerly known as the Highlanders (AL), met the Dodgers (Brooklyn transferred to NL in 1890) and Giants, a combined thirteen times in the World Series. Unfortunately, both of New York's NL clubs left for the West Coast following the 1957 MLB season. Upon Branch Rickey and William Shea delivering NL baseball back to New York in 1962, the revival of The Mayor's Trophy Game saw the Amazin's and Pinstripes lock horns in exhibition play for parts of nineteen years from 1963-79 and-1982-83. Following a 14-year hiatus in the area rivalry, the modern-day Subway Series took shape in 1997; conjuring up the same mystique and bad blood that existed in the late nineteenth century. Tag along on a memorable journey into New York baseball's celebrated past to relive the truly unforgettable milestones and legendary moments that built the Subway Series into the longstanding rivalry that it is today.
Rise of the Villans
Featuring exclusive interviews with Unai Emery, Monchi, Ollie Watkins, John McGinn, Pau Torres and more, this is the behind-the-scenes account of Unai Emery's Aston Villa revolution, from the award-winning Sunday Times bestseller Guillem Balagu矇. In October 2022, Unai Emery was appointed manager of Aston Villa. Despite being one of England's most historic football clubs, Emery was taking charge of a team in turmoil and hovering above the relegation zone in the Premier League. But in his very first match, Villa produced a statement victory, deftly beating Manchester United 3-1 at Villa Park. It was a sign of things to come. Guillem Balagu矇 has had unparalleled access to Unai Emery, his backroom staff and the Aston Villa squad ever since the Spaniard was appointed manager in 2022. From Emery's early years growing up in the Basque region to becoming one of the most exciting coaches managing today, Rise of the Villans reveals the inner workings of Emery's psyche. Featuring exclusive interviews with Emery himself, as well as key players such as Villa captain John McGinn and star striker Ollie Watkins, it charts the journeys of both Emery and Aston Villa over the last three decades, offering a comprehensive and compelling narrative of why they are the perfect match. Exploring Emery's management of the Midlands side, the book outlines how he has transformed them into an exciting side renowned for their direct passing, high energy and devastating counter attacks. After a 7th placed finish in his first season in charge, Emery's Villa continued their fine form in the 2023-24 season, finishing 4th and qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in over four decades. With the Holte End roaring into life as Villa Park welcomed the return of European football's most prestigious club competition, it was clear for all to see: Unai Emery had awoken the sleeping giant.
The Soccer 100
A celebration of the beautiful game and its 100 greatest players, from the pre-World War II exploits of Dixie Dean to the modern-day genius of Kylian Mbapp矇 and Lionel MessiThese players left legacies, redefined the game with trademark skills, and grew into national icons. They have their stats--the goals, the wins, the trophies--but, more importantly, they have their stories. One World Cup winner owned a nightclub that briefly transformed a corner of industrial Germany into one of the hippest places around. An Austrian forward's death is still shrouded in mystery. A striker who might have become a telephone technician had he not been spotted playing soccer was eventually elected president of his country. And there are unanswered questions. How did Pel矇's Brazil shirt from the 1958 World Cup quarterfinal go missing in a Welsh school? Which goalkeeper was so good that one opponent considered scoring against him akin to "winning a trophy"?Through extensive research and interviews, The Athletic soccer staff, led by Oliver Kay and James Horncastle, discovered angles and tales that shine a new light on the sport's most compelling characters.They faced an impossible riddle, too: Of the thousands of players to hit the pitch, who is the best? Their efforts to find the answer took the foremost sports newsroom on a journey, and what emerges is more than a ranking. Through all-new, vivid portraits of each athlete, The Soccer 100 is a tribute to the greatest players to have ever graced the most popular sport on the planet.
The Why Is Everything
When Kyle Shanahan became the NFL's youngest offensive coordinator in 2008, he had one prevailing rule: Tell me the why. If a colleague couldn't justify his position by providing the unassailable reasoning behind it, he was told to get the hell out of Shanahan's office. Shanahan and the members of his coaching tree--including Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Raheem Morris, and Matt LaFleur--came up in a sport where innovation was the exception, not the rule. There had been brilliant football minds before, from Paul Brown to Bill Walsh to Bill Belichick. But for the most part, coaches learned a particular system and stuck to it no matter what--no matter the players on their team, no matter what the opponent might do.This group of young coaches would change all that. The Why Is Everything is the story of old dogmas falling before astonishingly creative new strategies and game plans. Drawing on unmatched access across the league, longtime NFL reporter Mike Silver takes us into the key moments in this still-unfolding revolution, from the education of Mike Shanahan, Kyle's father and a two-time Super Bowl champion, in the 1980s; to the Washington Redskins' football laboratory in the early 2010s, where the coaches first worked together, shocking the league with their cutting-edge scheme for rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III; to McVay's Super Bowl victory in 2022 and Kyle Shanahan's Super Bowl agony in 2019 and 2024.Less than a decade after their emergence, these men are the stars of their profession and have helped propel the NFL to new heights of viewership and drama. With The Why Is Everything, Silver reveals how it all happened, and in the process gives us a timeless account of friendship, rivalry, and the never-ending pursuit of perfection.
Squash
Updated and with a new afterword from the author, this definitive history of squash by journalist James Zug is a must-read for squash lovers and sports history buffs alike, capturing the evolution of one of America's greatest games. Step into the fast-paced world of squash with this ultimate deep dive into one of America's fastest-growing sports. This newly updated edition of Squash packs in fresh stories and insights, charting the racquet sport's evolution. From its scrappy beginnings in the 1850s, when English schoolboys invented the game in alleys and yards, to its arrival on US soil in 1884, squash has grown into a global phenomenon. Award-winning journalist James Zug takes readers on a fascinating journey, exploring defining moments like the pivotal shift in the 1990s from the one court size to another, a change that propelled the US to international squash dominance. The game has over 1.6 million players in this country, a growing presence in schools and colleges, and is on the brink of its next big milestone--making its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. Packed with vibrant profiles of squash legends, Zug's narrative goes beyond the court. He uncovers the game's rich cultural roots, tracing its elite origins and its expansion into public and commercial clubs. Along the way, he captures the passion, drama, and camaraderie that make squash so much more than just a sport. In the tradition of iconic sports histories like David Halberstam's The Amateurs, Squash isn't just for players--it's for anyone who loves a great story. Whether you're a seasoned athlete or curious newcomer to the game, this is your definitive guide to the lasting legacy of squash.
Lionel Messi - Fan Book
This book celebrates a once-in-a-lifetime genius and this dazzling career charting how Lionel Messi rewrote the record books and redefined how soccer should be played. Celebrated as the greatest soccer player in the history of the game, Lionel Messi's record-breaking career is a story of unprecedented goals and glory. The Inter Miami CF and Argentina superstar's remarkable achievements have made him one of the world's most famous athletes and a player who is always synonymous with entertainment, style and passion. When Messi joined MLS in the summer of 2023, his transfer to Inter Miami made headlines worldwide and with his first full league season starting in February, renewed Messi mania is set to sweep America. No one has been named FIFA World Player of the Year more than the eight times Messi has won the coveted award, while his seven Ballon d'Or triumphs are also a record. The scorer of more than 800 goals for club and country, he captained Argentina to victory at the 2022 World Cup and boasts more than 40 major domestic and international winner's medals in his extraordinary personal collection.
We the Raptors
We the Raptors: Thirty Players, Thirty Stories, Thirty Years is about the grinders, glue guys, bench heroes, and more. Alvin Williams, Jos矇 Calder籀n, T. J. Ford, Jonas Valanciunas, Danny Green--whether regular or part-time starters, role players, key cogs, or even short-term stars--all of them felt blessed to call Canada home. Foreword by Kyle Lowry Amir Johnson immediately fell in love with the diversity of the country. From special events with fans to Zombie Walks down Yonge Street, few players connected with Toronto--on and off the floor--more than Amir. At the age of thirty, Anthony Parker--known as the "Michael Jordan of EuroLeague"--finally found his place in the NBA with the Raptors, a role that had eluded him as a young draftee and during his six seasons overseas. NBA vet and Toronto native Jamaal Magloire mentored younger players in the shadow of his brother's murder in Regent Park. Bismack Biyombo, a fan favourite for his big, burly play and endless energy, couldn't decide which team to sign with as a free agent, until a phone call from Masai Ujiri made the choice easy. The Junkyard Dog, Jerome Williams, drove himself to Toronto in a snowstorm, becoming in the process one of the most recognizable players in franchise history. Matt Bonner, dubbed the Red Mamba by none other than Kobe Bryant, emerged as a national hero after going toe to toe in the post with Kevin Garnett. Jorge Garbajosa, a superstar in Italy and his native Spain, gambled on a second career at the age of twenty-eight, becoming the hustle and heart of a playoff-bound Raptors squad only to see his NBA dreams crumble in a career-ending on-court injury. Every team has unheralded but dogged players but none more so than the expansion-era Raptors, a team that many NBA players and free agents often ignored--until the Raptors became one of the most interesting and winningest teams in the league. This rich tapestry comes alive in We the Raptors, as told by Raptors radio voice Eric Smith and Andrew Bricker through thirty exclusive interviews with former and current Raptors. Every bounce, every rebound, every elbow to the face--this is a rare view of the NBA through the eyes of those who made it to the pinnacle of their profession.
If These Walls Could Talk: Pittsburgh Steelers
A behind-the-scenes perspective on Pittsburgh Steelers history from franchise legend Craig Wolfley As a longtime presence with the Pittsburgh Steelers as both a player and broadcaster, Craig Wolfley knew what it meant to live and breathe Steelers football. In If These Walls Could Talk: Pittsburgh Steelers, Wolfley opens up about his life and career in Pittsburgh and provides insight into the team's inner sanctum as only he can. Featuring conversations with players and coaches past and present as well as off-the-wall anecdotes only Wolfley could tell, this indispensable volume is your ticket to Steelers history.
The Next One
Behind the scenes to hockey's hidden superstars, the scouts who chase teenage prodigies and might-never-bes across North America and around the world. If you attend any junior, minor, or professional hockey game and you'll spot them, often up in the rafters, alone, busily taking notes and calling their general managers. These are the scouts, the men and women who have made the job into a lifestyle, chasing players across borders, working the locals, chatting with retired hockey people, and visiting remote communities in hopes of finding "the next one." Yes, they scout the likes of Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard and even Wayne Gretzky, but scouts really make their mark by finding players who will fit in up and down the lineup: the scorer having trouble finding the net; the goalie who stands on her head to keep her team in the game; the quiet winger who arrives at the rink first and leaves last. Scouts don't just birddog talent, they evaluate character and grit and drive, looking for players who can play even a handful of games in the bigs. Hockey's favourite raconteur, Ken Reid, tells us all about this secret club. One scout found himself squeezed into a small car with a bunch of other scouts, including Hall of Fame goalie Glenn Hall. Former NHLer and pro scout Rick Knickle followed Jordin Tootoo of remote Rankin Inlet, even though Tootoo didn't start playing the game until he was eleven years old. One scout worked at a maximum-security prison, only to find himself as a pro scout. Another scout went from a farmer who tried his hand at scouting to being a scout who happened to own a farm. And Reid takes us behind the scenes at the nascent PWHL, where teams furiously scouted their starting lineups with only a few weeks before the season began. Always entertaining, often illuminating, and sometimes hilarious, The Next One is the ideal book for anyone who wants to understand hockey beyond the ice.
A Hollywood Ending
NBA journalist Yaron Weitzman lays out the high stakes drama happening inside the Lakers' organization as they try to juggle the warring priorities between LeBron James and the Buss family. When LeBron James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, it looked like a match made in heaven. Here was the preeminent athlete of his generation, fresh off ending Cleveland's 50-year title drought and in need of a new challenge to help further burnish his legacy, joining forces with one of the most iconic teams in all of sports. And here were the Lakers, in the midst of their worst stretch in franchise history and reeling from the death of the legendary owner Dr. Jerry Buss, in need of a savior. The script wrote itself. A little over two years later, LeBron and Dr. Buss' daughter, Jeanie, were standing shoulder to shoulder, hoisting the NBA finals trophy into the air. Having won their record-tying 17th NBA title, the Lakers had reclaimed their accustomed perch on top of the basketball world. It looked to be the birth of a new dynasty. But this was a new Lakers' franchise, one beset by infighting and years removed from Kobe's prime. And this was LeBron James, the catalyst of the "player empowerment" era, an athlete chasing things greater than Michael Jordan's ghost. The two parties were too big to peacefully coexist under one roof. The 2020 title would represent the pinnacle of their pairing, and the beginning of a precipitous decline. Drawing from over 250 interviews, Yaron Weitzman takes readers on a riveting, behind the scenes journey of this fraught partnership. From the Succession-like power struggle between the Buss children, to the rise of LeBron's landscape-altering talent agency and its attempts to assert its own power within the Lakers' walls, to the evolution of LeBron's priorities and political voice, "A Hollywood Ending" is the definitive story of an American icon's final years on stage, one portraying him, a fabled NBA franchise, and the world of modern professional sports in a light never seen before.
A Big Mess in Texas
The incredible, untold true story of the 1952 Dallas Texans--the most dysfunctional team in the craziest season in NFL history. Rattlesnakes on the practice field, barroom brawls between teammates, bounced checks, paternity suits, house bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, stadium fields covered in circus-elephant dung, one-legged trainers, humiliating defeats, miraculous wins, All-Pro quarterbacks getting drunk at halftime, strip poker with groupies, and even a future Hall of Fame coach stealing a cab. Nearly lost to history, this singular season in the most football-mad region of the world is a kaleidoscope of every larger-than-life, fictionalized Texas football folktale ever written or filmed, with one incredible twist: it's all true. Over a fascinating, ten-month rollercoaster ride in 1952, in the waning Wild West days of the NFL, before television turned the game into a corporation, the forgotten Dallas Texans would go down in history as one of the worst (and, wildest) teams of all time and the last NFL team to fail. But not before defying the Jim Crow South, pulling off a Thanksgiving Day miracle against George Halas's famed Chicago Bears and then celebrating with an even more infamous bender that would make Jimmy Johnson's Dallas Cowboys blush. A year later, the NFL buried all traces of the most loveable, dysfunctional, entertaining team in history by secretly rebranding the train wreck Texans as the wholesome, all-American Baltimore Colts, the team that would go on to save pro football. A Big Mess in Texas tells the Texans' tale with all the humor, drama, game action, colorful characters, villains, world-class athletes, civil rights trailblazers, and incredible plot twists of that legendary season.
Sports Illustrated the Boston Red Sox
Celebrate the championship glory, Hall of Fame personalities, and passionate fans that make the Boston Red Sox one of the most historic franchises in baseball Once an intrepid expansion club, the Boston Red Sox have now thrilled their loyal fans for well over a century. Sports Illustrated(TM) celebrates the franchise with The Boston Red Sox, an extraordinary collection of classic stories and photographs from the pages of SI. This commemorative book recalls the most memorable pennant races and World Series victories while spotlighting legendary stars like Ted Williams, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Carl Yastrzemski, and Carlton Fisk. Red Sox fans will unearth countless gems from their team's past on each page of this celebration.
LaFleur
A celebration of one of the most electric and magnetic hockey players of all time--the incomparable Guy Lafleur--in the words of his peers and admirers, from Joe Sakic to Chris Nilan. Foreword by Wayne Gretzky. Guy Lafleur. The name alone sizzles on the tongue, eliciting memories of Lafleur's tremendous flow (in Quebec he is nicknamed "The Demon Blond"), his on-ice flair, his fiery play, and his incredible touch. He was fast and furious, the modern-day version of the legendary Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Lafleur played for the Canadiens during the Habs's fabulous seventies era when they won multiple Stanley Cups. Lafleur was the '70s, from his wardrobe to his hairstyle to his sideburns. He not only fought for the league lead in scoring--he was known to go to discos and even put out his own disco album. He absolutely mesmerized a generation of fans, changed the culture, and has influenced future draft classes ever for a generation. For the first time, authors Steven Finn (who played with Lafleur) and Pierre Gince reveal an intimate portrait of Lafleur, the player and the man, in the words of those who enjoyed him, or who spent all their ice time pointlessly chasing him down the wing. Every chapter evokes different memories of the man nicknamed in English Canada as The Flower. Gilbert Perreault, who battled Lafleur at centre for almost two decades, is here. As is Scotty Bowman, who coached Lafleur, and Larry Robinson and Serge Savard, the Hall of Fame defencemen who skated behind him. Joe Sakic and Steven Finn recount their days playing with Lafleur when he was a Quebec Nordique. Lanny McDonald and Darryl Sittler share their thoughts on Lafleur's rivalry with the Toronto Maple Leafs. In all, there are forty profiles by forty prominent players, coaches, family, and media, all of whom admired le Demon Blond.
Nfl: The Ultimate Fan's Guide
From the draft to the Superbowl, via epic touchdowns and crunching tackles, football is a fast and violent game of chess. This comprehensive handbook offers a deep dive into the NFL's greatest teams and moments. Covering key concepts such as the importance of field goals, quarterbacks and wide receivers, NFL: The Fan's Guide reveals the extreme athleticism and complex tactics needed to dominate the modern game. Whether you're a seasoned fan or new to the game, insights into all 32 NFL teams mean that this must-have guide will take your game day experience to new heights.
Sideline CEO
From ESPN's correspondent Marty Smith-- a book of key leadership principles learned from championship coaches he's interviewed over the past two decades. Sideline CEO delves into the unique psychology and daily preparation and gameplan execution of some of America's most respected leaders--the coaches who have led hugely successful programs to win it all. In talking to these sideline CEOs, Marty develops a set of leadership pillars that include: Building vital TRUST within the organization. Creating open lines of COMMUNICATION. DELEGATING responsibility--and thereby empowerment--to your coaches and players. Establishing and sustaining the RIGHT CULTURE in your program. MANAGING CRISES and adversity. EVOLVING with the game, the players and society, and always challenging your team. Packed with insight, candor and keen storytelling from some of the greatest coaches of all time, Sideline CEO offers valuable takeaways that go beyond the game and can help set intentions for winning in our daily lives.
