Ernie Harwell
For many fans, their lifetime of experience with the Detroit Tigers ensured them that when their team roared, it would be Ernie Harwell's smooth southern voice that would be heard above the din. After 42 years as the "Voice of the Detroit Tigers," the 2002 retirement of Harwell signaled the end of an era. This profile on the famed broadcaster provides the lesser-known details on the background of a Detroit institution. Known for his voice and talent for calling games, fans will be able to know the man himself and what brought him to--and kept him in--the Motor City. The only play-by-play broadcaster to cover games across seven decades, Harwell saw (and accumulated accompanying stories about) everyone from Babe Ruth to Ichiro Suzuki, many of which are shared in this entertaining biography.
Coaching Youth Baseball
The quickest way to become an experienced coach.You thought you were going to sign your kid up for the local youth league. Now, here you are, a newly appointed coach. Part of the successful Baffled Parent's series, Coaching Youth Baseball has everything you need to manage, motivate, and encourage an eight to twelve -year-old ball team.Written by a four-time New England Coach of the Year, it shows novice coaches exactly how to go about building skills, developing teamwork and sportsmanship, and creating an experience that both kids and coach enjoy.Bill Thurston leaves no question unanswered. He addresses both broad organizational issues like how to get uniforms or arrange for practice time and more focused specifics like what to do at the first practice. The Baffled Parents Guide is the ultimate coaching guide for the uninformed.
Golf's Short Game For Dummies
Easy-to-grasp techniques for improving the short game About 70 percent of the shots in a round of golf are taken 75 yards from the pin or closer, making the short game the most significant factor in a golfer's score. This practical guide shows readers how to shave strokes off their game by improving their pitching, chipping, bunker play, and putting. Golfers will find expert tips on choosing the right wedges, putters, and balls, as well as illustrated step-by-step instructions on swings used in short-game shots. They'll also find information on how to beat bunkers and other hazards and how to play various lies-in deep rough, from the fairway, uphill, side-hill, and off bare ground. There's also a section on stretches, exercises, and drills to improve techniques, as well as tips on reading greens for accurate putting. Michael Patrick Sheils (Birmingham, MI) is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America. He has written four books, and his articles and columns have appeared in worldwide magazines and newspapers. Michael Kernicki (Miami Beach, FL) has been a PGA member for 27 years and is currently the Head Professional at the historic Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach.
The Bronx Zoo
This bestselling, highly-acclaimed account is a hilarious but scathing baseball tell-all. After being voted the 1977 American League Cy Young Award winner, Sparky Lyle was rewarded for his efforts by being benched. The Yankees, a leader of free agency, signed Goose Gossage as their closer. Things only went downhill from there and the 1978 season turned out to be one of controversy, firings, fights and acrimony. In short, it was a zoo.
A Course Of Their Own
Bill Spiller was forty-seven when he was forced by desperate finances to caddie at the Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles. One day Spiller was caddying for a member who became outraged by Spiller's stories of inequities and suffering during his golfing career. The golfer urged Spiller to write California's attorney general, who later ordered the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) to cease its discrimination. In 1961 the "Caucasian race" clause was deleted from the PGA constitution. This was an historic decision that gave black golfers the chance to compete at the highest level in the sport. Golf has long been the domain of white men. During the twentieth century, however, African American pioneers such as Lee Elder, Howard Wheeler, and Charlie Sifford broke down the barriers for black golfers who wanted to play, and win, as equals with white golfers. A Course of Their Own looks at golf from the perspectives of these men, who had courage as well as remarkable skills. It tells the stories of their struggles, their bravery, and their passion for the game and puts their lives and contributions into historical perspective. John H. Kennedy has been a journalist for nearly three decades and has worked as a reporter and an editor for the Boston Globe and the Associated Press. He is an assistant professor of communication at Rosemont College in Pennsylvania.
So You Want to Play in the NHL
What does it take to make it in pro hockey? Los Angeles Kings forward Dan Bylsma and his father, Jay, offer a wealth of inside information for young players. Dan Bylsma shares his experiences rising up through the ranks of amateur and professional hockey while giving advice on issues including becoming a team player, knowing the rules, relating to coaches and teammates, and working hard.
Baseball Before We Knew It
It may be America's game, but no one seems to know how or when baseball really started. Theories abound, myths proliferate, but reliable information has been in short supply--until now, when Baseball before We Knew It brings fresh new evidence of baseball's origins into play. David Block looks into the early history of the game and of the 150-year-old debate about its beginnings. He tackles one stubborn misconception after another, debunking the enduring belief that baseball descended from the English game of rounders and revealing a surprising new explanation for the most notorious myth of all--the Abner Doubleday-Cooperstown story. Block's book takes readers on an exhilarating journey through the centuries in search of clues to the evolution of our modern National Pastime. Among his startling discoveries is a set of long-forgotten baseball rules from the 1700s. Block evaluates the originality and historical significance of the Knickerbocker rules of 1845, revisits European studies on the ancestry of baseball which indicate that the game dates back hundreds, if not thousands of years, and assembles a detailed history of games and pastimes from the Middle Ages onward that contributed to baseball's development. In its thoroughness and reach, and its extensive descriptive bibliography of early baseball sources, this book is a unique and invaluable resource--a comprehensive, reliable, and readable account of baseball before it was America's game.
Football Goes East
The development of football as a major participatory sport in Japan, Korea and China makes it an ideal case study for analysis of the complex relationship between sport, culture, society and economy in the East, and the forces of globalization.
Bloody Sundays
An honest, uncensored look at the National Football League that captures the good, the bad, and the bloody. Award-winning sports reporter Michael Freeman goes were few civilians dare: inside the locker rooms, boardrooms, and everywhere in-between to offer an entertaining and provocative portrait of the National Football League. In Bloody Sundays he dissects the NFL, spotlighting the personalities and the politics that shape the game on and off the field, exploring how the game has influenced American life and culture, and identifying the issues and challenges facing the game today--from violence on the field to the maniacal coaching methods of Super Bowl winner Jon Gruden, to physical injury and longevity, to race and labor relations. Here, too, are the legends, heroes, and plays that make the game what it is, including a groundbreaking exclusive interview with an active gay player. Part investigative journalism, part critical analysis, and part tribute, Bloody Sundays uniquely captures the entirety of the league in all its greatness and ugliness.
The Baffled Parent's Guide to Coaching Youth Hockey
"This is a great book that touches on the most important parts of the game: sportsmanship, discipline, and most importantly, fun.--Larry Robinson, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, six-time Stanley Cup ChampionCoach. You thought you were just going to sign up your child for the youth league, but when no one else stepped forward, you volunteered to coach the team. But you can't tell a flip pass from a slap shot or an angle check from a hip check! Don't panic--Coaching Youth Hockey is here to help.From your first team meeting to the season-ending pizza party, Coaching Youth Hockey will get you started and keep you going. You'll learn how to teach the fundamental skills of passing, stickhandling, shooting, and checking. You'll even learn to develop your own coaching style--one that works best for you and your players. Before you know it, you'll be coaching players who are moving, motivated, and most of all, having fun.Survive your first practice and first gameMatch drills to abilityMake practices safe, fun, and rewardingImprove your players and your teamReach all your playersBe the coach you never had"A must-read book that provides guidelines for both parents and coaches in their relationships with young athletes."--Lou Lamoriello, CEO, president, and general manager, New Jersey Devils"Just what hockey needs! Everything you may encounter with young players can be answered in the pages of this extremely well-written book."--Tom McVie, forty-nine years in pro hockey as a player, coach, and scout"I was totally confused about instructing my sons when they played hockey. This book would have prevented me from ever having been baffled."--Stan Fischler, "The Hockey Maven," NHL analyst for MSG SportsDesk, and author of Fischler's Illustrated History of Hockey"Bruce Driver's success as a player came from being a student of the game. He has applied his knowledge of hockey to this coaching guide in an extremely thorough way. A must-read for all youth coaches."--Grant Standbrook, head recruiter and assistant coach, Maine Black Bears; former head coach, Dartmouth College
Autumn Glory
A suspenseful account of the glorious days more than a century ago when our national madness began, the first Major League Baseball World Series. A post-season series of games to establish supremacy in the major leagues was not inevitable in the baseball world. But in 1903 the owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates (in the well-established National League) challenged the Boston Americans (in the upstart American League) to a play-off, which he was sure his team would win. They didn't--and that wasn't the only surprise during what became the first World Series. In Autumn Glory, Louis P. Masur tells the riveting story of two agonizing weeks in which the stars blew it, unknown players stole the show, hysterical fans got into the act, and umpires had to hold on for dear life. Before and even during the 1903 season, it had seemed that baseball might succumb to the forces that had been splintering the sport for decades: owners' greed, players' rowdyism, fans' unrest. Yet baseball prevailed, and Masur tells the equally dramatic story of how it did so, in a country preoccupied with labor strife and big-business ruthlessness, and anxious about the welfare of those crowding into cities such as Pittsburgh and Boston (which in themselves offered competing versions of the American dream). His colorful history of how the first World Series consolidated baseball's hold on the American imagination makes us see what one sportswriter meant when he wrote at the time, Baseball is the melting pot at a boil, the most democratic sport in the world. All in all, Masur believes, it still is.
Hoops Nation
Looking for a game? Here's your guided tour of the country's best pickup basketball courts, from the blacktops of Brooklyn to the asphalt of Anchorage to the gyms of Jackson, Mississippi. It's all inside: where the pros play, the most scenic runs in the land, and a ranking of the top five courts. Chris Ballard and three other former college players piled into a used Chevy van and traveled thirty-one thousand miles in seven months, playing at over a thousand courts in 166 cities in forty-eight states. This is the story of their roundball road trip and a guide to the places, people, and communities they encountered. More than a travel guide, Hoops Nation is "a celebration of the game of basketball as it is played in America." It includes guides to streetball fashion, the lingo of the courts, the etiquette of the pickup world, the tricks of old-guy basketball, and tips for the dunking impaired. Also included are profiles of playground legends and dispatches from the legions of basketball lifers who populate the country's courts. This book can tell you where they're running today, all over America. Who's got next?
Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming
Attended by President Nixon and future president George Bush, Sr., the Texas- Arkansas game of 1969 was about much more than football. It pit war protest against Southern pride, hippie against soldier, fan against fan.
A Whole Different Ball Game
Marvin Miller, the first executive director to the Major League Baseball Players Association, recounts his experience in dealing with club owners and his success in winning a new role for the players. He helped virtually end the system that bound an athlete to one team forever, and thereby raised salaries enormously.
I’ve Got Things to Do With My Life
The inspirational story of Pat Tillman's incredible, heroic journey, this book explores his choice to quit the National Football League to join the elite Army Rangers and serve his country in its war against terrorism. Pat Tillman never backed down from a challenge; in fact, he sought them out his entire life. That life ended tragically and heroically in Afghanistan in April 2004.
Monster Of The Midway
Jim Dent's Monster of the Midway is the story of football's fiercest competitor, the legendary Bronko Nagurski. From his discovery in the middle of a Minnesota field to his 1943 comeback season at Wrigley, from the University of Minnesota to the Hall of Fame, Bronko Nagurksi's life is a story of grit, hard work, passion, and, above all, an unstoppable drive to win.Monster of the Midway recounts Nagurski's unparalleled triumphs during the 1930s and '40s, when the Chicago Bears were the kings of professional football. From 1930, the Bronk's first year, through 1943, his last, the Bears won five NFL titles and played in four other NFL Championship Games. Focusing on Nagurski's 1943 comeback season, and how he miraculously led the Bears to their fourth NFL championship against the backdrop of World War II era Chicago, Jim Dent uncovers the riveting drama of Nagurski's playing days. His efforts were the stuff of legend, and his success in 1943 accomplished in spite of a battered frame, worn-out knees, multiple cracked ribs, and a broken bone in his lower back. While chronicling the drama of the '43 championship chase, Dent also tells of both the Bears' colorful early years and Bronko's improbable rise to fame from the backwoods of northern Minnesota. Woven into the narrative are the sights and smells and sounds of one of the most romantic, flavorful eras of the twentieth century. And laced through it all are stories of legend: Bronko rubbing shoulders with colorful characters like George Halas, Red Grange, Sid Luckman, and Sammy Baugh; Bronko running into (and breaking) the brick wall at Wrigley Field; Bronko winning All-American spots for two positions; Bronko knocking scores of opponents unconscious; and Bronko reaching the heights of football glory and, with rare grace, turning his back on the game after winning his last championship. Rich in unforgettable stories and scenes, this is Jim Dent's account of Bronko Nagurski-arguably the greatest football player who ever lived-and his teammates, the roughest, toughest, rowdiest group of players ever to don leather helmets, and the original Monsters of the Midway.
Coaching High School Basketball
From a 40-year veteran, the only book available devoted to coaching high school basketball In Coaching High School Basketball, Hall of Famer Bill Kuchar presents an indispensable instruction manual for experienced and rookie coaches alike. A combination of classic tactics and new, cutting-edge strategies, this one-of-a-kind handbook provides easyto- read diagrams and instructions, plus dozens of practice drills to reinforce fundamentals and teach innovative moves. Readers will learn how to: Master Kuchar's "double motion offense" Locate, protect, and infiltrate zones Defend against the fast break Use last-second plays for when the game is on the line Make the most of out-of-bounds plays Scout and evaluate junior high school talent Get college coaches to scout their games
Heartbreak Hill
Tim Rosaforte's Heartbreak Hill: Anatomy of a Ryder Cup is a must-read for every weekend golfer and armchair fan. Every two years, twelve men from the United States and twelve men from Europe compete for the pinnacle of professional golf - the Ryder Cup. With scores of telling historical references, Heartbreak Hill is Tim Rosaforte's masterful behind-the-scenes look at the 1995 Ryder Cup matches at the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York. The Ryder Cup competition has brought grown men to tears, caused the iciest veins to overheat, and the world's most intelligent strategists to make mind-boggling errors in judgment. Lanny Wadkins and his "dream team" were supposed to be a sure thing, and as expected, they led the first two days' matches by a substantial two-point margin. Only a miracle could bring European captain Bernard Gallacher and his team back to claim the cup. Rosaforte captures the dramatic holes-in-one, the clutch chips, the joys and numbing disappointments that led to the most spectacular comeback in the sixty-eight year history of the Ryder Cup.
The Smart Take from the Strong
"The strong take from the weak, but the smart take from the strong." So said Pete Carril's father, a Spanish immigrant who worked for thirty-nine years in a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, steel mill. His son stood only five-foot-six but nonetheless became an All-State basketball player in high school, a Little All-American in college, and a highly successful coach. After twenty-nine years as Princeton University's basketball coach, he became an assistant coach with the NBA's Sacramento Kings. In 1997 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Coach Carril inspired his teams with his own strength of character and drive to win, and he demonstrated time and again how a smart and dedicated team could compete successfully against bigger programs and faster, stronger, more athletic players. His teams won thirteen conference championships, made eleven NCAA Tournament appearances, and led the nation in defense fourteen times. Throughout his reflections on a lifetime spent on the basketball court and the bench, Carril demonstrates deep respect for the contest, his empathy and engagement with the players, humility with his own achievements, a pragmatic vision of discipline and fundamentals, and an enduring joy in the game.This is an inspiring and wonderful book, even for those who never made a basket.
Diamonds in the Rough
Pairing their detailed, informative research with a sophisticated anecdotal approach, Joel Zoss and John Bowman have written a fascinating, original, literate, and concise compendium of the history and issues surrounding America's national pastime. Addressed are such diverse topics as the origins of the game, the contributions of minorities and women, the evolution of umpiring, baseball's influence on literature and music, substance abuse, on- and off-field tragedy, and the game's international presence. Diamonds in the Rough is an invaluable and stimulating resource both for those who already study the game and for those who would like to learn its revealing history. Novelist Joel Zoss and historian John Bowman have collaborated on a number of baseball books, including The American and National Leagues: A Complete History and The Pictorial History of Baseball.
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game
Just before the 2002 season opens, the Oakland Athletics must relinquish its three most prominent (and expensive) players and is written off by just about everyone--but then comes roaring back to challenge the American League record for consecutive wins. How did one of the poorest teams in baseball win so many games?In a quest to discover the answer, Michael Lewis delivers not only "the single most influential baseball book ever" (Rob Neyer, Slate) but also what "may be the best book ever written on business" (Weekly Standard). Lewis first looks to all the logical places--the front offices of major league teams, the coaches, the minds of brilliant players--but discovers the real jackpot is a cache of numbers collected over the years by a strange brotherhood of amateur baseball enthusiasts: software engineers, statisticians, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, and physics professors.What these numbers prove is that the traditional yardsticks of success for players and teams are fatally flawed. Even the box score misleads us by ignoring the crucial importance of the humble base-on-balls. This information had been around for years, and nobody inside Major League Baseball paid it any mind. And then came Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics. He paid attention to those numbers?with the second-lowest payroll in baseball at his disposal he had to?to conduct an astonishing experiment in finding and fielding a team that nobody else wanted.In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Michael Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win...how can we not cheer for David?
Playing by the Rules: All the Rules of the Game, Complete with Memorable Rulings
When exactly is a ball considered "lost"? When is a "drop" allowed? How does one define "slow play"? These are just a few of the common -- and not-so-common -- questions answered by golfing legend Arnold Palmer in this comprehensive illustrated guide to the rules of the game. Despite the fact that golf has fewer rules than sports like baseball or football, it is a contest of honor, and all players, from tour professionals to weekend hackers, respect the rules. But, as Palmer points out, sometimes the rules are a little confusing -- and from time to time, even the pros are puzzled. Here, in easy-to-follow language, one of golf's greats explains exactly what every golfer should know about the way the game should be played. Also included are anecdotes Palmer has culled from his own career, as well as the infamous moments in golf history that have helped define and test each rule. If you're one of the millions of avid golfers who take to the links every year, need a clear explanation of all the rules of the game you love, and don't want to be left speechless when an argument over the "coefficient of restitution" pops up, then Playing by the Rules is an invaluable guide you'll refer to time and again.
A Day in the Bleachers
From the subway ride to the ballpark, through batting practice and warm-ups, to the game-winning home run, A Day in the Bleachers describes inning by inning the strategies, heroics, and ineluctable rhythms of the opening game of the 1954 World Series. Here are the spectacular exploits of the Indians and Giants, and of a young player named Willie Mays, who made the most-talked-about catch in baseball history.
Game Time
Roger Angell has been writing about baseball for more than forty years . . . and for my money he's the best there is at it," says novelist Richard Ford in his introduction to Game Time. Angell's famous explorations of the summer game are built on acute observation and joyful participation, conveyed in a prose style as admired and envied as Ted Williams's swing. Angell on Fenway Park in September, on Bob Gibson brooding in retirement, on Tom Seaver in mid-windup, on the abysmal early and recent Mets, on a scout at work in backcountry Kentucky, on Pete Rose and Willie Mays and Pedro Martinez, on the astounding Barry Bonds at Pac Bell Park, and more, carry us through the arc of the season with refreshed understanding and pleasure. This collection represents Angell's best writings, from spring training in 1962 to the explosive World Series of 2002.
The Last Shot
Darcy Frey chronicles the aspirations of four young men as they navigate the NCAA recruitment process, their only hope of escape from a life of crime, poverty, and despair. It ought to be just a game, but basketball on the playgrounds of Coney Island is much more than that. In The Last Shot, the aspirations of a few of the neighborhood's most promising players reveal that what they have going for them (athletic talent, grace, and years of dedication) may not be enough to defeat what's working against them: woefully inadequate schooling, family circumstances that are often desperate, and the slick, brutal world of college athletic recruitment. Incisively and compassionately written, The Last Shot introduces us to unforgettable characters and takes us into their world with an intimacy seldom seen in contemporary journalism. The result is a startling and poignant expos矇 of inner-city life and the big business of college basketball.
I Remember Bobby Jones: Personal Memories and Testimonials from the People Who K
Long before there were Tiger Woods, television, and tournaments with million-dollar purses, Bobby Jones was the most recognized and revered golfer in the world. Memories of Jones continue to burn brightly, as does his indomitable legacy and influence. Nearly thirty years after his death, Jones remains president-in-perpetuity of the Augusta National Golf Club, which he co-founded, the host venue of the annual Masters Golf Tournament. Jones's record stands as a landmark in golf history. By the time he retired from competitive golf in 1930 at the age of twenty-eight, he had won four U.S. Opens, three British Opens, and five U.S. Amateur titles -- all without ever earning a dime for any of his triumphs. Jones's status as the greatest amateur golfer ever was clinched in 1930 when he won the U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. Masters, and British Amateur. That made him the only golfer ever to win all four Grand Slam events in one calendar year. In I REMEMBER BOBBY JONES, dozens of his fellow golfers, journalists, golf industry leaders, friends, relatives, and followers of the game share their favorite memories of him. The portrait is of a man and champion who embodied sportsmanship and brought the words classic and golf together in one phrase.
Memories of Summer
Acclaimed baseball writer Roger Kahn gives us a memoir of his Brooklyn childhood, a recollection of a life in journalism, and a record of personal acquaintance with the greatest ballplayers of several eras. His father had a passion for the Dodgers; his mother's passion was for poetry. Somehow, young Roger managed to blend both loves in a career that encompassed writing about sports for the New York Herald Tribune, Sports Illustrated, the Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, and Time. Kahn recalls the great personalities of a golden era--Leo Durocher, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson, Red Smith, Dick Young, and many more--and recollects the wittiest lines from forty years in dugouts, press boxes, and newsrooms. Often hilarious, always precise about action on the field and off, Memories of Summer is an enduring classic about how baseball met literature to the benefit of both.
Five Seasons
Five Seasons covers the baseball seasons from 1972 through 1976, described as the "most significant half decade in the history of the game." The era was notable for the remarkable individual feats of Hank Aaron, Lou Brock, and Nolan Ryan, among others. It also presented one of the best World Series of all time (1975), including still the greatest World Series game ever played (Game Six). Along with visiting other games and campaigns, Roger Angell meets a trio of Tigers-obsessed fans, goes to a game with a departing old-style owner, watches high-school ball in Kentucky with a famous scout, and explores the sad and astounding mystery of Steve Blass's vanished control. Angell's Five Seasons is a gem and a gift for baseball lovers of all ages.
They Cleared the Lane
Today, Black players compose more than eighty percent of the National Basketball Association's rosters, providing a strong and valued contribution to professional basketball. In the first half of the twentieth century, however, pro basketball was tainted by racism, as gifted African Americans were denied the opportunity to display their talents. Through in-depth interviews with players, their families, coaches, teammates, and league officials, Ron Thomas tells the largely untold story of what basketball was really like for the first Black NBA players, including recent Hall of Fame inductee Earl Lloyd, early superstars such as Maurice Stokes and Bill Russell, and the league's first black coaches. They Cleared the Lane is both informative and entertaining, full of anecdotes and little-known history. Not all the stories have happy endings, but this unfortunate truth only emphasizes how much we have gained from the accomplishments of these pioneer athletes.
Paths to Glory
An essential experience of being a baseball fan is the hopeful anticipation of seeing the hometown nine make a run at winning the World Series. In Paths to Glory, Mark L. Armour and Daniel R. Levitt review how teams build themselves up into winners. What makes a winning team like the 1900 Brooklyn Superbas or the 1917 White Sox or the 1997 Florida Marlins? And how are these teams different? What makes each championship team a unique product of its time? Armour and Levitt provide the historical context to show how the sport's business side has changed dramatically but its competitive environment remains the same. Utilizing new statistics to evaluate a player's value and career patterns, Armour and Levitt explore the teams that took risks, created their own opportunities, and changed the game. How did the Washington Senators achieve the unthinkable and blow past Babe Ruth's Yankees in 1924 and 1925? How did the 1965 Minnesota Twins quickly rise to the top and why did they just as suddenly fall? Did Charlie Finley assemble the last old-fashioned championship team before free agency, or was the Moustache Gang another example of winning by building from within? Why did the star-laden Red Sox of the 1930s keep falling short? In exploring these teams and more, Armour and Levitt analyze the players, the managers, and the executives who built teams to win and then lived with the consequences.
Only the Strong Survive: The Odyssey of Allen Iverson
Part sports star, part antihero, part hip-hop icon, Allen Iverson has managed to cross over into the mainstream of American culture -- without compromise. Defiantly tattooed, with his hair in cornrows, the six-foot Philadelphia 76ers point guard is one of the most recognizable and controversial stars of the sports world. His meteoric rise from a troubled childhood in the ghetto to NBA superstardom has been marked by five straight playoff appearances, including a finals berth in 2001 and an MVP award. From his rap sheet to his rap album, fans and journalists alike hound his every move. But never before has a biographer presented a full portrait of this complicated and intensely private star -- a man whose loyalty to his family, the streets, and his friends trumps any other concern. Filled with exclusive interview material and unprecedented access to many of Iverson's inner circle, Only the Strong Survive is the first in-depth look at the truth behind this newly minted legend.
Baseball and Country Music
The histories of baseball and country music ran in parallel tracks through most of the twentieth century. America's sport and America's music moved from the fringes to the mainstream, gaining exposure and building heroes, first via radio broadcasts and then on the television screen. Both evolved with American society through wartime, the Civil Rights movement, and into the age of multimillion dollar superstars. Don Cusic offers an engaging and insightful analysis that addresses race, gender, class, ethnicity, business practices and marketing, performance, media, and the cult of celebrity.
CBS Sports Presents Stories from the Final Four
Journalists who have covered the NCAA Tournament known as March Madness over the past 25 years share their experiences and opinions in this collection of short stories.
Where They Ain’t
In the 1890s, the legendary Baltimore Orioles of the National League (sic) under the tutelage of manager Ned Hanlon, perfected a style of play known as "scientific baseball, " featuring such innovations as the sacrifice bunt, the hit-and-run, the squeeze play, and the infamous Baltimore chop. Its best hitter, Wee Willie Keeler, had the motto "keep your eye clear and hit 'em where they ain't" -- which he did. He and his colorful teammates, fierce third-baseman John McGraw, avuncular catcher Wibert Robinson, and heartthrob center fielder Joe Kelly, won three straight pennants from 1894 to 1896. But the Orioles were swept up and ultimately destroyed in a business intrigue involving the political machines of three large cities and collusion with the ambitious men who ran the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers. Burt Solomon narrates the rise and fall of this colorful franchise as a cautionary tale of greed and overreaching that speaks volumes as well about the enterprise of baseball a century later.
Augusta
Founded in 1933, the Augusta National Golf Club is the perfect course. Co-designed by legends Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie, Augusta boasts gorgeous fairways and perfectly manicured greens, set against a breathtaking backdrop of azaleas and pines. Every April, the invitation-only Masters Tournament is watched by millions of avid viewers around the globe. But the exclusive club, with a membership comprising some of the world's most powerful and influential men, is also notorious for a legacy of secrets and controversy.Journalist and novelist Steve Eubanks used all of his investigative and storytelling talents to get to the heart of Augusta's turbulent history, including its 44-year rule under the iron fist of Cliff Roberts and his suicide on the club's grounds; the Masters' impetuous yet long-standing relationship with CBS; allegations of racism; and the club's countless, rigid rules (members can even be expelled for wearing their green Augusta blazers outside the club).With 45 inspiring photographs, Eubanks's balanced account also captures the historic moments that evoke deep affection for Augusta, from Dwight Eisenhower teeing off in the days before the Masters was televised to Jack Nicklaus's emotional victory at age 46, 23 years after he won his first green jacket. With a new chapter on Tiger Woods's 1997 triumph and published just in time for the 1998 Masters, Augusta is essential reading for anyone who wants the complete story of American golf's most hallowed ground.e
My Usual Game
My Usual Game chronicles David Owen's funny and enlightening quest to come to terms with a game that has frustrated and fascinated him ever since he was a child. Follow Owen as he rescues his swing at golf school, spends a week with the inventor of the modern golf club, nearly wins a three-day Pro-Am at a tournament on the PGA Tour, travels with three golf-crazed friends to tacky Myrtle Beach, follows Fred Couples and Paul Azinger at the Ryder Cup, and discovers what may be the darkest secret of the golf swing: The difference between a slice and a draw is a certain number of beers. My Usual Game is a hilarious and wonderfully literate tour through the sometimes peculiar culture of this very popular sport. Golfers of all ages will discover My Usual Game for many years to come. It is destined to become a classic of golf literature.
Bud, Sweat, & Tees: Rich Beem's Walk on the Wild Side of the PGA Tour
The incredible story of Rich Beem's life on tour--including the raucous, rowdy side of life as a professional golfer--with his caddie, Steve Duplantis, at his side. Rich Beem became an overnight folk hero with his victory at the 2002 PGA Championship, where he dazzled fans with fearless shotmaking and glib one-liners. By the time Beem had stared down Tiger Woods in an epic back nine and then danced a goofy jig on the final green, the sports world was clamoring to know, "Who is this guy, anyway?" That question is answered in Bud, Sweat, & Tees, Alan Shipnuck's no-holds-barred look at modern professional golf. Shipnuck began tracking Beem during his rookie year in 1999, when he was a logo-free rube only a couple of years removed from a seven-dollar-an-hour job hawking cell phones. Beem and his hard-living caddie, Steve Duplantis, would find sudden fame and fortune, and Shipnuck enjoyed unparalleled access in chronicling their wild ride--sharing endless drives across the desert and eventful nights at strip clubs, cutthroat golf matches and late-night confessionals at assorted watering holes. The result is an intimate portrait of two exceedingly colorful characters. Beem and Duplantis invite us deep into the world of the PGA Tour, exposing the rowdy, randy reality of the most interesting subculture in sports, which has always been a well-protected secret--until now. Sometimes bawdy, often hilarious, and always unpredictable, Bud, Sweat, & Tees stands as the finest insider sports book since Ball Four.
Clearing the Bases: The Greatest Baseball Debates of the Last Century
Sports expert Allen Barra's Clearing the Bases takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question in this, the ultimate baseball debate book, one guaranteed to spark thousands of heated arguments and supply the fuel for thousands more.Who was better, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? Who was the best right-hander of the '60s, Bob Gibson or Juan Marichal? Who is the greatest starting pitcher of all time? At his peak, who was more valuable, Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams? If Lefty Grove, Sandy Koufax, and Roger Clemens had pitched at the same time against the same hitters, who would have won the most games? If Jackie Robinson had been white, would he be deserving of the Hall of Fame? Is Pete Rose overrated? Has Tim Raines been underrated? Who is the best hitter of the game today-- Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey, Jr.? Is today's pitching really that bad? Why can't modern pitchers go nine innings? Which are more valuable--good starters or good relievers? How important is the stolen base? What are the myths that still surround Babe Ruth? What was the most talented baseball team of the twentieth century? Which twentieth-century championship team has been most slighted by baseball historians? What has been the real impact of black and Latin talent on Major League Baseball? Is baseball more competitive now than it was one hundred years ago? Or fifty? Or twenty-five? Who was the greatest all-around player of the last century? Find the answers here. Clearing the Bases is the first book to tackle these and many other of baseball's most intriguing questions, plus it offers hard, sensible answers--answers based on exhaustive research and analysis. Sports journalist Allen Barra, whose weekly sports column, "By the Numbers," has earned him millions of readers in The Wall Street Journal and whose outspoken opinions on Salon.com are discussed regularly on National Public Radio, takes on baseball's toughest arguments. Using stats and methods he developed during his ongoing tenure at The Wall Street Journal, Barra takes you to the heart of baseball's ultimate question, Who's the Best?, in this, the ultimate baseball debate book. Regardless of what stand you take in these debates, you'll never think about baseball's greatest stars in the same way again.
The Making of the Masters
The Masters. For any golf fan, the words evoke the immortal greats of the game and their quest for the most prized trophy of all -- the green jacket of Augusta National Golf Club. But behind the legendary links and timeless traditions is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood figures in the history of the Masters and Augusta National: Clifford Roberts, the club's chairman from its founding in 1931 until shortly before his death in 1977. Roberts' meticulous attention to detail, his firm authoritarian hand, and his refusal to settle -- even for perfection -- helped build the Masters into the tournament it is today, and Augusta National into every golfer's idea of heaven on earth. David Owen was granted unprecedented access to the archives and records of Augusta National Golf Club. He has produced an honest and affectionate chronicle of the Masters, from its conception to its modern greatness, and a fascinating portrayal of Clifford Roberts -- whose perseverance and pride forged the Augusta National we know today.
Impossible Dreams: A Red Sox Collection
The Red Sox have long been the favorite subject of baseball's literati, more for what they haven't accomplished than for what they have. The mystery that shrouds this storied franchise has made for great copy for more than 100 years. But much of the very best writing on the team has often been obscured by romantic tales of legend and destiny, curses and conspiracies - until now. Turning solidly to the bedrock of traditional baseball writing, Glenn Stout has collected the best writing on the Sox that best tells the story of the franchise. A veritable sourcebook of more than a century of unforgettable baseball, Impossible Dreams is a book no self-respecting Sox fan can afford to miss.
Coaching Girls' Lacrosse
Lacrosse is one of the nation's fastest-growing youth sports, and the girls' game is overtaking the boys'. Played with different rules and tactics, girls' lacrosse requires its own specialized guidebook. Friendly and encouraging, Coaching Girls' Lacrosse is the first book to provide the fundamentals every unprepared parent needs to teach and motivate a team of 6- to 12-year-olds.
Tennis Confidential
In this outstanding collection of essays and interviews, Paul Fein takes the reader into the world of the pro tennis tour with inside scoops about the game's greatest stars, past and present. Tennis Confidential includes interviews with such all-time greats as Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Arthur Ashe, and Jimmy Connors along with essays about the careers of other stars like Andre Agassi, the Williams sisters, Jennifer Capriati, and Anna Kournikova. Fein also reviews the careers of pioneering players like Martina Navratilova, Bjorn Borg, and Rod Laver. Tennis Confidential tackles the issues that confront the sport today, from the media's fascination with teenage players on the women's tour to the changes in the game caused by new racket designs and tactical innovations. Fein also reviews the ten greatest matches in tennis history. He gives fans at every level a unique perspective on the game and its history.
The Cardinals Fan’s Little Book of Wisdom
This little paperback offers insight, wisdom, and humor tailored especially for fans of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Essential Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi's views on life and leadership--inspiring and motivational--placed in A-Z format for the first timeLegendary football coach Vince Lombardi left the national spotlight more than three decades ago, but his fiery words continue to resonate in today's hard-charging business arena. The Essential Vince Lombardi compiles Lombardi's most memorable quotes and phrases, alphabetically by topic, for use in speeches, memos, and documents--or just for fingertip inspiration and insight.More than just a simple quote book, however, The Essential Vince Lombardi contains interviews from family members and associates, rare photographs, "Lombardi Lessons" for applying Lombardi's wisdom to everyday situations, and more. It places the leadership wisdom of Vince Lombardi in the context of today and is a valuable reference for businesspeople and Lombardi aficionados alike.
A Summer Up North
June 12, 1952--only a local sportswriter showed up at the Eau Claire airport to greet a newly signed eighteen-year-old shortstop from Alabama toting a cardboard suitcase. "I was scared as hell," said Henry Aaron, recalling his arrival as the new recruit on the city's Class C minor league baseball team.Forty-two years later, as Aaron approached the stadium where the Eau Claire Bears once played, an estimated five thousand people surrounded a newly raised bronze statue of a young "Hank" Aaron at bat. "I had goosebumps," he said later. "A lot of things happened to me in my twenty-three years as a ballplayer, but nothing touched me more than that day in Eau Claire." For the people of Eau Claire, Aaron's summer two years before his Major League debut with the Milwaukee Braves symbolizes a magical time, when baseball fans in a small city in northern Wisconsin could live a part of the dream.
THe Bowden Way: 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom
As head football coach at Florida State, Bobby Bowden has won two national championships and compiled an astounding resume of all-time credentials. Filled with personal anecdotes, famous names, and fascinating stories, The Bowden Way promises to be the leadership book that will redefine the game. With lessons from his years of coaching, this book puts readers inside the mind of a legend in modern sports.
