Search results for ""sports illustrated""

Big Book of WHO is a book your young sports fans will return to again and again! This 128-page collection features the brightest stars in sports, past and present. The editors of Sports Illustrated Kids profile the top stars in sports history, with thrilling sports photography and age-appropriate writing that Sports Illustrated Kids is famous for. This fully updated edition includes today’s stars alongside sports’ all-time greats—from Michael Jordan to LeBron James, Tom Brady to Patrick Mahomes, Mia Hamm to Megan Rapinoe, Babe Ruth to Mookie Betts, and more.Completely redesigned to match the modern look of Sports Illustrated Kids, this fun collection of questions and answers will have kids stumping their friends and adult sports fans with their expert knowledge of sports’ brightest stars.

Read more less

Through 100 evocative, often stunning photographs, as well as the stories that accompany them, Sports Illustrated visits the great arc of football, America’s most popular spectator sport. From the dawn of the professional era, through the days of Vince Lombardi and Johnny Unitas, the westward expansion and the thrilling Super Bowls of today, football’s rich and remarkable history is here. Unforgettable events such as the Greatest Game Ever Played, Joe Namath’s guarantee before Super Bowl III, and Nick Foles’s Philly Special live in a continuum with stirring photos of the game’s most beloved and largest personalities such as Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Bill Parcells, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, and many more. Sports Illustrated’s unmatched storytelling is in high form in a book that renders exquisite anecdotes, and explores football’s heritage and uniquely American character, all in unforgettable style.

Read more less

Who wore it best? Tom Brady or Terry Bradshaw (No. 12)? John Elway or Mickey Mantle (No. 7)? How about No. 2, Derek Jeter or Secretariat? Wayne Gretzky has no peer at 99, but the list is legendary for 32; Jim Brown, Julius Erving, Magic Johnson and Sandy Koufax to name a few. Flush with Sports Illustrated's stunning photography and insights from its top writers, Any Given Number give sports fans the authoritative take on which athlete is the best of the best, No. 0 to No. 99.

Read more less

Fully revised and updated!My First Book of Baseball, a Rookie Book from Sports Illustrated Kids, coaches young kids through the game of baseball with a visual retelling of an actual MLB game--from the first pitch to the game winning hit! Strikes, outs, steals, foul balls, home runs and more are all explained using a fun mix of Sports Illustrated action photography, simple text with engaging graphics, and a full glossary of essential baseball terms and phrases. An illustrated rookie player character also appears on every page, providing fun facts to help the next generation of fans better understand the game. Perfect for beginning readers, My First Book of Baseball is meant to be a shared reading experience between parents and their young minor league rookies before, during, and after the ball game.

Read more less

Fully revised and updated!My First Book of Football, a Rookie Book from Sports Illustrated Kids, coaches young kids through the game of football with a visual retelling of an actual NFL game--from the nail-biting coin toss to the exhilarating winning touchdown! Rules, plays, and basics of the game are all explained using a fun mix of Sports Illustrated action photography, simple text with engaging graphics, and a full glossary of essential terms and phrases including punt, tackle, kickoff, end zone and more. An illustrated rookie player character also appears on every page, providing fun facts to help the next generation of fans better understand the game. Perfect for beginning readers, My First Book of Football is meant to be a shared reading experience between parents and their young minor league rookies before, during, and after game day.

Read more less

Through extensive interviews with one player in every key position on and off the pitch - including Manuel Neuer, Vincent Kompany, Xabi Alonso, Chicharito, Christian Pulisic, Roberto Martinez and Michael Zorc - Grant Wahl (Sports Illustrated) breaks down the technical and tactical revolution that has transformed modern football.

Read more less

In her extraordinary swimming career, Shirley Babashoff set 39 national records and 11 world records. Heading into the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Babashoff was pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and followed closely by the media. All of that changed once Babashoff questioned the shocking masculinity of the swimmers on the East German women's team. Here, Babashoff tells her story in the same unflinching manner that made her both the most dominant female swimmer of her time and one of the most controversial athletes in Olympic history.

Read more less

Learn about the life and career of Olympic gold medalist and legendary snowboarder Chloe Kim in the new Who HQ Now format featuring newsmakers and trending topics.At the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, Chloe Kim became the youngest woman to ever receive an Olympic gold medal in snowboarding, and she was only seventeen! This amazing accomplishment led to Chloe winning three ESPY awards, becoming the inspiration for her own Barbie doll, and gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated. She is also the only athlete to have won three gold medals at the X Games before turning sixteen. Learn about Chloe's brilliant career and her lifelong love of snowboarding in this biography for young readers.

Read more less

Get inside the head of LeBron James: basketball star, activist, philanthropist, and one of the most influential athletes in the world.This collection of quotes has been curated from LeBron James’s numerous public statements—interviews, social media posts, television appearances, and more. It’s a comprehensive picture of his legacy as one of the world’s most recognizable and influential athletes, specifically geared toward middle and high school readers. The quotes in the collection touch on sports, community, life lessons, opportunity, equality, justice, and more. This edition includes educational materials and resources for lesson plans designed to provoke discussion and thought for readers in grades 7-12 about LeBron James''s ideas.LeBron James’s meteoric rise to basketball fame started when he was just a teenager, being billed by Sports Illustrated as “The Chosen One” while h

Read more less

Take a ringside seat next to A. J. Liebling at some of the greatest fights in history. Here is Joe Louis's devastating final match; Sugar Ray Robinson's dramatic comeback; and Rocky Marciano's rise to heavyweight glory. The heated ringside atmosphere, the artistry of the great boxers and the blows and parries of the classic fights are all vividly evoked in a volume described by Sports Illustrated as 'the best American sports book of all time'.'A rollicking god among boxing writers ... before Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson were out of diapers, Liebling was taking his readers on excursions through the hidden and often hilarious levels of this bruised subculture ... the Master' Los Angeles Times'Nobody wrote about boxing with more grace and enthusiasm' The New York Times

Read more less

'Shipnuck cuts to the intrigue of an acrimonious story that still twists and turns with snake-like flexibility' –​ The Times'A terrific read' – Sports IllustratedAlan Shipnuck, the New York Times bestselling author of Phil, returns with a major new work of insider reporting on the battle for the soul of professional golf between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League.   Over the past two years, professional golf has been at war, and Alan Shipnuck is our most trusted correspondent. Following closely on the heels of his New York Times bestselling sensation, Phil, Shipnuck turns to LIV Golf’s controversial – and belligerent – storming of the professional golf world. In LIV and Let Die, Shipnuck delivers the inside story in real time, with fly-on-the-wall reporting fr

Read more less

How did Tiger Woods become the greatest of all time?And how did he fall so spectacularly? Before the age of twenty-five, Tiger Woods had risen to phenomenon status: twice named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, champion of more than thirty professional tournaments and the youngest player to win all four Grand Slam tournaments.Tiger, Tiger taps into the transformative moments of Wood''s life, revealing in vivid, dramatic scenes what he saw and felt on the course and in his inner life.___________________________PRAISE FOR JAMES PATTERSON''Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried... there''s no stopping his imagination'' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW''A writer with an unusual skill at thriller plotting'' GUARDIAN''The master storyteller of our times'' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON''No one gets this big without amazing natural st

Read more less

The Patriots have won the most Super Bowls this century with victories in four years, and this is a compendium of their best plays This book does not disappoint as the ultimate collector’s item for Patriots fans. It chronicles the most famous moments in the New England Patriots’ history, including Jim Nance’s 1966 Sports Illustrated cover; the team taking advantage of turnovers in the 1986 playoffs to make it to Super Bowl XX; and the incredible run through the 2002 playoffs against the Raiders, the Steelers, and the Rams. It also examines Willie McGinest’s sacking of Peyton Manning in 2004 and Rodney Harrison’s six interceptions in the 2005 playoffs. The descriptions of each play are accompanied with game information and quotes from participants, players, and observers with firsthand accounts.

Read more less

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.

Read more less

Henry Wiggen, hero of The Southpaw and the best-known fictional baseball player in America, is back again, throwing a baseball “with his arm and his brain and his memory and his bluff for the sake of his pocket and his family.” More than a novel about baseball, Bang the Drum Slowly is about the friendship and the lives of a group of men as they each learn that a teammate is dying of cancer. Bang the Drum Slowly was chosen as one of the top one hundred sports books of all time by Sports Illustrated and appears on numerous other lists of best baseball fiction. In the introduction to this new Bison Books edition Mark Harris discusses the making of the classic 1973 film starring Robert DeNiro, based on his screen adaptation of the book. Also available in Bison Books editions are The Southpaw, It Looked Like For Ever.

Read more less

The revolution in military recruitment advertising to people of color and women played an essential role in making the US military one of the most diverse institutions in the United States. Starting at the dawn of the all-volunteer era, Jeremiah Favara illuminates the challenges at the heart of military inclusion by analyzing recruitment ads published in three commercial magazines: Sports Illustrated, Cosmopolitan, and Ebony. Favara draws on Black feminism, critical race theory, and queer of color critique to reveal how the military and advertisers affected change by deploying a set of strategies and practices called tactical inclusion. As Favara shows, tactical inclusion used representations of servicemembers in the new military to connect with people susceptible to recruiting efforts and rendered these new audiences vulnerable to, valuable to, and subject to state violence. Compelling and eye-opening, Tactical Inclusion combines original analysis with

Read more less

How did Tiger Woods become the greatest of all time?And how did he fall so spectacularly? Before the age of twenty-five, Tiger Woods had risen to phenomenon status: twice named Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated, champion of more than thirty professional tournaments and the youngest player to win all four Grand Slam tournaments.Tiger, Tiger taps into the transformative moments of Wood''s life, revealing in vivid, dramatic scenes what he saw and felt on the course and in his inner life.___________________________PRAISE FOR JAMES PATTERSON''Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried... there''s no stopping his imagination'' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW''A writer with an unusual skill at thriller plotting'' GUARDIAN''The master storyteller of our times'' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON''No one gets this big without amazing natural st

Read more less

Lo primero que hizo Joe McNally al llegar a la ciudad de Nueva York en 1976 fue trabajar como chico de las fotocopias en el Daily News, el perro desgraciado de la redacción. Percibía un salario miserable y vivía en un hotel barato de Manhattan. La vida no era glamurosa. Pero gracias a su buen ojo para las fotos y la voluntad de aceptar (casi) cualquier trabajo que le ofrecieran, se subió sin dudarlo a la siempre precaria cuerda floja de los fotógrafos independientes. Cuarenta años después, cuenta en su haber con historias y encargos para National Geographic, Time, LIFE, Sports Illustrated y muchas más publicaciones. Ha visitado casi 70 países y recibido docenas de premios.En Fotografía de verdad, Joe McNally comparte con franqueza historias, lecciones y conocimientos de su vida como fotógrafo. No se trata de un libro de instrucciones que explique, por ejemplo, qué hacer con la luz, aunque también incluya información instructiva. Tampoco es una mira

Read more less

Originally published in 1927, Bobby Jones's Down the Fairway has become what Sports Illustrated calls "an incontestable classic." Part memoir, part golf instructional, part golf history—and including wonderful vintage photographs—Down the Fairway is a must read for all who care about this most fascinating sport. Amazingly, Bobby Jones—along with sports journalist O.B. Keeler—wrote this book when he was only 24 years old. His thinking was that, having just become the first golfer ever to win both U.S. and British Open titles in one year (1926), he would never perform at such a high level again. It seemed a good time, then, to tell his story. In an age of big money, lucrative endorsements, TV contracts, and pouting millionaires, this earnest volume comes as a breath of fresh air. Infused with Jones's deep knowledge of and pure passion for the game, it evokes a long-ago time when an amateur could be the best in the world.

Read more less

Originally published in 1927, Bobby Jones's Down the Fairway has become what Sports Illustrated calls "an incontestable classic." Part memoir, part golf instructional, part golf history-and including wonderful vintage photographs-Down the Fairway is a must read for all who care about this most fascinating sport. Amazingly, Bobby Jones-along with sports journalist O.B. Keeler-wrote this book when he was only 24 years old. His thinking was that, having just become the first golfer ever to win both U.S. and British Open titles in one year (1926), he would never perform at such a high level again. It seemed a good time, then, to tell his story. In an age of big money, lucrative endorsements, TV contracts, and pouting millionaires, this ernest volume comes as a breath of fresh air. Infused with Jones's deep knowledge of and pure passion for the game, it evokes a long-ago time when an amateur could be the best in the world.

Read more less

Already a superstar in the MMA and entertainment worlds, Ronda Rousey's devastating 34-second KO of Bethe Correia vaulted her into the mainstream like never before. From her undefeated exploits in The Octagon to appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated to starring in blockbuster film Furious 7, Rousey is the preeminent combination of athletic and pop culture stardom. Rowdy Rousey: Ronda Rousey's Fight to the Top is the ultimate tribute to this multi-talented powerhouse. Including nearly 100 full-color photographs, fans are provided a glimpse into this star's life - from her days as a young Judo champion at the Olympics to her ascent to the top of MMA as the UFC champion. This keepsake also explores Rousey's vast success outside of the ring through acting, modeling and interacting with her great fans, and looks ahead to her upcoming film roles and future UFC blockbuster fights.

Read more less

MÁS DE 2 MILLONES DE EJEMPLARES VENDIDOS EN TODO EL MUNDOEL SEXTO MEJOR LIBRO DEPORTIVO DE LA HISTORIA SEGÚN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED"Una temporada en el alambre" narra el año que John Feinstein pasó siguiendo a los Indiana Hoosiers y a su apasionado entrenador, Bob Knight, que dio al autor un acceso sin precedentes a uno de los mejores programas universitarios del país. Feinstein lo vio y lo escuchó todo: entrenamientos, viajes, comidas, reuniones de equipo, sesiones de estrategia, conversaciones privadas, charlas en los tiempos muertos de los partidos?Considerado uno de los mejores libros de deportes de la historia, este volumen captura a la perfección el drama y la presión del baloncesto universitario, y es, sin ninguna duda, el libro definitivo sobre Bob Knight, un personaje complejo y brillante que camina permanentemente sobre la delgada línea entre el genio y la locura.Con más de dos millones de ejemplares vendidos en todo el mundo, "Una temporada en el alambre" ha sido ada

Read more less

Brand by Hand documents the work, career, and artistic inspiration of graphic designer extraordinaire Jon Contino. Jon is a born-and-bred New Yorker. He talks like one, he acts like one, and most importantly, he designs like one. He is the founder and creative director of Jon Contino Studio, and over the past two decades, he has built a massive collection of award-winning graphic-design work for high-profile clients such as Nike, 20th Century Fox, and Sports Illustrated. Throughout all of this, he has gone to design hell and back, facing obstacles like fear, self-doubt, and bad luck. Brand by Hand documents the work and career of Jon Contino, exploring his lifelong devotion to the guts and grime of New York and cementing his biggest artistic inspirations, from hardcore music to America’s favorite pastime. A graphic-design retrospective showcasing his minimalist illustrations and unmistakable hand-lettering, Brand by Hand shares how Contino has taken a passion for pen and ink and turned it into an expanding empire of clients, merchandise, and artwork.

Read more less

On July 30, 2014, shortly after completing this autobiography, Robert Halmi, the prolific producer of television movies and miniseries, died at the age of 90. Hailed by Variety as “A Gulliver Among TV Movie Producers,” he had a hand in more than 200 long-form narrative television projects from 1989’s Lonesome Dove, starring Robert Duvall, to 2000’s “Don Quixote” starring John Lithgow. Filled with so much of the marquee talent of the past century, his life story—from fighting against the Nazis to becoming a photographer for Life and Sports Illustrated to his television work—is truly amazing. Robert Halmi was born in Hungary to a father who served as official photographer to the Vatican and the last Habsburg court. When the Nazis invaded, he fought in the resistance, and like many of his countrymen he was captured and condemned to death. But the advancing Red Army freed him before the Germans could carry out the execution. Seeing the dangers of the expanding Soviet empire, which also took hold of his homeland in a military dictatorship, he turned heel and joined the OSS to fight the fall of the Iron Curtain. In 1951, with $5 in his pocket and a Leica around his neck, he made his way to America. As a photographer for Life and Sports Illustrated, he again showcased his Bond-like talents for chasing adventure and cheating death by dangling from helicopters, hunting big game in Africa with dictators, blowing himself up, marooning himself on a glacier for three weeks, and even painting Marilyn Monroe’s naked body for a photo shoot. In the third act of his rollicking life, as a TV mogul, he received an astonishing 448 Emmy nods while befriending a Who’s Who of Hollywood and working with the great boldface actors of our time: Jimmy Cagney gave him his last performance. He chased George C. Scott (on a bender) through a hotel. Omar Sharif did the Twist for him. He watched Patrick Stewart nearly drown on the back of an animatronic whale, and Isabella Rossellini braved a herd of rampaging elephants for him. He has lived the American dream to the hilt. A fast-paced look back at a life always in progress, his extraordinary story reveals nearly a century of daring and boundless optimism even in the face of terrible odds. It’s a story of war, love, and ambition, the quintessential American tale of a life lived large.

Read more less

American Auto offers a compelling look at three decades (from the 1950s to the 1970s) of America s fascination with the automobile. At a time when self-driving vehicles and climate change are transforming driving around the world, Zimmerman s pictures capture the optimism and even utopianism of a beloved period in American car culture. Many of Zimmerman s photographs were originally taken for Life, Time, and Sports Illustrated magazines and highlight diverse aspects of America s auto industry at its zenith; they feature not only iconic cars of the period, which Zimmerman chronicled comprehensively at car shows and in studio assignments throughout the period, but also a behind-the-scenes look at the people who designed, built, collected, exhibited, and raced them. With more than 200 photographs, drawing on the Zimmerman Archive s collection including his best-known photographs of Fords, Chryslers, and GMs in their heyday alongside ephemera, tear sheets, outtakes, and contacts from his assignments the book celebrates the automobile s central place in American culture during those decades when the timeless silhouettes of classic cars ruled the roads.

Read more less

The adjectives associated with the University of Washington’s 2000 football season—mystical, magical, miraculous—changed when Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry’s four-part exposé of the 2000 Huskies hit the newspaper stands: “explosive . . . chilling” (Sports Illustrated), “blistering” (Baltimore Sun), “shocking . . . appalling” (Tacoma News Tribune), “astounding” (ESPN), “jaw-dropping” (Orlando Sentinel). Now, in Scoreboard, Baby, Armstrong and Perry go behind the scenes of the Huskies’ Cinderella story to reveal a timeless morality tale about the price of obsession, the creep of fanaticism, and the ways in which a community can lose even when its team wins. The authors unearth the true story from firsthand interviews and thousands of pages of documents: the forensic report on a bloody fingerprint; the notes of a detective investigating allegations of rape; confidential memoranda of prosecutors; and the criminal records of the dozen-plus players arrested that year with scant mention in the newspapers and minimal consequences in the courts. The statement of a judge, sentencing one player to thirty days in jail, says it all: “to be served after football season.”

Read more less

Sam Moses, a motorsports writer for Sports Illustrated, was assigned to go racing and write about what happened. Fast Guys, Rich Guys, and Idiots is a personal odyssey that peers over the cliff of change and into the pit of obsession. From small-time races to glittery grands prix, it lays bare the greed, lust, and desperation of every driver for time behind the wheel and a faster car. It explains the perfectionism behind taking a turn at the limit and describes the intoxicating thrill of stealing down the Daytona backstraight at nearly two hundred miles an hour. The core of Moses's story takes place in the heartland of stock car racing, there he finds a spot on a team in Ether, North Carolina. The team's owner is a tough Louisiana oil man, its crew chief a lanky, laconic Texan, and its number-one driver a hairy-chested leadfoot who learned fast driving on backwoods Georgia roads, delivering beauty supplies in his Mustang. Crashes echo throughout the tale that follows, five of them the author's own.

Read more less

“From front offices to college campuses, Jake Fischer takes you on an engrossing tour of the NBA in its latest golden age, when some of the most captivating teams won by losing.” —Lee Jenkins, former Sports Illustrated NBA writer An insider account of modern NBA team-building, based on hundreds of exclusive interviews A single transcendent talent can change the fortunes of an NBA franchise. One only has to recall the frenzy surrounding recent top pick Zion Williamson to recognize teams’ willingness to lose games now for the sake of winning championships later. It’s a story that weaves its way behind closed doors to reveal intricate machinations normally hidden from public view. Backed by extensive reporting and hundreds of interviews with top players, coaches, and executives, Jake Fischer chronicles secret pre-draft workouts, feuding between player agents and executives, surprising trade negotiations, interpersonal conflicts, organizational power struggles, and infamous public relations fiascos, making for a fascinating look at the NBA. The definitive account of the NBA’s tanking era, when teams raced to the bottom in the hope of eventually winning a championship.

Read more less

Most famous for his classic work The Boys of Summer, Roger Kahn is widely regarded as one of the greatest sportswriters of our time. The Roger Kahn Reader is a rich collection of his stories and articles that originally appeared in publications such as Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, Esquire, and the Nation. Kahn’s pieces, published between 1952 and today, present a vivid, turbulent, and intimate picture of more than half a century in American sport. His standout writings bring us close to entrepreneurs and hustlers (Walter O'Malley and Don King), athletes of Olympian gifts (Ted Williams, Stan Musial, “Le Demon Blond” Guy Lefleur), and sundry compelling issues of money, muscle, and myth. We witness Roger Maris’s ordeal by fame; Bob Gibson’s blazing competitive fire; and Red Smith, now white-haired and renowned, contemplating his beginnings and his future. Also included is a new and original chapter, “Clem,” about the author’s compelling lifelong friendship with former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Clem Labine. Written across six decades, this volume shows Kahn’s ability to describe the athletes he profiled as they truly were in a manner neither compromised nor cruel but always authentic and up close.

Read more less

“A compelling rumination by a baseball icon and a tragic hero.” —Sports Illustrated The lost memoir from baseball icon Lou Gehrig—a sensational discovery, published for the first time as a book.At the tender age of twenty-four, Lou Gehrig decided to tell the remarkable story of his life and career. He was one of the most famous athletes in the country, in the midst of a record-breaking season with the legendary 1927 World Series-winning Yankees. In an effort to grow Lou’s star, pioneering sports agent Christy Walsh arranged for Lou’s tale of baseball greatness to syndicate in newspapers across the country. Until now, those columns were largely forgotten and lost to history. Lou comes alive in this inspiring memoir. It is a heartfelt rags-to-riches tale about a dirt poor kid from New York who became one of the most revered baseball players of all time. Fourteen years after his account, Lou would tragically die from ALS, a neuromuscular disorder now known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. His poignant autobiography is followed by an insightful biographical essay by historian Alan D. Gaff. Here is Lou—Hall of Famer, All Star, and MVP—back at bat.

Read more less

“From front offices to college campuses, Jake Fischer takes you on an engrossing tour of the NBA in its latest golden age, when some of the most captivating teams won by losing.” —Lee Jenkins, former Sports Illustrated NBA writer An insider account of modern NBA team-building, based on hundreds of exclusive interviews. A single transcendent talent can change the fortunes of an NBA franchise. One only has to recall the frenzy surrounding recent top pick Zion Williamson to recognize teams’ willingness to lose games now for the sake of winning championships later. It’s a story that weaves its way behind closed doors to reveal intricate machinations normally hidden from public view. Backed by extensive reporting and hundreds of interviews with top players, coaches, and executives, Jake Fischer chronicles secret pre-draft workouts, feuding between player agents and executives, surprising trade negotiations, interpersonal conflicts, organizational power struggles, and infamous public relations fiascos, making for a fascinating look at the NBA. Updated to include new material, this is the definitive account of the NBA’s tanking era, when teams raced to the bottom in the hope of eventually winning a championship.

Read more less

The lost memoir from Lou Gehrig—“a compelling rumination by a baseball icon and a tragic hero” (Sports Illustrated) and “a fitting tribute to an inspiring baseball legend” (Publishers Weekly).At the tender age of twenty-four, Lou Gehrig decided to tell the remarkable story of his life and career. He was one of the most famous athletes in the country, in the midst of a record-breaking season with the legendary 1927 World Series–winning Yankees. In an effort to grow Lou’s star, pioneering sports agent Christy Walsh arranged for Lou’s tale of baseball greatness to syndicate in newspapers across the country. Those columns were largely forgotten and lost to history—until now. Lou comes alive in this “must-read” (Tyler Kepner, The New York Times) memoir. It is an inspiring, heartfelt rags-to-riches tale about a poor kid from New York who became one of the most revered baseball players of all time. Fourteen years after his account, Lou would tragically die from ALS, a neuromuscular disorder now known as Lou Gherig’s Disease. His poignant autobiography is followed by an insightful biographical essay by historian Alan D. Gaff. Here is Lou—Hall of Famer, All Star, MVP, an “athlete who epitomized the American dream” (Christian Science Monitor)—back at bat.

Read more less

This expanded edition features the best-loved short stories from the 20th century as well as new tales from some of the 21st century’s most iconic names in fiction. No other sport has inspired as many great writers as baseball has, and this exceptional anthology brings together 34 short stories about the nation’s favorite pastime. The stories span several decades and are written by some of America’s favorite writers, including Zane Grey, James Thurber, Robert Penn Warren, T. Coraghessan Boyle, and Michael Chabon, among others. Many of the stories are about the game itself, while others use baseball as a backdrop for timeless themes, such as morality, greed, and love. Eight new stories have been added to this expanded edition and include “Bullet in the Brain” by Tobias Wolff, in which baseball is the surprising last memory of a dying man; George Plimpton’s “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch,” a fictional story about a baseball player who throws a 150-mph fastball that was a notorious April Fools’ Day hoax in Sports Illustrated; and Leslie Pietrzyk’s “What We All Want,” about a pitcher’s wife’s concern for her aging husband. This collection is for all baseball lovers—long after the season is over.

Read more less

A nostalgic romp through modern NBA history as documented by basketball's most iconic and innovative magazine covers.Every magazine cover is the result of a series of intentional decisions. Cover Story shares the behind-the-scenes stories of these deliberate choices, which led to the most iconic basketball-related magazine covers during a period from 1984 to 2003. Through 100-plus interviews conducted with writers, editors, publishers, photographers, creative directors, and the players themselves, the book explores Michael Jordan’s relationship with Sports Illustrated, Shaquille O’Neal and the hip-hop generation’s impact on newsstands, the birth of SLAM and the inside stories of their most iconic covers, how the 1996 USA women’s basketball team inspired a new era of women’s sports magazines, the competition among publishers to put high school phenom LeBron James on the magazine cover first, and much more.Offering an immersive look at some of the most impactful moments in a golden era for modern basketball, this engaging read will appeal to basketball fans, pop culture enthusiasts, and those who want to take a deep dive into understanding how the individual components of a classic magazine cover come together.Features four full-color inserts showcasing a collection of notable magazine covers!

Read more less

“One day I’m going to play for the U.S. Women’s National Team.” That’s what Flora Dupre promised her mom before she died of cancer. Flora and her mom had created a place called Soccerland, an escape world in which they’d ignore the beeping cancer machines and just talk soccer. And now Flora’s dream of playing for the U.S.A. just might be coming true. Flora’s received the invitation of a lifetime: the chance to try out for the Under-15 U.S. Girls’ Soccer Team at the International Sports Academy. But at the academy, the level of talent is like nothing Flora’s ever seen before. She struggles to hold her own as she grapples with new positions, injuries, the world’s most frustrating coach, and contempt from other players who would love to see her fail. But Flora is a big, strong Dupre girl—and she’s not going to go down easy. “Superbly written.” —Doug McIntyre, ESPN The Magazine “Choat’s examination of the dedication, effort, and sacrifice needed to become a national-level player is riveting and inspiring. Readers will be rooting for Flora as she struggles to achieve her goals.” —Kirkus Reviews “A dazzling and expert portrait of the life of the young elite athlete.” —S. L. Price, Sports Illustrated

Read more less

The average pitcher has about a .000645 chance of throwing a no-hitter. In the spring of 1938, Cincinnati Reds rookie pitcher Johnny Vander Meer pitched two, back to back. The feat has never been duplicated, which comes as no surprise to sports professionals and aficionados alike. Decade after decade, in one poll after another (from Sport magazine, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN),Vander Meer’s consecutive no-hitters turn up as one of baseball’s greatest and most untouchable achievements. Double No-Hit offers an inning-by-inning account of that historic second consecutive no-hitter accomplished during the first night game in New York City, with the Cincinnati Reds facing the Brooklyn Dodgers in Ebbets Field. James W. Johnson sets the stage and assembles the colorful cast of characters. Highlighting the story with recollections and observations from owners, managers, and players past and present, he fills in the details of Vander Meer’s accomplishment—and his baseball career, which never lived up to expectations heightened by his sensational performance. In the end, Double No-Hit brings to life a bygone era of the national pastime and one shining spring night, June 15, 1938, when a twenty-two-year-old fireballing left-hander with lousy control pitched his way into the top tier of baseball’s record book.

Read more less

The San Francisco Giants won the World Series in 2012, their second championship in two years. Acclaimed Sports Illustrated and Major League Baseball photographer Brad Mangin has captured this historic season with breathtaking photographs that evoke the Giants' relentless spirit of passion and persistence in 2012. Brian Murphy, beloved Bay Area sports radio personality, tells the story of the Giants' championship season in great detail, highlighting this never-say-die attitude that empowered the Giants to overcome adversity throughout the regular and postseason and ultimately led them to an epic four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers in the World Series. Never. Say. Die. is truly an art book in form and in function. Featuring over 125 awe-inspiring photographs, this book provides a rare view of one team's championship season seen through the lens of one photographer, Brad Mangin, resulting in a beautiful baseball photo monograph that San Francisco Giants' fans and baseball fans around the world are sure to relish. The book's design and format go above and beyond the typical sports photo book, emphasizing the grit and edge of the Giants' character throughout the season. As a result, Never. Say. Die. stands out uniquely among others in the field.

Read more less

Winner of the Pulitzer Price and William Hill Sports Book of the Year: Barbarian Days is a deeply rendered self-portrait of a lifelong surfer looking for transcendence 'that recalls early James Salter' (Geoff Dyer, Observer)Surfing only looks like a sport. To devotees, it is something else entirely: a beautiful addiction, a mental and physical study, a passionate way of life.New Yorker writer William Finnegan first started surfing as a young boy in California and Hawaii. Barbarian Days is his immersive memoir of a life spent travelling the world chasing waves through the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa and beyond. Finnegan describes the edgy yet enduring brotherhood forged among the swell of the surf; and recalling his own apprenticeship to the world's most famous and challenging waves, he considers the intense relationship formed between man, board and water.Barbarian Days is an old-school adventure story, a social history, an extraordinary exploration of one man's gradual mastering of an exacting and little-understood art. It is a memoir of dangerous obsession and enchantment. 'Reading this guy on the subject of waves and water is like reading Hemingway on bullfighting; William Burroughs on controlled substances; Updike on adultery. . . . a coming-of-age story, seen through the gloss resin coat of a surfboard' Sports Illustrated

Read more less

A gorgeous new centennial edition of Ernest Hemingway’s landmark short story of returning veteran Nick Adams’s solo fishing trip in Michigan’s rugged Upper Peninsula, illustrated with specially commissioned artwork by master engraver Chris Wormell and featuring a revelatory foreword by John N. Maclean."The finest story of the outdoors in American literature." —Sports IllustratedA century since its publication in the collection In Our Time, “Big Two-Hearted River” has helped shape language and literature in America and across the globe, and its magnetic pull continues to draw readers, writers, and critics. The story is the best early example of Ernest Hemingway’s now-familiar writing style: short sentences, punchy nouns and verbs, few adjectives and adverbs, and a seductive cadence. Easy to imitate, difficult to match. The subject matter of the story has inspired generations of writers to believe that fly fishing can be literature. More than any of his stories, it depends on his ‘iceberg theory’ of literature, the notion that leaving essential parts of a story unsaid, the underwater portion of the iceberg, adds to its power. Taken in context with his other work, it marks Hemingway’s passage from boyish writer to accomplished author: nothing big came before it, novels and stories poured out after it. —from the foreword by John N. Maclean

Read more less

Named Sportsman of the Century" in 1999 by Sports Illustrated, Muhammad Ali first came into the public eye when, as Cassius Clay, he won a Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960. In 1964 he stunned the boxing community with his defeat of Sonny Liston to take the heavyweight title for the first time. Shortly after, he converted to Islam and in 1966 refused to be drafted as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. He was found guilty of draft evasion, stripped of his title, sentenced to five years in prison, and banned from boxing. He returned to the ring four years later, when the Supreme Court overturned his conviction. He would go on to regain his title in 1974, rope-a-dope George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle and fight three memorable bouts against Joe Frazier culminating in the Thrilla in Manila. Diagnosed with Parkinson's syndrome in 1984, Ali was awarded the Presidential Metal of Freedom in 2005. Utilizing classic, rare and previously unseen photographs (including one of Ali on a British chat show hosted by Eamonn Andrews, with Lucille Ball, Noel Coward and Dudley Moore), Christine Kidney charts the life of this fascinating and complex man (for many years the most famous man in the world) in and out of the ring.

Read more less

Ogden Nash was a rare poet. He celebrated the ordinary with delight and curiosity: husbands and wives at work, children at play, a society in motion. He studied popular culture with a penetrating eye and wrote about America, its icons, habits, and affectations with humor and levity. He struggled with comparisons to “serious” poets, those heroes of the canon who abandoned the rhyme and meter that Nash found crucial to his style of writing. His witty, insightful, and graceful vignettes captured those moments in life that defy heavy-handed treatment. Nash did not live out the stereotype of the aloof poet-recluse. In addition to his writing, Nash pursued publishing, screenwriting, and a rigorous lecture circuit. This self-styled poet of wide appeal appeared in newspapers and magazines found in homes across the country, accessible publications such as Life, The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan, Sports Illustrated, Reader’s Digest, and McCall’s. At a time when children’s literature meant Winnie-the-Pooh, Nash produced verses for and about young people that amused, educated, and more important, didn’t pander or lecture. These poems and collections, including Custard the Dragon, The New Nutcracker Suite and Other Innocent Verses, A Boy Is a Boy, and Girls Are Silly, were classics of the genre. Nash left behind an invaluable body of work: charming, clever, and utterly unique.

Read more less

The Best American Magazine Writing 2010 proves that print journalism is as vital as ever, offering information, amusement, connection, and perspective to those who love to lose themselves in a good read. This year's selections, chosen from National Magazine Awards finalists and winners, include David Grann's article from the New Yorker on the execution of a possibly innocent man; Sheri Fink's report from the New York Times Magazine on the alleged euthanization of patients during Hurricane Katrina; and Fareed Zakaria's compelling take from Newsweek on Iran's weakening regime. The Best American Magazine Writing 2010 also includes absorbing profiles, arresting interviews, personal essays, and entrancing fiction. Esquire's Mike Sager recounts a promising quarterback's shocking descent into drugs; Vanity Fair's Bryan Burrough shares the confessions of the year's other major Ponzi schemer, and, from McSweeney's Quarterly, Wells Tower weaves a transporting tale of elemental desire. GQ's Tom Carson offers his critique of America's current vampire craze; Mitch Albom rediscovers Detroit's indomitable spirit in Sports Illustrated; and Garrison Keillor sings an ode to the homegrown joys of state fairs in National Geographic. Additional contributors include Atul Gawande, Megan McArdle, and many others commenting on a range of issues, from health care and the national debt to war movies and the controversy over circumcision. Altogether the writing collected here proves the rich pleasures waiting in the best magazines.

Read more less

The most comprehensive guide to the world of beer, with everything you need to know bout what to drink, where, when and why. “The ultimate guide.” —Sports Illustrated Imagine sitting in your favorite pub with a good friend who just happens to have won a TACP Award—a major culinary accolade—for writing the book about beer. Then imagine that he’s been spending the years following the first edition exploring all the changes that continue to shape and evolve the brewing world. That’s this book, the completely revised and updated bible on beer that covers everything: The History, or how we got from the birth of malting and national traditions to a hazy IPA in 12,000 years. The Variety: dozens of styles and hundreds of brews, along with recommended “Beers to Know.” The Curiosity: If beer’s your passion, you’ll delight in learning what type of hops went into a favorite beer and where to go for beer tourism, as well as profiles of breweries from around the world. And lastly, The Pleasure. Because, ultimately, that’s what it’s all about. “A tome worthy of its name.” —Food and Wine “Easily digestible for drinkers of all levels.”—Imbibe “Pick up this book as a refresher or a gift, lest we forget that spreading beer education is just as important as advocating for good beer itself.”—Beer Advocate

Read more less

The Best American Magazine Writing 2010 proves that print journalism is as vital as ever, offering information, amusement, connection, and perspective to those who love to lose themselves in a good read. This year's selections, chosen from National Magazine Awards finalists and winners, include David Grann's article from the New Yorker on the execution of a possibly innocent man; Sheri Fink's report from the New York Times Magazine on the alleged euthanization of patients during Hurricane Katrina; and Fareed Zakaria's compelling take from Newsweek on Iran's weakening regime. The Best American Magazine Writing 2010 also includes absorbing profiles, arresting interviews, personal essays, and entrancing fiction. Esquire's Mike Sager recounts a promising quarterback's shocking descent into drugs; Vanity Fair's Bryan Burrough shares the confessions of the year's other major Ponzi schemer, and, from McSweeney's Quarterly, Wells Tower weaves a transporting tale of elemental desire. GQ's Tom Carson offers his critique of America's current vampire craze; Mitch Albom rediscovers Detroit's indomitable spirit in Sports Illustrated; and Garrison Keillor sings an ode to the homegrown joys of state fairs in National Geographic. Additional contributors include Atul Gawande, Megan McArdle, and many others commenting on a range of issues, from health care and the national debt to war movies and the controversy over circumcision. Altogether the writing collected here proves the rich pleasures waiting in the best magazines.

Read more less

“Seldom does a sports biography—especially a page-turner—so comprehensively explain the forces that made an icon the way they are.” – Sports IllustratedFrom the author of The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron comes the definitive biography of Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, baseball’s epic leadoff hitter and base-stealer who also stole America’s heart over nearly five electric decades in the game.Few names in the history of baseball evoke the excellence and dynamism that Rickey Henderson’s does. He holds the record for the most stolen bases in a single game, and he’s scored more runs than any player ever. “If you cut Rickey Henderson in half, you’d have two Hall of Famers,” the baseball historian Bill James once said.But perhaps even more than his prowess on the field, Rickey Henderson’s is a story of Oakland, California, the town that gave rise to so many legendary athletes like him. And it’s a story of a sea change in sports, when athletes gained celebrity status and Black players finally earned equitable salaries. Henderson embraced this shift with his trademark style, playing for nine different teams throughout his decades-long career and sculpting a brash, larger-than-life persona that stole the nation’s heart. Now, in the hands of critically acclaimed sportswriter and culture critic Howard Bryant, one of baseball’s greatest and most original stars finally gets his due.

Read more less

Most of us know the legend of Secretariat, the tall, handsome chestnut racehorse whose string of honours runs long and rich: the only two-year-old ever to win Horse of the Year, in 1972; winner in 1973 of the Triple Crown, his times in all three races still unsurpassed; featured on the cover of "Time", "Newsweek", and "Sports Illustrated"; the only horse listed on ESPN's top fifty athletes of the twentieth century (ahead of Mickey Mantle). His final race at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack is a touchstone memory for horse lovers everywhere. Yet while Secretariat will be remembered forever, one man, Eddie "Shorty" Sweat, who was pivotal to the great horse's success, has been all but forgotten - until now.In "The Horse God Built", bestselling equestrian writer Lawrence Scanlan has written a tribute to an exceptional man that is also a back roads journey to a corner of the racing world rarely visited. As a young black man growing up in South Carolina, Eddie Sweat struggled at several occupations before settling on the job he was born for - groom to North America's finest racehorses. As Secretariat's groom, loyal friend, and protector, Eddie understood the horse far better than anyone else. A wildly generous man who could read a horse with his eyes, he shared in little of the financial success or glamour of Secretariat's wins on the track, but won the heart of Big Red with his soft words and relentless devotion.

Read more less

In 1950, three years after Jackie Robinson first walked onto the diamond at Ebbets Field, the lily white, upper-crust National Lawn Tennis Association opened its door just a crack to receive the powerhouse player who would integrate 'the game of kings': Althea Gibson. A street-savvy young woman from Harlem, Gibson was about as alien in that rarefied white world as an aspiring tennis champion could be. In her tattered jeans and short-cropped hair, Gibson drew stares from both sides of the colour fence. But her astonishing skill on the court soon eclipsed all of that, as she eventually became one of the greatest tennis champions the United States has ever produced. Gibson had a stunning career: She won top honors at Wimbledon and Forest Hills time and time again. As her star rose, the underestimated high school dropout shook hands with the Queen of England, was driven up Broadway in a snowstorm of ticker tape, was on the front of Time and Sports Illustrated - the first Black woman to appear on the covers of both magazines - and was named the number one female tennis player in the world. In Althea, prize-winning former Boston Globe reporter Sally H. Jacobs tells the heart-rending story of this pioneer. This first full biography of a remarkable woman reminds the world that Althea Gibson was a trailblazer, a champion, and one of the most remarkable Americans of the twentieth century.

Read more less

The best and newest big-wave surfing stories from the sport's insiders More than a decade ago, John Long published his now classic The Big Drop, an unprecedented look at the larger-than-life frontier of big wave surfing. Since then, the sport has exploded in popularity. The big wave bar keeps rising as extreme surfers continue to seek out, surf, and survive a ride on the elusive 100-foot wave. The incredible stories of a new generation of thrill-seeking, death-defying surfers and stunning, full-color photography of monster waves fill the pages of this new collection by John Long and former surfing pro Sam George.A powerful, contemporary look at the men and women who live and breathe for the next big wave and the bigger, more dangerous challenge, The Big Juice presents a rich history of characters, controversies, heroism, humor, and tragedy that define the sport. With contributions from:- Ben Marcus, author of The Surfing Handbook and The Art of Stand Up Paddling- Chris Dixon, writer, Surfer magazine- Kimball Taylor, writer, ESPN- Bruce Jenkins, author of North Shore Chronicles; writer, Sports Illustrated- Drew Kampion, former editor of Surfer, Surfing, Wind Surf, and Wind Tracks magazines; author of The Book of Waves: Form and Beauty on the Ocean- James Hollmer-Cross, writer, Surfing magazine . . . and big-wave surfers:- Laird Hamilton- Dave Kalama- Evan Slater- Shane Dorian- Greg Noll- and more

Read more less