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Forty Minutes of Hell: The Extraordinary Life of Nolan Richardson
by Rus Bradburd“Nolan Richardson’s extraordinary life and success as the University of Arkansas’ coach are an important chapter in the history of our country’s struggle for racial equality, with all the excitement of the Final Four. What an incredible journey!”—President Bill ClintonForty Minutes of Hell by Rus Bradburd is an intricate exploration of the politics of race and sports, from the Jim Crow era until today, witnessed through the life of legendary African-American basketball coach and NCAA Title winner Nolan Richardson. A remarkable story of pride, courage, and accomplishment in the face of discrimination, Forty Minutes of Hell is also a fascinating window into the world of elite collegiate sports. NBA legend Charles Barkley calls this inspiring and important biography, “A great story about America and its hidden histories….Every American should thank [Richardson] for showing us it was possible.”
Sleeping Bags to S'mores: Camping Basics
by Heather Balogh Rochfort William RochfortFrom choosing a destination and staying safe to what to cook and doing it on a budget, this guide provides fun advice for tent camping, car camping, and backpacking. Ever wanted to go camping, but had no idea where to start? Need to unplug, but not sure what to do? Do you have childhood memories of camping bliss, but no idea how to do it on your own? Sleeping Bags to S'mores has you covered! From two expert writers on camping and backpacking, this book covers everything you need to know about how to go camping. From picking a destination and what to pack to how to deal with wildlife (including kids), sporty guides Heather and Will Rochfort will show you the way. Sleeping Bags to S'mores is everything you need to know to have the relaxing, fun-filled camping experience you're looking for, and it includes 100 entertaining full-color illustrations.
The American Fisherman: How Our Nation's Anglers Founded, Fed, Financed, and Forever Shaped the U.S.A.
by Willie Robertson William DoyleNew York Times Bestseller • “A celebration of sport fishing in America, its history, locales, and impact.” — New York Times Book Review An essential book for everyone who loves casting a line into our nation's waters, The American Fisherman, by outdoorsman Willie Robertson (CEO of Duck Commander and star of A&E’s Duck Dynasty) and historian William Doyle, reveals that in the U.S.A., fishing is far more than a pastime — it has shaped our past and defined our character in remarkable ways.This generously illustrated celebration of fish, anglers, and our country’s treasured wild places traces fishing’s astonishing impact on the United States and its people, from its settlement and founding, to powering its economy and inspiring our creativity and faith. Blessed by perhaps the most diverse and abundant waters in the world, Native Americans were the continent’s first master anglers and incorporated fish into their spiritual beliefs and legends. When the Vikings, the earliest European visitors, arrived, they were drawn across the Atlantic Ocean by the bountiful fishing grounds of North America’s East Coast. During the colonial era, fish helped save the Pilgrims, make George Washington wealthy, and win the American Revolution. From New England cod to Pacific Northwest salmon to Gulf shrimp, the fishing industry has fed and financed centuries of Americans in every region of the country. Throughout, Willie and Bill explore how fishing has made an enduring mark on our national identity and culture. The American Fisherman is also an ode to our nation’s extraordinary natural places: alpine trout streams in the Rocky Mountains, steelhead runs along the storm-tossed Alaskan coast, the azure waters off Key West where marlin roam, and the bayous of Louisiana where the Robertsons have instilled the love and lessons of fishing down through the generations, as so many other families have.A spirited and unique look at the U.S.A. and its people, The American Fisherman will hook every sportsman from the first page and forever deepen their appreciation for the fishing life.INCLUDES MORE THAN 75 PHOTOS
Running Is a Kind of Dreaming: A Memoir
by J. M. ThompsonA powerful, breathtaking memoir about a young man's descent into madness, and how running saved his life.“Voluntary or involuntary?” asked the nurse who admitted J. M. Thompson to a San Francisco psychiatric hospital in January 2005. Following years of depression, ineffective medication, and therapy that went nowhere, Thompson feared he was falling into an inescapable darkness. He decided that death was his only exit route from the torture of his mind. After a suicide attempt, he spent weeks confined on the psych ward, feeling scared, alone, and trapped. One afternoon during an exercise break he experienced a sudden urge. “Run, I thought. Run before it’s too late and you’re stuck down there. Right now. Run. ” The impulse that starts with sprints across a hospital rooftop turns into all night runs in the mountains. Through motion and immersion in the beauty of nature, Thompson finds a way out of the hell of depression and drug addiction. Step by step, mile by mile, his body and mind heal. In this lyrical, vulnerable, and breathtaking memoir, J. M. Thompson, now a successful psychologist, retraces the path that led him from despair to wellness, detailing the chilling childhood trauma that caused his depression, and the unorthodox treatment that saved him. Running Is a Kind of Dreaming is a luminous literary testament to the universal human capacity to recover from our deepest wounds.
Cut Time: An Education at the Fights
by Carlo RotellaCarlo Rotella, an award-winning writer and ringside veteran, unearths the hard wisdom in any kind of fight, from barroom dustup to HBO extravaganza. He vividly describes the tough choices and subtle pleasures that come the way of every fighter, from perennial underdogs on the tank-town circuit to the one-time heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, who still spars to retching exhaustion daily. Rotella uncovers the often startling light that boxing sheds on the world beyond the ring. A college student's brief fistic career pinpoints the moment when adulthood arrives. The serenity of a fellow fan shows Rotella how to process the trauma of a car crash. The persistence of a wizened ex-champion reminds him of his grandmother and helps him accept her death. Throughout, Rotella achieves moving resonances between the worlds inside and outside the ropes. He also tackles fascinating questions that have gone largely unexplored until now: How do boxers endure the brutal punishment that is the sport's essence? And why do they come back for more, again and again? As Rotella traces his immersion in the fight world, he achieves what few other writers in that world have: he makes it relevant to us, whether we're fans or not.
American Son: My Story
by Oscar De La Hoya Steve SpringerFrom Oscar De La Hoya, one of the most celebrated fighters in the history of boxing, comes a frank and touching memoir about achieving the American Dream: his rise to the top, the power of a solid work ethic, his mother's painful death from cancer, the pitfalls of stardom, and a very personal take on what it means to be an American The son of Mexican-born parents, Oscar "The Golden Boy" De La Hoya has had an astonishing career. From boxing to business, from the recording industry to the charitable accomplishments of his foundation, his success is a testament to what one can achieve in the United States. But who is this man who has changed the lives of so many? Who has imprinted a positive mark upon the sport of boxing, for which many have all but given up hope? Who has become a symbol of success for an entire community, without many heroes to call their own?American Son answers these questions.Born into a boxing family, De La Hoya has defeated more than a dozen world champions and won six world titles as well as an Olympic gold medal—a moment forever marked in the memory of anyone who has followed his career. Yet within the maelstrom of this success lay a man whose earnest belief in the goodness of everyone around him sometimes led him to stray far from his intended path. This book is The Golden Boy, and he bares his most heartbreaking mistakes as well as his most stunning triumphs for all of the world to see. This thrilling tale of an immigrant's son—a quintessentially American story—is the chronicle of an amazing journey that will provide readers with new insight into the private life of a figure who has to many reached iconic status.
At Home with Muhammad Ali: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Forgiveness
by Hana AliMuhammad Ali’s daughter captures the legendary heavyweight boxing champion, Olympic Gold medalist, activist, and philanthropist as never before in this candid and intimate family memoir, based on personal recordings he kept throughout his adult life.Athlete. Activist. Champion. Ambassador. Icon. Father. The greatest, Muhammad Ali, is all of these things. In this candid family memoir, Hana Ali illuminates this momentous figure as only a daughter can. As Ali approached the end of his astonishing boxing career, he embraced a new purpose and role, turning his focus to his family and friends. In that role, he took center stage as an ambassador for peace and friendship. Dedicated to preserving his family’s unique history, Ali began recording a series of audio diaries in the 1970s, which his daughter later inherited. Through these private tapes, as well as personal journals, love letters, cherished memories, and many never-before-seen photographs, she reveals a complex man devoted to keeping all nine of his children united, and to helping others. Hana gives us a privileged glimpse inside the Ali home, sharing the everyday adventures her family experienced—all so “normal,” with visitors such as Clint Eastwood and John Travolta dropping by. She shares the joy and laughter, the hardship and pain, and, most importantly, the dedication and love that has bonded them. “It’s been said that my father is one of the most written-about people in the world,” Hana writes. “As the chronicles continue to grow, the deepest and most essential essence of his spirit is still largely unknown.” A moving and poignant love letter from a daughter to a father, At Home with Muhammad Ali is the untold story of Ali’s family legacy—a gift both eternal and priceless.
Follow the Roar: Tailing Tiger for All 604 Holes of His Most Spectacular Season
by Bob SmileyWith his career at a standstill and his golf game a shadow of its former mediocrity, TV writer and ESPN.com contributor Bob Smiley decided the time had come to turn to the one person who might be able to help: Tiger Woods. So, in January of 2008, Smiley set out to follow the game's greatest player from the gallery for every hole of an entire season and to absorb all that he could.Smiley traveled from the seaside cliffs of San Diego to the deserts of Dubai, through the hallowed gates of Augusta National, and on to arguably the greatest U.S. Open of all time back at Torrey Pines, where, in a legendary duel with charismatic journeyman Rocco Mediate, Woods won his fourteenth major—on one leg.Smiley chronicles every dramatic and often hysterical moment of his journey with Tiger, including his off-course run-ins with Arabian sandstorms, ex-con ticket scalpers, and the motley assortment of strangers who became friends along the way.Told from the perspective of a true golf fan, Follow the Roar is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure through the most spectacular and inspiring season in Tiger Woods's celebrated career. In addition to the thrill of witnessing all 604 holes Woods played in '08, Smiley found in Tiger both inspiration and the gutsy embodiment of what it really means to be an athlete—and a man.
The Ultimate Diet REVolution: Your Metabolism Makeover
by Jim Karas#1 New York Times bestselling author and fitness expert Jim Karas reveals the surprising truth about your metabolism, and how you can change it forever, following the radically different weight loss and fitness plan he calls The Ultimate Diet REVolution.In The Ultimate Diet REVolution, the ever iconoclastic Jim Karas reveals little-known truths about human metabolism. Dismissing the latest cleansing and detoxing trends, he teaches you how to transform your metabolism and blast-through calories.But as Karas makes clear, it’s not just about losing weight—it’s about shedding fat. Using his high-octane REV exercise plan, easily tailored for individual needs, you will build the long, lean calorie burning muscles you need to lose inches and keep them off. Tailored to work in balance together, the REV eating plan is the perfect ingredient to supercharge the REV exercise program.Feel more energetic, reduce your stress, and increase your oxygen flow and strengthen your body and your brain with this REVolutionary plan tailor-made for anyone looking for real and rapid results and lasting change in their lives.The Ultimate Diet REVolution features 50 photographs.
Own the Arena: Getting Ahead, Making a Difference, and Succeeding as the Only One
by Katrina M. AdamsFrom the former President and CEO of the United States Tennis Association—the first black woman and youngest person ever to hold the position—comes a behind-the-scenes look at the leadership skills involved in hosting the U.S. Open, the largest and most lucrative sports event in the world—lessons that can be applied across business and to any life challenge.One of professional tennis’s Grand Slam Tournaments, the U.S. Open has been described as a fourteen-day Superbowl. This single tennis championship, held annually in New York City, attracts top professionals from around the globe, generates more money than any other sporting event—or any other sport over an entire season—and attracts more than 700,000 attendees and millions of television viewers. In Own the Arena, Katrina Adams offers a privileged, singular inside look at this sensational global event, while elaborating on what makes tennis the only sport of a lifetime. She opens with the women’s 2018 championship match between Naomi Osaka and Serena Williams that ended in boos. This was Adams’s last year as president and the whole world was watching. How would she respond? How should the press be handled? What needs to be said to Osaka? Serena? What does this break from decorum mean for the Open and the sport?As Adams shares a wealth of stories from her career and personal life, as well as insights from top tennis professionals, she provides invaluable information on meeting life’s tests both on the tennis court and off. Own the Arena offers fresh perspectives on having presence, being remembered, directing a conversation, and moving boldly in spaces where “you are the only one.” It also covers good sportsmanship—treating others with respect and by being inclusive and open to diverse perspectives. Tennis is said to be 90 percent mental; this book shows how to take the elements of mental fortitude and use them to achieve greatness. By embracing and expressing one’s inner grace and humanity, Adams shows, you can own the arena.
Game-Day Eats: 100 Recipes for Homegating Like a Pro
by Eddie JacksonCreate epic feasts for game days at home with this full-color cookbook from former NFL star and celebrity chef Eddie Jackson that includes 100 fresh and inventive recipes for tailgating at home.There’s nothing like day full of football and great food. While many fans tailgate on game days—gathering in the stadium parking lot to grill and eat with family and friends—the real fun of the weekend for former pro-football star and celebrity chef Eddie Jackson is “homegating”: throwing a party in your own living room or den. With homegating, the party doesn’t have to stop once the game starts. Game-Day Eats combines Eddie’s two greatest passions—cooking and football—in one hearty cook’s playbook. Eddie gives you 100 recipes centered around eating, drinking, and spending time with friends while enjoying the game in your own space. The key to a great homegate is food that can be cooked while spending time with your guests. Because you’re cooking in your own kitchen, you can go way beyond brats, chili, and cheeseburgers. With Game-Day Eats you can enjoy mouthwatering Roasted Herb Wings and Chipotle Rib Nachos as well as fun surprises like Jalapeño Honey Chicken Biscuit Sliders and Citrus Beer Floats.Eddie shows how anyone at any culinary skill level can create festive feasts any day of the week. Each inventive and hearty recipe includes steps that can be done ahead of time or prepped very quickly so that you never have to miss a play—whether you're gathering for a traditional Sunday afternoon or for a weeknight game. With influences from Eddie's international culinary escapades and pro days traveling the country, and illustrated with 150 mouthwatering full-color photos, the food in Game-Day Eats is sure to win over your favorite crowd.
Game Over: Jerry Sandusky, Penn State, and the Cullture of Silence
by Bill Moushey Robert DvorchakThe most comprehensive and explosive book on the worst scandal in the history of sports, Game Over investigates the devastating sexual abuse case that brought down Joe Paterno and forever tarnished the name of Penn State.In this incisive work of investigative journalism, Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak, along with Lisa Pulitzer, go behind the headlines, official statements, and court transcripts to tell the full story of the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the nation—a tale of power, privilege, money, and politics that leads from the football building on the Penn State campus to the administration’s boardroom to the highest echelons of the state capital and beyond. Eye-opening and fast-paced, Game Over exposes the lies, willful ignorance, and cover-ups that may have allowed a sexual predator to use his position and status to prey on vulnerable young victims for years. Its explosive new discoveries shatter the illustrious image of “Happy Valley”—State College, Pennsylvania, home to one of the nation’s most successful and highly lucrative college football programs.Moushey, Dvorchak, and Pulitzer craft a story that is as compelling as it is unsettling. Probing beneath the male-dominated football culture, they share the untold stories of the mothers and wives, the sisters and daughters associated with the scandal. They trace the rise and fall of hometown hero and national icon Joe Paterno—the Nittany Lion’s legendary head coach with the most wins in the history of college football, including two national championship titles—juxtaposing Penn State’s success and glory with the hidden anguish of former coach Jerry Sandusky’s accusers. As it details the rise and fall of the individuals associated with the scandal, it also makes clear the larger implications for the university, its vaunted football program, the community, and all of us.An exploration of the messy morality of pride and loyalty, silence and bearing witness, Game Over will leave readers pondering their own values and their beliefs in right and wrong.
The Guide to Walden Pond: An Exploration of the History, Nature, Landscape, and Literature of One of America's Most Iconic Places
by Robert M. ThorsonAn exploration of the history, nature, landscape, and literature of one of America&’s most iconic places This is the first guidebook to Henry David Thoreau&’s most defining place, visited by half a million people each year and widely known as the fountainhead of America's environmental consciousness. Using this guide, both armchair readers and trail-walkers alike can amble around the pond&’s shoreline, pausing at fifteen special places to learn about people, historic events, and the natural world. Thoreau will be a constant companion via quotes from Walden. Stop by stop, the place of his book will merge with the book of his place. Abundantly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and maps, this guide is a must-have for a meaningful, engaging tour of Walden Pond as well as a souvenir of a visit. Special Thanks Concord Free Public Library Concord Museum Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Thoreau Farm Trust Thoreau Society Walden Woods Project
The Class of Football: Words of Hard-Earned Wisdom from Legends of the Gridiron
by Adam SchefterInsightful, poignant, inspiring, and witty, The Class of Football is a heartfelt collection of hard-earned wisdom and life's lessons from the Hall-of-Fame induction speeches of the NFL's all-time greatest players.Compiled in conjunction with the Pro Football Hall of Fame, The Class of Football brings together sage advice from legends of the game whose knowledge, leadership, experience, and athletic prowess made them heroes on and off the field. George Halas speaks on history, Alan Page on justice, Gale Sayers on perseverance, John Madden on passion, Steve Largent on mentors, Mike Singletary on childhood, Michael Irvin on family, Marv Levy on philosophy, and Willie Davis and the rest of the great Green Bay Packers on Vince Lombardi. Each Hall of Famer reflects on his life and career and, even more important, addresses how and why he was able to arrive, once and for all, in Canton, Ohio. Motivating and gripping, these wise words from nearly five decades of Hall-of-Fame history will live on long after the cheering.
All Our Waves Are Water: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment and the Perfect Ride
by Jaimal YogisIn this meditative memoir—a compelling fusion of Barbarian Days and the journals of Thomas Merton—the author of Saltwater Buddha reflects on his "failing toward enlightenment," his continued search to find meaning and a greater understanding of grace in the world’s oceans as well as everyday life.Born to a family of seekers, Jaimal Yogis left home at sixteen to surf in Hawaii and join a monastery—an adventure he chronicled in Saltwater Buddha. Now, in his early twenties, his heart is broken and he’s lost his way. Hitting the road again, he lands in a monastery in Dharamsala, where he meets Sonam, a displaced Tibetan. To help his friend, Jaimal makes a cockamamie attempt to reunite him with his family in Tibet by way of America. Though he does not succeed, witnessing Sonam’s spirit in the face of failure offers Jaimal a deeper understanding of faith. When the two friends part, he cannot fathom the unlikely circumstances that will reunite them. All Our Waves Are Water follows Jaimal’s trek from the Himalayas to Indonesia; to a Franciscan Friary in New York City to the dusty streets of Jerusalem; and finally to San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. Along his journey, Jaimal prays and surfs; mourning a lost love and seeking something that keeps eluding him.The poet Rumi wrote, "We are not a drop in the ocean. We are the ocean in a drop." All Our Waves Are Water is Jaimal’s "attempt to understand the ocean in a drop, to find that one moon shining in the water everywhere"—to find the mystery that unites us.
Smokin' Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier
by Mark Kram Jr.A gripping, all-access biography of Joe Frazier, whose rivalry with Muhammad Ali riveted boxing fans and whose legacy as a figure in American sports and society enduresHistory will remember the rivalry of Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali as one for the ages, a trilogy of extraordinary fights that transcended the world of sports and crossed into a sociocultural drama that divided the country.Joe Frazier was a much more complex figure than just his rivalry with Ali would suggest. In this riveting and nuanced portrayal, acclaimed sports writer Mark Kram, Jr. unlinks Frazier from Ali and for the first time gives a full-bodied accounting of Frazier’s life, a journey that began as the youngest of thirteen children packed in small farm house, encountering the bigotry and oppression of the Jim Crow South, and continued with his voyage north at age fifteen to develop as a fighter in Philadelphia. Tracing Frazier’s life through his momentous bouts with the likes of Ali and George Foreman and the developing perception of him as the anti-Ali in the eyes of blue-collar America, Kram follows the boxer through his retirement in 1981, exploring his relationship with his son, the would-be heavyweight Marvis, and his fragmented home life as well as the uneasy place that Ali continued to occupy in his thoughts. A propulsive and richly textured narrative that is also a powerful story about race and class in America, Smokin' Joe is unparalleled in its scope, depth, and access and promises to be the definitive biography of a towering American figure whose life was galvanized by conflict and whose mark has proven lasting.
To Hate Like This Is to Be Happy Forever: A Thoroughly Obsessive, Intermittently Uplifting, and Occasionally Unbiased Account of the Duke-North Carolina Basketball Rivalry
by Will BlytheAn obsessively personal history of the blood feud between North Carolina’s and Duke’s basketball teams and what that rivalry says about class and culture in the SouthThe basketball rivalry between Duke and North Carolina is the fiercest and longest-running blood feud in college athletics, and perhaps in all of sports. To legions of otherwise reasonable adults, it is a conflict that surpasses athletics; it is rich against poor, locals against outsiders, even good against evil. In North Carolina, where both schools reside, it is a way of aligning oneself with larger philosophic ideals—of choosing teams in life—a tradition of partisanship that reveals the pleasures and even the necessities of hatred.As the season unfolds, Blythe, the former longtime literary editor of Esquire and a lifelong Tarheels fan, will immerse himself in the lives of the two teams, eavesdropping on practice sessions, hanging with players, observing the arcane rituals of fans, and struggling to establish some basic human kinship with Duke’s players and proponents. With access to the coaches, the stars, and the bit players, it is both a chronicle of personal obsession and a record of social history.
The Art of Fear: Why Conquering Fear Won't Work and What to Do Instead
by Kristen UlmerA revolutionary guide to acknowledging fear and developing the tools we need to build a healthy relationship with this confusing emotion—and use it as a positive force in our lives.We all feel fear. Yet we are often taught to ignore it, overcome it, push past it. But to what benefit? This is the essential question that guides Kristen Ulmer’s remarkable exploration of our most misunderstood emotion in The Art of Fear. Once recognized as the best extreme skier in the world (an honor she held for twelve years), Ulmer knows fear well. In this conversation-changing book, she argues that fear is not here to cause us problems—and that in fact, the only true issue we face with fear is our misguided reaction to it (not the fear itself). Rebuilding our experience with fear from the ground up, Ulmer starts by exploring why we’ve come to view it as a negative. From here, she unpacks fear and shows it to be just one of 10,000 voices that make up our reality, here to help us come alive alongside joy, love, and gratitude. Introducing a mindfulness tool called “Shift,” Ulmer teaches readers how to experience fear in a simpler, more authentic way, transforming our relationship with this emotion from that of a draining battle into one that’s in line with our true nature. Influenced by Ulmer’s own complicated relationship with fear and her over 15 years as a mindset facilitator, The Art of Fear will reconstruct the way we react to and experience fear—empowering us to easily and permanently address the underlying cause of our fear-based problems, and setting us on course to live a happier, more expansive future.
You're Welcome, Cleveland: How I Helped Lebron James Win a Championship and Save a City
by Scott Raab"If I had a chance to return to Cleveland, and those fans welcomed me back, that’d be a great story." —LeBron James in 2010, days after "The Decision"You're Welcome, Cleveland is Scott Raab's big-hearted companion to his darkly comic "sports-jeremiad-slash-memoir" The Whore of Akron and follows the first two years of LeBron James’s return to Cleveland. Everybody just loves a good story of forgiveness—especially when you fulfill your promise and bring home an NBA Championship, the first major title for a Cleveland team since 1964.In 2010, when LeBron James announced to the world that he was leaving for Miami, he broke the collective heart of his native city and destroyed the hopes of an entire tortured generation.As LeBron headed south, unofficial spokesman Scott Raab sent him off with a middle-finger salute of his own—a deliciously obscene aria of sports fandom, Jewishness, and weight gain that became infamous as The Whore of Akron. Four years—and two NBA championships later—LeBron came home to the Rust Belt faithful who had vilified him mercilessly, none more so than Raab. You’re Welcome, Cleveland is the story of both LeBron’s and Scott’s redemption as they pursue the one thing they crave more than anything in life—an NBA title for the city that made them men.LeBron is back. So is Scott Raab. It’s a great story.You’re Welcome, Cleveland.
Pound for Pound: A Biography of Sugar Ray Robinson
by Herb Boyd Ray RobinsonHailed by critics as a long overdue portrait of Sugar Ray Robinson, a man who was as elusive out of the ring as he was magisterial in it, Pound for Pound is a lively and nuanced profile of an athlete who is arguably the best boxer the sport has ever known. So great were Robinson's skills, he was eulogized by Woody Allen, compared to Joe Louis, and praised by Muhammad Ali, who called him "the king, the master, my idol." But the same discipline that Robinson brought to the sport eluded him at home, leading him to emotionally and physically abuse his family -- particularly his wife, the gorgeous dancer Edna Mae, whose entrepreneurial skills helped Robinson build an empire to which Harlemites were inexorably drawn. Exposing Robinson's flaws as well as putting his career in the context of his life and times, renowned journalist and bestselling author Herb Boyd, with Ray Robinson II, tells for the first time the full story of a complex man and sport-altering athlete.
Spinning the Globe: The Rise, Fall, and Return to Greatness of the Harlem Globetrotters
by Ben GreenBefore Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Julius Erving, or Michael Jordan––before Magic Johnson and Showtime––the Harlem Globetrotters revolutionized basketball and spread the game around the world. In Spinning the Globe, author Ben Green tells the story of this extraordinary franchise and iconic American institution. We follow the Globetrotters' rise from backwoods obscurity during the harsh years of the Great Depression to become the best basketball team in the country and, by the early 1950s, the most popular sports franchise in the world. Green brings to life their struggles with racism and segregation, and their influence upon a nation's views about race and sport. We witness the Globetrotters' fall from grace to the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1990s, and their ultimate rebirth under Mannie Jackson today, as they once again amaze kids and families around the world. Now in paperback, this is the true and complete story of their amazing eighty years as a team, told with lyrical prose and masterful storytelling by Ben Green.
Why I Fight: The Belt Is Just an Accessory
by B.J. Penn Dave WeintraubClaiming that “the belt is just an accessory,” Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Lightweight Champion B.J. Penn explains Why I Fight in this honest, intimate, and fascinating memoir. Written with David Weintraub, Why I Fight is an unforgettable portrait of one of the top and most recognizable mixed martial artists in the UFC and an up-close look at one of the most exciting and fastest growing sports in the world. UFC and Jiu-Jitsu aficionados—and fans of Iceman, A Fighter’s Heart, and Bruce Lee’s classic The Tao of Jeet Kun Do—will want to explore Why I Fight.
Fight: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You'd Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking
by Eugene S. RobinsonCrushing your enemies, driving them before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women? It doesn't get any better than this." –Eugene Robinson, ripping off John Milius That's the sentiment that surges just below the surface of Eugene Robinson's Fight – an engrossing, intimate look into the all–absorbing world of fighting. Robinson – a former body–builder, one–time bouncer, and lifelong fight connoisseur – takes readers on a no–holds–barred plunge into what fighting is all about, and what fighters live for. If George Plimpton had muscles and had been choked out one too many times––this is the book he could have written. When Robinson and his fellow fighters mix it up, they live completely for the moment: absorbed in the feel of muscles slippery with sweat; the metallic tang of blood mingling with saliva in the mouth; the sweet, firm thud of taped knuckles impacting flesh. They fight because it feels good. They fight because they want to win. And even if they get their asses kicked, they fight because they love fighting. Fight is part encyclopedia, part panegyric to fighting in all its forms and glory. Robinson's narrative – told in his trademark tough–guy, stream–of–consciousness noir voice – punctuates this explanatory compendium of the fighting world. From wrestling, jiu–jitsu, boxing and muay thai to bar fighting, hand–to–hand combat, prison fighting and hockey fights, from the greatest movie fight scenes to how to throw the perfect left hook, Fight is a scene–by–scene tour of the bloody but beautiful underworld that is the art of fighting. With his aficionado's enthusiasm and fast–paced, addictive voice, Robinson's Fight combines compelling text with beautiful photographs to create an illustrated book as edgy and interesting as it is gorgeous.
Bleeding Orange: Fifty Years of Blind Referees, Screaming Fans, Beasts of the East, and Syracuse Basketball
by Jim Boeheim Jack McCallumNew York Times BestsellerIn this candid autobiography, Syracuse head coach and long time college basketball fixture Jim Boeheim reflects on his life, his teachers, and the game he loves.Jim Boeheim walked onto the Syracuse campus as a freshman in 1963 . . . and never walked off. A man who has been written off at various stages of his career and criticized for being disagreeable, Boeheim has experienced it all—triumph, despair, redemption; controversy, heartbreak, and scandal; championships, epic disappointments, colorful personalities, NCAA investigations.His combative personality helped ignite what was arguably the most competitive college basketball conference ever: the Big East of the 1980s, when he and Syracuse battled with Big John Thompson of Georgetown, roly-poly Rollie Massimino of Villanova, feisty Jim Calhoun of Connecticut, and beloved Looie Carnesecca of St. John’s, turning the Big East into a Coaches Conference and the Best Show in College Basketball. Boeheim talks about those days and the coming battles with powerhouses North Carolina and Duke, now that Syracuse has joined the Atlantic Coast Conference.From his association with Syracuse greats Dave Bing (a college teammate), Pearl Washington, and Derrick Coleman, to the Olympics—where he coached players such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Durant—Boeheim has learned many lessons that have helped his team and continue to encourage him now as he nears seventy.His unprecedented fifty-year career as a player, assistant, head coach and icon has given him unique insight into coaching and the college game, knowledge he now shares.
The Scrambler's Dozen: The 12 Shots Every Golfer Needs to Score Like the Pros
by Mike McGetrick Tom FerrellIn this invaluable book, Mike McGetrick, one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teaching Professionals in America and 1999 National PGA Teacher of the Year, shows how to make the best shot possible and shave strokes off your game. Sharing the same methods he uses when coaching some of the best players in the world, McGetrick outlines 12 basic shots you can incorporate into your game without overhauling your technique."Shotmaking is much more than simply curving the ball or hitting it low and high," explains Mike McGetrick, personal instructor to top golf professionals such as Juli Inkster, Brandt Jobe, and Meg Mallon. "It's understanding how the lie, the wind, the contour of the target and the hazards of the course will affect your decision making process." To reach full scoring potential on a course, you have to be a scrambler at heart, a master who can read a course's shifting challenges-from weather and terrain to pin positions-and adapt accordingly.Following the clear advice in The Scrambler's Dozen, you will learn to be a great scrambler-to trust your decisions and your ability to execute shots to get the greatest rewards from the game. Like the pros, you too can learn when and how to chip or pitch or putt from off the green, and know how to practice so you're rarely in unfamiliar situations on the golf course. The Scramblers Dozen is the secret for squeezing every ounce out of your game and reaching your full scoring potential.