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The Away Game: The Epic Search For Soccer's Next Superstars
by Sebastian AbbotThe gripping story of a group of boys discovered in what may be the largest talent search in sports history. Over the past decade, an audacious program called Football Dreams has held tryouts for millions of 13-year-old boys across Africa looking for soccer’s next superstars. Led by the Spanish scout who helped launch Lionel Messi’s career at Barcelona and funded by the desert kingdom of Qatar, the program has chosen a handful of boys each year to train to become professionals—a process over a thousand times more selective than getting into Harvard. In The Away Game, reporter Sebastian Abbot follows a small group of the boys as they are discovered on dirt fields across Africa, join the glittering academy in Doha where they train, and compete for the chance to gain fame and fortune at Europe’s top clubs. We meet Diawandou, a skilled Senegalese defender whose composure makes him a natural leader on the field; Hamza, a midfielder from Ghana with great talent but a mercurial personality to match; Ibrahima, a towering striker who scores goals by the bucketload; Serigne Mbaye, who glides by players effortlessly but happens to be deaf; and Bernard, often the smallest kid on the field but a sublime playmaker who invites constant comparison to Messi. Abbot masterfully weaves together the dramatic story of the boys’ journey with an exploration of the art and science of trying to spot talent at such a young age. As in so many other sports, data analytics in soccer have expanded in the wake of Moneyball, with scouts employing more sophisticated metrics like "expected goals" and tracking data to judge players. But, as The Away Game chronicles, soccer genius depends more on intangible qualities like "game intelligence" than on easily quantifiable ones. Richly reported and deeply moving, The Away Game is set against the geopolitical backdrop of Qatar’s rise from an impoverished patch of desert to an immensely rich nation determined to buy a place on the international stage. It is an unforgettable story of the joy and pain these talented African boys experience as they chase their dreams in a dizzying world of rich Arab sheikhs, money-hungry agents, and soccer-mad European fans.
The Away Game (Little Rhino #5)
by Erwin Madrid Krystle Howard Ryan HowardCoach Ray has some exciting news! After a great season, the Mustangs made it into a tournament. They get to travel to the capital and play against the best teams in the state. It's a huge honor and everyone is super excited to go. But then Rhino realizes that he's going to have to sleep in a hotel. Away from Grandpa James and his brother. He's never stayed away from his house before. If Rhino is this nervous, will he be able to concentrate on the game?
Away Games: Seventeen of the Greatest Stories in the Galaxy
by Mike ResnickWant to know why Mike Resnick is the all-time leading award-winner for short fiction? Here are 17 sterling examples, as the 2012 Worldcon Guest of Honor turns his unique focus to sports.
Away Running
by David Wright Luc Bouchard<p>Matt, a white quarterback from Montreal, Quebec, flies to France (without his parents' permission) to play football and escape family pressure. <p>Freeman, a black football player from San Antonio, Texas, is in Paris on a school trip when he hears about a team playing American football in a rough, low-income suburb called Villeneuve-La-Grande. <p>Matt and Free join the Diables Rouges and make friends with the other players, who come from many different ethnic groups. Racial tension erupts into riots in Villeneuve when some of their Muslim teammates get in trouble with the police, and Matt and Free have to decide whether to get involved and face the very real risk of arrest and violence.</p>
Away Went the Balloons
by Carolyn HaywoodFrom the bookjacket: This ingenious book is about a very special holiday: Balloon Day that is celebrated at Blue Bell School each May. The pupils release balloons with a tag asking the finder to send a message back to the owner. The school is real, the holiday takes place, but the adventures of the seven balloons Carolyn Haywood relates here are the product of her imagination. Lynette and her first-grade classmates let their balloons float away with a maximum of excitement and a minimum of efficiency. Six are soon heard from. They end up in an odd assortment of places: a circus, a children's hospital, a tree house, a sailboat, a clothesline, and a dog show. Lynette, however, does not get a letter, and she is bitterly disappointed. Then, in the most surprising adventure of all, Lynette discovers her own balloon, and it turns out to be the only one ever to come back to school. Each of the eight chapters is a story in itself. Together they make a book that offers an astonishing variety of mood and incident.
Awesome Bill from Dawsonville: My Life in NASCAR
by Bill Elliott Chris MillardIn this long-awaited autobiography, the legendary Bill Elliott details his childhood in rural North Georgia, building cars from scratch, struggling on the anonymous small-time tracks of the South to his against-the-odds rise to the pinnacle of NASCAR stardom: Winston Cup Champion. From Daytona to Talladega, from Bristol to Sonoma, ride shoulder to shoulder with Elliott as he battles Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, and Alan Kulwicki for NASCAR's ultimate prize. Through Elliott's eyes we meet the colorful cast of old-school characters who built NASCAR: Cale Yarborough, Junior Johnson, the Allisons, Carl Kiekhaefer, and, of course, the France family. We join Bill in the car (and under it) as he sets the all-time record for the fastest official speed ever recorded in a stock car (a record he still holds today). Learn the secret—revealed for the first time—behind the Elliott family's unquestioned mastery of the sport's super speedways. Watch NASCAR grow from a southern diversion into a national phenomenon, and see Bill Elliott grow with it, ultimately becoming one of the sport's most popular heroes. In 1985 Elliott captured the inaugural Winston Million and became the first NASCAR driver ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Three years later he captured the Winston Cup Championship. He went on to be voted NASCAR Driver of the Decade for the 1980s by NASCAR fans. He was also voted Most Popular Driver sixteen times. Elliott also shares his thoughts on the dark side of the racing life: the stresses it can place on relationships, the ever-present physical risks, and the weight of fame. He addresses the racing-related deaths of competitors and friends. He is candid and critical in discussing the intense rivalry between him and the late Dale Earnhardt, and he sheds new light on their storied relationship as well as on Earnhardt's shocking death. Elliott discusses the future of NASCAR with critiques of its management and restrictor plates, and he takes on the controversial issues of track and driver safety. A window into the compelling personality of Bill Elliott, as well as a primer on the ascent of America's fastestgrowing sport, this is the definitive insider's view of the rising NASCAR nation.
The Awesome Game: One Man's Incredible, Globe-Crushing Hockey Odyssey
by Dave HillOne man's search to answer the ultimate question in sports: Why is hockey so incredibly awesome?Dave Hill--author, actor, rock musician and stand-up comedian--is a truly outstanding American. For one thing, he's part Canadian (an advantage he explored in his previous book Parking the Moose). For another, and maybe this has something to do with his Canadian heritage, he's a totally obsessive fan of hockey. That makes him a minority within a minority: apparently only five percent of the US population admit to liking hockey more than any other sport.In his latest opus, Dave--who's from Cleveland, which hasn't had an NHL team since 1978--tackles this hockey conundrum with full force, drilling down into what makes hockey so damn important in so many parts of the world, despite the average American not recognizing the sport's preeminent greatness. His search for the very soul of hockey has taken him across the globe, from Poland to LA to Kenya, and brought him into contact with many of the sport's great and good. Humorous but heartfelt, Bill Bryson-like but hipper, this is arguably the greatest book ever written about hockey and definitely the one to be asking for at Christmas.
The Awesome Guide to Life: Get Fit, Get Laid, Get Your Sh*t Together
by Jason Ellis Mike TullyIn the same inimitable, uncensored, and hilarious style that has made him one of the most popular voices on satellite radio, Jason Ellis unleashes his no-holds-barred words of advice on diet and exercise, cultivating your signature look, partying, getting laid, maintaining a relationship—and more!Maybe—like Jason Ellis—you want to have sex with multiple partners and then talk about it on the radio while wearing cheetah pants . . .Or maybe you have some goals of your own. Whatever the case may be, Jason believes it's all about getting off your ass and maximizing the opportunities that life has to offer. It's about remembering that you are alive, right now, and that won't always be the case. So do something. Anything. Enjoy the ride. Go outside and get naked.Jason can tell you how to handle every situation life throws at you and play it like a champ: how to look, how to act, how to pick up a stripper—you name it.But that's just for starters. Jason believes that to get what you really want out of life, you have to have confidence. And true confidence is something you have to earn, by deciding what you want from life and then pursuing your passion until you make your dreams a reality.This book will show you how to develop the positive attitude that will allow you to truly make things happen.
The B.A.A. at 125: The Official History of the Boston Athletic Association, 1887-2012
by John Hanc Matt DamonFounded in 1887 and celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2012, the Boston Athletic Association is one of the oldest sports organizations in America. It's best known today for its signature annual event, the Boston Marathon, which is the third-largest marathon and attracts tens of thousands of participants and worldwide media coverage. But the B.A.A. has also been amazingly prescient in anticipating what would become one of the major social trends of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries: the modern fitness movement. Consider some of the B.A.A.'s firsts:Nine out of the fourteen members of the US team participating in the modern Olympic Games in Athens (1896) were B.A.A. athletes.The B.A.A. launched the first US marathon, the Boston Marathon, in 1897.The B.A.A. pioneered and actively promoted many of today's popular sports, including football and water polo.The original B.A.A. club house, in the historic Back Bay section of Boston, is the precursor of today's health club.Still, the B.A.A. story is not simply one of athletic achievements and firsts. It's also the dramatic story of people and the times in which they lived--a social history that unfolds in nineteenth-century Boston but takes readers around the world, up to the present, and includes a large and international cast of characters. A wonderfully illustrated history,The B.A.A. at 125 highlights the Boston Athletic Association's important role in American sports history.
Babe: The Legend Comes to Life
by Robert W. CreamerThe definitive life story of the legendary Yankee slugger: &“The best biography ever written about an American sports figure&” (Sports Illustrated). Nearly a century has passed since George Herman Ruth made his major league debut, and in that time millions of words have been used to describe baseball&’s greatest hero. But for a man like the Babe, for whom the phrase &“larger than life&” seems to have been coined, those millions of words have created a mythologized legacy. Who was the real Babe Ruth? Relying on exhaustive research and interviews with teammates, family members, and friends, historian Robert W. Creamer separates fact from fiction and paints an honest and fascinating portrait of the slugger. This is the definitive biography of a man who was, in legend and in truth, the best who ever lived.
Babe Conquers the World: The Legendary Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias
by Rich Wallace Sandra Neil WallaceBabe Didrikson Zaharias had one driving goal: to become the greatest athlete who ever lived. And she made good on that promise with a meteoric rise to famed basketball player, Olympic medalist, and top female golfer. But there was more to Babe than just sports. Noted novelists and sportswriters Rich and Sandra Wallace expose the many controversies surrounding this famous female athlete--her upbringing, personality, marriage, and even her early death. This action-packed story of a womanESPN ranks as #10 of the top North American athletes of the twentieth century also includes personal and professional photographs, quotes, a bibliography, and an index.
Babe Didrikson: Athlete of the Century (Women of Our Times)
by R. R. KnudsonA biography emphasizing the early years of Babe Didrikson, who broke records in golf, track and field, and other sports, at a time when there were few opportunities for female athletes.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The Making of a Champion
by Russell FreedmanA biography of Babe Didrikson, who broke records in golf, track and field, and other sports, at a time when there were few opportunities for female athletes.
Babe & Me
by Dan GutmanOn October 1, 1932, during Game Three of the Chicago Cubs--New York Yankees World Series, Babe Ruth belted a long home run to straightaway centerfield. According to legend, just before he hit, Babe pointed to the centerfield bleachers and boldly predicted he would slam the next pitch there. Did he call that shot, or didn't he? Witnesses never agreed. Joe Stoshack knows there's one way to solve the mystery--slip back seventy years and see for himself.As fans of Dan Gutman's acclaimed novels Honus & Me and Jackie & Me know, Joe has the astonishing ability to travel through time-with baseball cards! Now he's bound for Chicago's Wrigley Field by way of Depression-era New York. Only this time his dad-who doesn't spend a lot of time with Joe in the present, never mind the past-is along for the trip. Joe has waited a long time for his father to take him to a big league game, but he never dreamed it could be this one!On October 1, 1932, during Game Three of the Chicago Cubs-New York Yankees World Series, Babe Ruth belted a long home run to straight-away centerfield.According to legend, just before he hit, Babe pointed to the centerfield bleachers and boldly predicted he would slam the next pitch there. Did he call that shot, or didn't he? Witnesses never agreed. Joe Stoshack knows there's one way to solve the mystery--slip back seventy years and see for himself.On October 1, 1932, during Game Three of the Chicago Cubs-New York Yankees World Series, Babe Ruth belted a long home run to straight-away centerfield. According to legend, just before he hit, Babe pointed to the centerfield bleachers and boldly predicted he would slam the next pitch there. Did he call that shot, or didn't he? Witnesses never agreed. Joe Stoshack knows there's one way to solve the mystery--slip back seventy years and see for himself.
Babe Ruth
by Seymour Fleishman Guernsey Van Riper Jr.A biography of the well-loved baseball personality who set many records and made home runs a common part of the game.
Babe Ruth: A Twentieth-Century Life
by Wilborn HamptonAn absorbing biography of Babe Ruth who is still regarded by some as the greatest baseball player.
Babe Ruth: One of Baseball's Greatest (Childhood of Famous Americans Series)
by Guernsey Van RiperThis fictionalized biography looks at the childhood of baseball great Babe Ruth.
Babe Ruth: His Life and Legend
by Kal WagenheimThe most famous baseball player in history, and the most enduring legend, Babe Ruth is remembered for his dramatic heroism not only on the baseball diamond but also in his life. Kal Wagenheim illustrates this larger than life athlete in his book Babe Ruth: His Life and Legends, and describes him as both a product of his childhood in Baltimore and of his formative years as a New York Yankee. Ruth struggled desperately with the dramatic contrast between the poverty of his youth and the glamour and stardom that his famed career brought him, and although his name became synonymous with wooing women and abusing alcohol, nothing could prevent him from becoming one of history&’s greatest athletes.
Babe Ruth and the Baseball Curse
by David A. KellyBefore 1918, the Boston Red Sox were unstoppable. They won World Series after World Series, thanks in part to their charismatic pitcher-slugger Babe Ruth. But some people on the Red Sox felt the Babe was more trouble than he was worth, and he was traded away to one of the worst teams in baseball, the New York Yankees. From then on, the Yankees became a golden team. And the Red Sox? For over 80 years, they just couldn't win another World Series. Then, in 2004, along came a scruffy, scrappy Red Sox team. Could they break Babe Ruth's curse and win it all?
Babe Ruth and the Baseball Curse (Totally True Adventures)
by Tim Jessell David A. KellyBefore 1918, the Boston Red Sox were unstoppable. They won World Series after World Series, thanks in part to their charismatic pitcher-slugger Babe Ruth. But some people on the Red Sox felt the Babe was more trouble than he was worth, and he was traded away to one of the worst teams in baseball, the New York Yankees. From then on, the Yankees became a golden team. And the Red Sox? For over 80 years, they just couldn't win another World Series. Then, in 2004, along came a scruffy, scrappy Red Sox team. Could they break Babe Ruth's curse and win it all?From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Babe Ruth Deception
by David O. StewartAs the Roaring Twenties get under way, corruption seems everywhere--from the bootleggers flouting Prohibition to the cherished heroes of the American Pastime now tarnished by scandal. Swept up in the maelstrom are Dr. Jamie Fraser and Speed Cook...Babe Ruth, the Sultan of Swat, is having a record-breaking season in his first year as a New York Yankee. In 1920, he will hit more home runs than any other team in the American League. Larger than life on the ball field and off, Ruth is about to discover what the Chicago White Sox players accused of throwing the 1919 World Series are learning--baseball heroes are not invulnerable to scandal. With suspicion in the air, Ruth's 1918 World Series win for the Boston Red Sox is now being questioned. Under scrutiny by the new baseball commissioner and enmeshed with gambling kingpin Arnold Rothstein, Ruth turns for help to Speed Cook--a former professional ballplayer himself before the game was segregated and now a promoter of Negro baseball--who's familiar with the dirty underside of the sport.Cook in turn enlists the help of Dr. Jamie Fraser, whose wife Eliza is coproducing a silent film starring the Yankee outfielder. Restraint does not come easily to the reckless Ruth, but the Frasers try to keep him in line while Cook digs around.As all this plays out, Cook's son Joshua and Fraser's daughter Violet are brought together by a shocking tragedy. But an interracial relationship in 1920 feels as dangerous as a public scandal--even more so because Joshua is heavily involved in bootlegging. Trying to protect Ruth and their own children, Fraser and Cook find themselves playing a dangerous game.Once again masterfully blending fact and fiction, David O. Stewart delivers a nail-biting historical mystery that captures an era unlike any America has seen before or since in all its moral complexity and dizzying excitement.Praise for David O. Stewart's Historical Mysteries: "Terrific...The book's fun part is its name game, as familiar historic figures mingle with made-up characters...The storyline's dangling threads are braided into a tight, clever finish, worthy of a vintage spy caper or 007's own playbook. Now which president will Stewart select for his next escapade" --The Washington Post on The Wilson Deception"This fast-paced and smartly researched first novel is astonishingly good, complete with sharp and colorful characters, nicely drawn by Stewart, who in his other self is a lawyer-turned-historian." --Bloomberg News on The Lincoln Deception"Dense with detail and intrigue, making a hearty read for conspiracy addicts." --Library Journalon The Lincoln Deception"Stewart deftly depicts the mood of an era and the colorful figures who shaped it." --Publishers Weekly on The Wilson Deception
Babe Ruth - Legends in Sports: Legends in Sports (Matt Christopher)
by Matthew F ChristopherIn a career that spanned over thirty years, George Herman "Babe" Ruth changed the way the sport of baseball was played. He was the first true power hitter, a strong pitcher, and in the outfield made some amazing game-saving catches. His love of the sport shined through in the way he laughed while jogging around the bases, in how he kidded and horsed around with teammates, and in his overall determination to win. But there was a darker side to Babe, one that nearly ruined his career - and his life. In the end, however, Ruth managed to overcome his personal demons, recapture his health, and go on to lead his beloved Yankees to championship status. Simply put, there has never been another player like the Babe. This comprehensive biography of one of baseball's most memorable legends also comes with photos.
Babe Ruth Saves Baseball! (Step into Reading)
by Richard Walz Frank MurphyBatter up! It's 1919 and baseball is in trouble! All across the country, people are throwing down their bats, and giving up America's national pastime. It's up to Babe Ruth to win back fans and save baseball! Can he do it, or will he strike out?