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Playing With the Boys (Pretty Tough #2)
by Nicole Leigh ShepherdNew girl Lucy is desperate for friends. She tries out for Beachwood High soccer, but despite her amazingly accurate kick, fails to make the team. When the Coach points out that varsity football is looking for a new kicker, Lucy is skeptical. <P><P>Football? Isn?t that a boys? game? But on the gridiron Lucy discovers that she feels strong?in control for the first time since her mother died. She loves football. She actually wants to play! (She also wants to hang out with super-cute quarterback Ryan Conner. But that?s just icing on the cake.) Too bad no one else wants her on the team. Not the boys? coach, not her teammates, and especially not her overprotective dad. Will Lucy cave in to the pressure? Or will she prove she?s pretty tough after all?
Playing Without the Ball: A Novel in Four Quarters
by Rich WallaceSome might think Jay was cheated. By his mother, who walked out when he was 9. By his dad, who took a job a couple thousand miles away and let him stay above a bar in a one-room apartment. By the basketball coach, who saw his talent but chose youth over determination. And even Jay’s not sure whether this last year of high school in the small town of Sturbridge, Pennsylvania, will add up to anything. But just when senior year seems a waste–kissing the wrong girls, offending the right ones, playing basketball on a church league with other “rejects”–life begins to click again. The church league gives him some of the best basketball he’s ever played, and the right girl gives him a second chance. Jay may not know what he wants next out of life, but he’s beginning to get a clue about how to play the game.
Playing a Round with the Little Pro: A Life in the Game
by Eddie Merrins Mike PurkeyIn the world of professional golf, everyone knows "the Little Pro" -- Eddie Merrins, the head professional at the Bel-Air Country Club. A living bridge between the Golden Age of the sport and the greatest champions of today, his experiences and friendships reach back to Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, and Ben Hogan, and all the way forward to Tiger Woods, Amy Alcott, and Vijay Singh. Both on and off the course, he's an embodiment of the highest principles of the game. In dozens of short, personal anecdotes told with his trademark wit and modesty, Merrins invites readers to share the decades he spent in the very good company of famous Hollywood stars, celebrated athletes and coaches, and countless lovers of the game seeking his advice and encouragement. In these pages, Merrins generously offers for the first time all his insights on the mental, physical, technical, and even spiritual aspects of the sport. Ranging from swing fundamentals to setting goals to shotmaking, this advice is relevant to players at every level of experience. Playing a Round with the Little Pro celebrates a wonderful life lived in and for the great sport of golf, and it is destined, like its author, to be a classic of the game.
Playing as if the World Mattered: An Illustrated History of Activism in Sports
by Gabriel KuhnThe world of sports is often associated with commercialism, corruption, and reckless competition. Liberals have objected to sport being used for political propaganda, and leftists have decried its role in distracting the masses from the class struggle. Yet, since the beginning of organized sports, athletes, fans, and officials have tried to administer and play it in ways that strengthen, rather than hinder, progressive social change. From the workers' sports movement in the early 20th century to the civil rights struggle transforming sports in the 1960s to the current global network of grassroots sports clubs, there has been a glowing desire to include sports in the struggle for liberation and social justice. With the help of numerous full-color illustrations—from posters and leaflets to paintings and photographs—Playing as if the World Mattered makes this history tangible and introduces an understanding of sports beyond chauvinistic jingoism, corporate-media chat rooms, and multibillion-dollar business deals.
Playing by the Rules: All the Rules of the Game, Complete with Memorable Rulings From Golf's Rich History
by Steve Eubanks Arnold PalmerIt was a moment seen by millions on television. During play at the 1999 Phoenix Open, Tiger Woods had a "loose impediment? removed to play his shot -- an everyday occurrence under golf's rules. But that impediment was not a leaf or twig, it was a 350-pound boulder that took six people to move! The gallery and television audience buzzed with disbelief. How could this be legal under the rules?Indeed it could, says golf legend Arnold Palmer, who throughout his distinguished career has taken part in a sizable share of rules controversies. Despite the fact that golf has fewer rules than such sports as baseball or football or rugby, it is a contest of honor, and all players, be they tour professionals or casual weekend hackers, respect the rules. But, as Palmer points out, sometimes the rules are a little confusing -- and from time to time, even the pros are puzzled.When exactly is a ball considered "lost?? How is "slow play? defined? And when is a "drop? allowed? Palmer helps makes sense of it all with simple-to-understand language and hundreds of "infamous? pictures of some of the more controversial rulings -- affording readers a visual recall of memorable moments involving Greg Norman, Lee Janzen, Mark O'Meara, John Daly, even Palmer himself.If you're one of the millions who taketo the links every year, need a clear explanation of all the rules of the game you love, and more important, don't want to be speechless when an argument over the "coefficient of restitution? pops up, then Playing By The Rules will be an invaluable guide you'll refer to time and again.
Playing by the Rules: The Rules Of Golf Explained & Illustrated From A Lifetime In The Game
by Arnold PalmerIt was a moment seen by millions on television. During play at the 1999 Phoenix Open, Tiger Woods had a "loose impediment? removed to play his shot -- an everyday occurrence under golf's rules. But that impediment was not a leaf or twig, it was a 350-pound boulder that took six people to move! The gallery and television audience buzzed with disbelief. How could this be legal under the rules?Indeed it could, says golf legend Arnold Palmer, who throughout his distinguished career has taken part in a sizable share of rules controversies. Despite the fact that golf has fewer rules than such sports as baseball or football or rugby, it is a contest of honor, and all players, be they tour professionals or casual weekend hackers, respect the rules. But, as Palmer points out, sometimes the rules are a little confusing -- and from time to time, even the pros are puzzled. When exactly is a ball considered "lost? How is "slow play? defined? And when is a "drop? allowed? Palmer helps makes sense of it all with simple-to-understand language and hundreds of "infamous? pictures of some of the more controversial rulings -- affording readers a visual recall of memorable moments involving Greg Norman, Lee Janzen, Mark O'Meara, John Daly, even Palmer himself. If you're one of the millions who taketo the links every year, need a clear explanation of all the rules of the game you love, and more important, don't want to be speechless when an argument over the "coefficient of restitution? pops up, then Playing By The Rules will be an invaluable guide you'll refer to time and again.
Playing for Change
by Russell FieldFor more than forty years, scholars of the history and sociology of sport and recreation have studied how, no matter the time or place, sport is always more than just a game. In Playing for Change, leading scholars in the field of sports studies consider that legacy and forge ahead into the discipline's future. Through essays grouped around the themes of international and North American sport, including the Vancouver and Sochi Olympic Games; access to physical activity in Canadian communities; and the role of activism and the public intellectual in the delivery of sport, the contributors offer a comprehensive examination of the institutional structures of sport, physical activity, and recreation. This book provides wide-ranging examples of cutting-edge research in a vibrant and growing field.
Playing for Keeps
by Jennifer DuganFrom the author of Some Girls Do comes another heartfelt YA sapphic romance—starring a baseball pitcher and a student umpire who are definitely not supposed to fall for one another.&“Sapphic sports romance perfection. Swoony and romantic, but unafraid to tackle grief, family expectations, and fighting for your dreams, this is a home run of a book.&” —Rachael Lippincott, coauthor of the #1 New York Times Bestsellers Five Feet Apart and She Gets the GirlJune is the star pitcher of her elite club baseball team—with an ego to match—and she's a shoo-in to be recruited at the college level, like her parents have always envisioned. That is, if she can play through an overuse injury that has recently gone from bad to worse.Ivy isn't just reffing to pay off her athletic fees or make some extra cash on the side. She wants to someday officiate at the professional level, even if her parents would rather she go to college instead. The first time they cross paths, Ivy throws June out of a game for grandstanding. Still, they quickly grow from enemies to begrudging friends . . . and then something more. But the rules state that players and umpires are prohibited from dating.As June's shoulder worsens, and a rival discovers the girls' secret and threatens to expose them, everything the two have worked so hard for is at risk. Now both must choose: follow their dreams . . . or follow their hearts?
Playing for Keeps (Chestnut Hill #4)
by Lauren BrookeSpunky, vivacious Lani Hernandez is excited to be back at school with her friends and horses after winter break. Then Lani receives a letter from home: Her parents are concerned about her grades and want her to transfer to another school where the extracurriculars won't be as distracting. Upset but determined, Lani sets out to change her parents' minds. When she sprains her wrist riding, she's able to devote more time to studying -- until she gets involved in planning a charity event. If the event is a success, will Lani be able to convince her parents that Chestnut Hill is the place for her?
Playing for Keeps: A History of Early Baseball
by Warren GoldsteinIn the late 1850s, organized baseball was a club-based fraternal sport thriving in the cultures of respectable artisans, clerks and shopkeepers, and middle-class sportsmen. Two decades later it had become an entertainment business run by owners and managers, depending on gate receipts and the increasingly disciplined labor of skilled player-employees. Playing for Keeps is an insightful, in-depth account of the game that became America's premier spectator sport for nearly a century.Reconstructing the culture and experience of early baseball through a careful reading of the sporting press, baseball guides, and the correspondence of the player-manager Harry Wright, Warren Goldstein discovers the origins of many modern controversies during the game's earliest decades.The 20th Anniversary Edition of Goldstein's classic includes information about the changes that have occurred in the history of the sport since the 1980s and an account of his experience as a scholarly consultant during the production of Ken Burns's Baseball.
Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made
by David HalberstamThe Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist looks at the life and times of the Chicago Bulls superstar— &“The best Jordan book so far&” (The Washington Post). One of sport&’s biggest superstars, Michael Jordan is more than an internationally renowned athlete. As illuminated through David Halberstam&’s trademark balance of impeccable research and fascinating storytelling, Jordan symbolizes the apex of the National Basketball Association&’s coming of age. Long before multimillion-dollar signings and lucrative endorsements, NBA players worked in relative obscurity, with most games woefully unattended and rarely broadcast on television. Then came Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, Jordan&’s two great predecessors, and the game&’s status changed. The new era capitalized on Jordan&’s talent, will power, and unrivaled competiveness. In Playing for Keeps, Halberstam is at his investigative best, delving into Jordan&’s expansive world of teammates and coaches. The result is a gripping story of the athlete and media powerhouse who changed a game forever. This ebook features an extended biography of David Halberstam.
Playing for Pizza: A Novel
by John Grisham#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • After providing what is arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL, third-string quarterback Rick Dockery becomes a national laughingstock. Cut by the Cleveland Browns, and shunned by every other team, Rick insists that his agent find a team that does need him. Against enormous odds, Rick lands a job—as the starting quarterback for the Mighty Panthers ... of Parma, Italy. The Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player—any former NFL player—at their helm. And now they&’ve got Rick, who knows nothing about Parma (not even where it is) and doesn&’t speak a word of Italian. To say that Italy—the land of fine wines, extremely small cars, and football americano—holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.Don&’t miss John Grisham&’s new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!
Playing for Pride (Laurie Bird Preston)
by Timothy TocherWith the girls' softball season about to start, fifth-grader Laurie Bird Preston can't decide what to do. Her friends are trying out for the team, but Laurie knows she's no softball player--basketball is her sport. She helped lead her middle school's girls' basketball team to a state championship just a few weeks earlier. What fun will she have playing a sport she's no good at and might not even like? But with patience, practice--and help from her friends and an eccentric old woman with a mysterious past--Laurie might just learn that she doesn't have to be the best player to be part of the team.
Playing for Uncle Sam: The Brits' Story of the North American Soccer League
by David TossellA coach transported to the field in a hearse as he played dead. An English manager taken at gunpoint to an Argentinian jail after trying to sign that country's World Cup captain. The hero of 1966 who talked his team out of going on strike on the eve of a title decider. All are part of the British professionals' story of life in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 1970s and early '80s, when star turn and unsung journeyman alike had the chance to play alongside Pelé, Cruyff, Beckenbauer and Eusebio in the greatest galaxy of world stars ever assembled in one league. Playing for Uncle Sam recalls the British players and coaches who were part of an organisation that changed the face of football with its shoot-outs, offside rule and wacky marketing methods.It began with Stoke City and Wolverhampton Wanderers spending a bizarre summer posing as the Cleveland Stokers and Los Angeles Wolves in 1967. The late '70s saw the NASL, run by a former Welsh international, reach its peak, drawing crowds of 70,000 and featuring names like Banks, Moore, Hurst and Ball. Rodney Marsh pitched his tent in America by declaring famously that English football had become a grey game, while George Best used the NASL as an escape from the fishbowl of his life in Britain. Typically, the pair delighted and exasperated teammates and coaches in equal measure. Through approximately 60 interviews with members of the British contingent who accepted the offer of the Yankee dollar, Playing for Uncle Sam recalls one of the most fascinating episodes in football history: the remarkable rise and chaotic collapse of the NASL.
Playing from the Rough: A Personal Journey through America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses
by Jimmie JamesThe story of one man&’s quest to become the first person to play each of America&’s 100 greatest golf courses in a single year, an odyssey that brings him face to face with the gulf between his impoverished childhood in the Jim Crow South and the successful executive he became.When he set out to play each of Golf Digest&’s America&’s 100 greatest golf courses in one year, Jimmie James knew he was attempting the impossible. But then again, he&’d spent his entire life defying the odds. James was born invisible. His birth certificate, long since filed away in some clerk&’s office in East Texas, recorded facts about him that were deemed most relevant in the late 1950s: &“colored&” and &“illegitimate.&” His great-great-grandmother was enslaved, and his early life was confined by the privation and segregation of the late Jim Crow-era South. Four decades later—having put himself through an HBCU and determinedly risen through the executive ranks at ExxonMobil—he embarked on his journey to play the 100 greatest golf courses in the United States. In a single year. From the first tee at Augusta National, the distance between the world he grew up in and the world of extreme privilege to which he&’d now managed to gain access was impossible to ignore. Playing from the Rough is a remarkable memoir of race, class, family, and the power of perseverance, as James braids his love of golf with reflections on the path that took him from childhood poverty to the most exclusive and opulent golf courses in America.
Playing in Time: Essays, Profiles, and Other True Stories
by Carlo RotellaFrom jazz fantasy camp to running a movie studio; from a fight between an old guy and a fat guy to a fear of clowns--Carlo Rotella's Playing in Time delivers good stories full of vivid characters, all told with the unique voice and humor that have garnered Rotella many devoted readers in the New York Times Magazine, Boston Globe, and Washington Post Magazine, among others. The two dozen essays in Playing in Time, some of which have never before been published, revolve around the themes and obsessions that have characterized Rotella's writing from the start: boxing, music, writers, and cities. What holds them together is Rotella's unique focus on people, craft, and what floats outside the mainstream. "Playing in time" refers to how people make beauty and meaning while working within the constraints and limits forced on them by life, and in his writing Rotella transforms the craft and beauty he so admires in others into an art of his own. Rotella is best known for his writings on boxing, and his essays here do not disappoint. It's a topic that he turns to for its colorful characters, compelling settings, and formidable life lessons both in and out of the ring. He gives us tales of an older boxer who keeps unretiring and a welterweight who is "about as rich and famous as a 147-pound fighter can get these days," and a hilarious rumination on why Muhammad Ali's phrase "I am the greatest" began appearing (in the mouth of Epeus) in translations of The Iliad around 1987. His essays on blues, crime and science fiction writers, and urban spaces are equally and deftly engaging, combining an artist's eye for detail with a scholar's sense of research, whether taking us to visit detective writer George Pelecanos or to dance with the proprietress of the Baby Doll Polka Club next to Midway Airport in Chicago. Rotella's essays are always smart, frequently funny, and consistently surprising. This collection will be welcomed by his many fans and will bring his inimitable style and approach to an even wider audience.
Playing on the Periphery: Sport, Identity and Memory (Sport in the Global Society)
by Tara BrabazonPart of the Sport in the Global Society series, this innovative and creative text explores collective history, memory, and sport culture, tracking the passage of sports away from England. The author investigates why ‘elite’ English sports – such as rugby and cricket – became national sports in New Zealand and Australia, and asks why ‘working class’ English sports – such as football – have travelled less well to these areas. Focusing on these sports, the author tracks narratives and myths, tracing the passage of colonial truths, behaviours and practices. Clearly defined sections in the book focus on: * sport and tourism* sport and history* sport and memory. Using a refreshingly broad range of sources to analyze differences between popular culture and sporting memory, this book offers new perspectives on sport and makes an interesting reference for masters and postgraduate readers in sport and cultural studies.
Playing the Cards You're Dealt
by Varian JohnsonThe author explores themes of toxic masculinity and family legacy in this heartfelt, hopeful story of one boy discovering what it really means to be a man. Ten-year-old Anthony Joplin has made it to double digits! Which means he's finally old enough to play in the spades tournament every Joplin Man before him seems to have won. So while Ant's friends are stressing about fifth grade homework and girls, Ant only has one thing on his mind: how he'll measure up to his father's expectations at the card table. Then Ant's best friend gets grounded, and he's forced to find another spades partner. And Shirley, the new girl in his class, isn't exactly who he has in mind. She talks a whole lot of trash -- way more than his old partner. Plus, he's not sure that his father wants him playing with a girl. But she's smart and tough and pretty, and knows every card trick in the book. So Ant decides to join forces with Shirley -- and keep his plans a secret. Only it turns out secrets are another Joplin Man tradition. And his father is hiding one so big it may tear their family apart...
Playing the Cards You're Dealt
by Varian Johnson“With a deft hand, Johnson shows us there's no such thing as "too young" when it comes to questioning big ideas like manhood, or even family.” –Jason Reynolds, New York Times bestselling author of Look Both Ways and StampedLiterary powerhouse and Coretta Scott King Honor- and Boston Globe / Horn Book Honor-winning author of The Parker Inheritance Varian Johnson explores themes of toxic masculinity and family legacy in this heartfelt, hopeful story of one boy discovering what it really means to be a man.SECRETS ARE ALWAYS A GAMBLETen-year-old Anthony Joplin has made it to double digits! Which means he's finally old enough to play in the spades tournament every Joplin Man before him seems to have won. So while Ant's friends are stressing about fifth grade homework and girls, Ant only has one thing on his mind: how he'll measure up to his father's expectations at the card table.Then Ant's best friend gets grounded, and he's forced to find another spades partner. And Shirley, the new girl in his class, isn't exactly who he has in mind. She talks a whole lot of trash -- way more than his old partner. Plus, he's not sure that his father wants him playing with a girl. But she's smart and tough and pretty, and knows every card trick in the book. So Ant decides to join forces with Shirley -- and keep his plans a secret.Only it turns out secrets are another Joplin Man tradition. And his father is hiding one so big it may tear their family apart...
Playing the Enemy
by John Carlin24 June 1995. Ellis Park in Johannesburg. The Springboks versus The All Blacks in the Rugby World Cup final. Nelson Mandela steps onto the pitch wearing a Springboks shirt and, before a global audience of millions, a new country is born. This book tells the incredible story of Mandela's journey to that moment. As the day of the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dawned, and the Springboks faced the All Blacks, more was at stake than a sporting trophy. When Nelson Mandela appeared wearing a Springboks jersey and led the all-white Afrikaner-dominated team in singing South Africa's new national anthem, he conquered white South Africa. Playing the Enemy tells the extraordinary human story of how that moment became possible. It shows how a sport, once the preserve of South Africa's Afrikaans-speaking minority, came to unify the new rainbow nation, and tells of how - just occasionally - something as simple as a game really can help people to rise above themselves and see beyond their differences.
Playing the Enemy
by John CarlinBeginning in a jail cell and ending in a rugby tournament- the true story of how the most inspiring charm offensive in history brought South Africa togetherAfter being released from prison and winning South Africa's first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: use the national rugby team, the Springboks-long an embodiment of white-supremacist rule-to embody and engage a new South Africa as they prepared to host the 1995 World Cup. The string of wins that followed not only defied the odds, but capped Mandela's miraculous effort to bring South Africans together again in a hard-won, enduring bond.
Playing the Field
by Ivy BaileyA football inspired YA rom-com, perfect for fans of Ted Lasso and Icebreaker ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND FOOTBALL... Durham University have the best women&’s football team in the League and their star striker Sadie McGrath hopes that winning this year might lead her to being picked up by one of the National Teams. The male team is much less impressive – they&’ve never won the league and are facing relegation unless they can improve by the end of the season. But now the unthinkable has been asked of Sadie; to train the cocky, new male striker who has just moved over from the US. Arlo Hudson is a know-it-all who refuses to follow direction, and argues with her every lesson. Sadie can&’t stand him, even if all the other girls do think he&’s dreamy. What will happen when the two spend so much time together alone… Will it improve their technique? Or will Sadie be out of his league?
Playing the Field
by Janette RallisonThirteen-year old McKay is a talented baseball player, but as equally untalented when it comes to algebra. If he doesn't bring his grade up, his parents threaten to make him quit the team. His best friend Tony thinks the natural solution is for McKay to befriend Serena, a pretty girl in class, who also happens to get straight A's in algebra. Not only will that get McKay the tutor he desperately needs, but it will give Tony the chance to flirt with Serena's two best friends. Unfortunately, if McKay follows Tony's advice on how to "play the game," he might find himself in an even worse spot than when he was merely failing algebra. With a keen sense of wit, and more self-confidence than he gives himself credit for, McKay will keep readers alternately laughing and groaning as he is dragged kicking and screaming into the subtle (and often not so subtle) world of teen dating.
Playing the Field: A Diamonds and Dugouts Novel
by Jennifer SeasonsThe sexy baseball players of Jennifer Seasons Diamonds and Dugouts series are back with the story of a single mom, a hot rookie, and a second chance at love. Single mother Sonny Miller has spent years avoiding love. A rotten childhood and an even rottener ex-boyfriend left her determined to protect her son--and herself--against the risks of romance. That is, until hotshot ballplayer JP Trudeau swaggers into her carefully constructed life, all sin-with-me eyes and irresistible grin. Sonny cant help but feel drawn to the sexy, confident man, even as every fiber of her being tells her to keep running the bases . . . JP is known for being fast on his feet, not fast with his heart. But meeting Sonny and her boy sparks something in him--something hes never felt before, not from all the cleat-chasers in the major leagues. Sonny may be hell-bent on keeping him at arms length no matter what, but this rookie has a plan. To get the girl, he must step up to the plate and convince her to take another chance on love . . . before this game gets rained out.
Playing the Field: Why Defense Is the Most Fascinating Art in Major League Baseball
by Jim KaplanCasual fans may concentrate on the duel between batter and pitcher, but for those who know the game of baseball, nothing is more fascinating, or more important, than the art of defense. In Playing the Field Jim Kaplan takes us onto the playing field and into major league dugouts and locker rooms for a definitive look at the great defensive players of the game, past and present. Position by position, and form an overall point of view as well, Kaplan examines the great glove men—their moments of glory, how they do it, how they work together, what makes a Golden Glove winner, the tricks and maneuvers and skills that can cancel out expert hitting and the best laid plans of rival managers. More than seventy photographs help make Playing the Field a book for real baseball fans. It's a book, too, aspiring young ballplayers can turn to in order to pick up tips that will help them play the game better.