- Table View
- List View
Up and Over: A Trek Through Rugby League Land
by Dave HadfieldAlong the way he met the people whose enthusiasm for the game has made it so durable - current and former internationals as well as others involved at all levels - as well as a few miserable old gits for balance. In this intimate account, Hadfield observes the way rugby league fits into the history and sociology of towns like Wigan and Castleford, with which it is synonymous. His record of the journey is in the great tradition of writers from Wordsworth to Laurie Lee, who found in long walks the perfect medium to explore and reflect upon their surroundings. Up and Over is the definitive book about the game and the local passions it engenders, as Hadfield seeks out the poignant and the humorous on a personal journey of discovery. For those who follow rugby league, it will give a unique perspective on the parts of the world they know intimately; for others it will be an introduction to a different world, seen via one of the elements that gives it its identity.
Up and Running
by Andrea Cagan Jami GoldmanMore than a decade ago, while driving through Arizona, nineteen-year-old Jami and a friend took a wrong turn in their Chevy Mini-Blazer. They spent the next eleven days stranded and fighting for their lives on a logging road that the state had closed--without first being checked for travelers in distress--during a blinding snowstorm. Here, Jami shares the trauma of those endless days , the miracle of a stunning rescue, the grief over losing her legs, and the strength and courage it has taken not only to walk again but also to run like the wind. Wise, forthright, and astonishing, Up and Running recounts Jami's physical, emotional, and legal battles ( she filed a suit against the state) and shows how she used adversity as a stepping-stone to her recovery while also discovering love and joy beyond her wildest dreams.
Up and Running: The Jami Goldman Story
by Jami Goldman Andrea CaganMeet tall, beautiful Jami Goldman: world-class athlete, Adidas spokesperson, motivational speaker -- and double amputee. More than a decade ago, a wrong turn on a back road during a blizzard resulted in a terrifying fight for her life. Now for the first time, Jami recounts her gripping story of being trapped in the snow for eleven endless days, the grievous loss of her legs, and the fortitude it has taken to not only walk again but run like the wind -- all the way to freedom. On December 23, 1987, nineteen-year-old Jami Goldman and her friend Lisa Barzano headed home from a ski trip in Purgatory, Colorado, never imagining they would end up in a freezing hell on a back road that the state of Arizona had closed without checking for travelers in distress. The girls' car battery died during that first long night, stranding them in below-zero temperatures. With only a cinnamon roll and a six-pack of frozen Diet Pepsi, the next ten days became an exercise in survival, testing their faith and courage even after they were rescued -- when Jami's legs and feet were deemed beyond saving. Wise, forthright, and astonishing, Up and Running follows Jami's global journey from loss to recovery. Her story, which often reads like a compelling mystery, features her supportive family and friends, a devastating court case, her passionate relationship with the man she married, and finally, her triumph over inconceivably fearful obstacles. In the end, Up and Running shows us all how to use adversity as a stepping-stone -- leading us to heights we previously considered out of reach and beyond our wildest dreams.
Up at the Lake: Summer Cottage Memories
by Robert AmosCanadian artist Robert Amos opens his scrapbook of watercolor paintings, sketches and old family photographs to give us a poetic and personal account of early childhood memories at a Muskoka Lakes cottage. Up at The Lake features read-along narration, natural soundscapes and music. Ages 4 - 8
Up for Air
by Laurie MorrisonShe’s got new friends, and a high school boy starts treating her like she’s somebody special—and Annabelle thinks she’ll finally stand out in a good way. <P><P>She’ll do anything to fit in and help the team make it to the Labor Day Invitational, even if it means blowing off her old friends. <P><P>But after a prank goes wrong, Annabelle is abandoned by the older boy and can’t swim. Who is she without the one thing she’s good at? <P><P>Heartwarming and relatable, Up for Air is a story about where we find our self-worth.
Up To Bat (Angel Park All-Stars #12)
by Dean HughesSixth grader Jenny Roper, the Dodgers' star first baseman, suddenly becomes concerned about her reputation as a jock.
Up, Up, and Away
by Jonah KeriThe definitive history of the Montreal Expos by the definitive Expos fan, the New York Times bestselling sportswriter and Grantland columnist Jonah Keri. 2014 is the 20th anniversary of the strike that killed baseball in Montreal, and the 10th anniversary of the team's move to Washington, DC. But the memories aren't dead--not by a long shot. The Expos pinwheel cap is still sported by Montrealers, former fans, and by many more in the US and Canada as a fashion item. Expos loyalists are still spotted at Blue Jays games and wherever the Washington Nationals play (often cheering against them). Every year there are rumours that Montreal--as North America's largest market without a baseball team--could host Major League Baseball again. There has never been a major English-language book on the entire franchise history. There also hasn't been a sportswriter as uniquely qualified to tell the whole story, and to make it appeal to baseball fans across Canada AND south of the border. Jonah Keri writes the chief baseball column for Grantland, and routinely makes appearances in Canadian media such as The Jeff Blair Show, Prime Time Sports and Off the Record. The author of the New York Times baseball bestseller The Extra 2% (Ballantine/ESPN Books), Keri is one of the new generation of high-profile sports writers equally facile with sabermetrics and traditional baseball reporting. He has interviewed everyone for this book (EVERYONE: including the ownership that allowed the team to be moved), and fans can expect to hear from just about every player and personality from the Expos' unforgettable 35 years in baseball. Up, Up, and Away is already one of the most anticipated sports books of next year.
Up Your Game!: Skills, Tips, and Strategies to Achieve Total Sports Mastery
by Gary Belsky Neil FineSound smart and play smarter with this compendium of the tricks, techniques, and unwritten rules every sports fan needs—from naming your fantasy team to betting with friends, doing a flip turn to investing in memorabilia, winning at arm wrestling to hosting a Super Bowl party, and so much more. With over 150 to-the-point entries, plus helpful illustrations, charts, and lists, Up Your Game! will get you in the know in no time.
Uphill Both Ways: Hiking toward Happiness on the Colorado Trail
by Andrea LaniOne grouchy husband. Three reluctant kids. Five hundred miles of wilderness. And one woman, determined to escape the humdrum existence of modern parenting and a toxic work environment and to confront the history of environmental damage wreaked by westward expansion and the Anthropocene. In Uphill Both Ways Andrea Lani walks us through the Southern Rockies, describing how the region has changed since the discovery of gold in 1859. At the same time, she delves into the history of her family, who immigrated to Leadville to work in the mines, and her own story of hiking the trail in her early twenties before returning two decades later, a depressed middle-aged mom in East Coast exile seeking happiness in a childhood landscape. On the 489-mile trek from Denver to Durango on the Colorado Trail, Lani&’s family traveled through stunning scenery and encountered wildflowers, wildlife, and too many other hikers. They ate cold oatmeal in a chilly, wet tent and experienced scorching heat, torrential thunderstorms, and the first nip of winter. Her kids grew in unimaginable ways, and they became known as &“the family of five,&” an oddity along a trail populated primarily by solo men. As they inched along the trail, Lani began to exercise disused smile muscles, despite the challenges of hiking in a middle-aged body, maintaining her children&’s safety and happiness, and contending with marital discord. She learned that being a slow hiker does not make one a bad hiker and began to uncover the secret to happiness.
Upland Autumn: Birds, Dogs, and Shotgun Shells
by William G. TapplyIn this collection of original stories, highly acclaimed novelist and outdoor writer William Tapply shares his finest stories of bird hunting in the Northeast country. Every season for over thirty years, Tapply has hunted the fields and backcountry of New England. Tapply's warmth and knack for evoking the subtle, telling details of the places and hunts that he loves will stir a new appreciation and excitement in every reader. With his dog Burt, Tapply takes the reader out to his best spots. These are hard-charging tales of success and disappointment, anticipation and triumph--familiar feelings to any experienced hunter. Tapply combines passion, wisdom, and wit in the nearly twenty stories presented in Upland Autumn. With rich prose and Tapply's strong eye for detail, this book is a fine testament to bird hunting, bird hunters, and the rugged country that they tread each and every season. For those who love to hunt and those who simply love great outdoor writing, this is Upland Autumn.
Upon Further Review: The Greatest What-Ifs in Sports History
by Mike PescaFrom Mike Pesca, host of the popular Slate podcast The Gist, comes the greatest sports minds imagining how the world would change if a play, trade, injury, or referee's call had just gone the other way. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Calibri} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Cambria} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Cambria; min-height: 14.0px} No announcer ever proclaimed: "Up Rises Frazier!" "Havlicek commits the foul, trying to steal the ball!" or "The Giants Lose the Pennant, The Giants Lose The Pennant!" Such moments are indelibly etched upon the mind of every sports fan. Or rather, they would be, had they happened. Sports are notoriously games of inches, and when we conjure the thought of certain athletes - like Bill Buckner or Scott Norwood - we can't help but apply a mental tape measure to the highlight reels of our minds. Players, coaches, and of course fans, obsess on the play when they ask, "What if?" Upon Further Review is the first book to answer that question.Upon Further Review is a book of counterfactual sporting scenarios. In its pages the reader will find expertly reported histories, where one small event is flipped on its head, and the resulting ripples are carefully documented, the likes of... What if the U.S. Boycotted Hitler's Olympics? What if Bobby Riggs beat Billie Jean King? What if Bucky Dent popped out at the foot of the Green Monster?What if Drew Bledsoe never got hurt? Upon Further Review takes classic arguments conducted over pints in a pub and places them in the hands of dozens of writers, athletes, and historians. From turning points that every sports fan rues or celebrates, to the forgotten would-be inflection points that defined sports, Upon Further Review answers age old questions, and settles the score, even if the score bounced off the crossbar.
Upper Extremity Injuries in Young Athletes (Contemporary Pediatric and Adolescent Sports Medicine)
by Andrea S. Bauer Donald S. BaeThis unique book focuses exclusively on upper extremity injuries in the young athlete, including the latest evidence on current diagnostic and treatment strategies. Comprised of the most up-to-date information in the field, much of which is not in the existing literature, it proceeds anatomically from the shoulder down, covering the diagnosis and management of conditions of bones, muscles, ligaments and nerves. Shoulder injuries in the adolescent footballer, thrower and swimmer are discussed in detail, along with the pitcher's elbow and the wrist of the golfer, gymnast and tennis player. In addition to sports-specific injuries, carpal and common hand and nerve injuries, seen across multiple sports, are likewise described, as is the use of ultrasound in injury diagnosis.Injuries of the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand are among the most common in young athletes, and pediatric orthopedic and sports medicine specialists are seeing these injuries of the upper extremity with increasing frequency. Upper Extremity Injuries in Young Athletes will be a valuable resource in evaluating and treating young athletes in order to get them back on the field.
Uppity: My Untold Story About The Games People Play
by Bill White Willie MaysThere are very few major personalities in the world of sports who have so much to say about our National Pastime. And even fewer who are as well respected as Bill White.Bill White, who's now in his mid 70s, was an All-Star first baseman for many years with the New York Giants, St.Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies before launching a stellar broadcasting career with the New York Yankees for 18 years. He left the broadcast booth to become the President of the National League for five years. A true pioneer as an African-American athlete, sportscaster, and top baseball executive, White has written his long-awaited autobiography in which he will be candid, open, and as always, most forthcoming about his life in baseball. Along the way, White shares never-before-told stories about his long working relationship with Phil Rizzutto, insights on George Steinbrenner, Barry Bonds, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson, Bob Gibson, Bart Giamatti, Fay Vincent, and scores of other top baseball names and Hall of Famers. Best of all, White built his career on being outspoken, and the years fortunately have not mellowed him. UPPITY is a baseball memoir that baseball fans everywhere will be buzzing about.
Upriver and Downstream
by Stephen SautnerUpriver and Downstreamgathers seventy columns about fishing—from freshwater to saltwater, from small ponds to the Great Lakes, from the Pacific Northwest to post-Soviet Russia—written for the “Outdoors” column of theNew York Times. Contributors include such celebrated names as Nick Lyons, Thomas McGuane, Nelson Bryant, Peter Kaminsky, Ernest Schweibert, and Robert H. Boyle. Short, evocative, informative, and entertaining, here are pieces about fly-fishing for wild brook trout, bait-fishing for striped bass, casting into tailwaters, or angling in midwinter. The settings range from Hudson River piers to the Florida Everglades, from Iceland to the Amazon, and the fish include everything from the common sunfish to the esoteric paddlefish. These engaging essays remind us of what fishing is all about: companionship and solitude, challenge and relaxation, nature and technology, from coast-to-coast to around the globe. Rich with the particulars of water, light, and air, as well as a keen awareness of, as Verlyn Klinkenborg puts it in his introduction, “what is happening out there—in the deep, in the shallows, at the end of the line,” these reflections and recollections beautifully capture the natural world and one of life’s most challenging, perennial pursuits. From the Hardcover edition.
The Upset: Jack Fleck's Incredible Victory over Ben Hogan at the U.S. Open
by Al Barkow"Al Barkow, golf's leading historian and story-teller, unfolds the improbable Ben Hogan-Jack Fleck tale, and the results are as wondrous as the golf itself." --Peter Kessler Jack Fleck had the slimmest of resumes as a professional tournament golfer. He had never even come close to winning on the PGA Tour, and was in the mere qualifier category when it came to playing in the 1955 U.S. Open at the Olympic Golf Club in San Francisco. Yet Fleck got himself into a playoff with Ben Hogan, one of the greatest players in golf history, for the game's most prestigious title. And when Fleck defeated Hogan, it was not just surprising, it was incredible. This book presents a thrilling play-by-play, shot-by-shot recounting that brings back to life the look and feel of the entire tournament. Relying on first-hand sources, it reveals the players' mental processes as they strategized their game and handled their emotions. And it finally offers a convincing explanation for Fleck's mind-boggling victory, which was considered at the time and remains to this day one of the most unexpected outcomes in all sports history. Al Barkow is a veteran golf reporter, formerly editor-in-chief of both Golf and Golf Illustrated magazines, and recipient of the 2005 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. His books include Gettin' to the Dance Floor and Sam: The One and Only Sam Snead.
Urban Calisthenics: Get Ripped and Get Strong with Progressive Street Workouts You Can Do Anywhere
by Tee MajorAre you seeking a better way to build a stronger body that doesn&’t require a gym? Are you ready for the next level of fitness and a more extreme challenge? If you&’ve grown bored or frustrated with traditional strength training methods and aren&’t getting the results you want, Urban Calisthenics has the workouts you need. With progressive bodyweight street workouts you can do anywhere, all you&’ll need to get ripped and strong is your body, a few simple pieces of equipment, and the willpower to make it happen. With nearly 70 bodyweight exercises and 10 precision routines, Urban Calisthenics will help you create the strong, balanced, muscular body you&’ve been seeking. You&’ll quickly forget the gym and discover a greater level of fitness that can be achieved virtually anywhere, and at any time! · Loaded with nearly 70 exercises, from basics like the push-up, chin-up, and lunge, to superhuman movements like the planche, human flag, and the double clap push-up · Utilizes a progressive training approach that starts with basic bodyweight exercises and guides you through more challenging movements until you're ready for the most challenging bodyweight exercises of all · Features 10 high-intensity, whole-body workouts that will push you to your limits and beyond· Contains dynamic full-color photography, detailed step-by-step instruction, and positive motivation from globally recognized bodyweight training expert Tee Major
The Urban Geography of Boxing: Race, Class, and Gender in the Ring (Routledge Research in Sport, Culture and Society)
by Benita HeiskanenThis book is an interdisciplinary cultural examination of twenty-first century boxing as a professional sport, a bodily labor, a lucrative business, a popular entertainment, and an instrument of ideology. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted with Latino boxers, women boxers, and boxing insiders in Texas, it discusses boxing from the vantage point of the sundry players, who are involved with it: the labor force, promoters, handlers, ringside officials, medical professionals, media, and the audiences. The various parties have multiple stakes in the sport. For some, boxing is about physical empowerment; others are in it for the money; some deploy it for ideological purposes; yet others use it to claim their 15-minutes of fame, and frequently the various interests overlap. In this book, Benita Heiskanen makes a broader connection between boxing and the spatial organization of racialized, class-based, and gendered bodies within particular urban geographies. Journeying actual sites where the sport is organized, such as the barrio, boxing gym, and competition venues, she maps the ways in which boxing insiders negotiate a variety of conflicting agendas at local, regional, and national scales. Beyond the United States, the worker-athletes conduct their labor within global socioeconomic conditions, business networks, and legal principles. Through this sporting context, Heiskanen’s discussion discloses some complex socio-historical, cultural, and political power relations between urban margins and centers, with ramifications far beyond boxing. This book will be of interest to readers in Sport Studies, Cultural Studies, Cultural Geography, Gender Studies, Critical Race Theory, Labor Studies, and American Studies.
Urban Marathons: Rhythms, Places, Mobilities
by Jonas LarsenThis original social science text approaches marathon running as an everyday practice and a designed event, to draw upon and contribute to the literature on practice theory, urban events, rhythmanalysis and mobility. It bridges sport studies and discussions within sociology and geography about practice, movement and the city. Inspired by theoretical debates about embodied and multi-sensuous mobilities, social and material practices, and urban rhythms, this book explores the characteristics of marathon running as a bodily practice on the one hand and, on the other, marathon training grounds and events as unique places. This account takes marathon running seriously, using sociological and geographical theory to understand the practice in and of itself. Based on original empirical research and accessible to readers, taking them to training sessions in Copenhagen and to marathons in Tokyo, Kyoto, Berlin, Frankfurt, Valencia and Copenhagen, it draws out the globalised, codified and generic nature of marathon practices and design, yet also brings out the significant local differences. The book examines in ethnographic detail how marathon practices and places are produced by various materialities, cultural scripts, experts, runners and spectators, and practiced in embodied, multi-sensuous and ‘emplaced’ ways by ordinary runners. It develops a sociological practice approach to marathon running and geographical understanding of marathon places and rhythms. It demonstrates that marathon running is of broad interest because it calls for and allows lively and expressive ways of conducting and writing research and understanding the becoming of bodies, the intertwining of biological and mechanical rhythms, and the eventful potential of streets. It will appeal to postgraduate students and scholars in sport studies, geography and sociology interested in running, active mobility and ethnography, as well as tourism and urban events. The book will also appeal to general readers with an interest in marathon running.
Urban Politics of a Sporting Mega Event
by Małgorzata Zofia KowalskaThis book looks at the UEFA European Championship (Euro 2012) as both a crowning achievement of, and a way to sustain, the urban entrepreneurial strategy of Poznań, Poland. As the host city of the tournament almost 25 years after Poland's transformation from a centrally planned to a market economy in 1989, the author focuses on how the local myths and traditions of resourcefulness were invoked to embed an entrepreneurial urban strategy. The book also observes how the very same tradition of resourcefulness was used by the opposition to challenge the urban policies. Contrary to the authorities' expectations, Euro 2012 triggered a discussion about the extent to which large business- and leisure-oriented urban strategy corresponds to local regime of value. Urban Politics of a Football Mega Event will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of subjects, including anthropology, ethnography, sociology of sport, geography, history, political science and European studies.
Urban Revolutions: A Woman's Guide to Two-Wheeled Transportation (Bicycle Ser.)
by Emilie BahrUrban Revolutions is a different kind of cycling book. Author Emilie Bahr draws on her experience as an everyday cyclist and a transportation planner in New Orleans to demystify urban bicycling in this visually-compelling and fun-to-read field guide. What does it mean for a city to be bike-friendly? What makes bicycling a women's issue? What does it take to feel safe on a bike? How do you bike to work in the summer and still look professional? What is the most fun you can possibly have on two wheels without being athletic? Bahr answers all these questions and more in her friendly and thoughtful essays and detailed practical tips on everything from biking in hot weather to biking with kids to biking with natural hair.Read an interview with Emilie on our blog!Urban Revolutions from Micheal Boedigheimer on Vimeo.
Urban Shocker: Silent Hero of Baseball's Golden Age
by Steve SteinbergBaseball in the 1920s is most known for Babe Ruth and the New York Yankees, but there was another great Yankee player in that era whose compelling story remains untold. Urban Shocker was a fiercely competitive and colorful pitcher, a spitballer who had many famous battles with Babe Ruth before returning to the Yankees. Shocker was traded away to the St. Louis Browns in 1918 by Yankees manager Miller Huggins, a trade Huggins always regretted. In 1925, after four straight seasons with at least twenty wins with the hapless Browns, Shocker became the only player Huggins brought back to the Yankees. He finally reached the World Series, with the 1926 Yankees. In the Yankees’ storied 1927 season, widely viewed to be the best in MLB history, Shocker pitched with guts and guile, finishing with a record of 18‑6 even while his fastball and physical skills were deserting him. Hardly anyone knew that Shocker was suffering from an incurable heart disease that left him able to sleep only while sitting up and which would take his life in less than a year. With his physical skills diminishing, he continued to win games through craftiness and well-placed pitches. Delving into Shocker’s baseball career, his love of the game, and his battle with heart disease, Steve Steinberg shows the dominant and courageous force that he was.
Urban's Way: Urban Meyer, the Florida Gators, and His Plan to Win
by Buddy Martin"Members of the ‘Gator Nation' are going to burn the midnight oil turning these pages because Buddy Martin will be boldly taking them where no Florida fan has gone before." --Tony Barnhart, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/CBSTo write the Urban Meyer story, Buddy Martin enjoyed a vantage point rarely afforded authors in constructing the authorized biography of the University of Florida's high-profile coach. Martin takes the reader where no other journalist has gone before as he reports the most intimate details about one of the nation's top college football programs and its coach.During the show-and-tell story of the 2007 Gator season, Martin listened on the headsets in the coaching booth, monitored Meyer's locker room speeches, conducted in-depth interviews with assistant coaches and support personnel, ran on Florida Field with the team prior to the Gators game against Tennessee, and gave Tim Tebow his first Heisman Trophy quiz while having dinner together just weeks before he was named as the winner.Urban's Way, however, is much more than a look at the 2007 season. Martin dug deep into Meyer's background, from his growing-up days in Ashtabula, Ohio, under the strict guidance of his father; to his tumultuous days as a young assistant when he almost quit the profession; to the dynamics of his close relationship with mentors Earle Bruce and Lou Holtz; to the ultimate prize as coach of the 2006 national champion Florida Gators. Readers learn how Meyer was encouraged by his father and his wife, Shelley, to keep going; how his career took off at Notre Dame and then as a head coach at Bowling Green and Utah; how the Falcons came together after their historic "Black Wednesday"; and the impressive manner in which he championed diversity among players in Salt Lake City. Florida fans will be surprised to discover how close Meyer came to choosing the Notre Dame job over the one in Gainesville, despite his yearnings as a small boy to someday coach the Fighting Irish. Through his intense research--and talks with Urban himself--Buddy Martin provides an amazingly detailed look into how a football coach is made.This is not simply the authorized biography of one of college football's top coaches; Buddy Martin also gives fans the inside scoop on the 2006 National Championship. In the chapter "The Joy of Winning It All," players and coaches share their stories of that championship season that produced the middle leg of the "Gator Slam," leading to the good life on the so-called Cul de Sac of Champions, which Urban shares with Gators basketball coach Billy Donovan.It is rare that fans get inside the head of a top coach, but here full disclosure is offered about Urban's personal faith, his Plan to Win, and the inner workings of the Spread offense. Readers are also treated to Meyer's own breakdown of the national championship tape, including his Six Key Plays of the game.Buddy Martin shines a bright light on Urban Meyer, the Florida Gators, and one of the top programs in the country. This is a must-have for Florida Gator football fans and one of the most insightful books ever written on college football.
Urethane Revolution: The Birth of Skate San Diego 1975 (Sports)
by John O'MalleyThe history behind the advent of urethane wheels and the birth of the modern movement of skateboarding, as told by a man who lived it. One crazy year on the California coast—in 1975 a hippie skunkworks, bred in garages and shacks, launched the modern skater movement. Strap in for a wild ride replete with two car chases, two plane crashes, a massive truck bomb, Colombian narcos, the Mafia, senior White House staff, a gypsy fortuneteller, three straight-up miracles, Jacques Cousteau, big piles of cocaine and naked hippie chicks. Author John O'Malley was in the thick of it all, and he retraces the trip that starts with a bang and races to a melt-in-your-mouth ending. &“A truly mesmerizing account of the rebirth of skateboarding in the 1970s. Brash and wild with opinions…The Revolution was in fact televised, and O&’Malley had a front row seat.&” —Michael Brooke, publisher, Concrete Wave Magazine &“The always interesting, sometimes shocking, off-color page-turner dialogues the history of skateboarding from one of its founding fathers, John O&’Malley.&” —San Diego Uptown News
Us Against Them: Oral History of the Ryder Cup
by Robin McMillanThe Only Oral History of the Ryder Cup Since Its Genesis in 1927Us Against Them recounts how the Ryder Cup grew from the brink of extinction to become the most compelling and controversial tournament in golf. The popularity of the Ryder Cup, played every other year in the fall (alternately in the United States and in Europe), has soared in the last ten years. Its worldwide television audience is now the largest of any in golf, and the last tournament, in 2002, was viewed by an estimated 100 million fans.The story of this meteoric rise -- and all the rich history that predated it -- is told in the actual voices of more than forty players and other participants, including Ryder Cup players and captains Curtis Strange, Dave Stockton, Sam Torrance, and Tony Jacklin; American legends Hale Irwin and Billy Casper; U.S. network television commentators Peter Alliss, David Feherty, Peter Oosterhuis, and Jimmy Roberts; Tour players Peter Jacobsen, Tom Lehman, and Brad Faxon; and such names from the past as Dow Finsterwald, Johnny Pott, and Tommy Bolt. More than recalling simply the play-by-play, Us Against Them also goes behind the scenes -- to the Ryder Cup tournament director whose participation almost ended in his own bloody death, to the matches in Britain that nearly ended in blows, to the car crash that some say decided the outcome of one of the matches, to a small plane carrying players that almost fell from the sky, and to the prominent American network golf commentator who introduced himself to a U.S. president while dressed in a large plastic garbage bag!
Us Against You: A Novel (Beartown Series)
by Fredrik BackmanThe #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove and Beartown returns with an unforgettable novel &“about people—about strength and tribal loyalty and what we unwittingly do when trying to show our boys how to be men&” (Jojo Moyes).Have you ever seen a town fall? Ours did. Have you ever seen a town rise? Ours did that, too. A small community tucked deep in the forest, Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don&’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they&’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it&’s a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. As the tension mounts between the two adversaries, a newcomer arrives who gives Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback. Soon a team starts to take shape around Amat, the fastest player you&’ll ever see; Benji, the intense lone wolf; always dutiful and eager-to-please Bobo; and Vidar, a born-to-be-bad troublemaker. But bringing this team together proves to be a challenge as old bonds are broken, new ones are formed, and the town&’s enmity with Hed grows more and more acute. As the big game approaches, the not-so-innocent pranks and incidents between the communities pile up and their mutual contempt intensifies. By the time the last goal is scored, a resident of Beartown will be dead, and the people of both towns will be forced to wonder if, after everything, the game they love can ever return to something as simple and innocent as a field of ice, two nets, and two teams. Us against you. Here is a declaration of love for all the big and small, bright and dark stories that give form and color to our communities. With immense compassion and insight, Fredrik Backman—&“the Dickens of our age&” (Green Valley News)—reveals how loyalty, friendship, and kindness can carry a town through its most challenging days.