Sports

Sailing for Everyone

2012-02-06T10:18:00.000-08:00

Builder, designer, and sailor Simon Watts has written a friendly, straight-forward how-to, geared for the "novice of any age." He provides you with practical, clear text and drawings, woven through the chapters.
Table of Contents:

# About the Wind

# Too Much Wind

# Arrivals and Departures

# When Things Go Wrong

# Rules of the Road plus some basic knots, nautical terms, and more.

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The Devil and Bobby Hull: How Hockey's Original Million-Dollar Man Became the Game's Lost Legend

2012-02-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

An award-winning writer sets the record straight on hockey's forgotten golden boy--Bobby Hull
In his prime, few could dispute Bobby Hull's athletic brilliance--the first to have five 50-goal seasons, the highest scorer on the 1976 Canada Cup team, the first to use the slapshot as a scoring weapon, and the first hockey player to sign a million-dollar contract. With his body-builder torso, and his 100 mph volleys across a rink, the world of hockey glory was his to lose. And he did. With his publicized marital troubles and his defection from the NHL to the WHA, Hull's star began to fall, leaving him broke and in exile from the game. In "The Devil and Bobby Hull, " this once great hockey player and pioneer is finally given his due.
Not only are Hull's remarkable on-ice achievements finally put in perspective, so, too, are his achievements off the rink--including endorsements for a wide array of products (rare for an NHL player) and his appearance on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" a record four times. And the book details how Hull's battle with the owners of the Chicago Blackhawks--challenging the reserve clause in his contract, a move that enabled him to move to the WHA--helped other players follow him.The author places Hull squarely in the pantheon of other hockey greats, including Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, and Wayne Gretzky--and makes the case that he is the game's most influential and important playerThis is the full, unauthorized story of Hull's life--that doesn't sidestep the controversies (including the domestic violence tainting his private life)Details Hull's recent reconciliation with the Chicago Blackhawks
A candid look at one of hockey's most gifted and controversial figures, "The Devil and Bobby Hull" tells the story of his extraordinary career and life--and why this remarkable man has not faded into oblivion.

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The Timeless Swing

2012-01-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

Tom Watson, a few months short of his sixtieth birthday, led the 2009 British Open with one hole to play and came within an unlucky bounce of winning it for the sixth time. His stunning performance electrified the golf world and showcased a swing that has endured as a model of good mechanics, rhythm, and repeatability.
In "The Timeless Swing, "Watson draws on all the knowledge and expertise he has accumulated over the course of his extraordinary career, imparting lessons that will help golfers of any age play to the best of their abilities and enjoy the game more. From fundamentals like learning the proper grip to advanced shotmaking techniques such as swinging in wind, he breaks down the full swing into all its parts and explains with his trademark easy voice the most effective ways for mastering each.
Watson complements these lessons with time-tested drills and also offers a variety of tips and exercises to help golfers continue to swing well as they get older. And for the first time ever, he reveals the two key concepts he considers the most important of all--concepts that can enable players of all levels to attain a timeless swing.
"The Timeless Swing "is illustrated with stunning photographs by award-winning "Golf Digest "photographer Dom Furore, and Watson carefully draws the reader's eye to what is essential in each photo, providing the kind of easy-to-understand guidance usually found only in private lessons.
With a foreword by Jack Nicklaus and archival highlights of Tom Watson's most memorable shots and tournaments, this is an indispensable guide from a consummate teacher and one of the most respected and admired players in the game.
Special Bonus: Each chapter includes an easy-to-access video via your smartphone of Tom Watson teaching key lessons. See details in the book's introduction.

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Canoe Camping: An Essential Guide

2012-01-17T10:32:00.000-08:00

Learn how to plan, pack for and do a fun canoe camping trip - whether your plan is to go on a weekend trip with friends or family, or to head out on a multi-day wilderness experience.This comprehensive guide by senior guide and World Champion paddler Mark Scriver makes canoe camping fun and safe for both new and experienced canoe trippers. Canoe Camping" ""gives you all the information you need to have a great canoe trip."

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Football Scouting Methods

2012-01-03T07:21:00.000-08:00

2011 reprint of the 1962 edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. "Considered the bible of scouting techniques" according to the Los Angeles Times, Football Scouting Methods explains the basic scouting strategies and insights of author Steve Belichick. He was widely viewed as the ablest football scout of his time and coached at the U.S. Naval Academy for 33 years; his son is New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, a three-time Super Bowl winner. When Steve Belichick died in November 2005, the New York Times headline cited him as "Coach Who Wrote the Book on Scouting," and quoted Houston Texans General Manager Charley Casserly calling Football Scouting Methods "the best book on scouting he had ever read." Joe Bellino, Navy's Heisman Trophy winner in 1960, told the Times that Steve Belichick "was a genius. On Monday nights, he would give us his scouting reports, and even though we were playing powerhouses, I always felt we were prepared because he found a way for us to win." In recent years Football Scouting Methods has been one of the top ten most sought out-of-print books; used copies have been quite scarce. This reissue edition makes the original 1962 text available once again in exact facsimile. The book covers how to scout opponents, recognize defenses, analyze offenses, discover "tip-offs" that reveal the opponent's plays, compose a useful report, self-scout, and conduct postgame analysis. "Steve Belichick taught many younger men how to scout and how to watch film and how to prepare their teams for the next week's game," David Halberstam noted in the Washington Post, and his best student was his own son Bill Belichick, "one of whose greatest skills as a coach to this day remains his ability to analyze other teams, figuring out both their strengths and their vulnerabilities, and shrewdly deciding how to take away from them that which they most want to do." When CBS asked Bill Belichick to name his favorite book, he replied "Well, I've got to go with my dad's. Football Scouting Methods. I'd have to go with that."

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The Best American Sports Writing (2011)

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well established as the premier sports anthology, The Best American Sports Writing brings togther the finest writing on sports to appear in the past year. Edited by the award-winning Jane Leavy, author of Sandy Koufax and The Last Boy, the pieces in this volume embrace the world of sports in all its drama, humanity and excitement.

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Three and Out: Rich Rodriguez and the Michigan Wolverines in the Crucible of College Football

2011-12-19T16:08:00.000-08:00

"Three and Out" tells the story of how college football's most influential coach took over the nation's most successful program, only to produce three of the worst seasons in the histories of both Rich Rodriguez and the University of Michigan. Shortly after his controversial move from West Virginia, where he had just taken his alma mater to the #1 ranking for the first time in school history, Coach Rich Rodriguez granted author and journalist John U. Bacon unrestricted access to Michigan's program. Bacon saw it all, from the meals and the meetings, to the practices and the games, to the sidelines and the locker rooms. Nothing and no one was off limits. John U. Bacon's "Three and Out" is the definitive account of a football marriage seemingly made in heaven that broke up after just three years, and lifts the lid on the best and the worst of college football.

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Mental Training for Runners: How to Stay Motivated

2011-12-15T07:14:00.000-08:00

Generations of exercisers and athletes have struggled with the motivation to get out the door, to continue on tough days, or to push through the final barrier of discomfort to the long awaited goal. This book describes the source of problems, how to diffuse them, with methods that can keep one motivated. The unconscious process of stress build-up often sends body and mind on separate missions. Galloway provides a series of mental training methods which can bring body, mind, and spirit into a powerful team. Each major area of low motivation is noted with proven ways of overcoming the problems. Many runners have applied these methods to work through other low motivation challenges at work, in the family and in other areas of life.

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Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning the Lottery

2011-12-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

In his book, Richard discusses the ins and outs and dos and don'ts of buying lottery tickets to increase your chances of winning. He has created a method that he and members of his family use that has enabled them to WIN several lottery game GRAND prizes. This is a very easy to use method and will work with any type lottery games (scratch tickets or number games) in any state or country. Here are some quotes from people who have used his method: "My husband and I used Richard Lustig's lotto method and within months of starting the method we hit a Mega Money jackpot for 2 million dollars! It was really easy to follow. You only play what you can and you can still win! Shaun and I will only play lotto from now on using these strategies."-Jennifer and Shaun, Florida "Since we've been using your method, we have definitely been winning more that we used to. It's easy to follow"-Dale, Florida "I just wanted to let you know that my husband and I read through your lottery method last night. It seems great. It seems to be just simple logic and makes sense."-Kate, Illinois.

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Table Tennis: Tips from a World Champion

2011-11-28T10:50:00.000-08:00

Werner Schlager stands for a successful individual and self confident player. That is exactly what he wants to get across in his interviews: individuality, determination, endurance and the belief in yourself. Table Tennis- Tips from a World Champion" is a practical training book for successful table tennis. The aim is not to copy Werner Schlager as a player but to use his tips to find your own way to use them successfully. Numerous picture series explain technique and tactic. This book is meant to encourage individuality in technique and game. All in all this is a different table tennis teaching book for players and coaches who are keen to progress further.

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DeathClutch: My Story of Determination, Domination, and Survival

2011-11-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

He is the biggest pay-per-view attraction in the world.
He is "the Baddest Dude on the Planet."
He is Brock Lesnar.
For countless fans of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts, Brock Lesnar has long been known for his freakish athleticism, mind-blowing speed, and meteoric rise to the top. Yet despite the fame and fortune that have come with his enormous success, Brock has shunned the media, choosing instead to remain intensely private about his life and his accomplishments.
Now, for the first time, he tells his remarkable story in his own words, describing the journey from his South Dakota farmboy roots to becoming the most popular pay-per-view attraction in the world. From the small-town amateur wrestling where he honed his skills to taking on The Rock at "SummerSlam," Brock discusses how his natural athletic talent combined with the dark side of the wrestling business to make him the youngest-ever WWE World Champion.
Epic as it was, Brock's overnight rise to fame came with a price, as he saw firsthand the toll that life on the road and in the ring could take on a pro wrestler's body and mind. Weary of the punishing lifestyle and backstabbing politics, he chose to do the unthinkable: walk away from professional wrestling at the peak of his career and break all ties with the organization that made him a star on the global stage. It was a move that stunned WWE executives and fans alike, and one that Brock himself has never fully explained--until now.
Not one to stay quiet for long, Brock was soon back in the spotlight: this time in the UFC--home of the most dangerous mixed martial arts fighters in the world. Here he offers a behind-the-scenes look at his shocking decision to leave the wrestling entertainment business for a legitimate combat sport. From training to be a real fighter, to immediately being thrown into the Octagon against the UFC's best heavyweights, to the psychology behind his legendary trash-talking, Brock opens up about what it takes not only to succeed in the world's fastest-growing sport but to become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World. He also speaks candidly about the illness that nearly killed him, how it changed him as a fighter and a man, and how it shaped his will to survive.
In the end, Brock holds nothing back. A revealing, raw, and ultimately redemptive tale of Brock's determination and domination, "DeathClutch" is the untold true story of becoming one of life's true champions.

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Beckett Football Card Price Guide (2011-2012)

2011-11-12T07:05:00.000-08:00

Complete Checklists and Pricing for every important football set from 1894 to present. More than 75,000 new cards now priced since last year's guide. Over 1 & 1/2 million cards priced altogether. More than 1,200 sets priced. Includes cards from NFL, CFL, USFL, college sets.

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You're the Ref: 156 Scenarios to Test Your Football Knowledge

2011-10-24T16:19:00.000-07:00

Do you think you have what it takes to be a major college or pro football referee? Well now you can test your knowledge of the game with Wayne Stewart s You re the Ref. You re the Ref is divided into three exciting sections. Routine Calls deals with scenarios and rules which typically come up in games and deals with clear cut rules out of bounds calls, holding, pass interference. Basic Situations deals with matters and rules that are just a bit more unusual or, for the casual fan, more obscure illegal man downfield, for example, isn't a call you see every game, but it remains a rule that referees and many fans know quite well. In the final section, you can put your knowledge to the test. You ll be presented with what many football people call knotty problems. Here you will be asked questions involving the complex tuck rule, the difference between roughing and running into the kicker, and other arcane matters. Most of the situations in this book come from real games, but some scenarios are made up to illustrate specific points or rules. You re the Ref is the ultimate test of your refereeing skills and knowledge

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Blood and Smoke: A True Tale of Mystery, Mayhem and the Birth of the Indy 500

2011-10-17T10:30:00.000-07:00

One hundred years ago, 40cars lined up for the firstIndianapolis 500. We are still waiting to find out who won.
The Indy 500 was created to showcase the controversial new sport of automobile racing, which was sweeping the country. Daring young men were driving automobiles at the astonishing speed of 75 miles per hour, testing themselves and their vehicles. It was indeed a young man's game: with no seat belts, hard helmets or roll bars, the dangers were enormous. When the Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909, seven people were killed, some of them spectators. Oil-slicked surfaces, clouds of smoke, exploding tires, and flying grit all made driving extremely hazardous, especially with the open-cockpit, windshield-less vehicles. Most drivers rode with a mechanic, who pumped oil manually while watching for cars attempting to pass. Drivers sometimes threw wrenches or bolts at each other during the race in order to gain an advantage. The night before an event, the racers would take up a collection for the next day's new widows. Bookmakers offered bets not only on who might win but who might survive. Not all the participants in that first Indy 500 lived to see the checkered flag.
Although the 1911 Indy 500 judges declared Ray Harroun, driving a Marmon Wasp, the official winner, there is reason to doubt that result. The timekeeping equipment failed, and the judges had to run for their lives when a driver lost control and his car spun wildly toward their stand. It took officials two days to determine the results, and Speedway authorities ordered the records to be destroyed.
But "Blood and Smoke "is about more than a race, even a race as fabled as the Indianapolis 500. It is the story of America at the dawn of the automobile age, 29.99 a country in love with speed, danger, and spectacle. It is a story, too, about the young men who would risk their lives for money and glory, the sportsmen whose antics would thrill and outrage Americans in those long-ago days when the automobile was still brand new.

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Taking the Field: A Fan's Quest to Run the Team He Loves

2011-10-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

In this fearless and half-crazy story, Howard Megdal decides that simply rooting isn't enough-it's time for fans to stand up and take charge. A lifelong and feverish New York Mets fan, he has been there through thick and (more often) thin. And yet, year in and year out, the Mets seem to find ways to disappoint him. The almost-victories, the mistakes, the lost years; it's all too heartbreaking. And so, mustering his energy, heart, and sportswriter's pedigree, Megdal decides to become the general manager of the Mets. It's not an elected office, but that doesn't mean you can't campaign for it.
Part baseball history and part personal narrative, "Taking the Field" is at heart the story of a fan who decides to take control. Staging public rallies to gain support, and hustling for interviews and opportunities, Megdal rewrites the rules for being a fan: If you want a championship so badly, maybe it's time for more than praying at the television and buying merchandise. Maybe it's time for action. As he tells his personal story, Megdal intersperses the narrative with a history of rooting for his team: the Tom Seaver trade, the Doc Gooden saga, the highs and lows, the mistakes, and the moments that made it worth the pain. At the same time, he learns the lessons of this history, outlining for the public his campaign pillars: logic, transparency, and passion.
With the unstinting passion of "Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer," the humor and business smarts of "Moneyball," and the elbow-grease appeal of" Julie & Julia," "Taking the Field" is a love letter to baseball.

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Sack Exchange: The Definitive Oral History of the 1980s New York Jets

2011-10-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

Comprised of exclusive interviews with Jets players, coaches, and other figures surrounding the organization, this eye-opening account of a golden era in one team's history also takes a step back and looks at the state of the National Football League as a whole during the 1980s. From the events that shaped the 1980s Jets, such as the legacy of Joe Namath, to their four playoff appearances during the decade, each triumph and disappointment is chronicled and supplemented with insider information. Other highlights include examinations of the beginning of the Jets' rivalry with the Miami Dolphins; the controversial firing of head coach Walt Michaels; the defensive line, given the nickname "The New York Sack Exchange;" and steroid use by the players and throughout the NFL.

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Full Contact Karate Training

2011-09-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

K1, UFC, Kyokushinkai and Muay Thai are enjoying ever increasing popularity. People practicing Martial Arts, who want to train and fight in the Full Contact manner, will find a systematic guide to the development and long-term build up of their training. This guidebook provides a concept for Full Contact training and effective self-defense. Full Contact training is a very hard and demanding martial arts form, however, given adequate training, it can be undertaken completely without any danger.

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101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out

2011-09-19T13:50:00.000-07:00

Profiles and photos of the 101 best baseball places to visit From sandlots and skyboxes to TV rooms and sports bars, America's love for baseball has inspired too-numerous-to-count memories, discussions, and tributes. Josh Pahigian takes us on a road trip across America to honor the game's players, fans, and ballparks. Through a series of engaging essays, he leads us to 101 of the very best baseball places--including the Ted Williams Museum, Ozzie Smith's Restaurant & Sports Bar, the remnants of Forbes Field, Babe Ruth's gravesite, McCovey Cove, and dozens of other captivating landmarks and curios that celebrate our national pastime. Whether we travel by car or plane or sit in the comfort of our armchairs, "101 Baseball Places to See Before You Strike Out" reminds us of the game's effect on American culture: how the game evolved while the nation came of age, how baseball helped break down barriers, and how it unified citizens when we needed it most.

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Growing Up Colt: A Father, a Son, a Life in Football

2011-09-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

You watched him vie for the Heisman and national championship, and earn a third-round NFL draft spot. Now meet Colt McCoy up-close and personal! "Growing Up Colt"--"A Father, a Son, a Life in Football "is a unique biography by both the Cleveland Browns quarterback and his father, Brad, a highly-respected football coach in his native Texas. Get a behind-the-scenes view of the formative events of Colt's football experience and the foundational principles of his family and faith life. "Growing Up Colt "promises an inspiring read for football fans of all ages--and don't miss the exciting full-color photo section!

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Fearless Swimming for Triathletes: Improve Your Open Water Skills (Ironman)

2011-08-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

Are you afraid of mass swim starts, being pummeled by surf, eaten by sharks and swimming blindly off-course? Most triathletes learned to swim in a pool in nicely marked lanes, but they have to race in murky rivers, lakes and oceans with hundreds of adrenaline-filled athletes whose only thought is getting to the buoy first. For many the physiological and emotional reactions to racing in vast open water brings on disorientation, seasickness and anxiety that can make the triathlon swim the worst part of the day. This guide addresses more than a dozen fear factors including panic, cold water, bad memories, muscle cramps and water in the nose, and offers specific strategies to overcome each one. You will be given tools to help you calm your body and mind and the skills that will improve your competence in every kind of swim venue. Learn to deal with wind, currents, big surf, and even polluted water.
Fearless Swimming also discusses medical risks of triathlon swimming and suggests ways an athlete can be confidently prepared for the rigors of this even.
With this book and some practice any athlete can move confidently from pool to lake to river to sea and can become a fearless swimmer.
Former ocean lifeguard and triathlete coach, Ingrid Loos Miller, will take you step-by-step from pool to any water destination by teaching the skills you need to feel more confident in the open water.

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Branch Rickey

2011-08-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

A bestselling author remembers the man who integrated baseball.
The idea of integrating baseball began as a dream in the mind of Branch Rickey. In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, changing the sport and the nation forever. Rickey's is the classic American tale of a poor boy from Ohio whose deep-seated faith and dogged work ethic took him to the pinnacle of success, earning him a place in the Baseball Hall of Fame and in history.
Bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Jimmy Breslin is a legend in his own right. In his inimitable anecdotal style, he provides a lively portrait of Rickey and his times, including such colorful characters as Dodgers' owner George V. McLaughlin ("dubbed George the Fifth" for his love of Scotch); diamond greats Leo Durocher, George Sisler, and Dizzy Dean; and Robinson himself, a man whose remarkable talent was equaled only by his resilience in the face of intolerance. Breslin brings to life the heady days when baseball emerged as the national pastime in this inspiring biography of a great American who remade a sport-and dreamed of remaking a country.
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Gaming the Game: The Story of the NBA Betting Scandal and the Gambler Who Made It Happen

2011-08-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

In June 2007, the FBI informed the NBA that one of its referees, Tim Donaghy, was the subject of a probe into illegal gambling. Within months, the public knew the broad outlines of a scheme involving Donaghy betting on games he officiated with a co-conspirator, longtime Donaghy acquaintance and professional gambler Jimmy Baba Battista. They were joined in the scandal by a mutual childhood friend, Tommy Martino. By November 2008, each man had pleaded guilty to charges relating to the conspiracy, and was in federal prison. The story was over. Or so it seemed to be. Researched with dozens of interviews, court documents, betting records, referee statistics, and unique access to witness statements and confidential law enforcement files, GAMING THE GAME looks inside the FBI's investigation and beyond to provide the definitive account of the scandal. Jimmy Battista's remarkable decades-long bookmaking and betting career is examined, including and especially his role as architect of the widely publicized scandal. Battista, who - unlike his co-conspirators - never spoke with federal authorities, reveals for the first time the intricate details of the scheme, most of which only he knows.

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At the Fights: American Writers on Boxing

2011-08-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

American writers have been fascinated by the ring, both the primal contest inside the ropes and the crazy carnival world outside them. From neighborhood gyms and smoke-filled arenas to star-studded casinos and exotic locales, they have chronicled unforgettable stories about determination and dissipation, about great champions and punch-drunk has-beens, about colorful entourages and outrageous promoters, and, inevitably along the way, about race, class, and violence in America. Like baseball, boxing has a vivid culture and language all its own, one that has proven irresistible to career journalists and literary writers alike.
The Library of America presents a gritty and glittering anthology of a century of the very best writing and reportage about the fights. Here are Jack London on the immortal Jack Johnson; H. L. Mencken and Irvin S. Cobb on Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier, dubbed "The Fight of the Century"; Richard Wright on Joe Louis's historic victory over Max Schmeling; A. J. Liebling's brilliantly comic portrait of a manager who really identifies with his fighter; Jimmy Cannon on the inimitable Archie Moore; James Baldwin and Gay Talese on the haunted Floyd Patterson; George Plimpton on Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X; Norman Mailer on the "Rumble in the Jungle"; Mark Kram on the "Thrilla in Manila"; Pete Hamill on legendary trainer and manager Cus D'Amato; Mark Kriegel on Oscar de la Hoya; and David Remnick and Joyce Carol Oates on Mike Tyson. National Book Award-winning novelist Colum McCann ("Let the Great World Spin") weighs in with a foreword.

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Sports Psychology for Dummies

2011-07-30T12:44:00.000-07:00

Acquiring the winning edge in sports-the mental edge
Mental conditioning is now seen by many to be as critical to sports success as physical conditioning. And for parents eager to ensure their children have a winning edge-as well as a future college scholarship-nothing could be more critical to success. This book offers readers a comprehensive program to gain that winning edge, providing training tips and techniques along with helpful advice to keep in mind while competing. With practical advice on how to strengthen concentration (and when you "shouldn't" concentrate), talk yourself into winning, and develop routines that will lead to consistent improvement, the book's full personalized program will help any athlete gain over time the winning edge in any sportWith tips on how to regulate your energy to avoid exhaustion; and how to enhance your team's chemistry through sports psychologyLoaded with real-world examples from amateur and professional sports of all kinds
Applicable to not only sports-but business as well-"Sports Psychology For Dummies" will enhance any competitor's motivation, focus, and will to win, when facing life's toughest challenges.

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Wizardry: Baseball's All-Time Greatest Fielders Revealed

2011-07-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

he systematic analysis of baseball statistics, often called "sabermetrics," has evolved in recent years to resemble something of a science, attracting fans from diverse professional and educational backgrounds, all fascinated by the analysis itself and its insights into the game. But one problem has defied solution: estimating runs saved by fielders throughout history. Traditional statistics include errors and plays made, but not hits that could or should have been prevented. The latter can now be estimated using records of the location of every batted ball, but the underlying data exists only for recent seasons and has generally been withheld from the public.
Now, in Wizardry, comes the long-awaited breakthrough. Drawing solely on freely available baseball statistics, Michael A. Humphreys shows how to apply classic statistical methods to estimate runs saved by fielders going back to 1893. Humphreys tests his results against other fielding measures, including published ratings based on proprietary batted ball location data, and explains their respective strengths and limitations. He also introduces a method for adjusting historical player ratings for increased competition due to population growth, integration, and international recruitment. Position by position, Humphreys identifies and profiles the greatest fielders of all time with anecdote-rich essays.
Sabermetrics changed baseball and introduced a generation to the art of statistical inference. Wizardry makes the case for the most significant changes in historical player valuation in decades, while opening up new approaches for further exploration.

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Nobody's Perfect: Two Men, One Call, and a Game for Baseball History

2011-07-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

The perfect game is one of the rarest accomplishments in sports. No hits, no walks, no men reaching base. In nearly four hundred thousand contests in more than 130 years of Major League Baseball, it has only happened twenty times. On June 2, 2010, Armando Galarraga threw baseball's twenty-first perfect game. Except that's not how it entered the record books.
That's because Jim Joyce, a veteran umpire with more than twenty years of big league experience, the man voted the best umpire in the game in 2010 by baseball's players, missed the call on the final out at first base. "No, I did not get the call correct," Joyce said after seeing a replay. But rather than throw a tantrum, Galarraga simply turned and smiled, went back to the mound and took care of business. "Nobody's perfect," he said later in the locker room.
In "Nobody's Perfect," Galarraga and Joyce come together to tell the personal story of a remarkable game that will live forever in baseball lore, and to trace their fascinating lives in sports up until this pivotal moment. It is an absorbing insider's look at two lives in baseball, a tremendous achievement, and an enduring moment of sportsmanship.

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When the Red Sox Ruled: Baseball's First Dynasty, 1912-1918

2011-07-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

In the years before the Curse of the Bambino descended on New England, the Boston Red Sox rode major league baseball like a colossus, capturing four World Series titles in seven seasons. Blessed with legendary players like Babe Ruth, Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper, and Smokey Joe Wood, and a brand new, thoroughly modern stadium, the Red Sox reigned as kings of the Deadball Era. Just in time for the centenary of baseball's hallowed Fenway Park and the dawn of the Red Sox dynasty, Thomas J. Whalen gracefully recounts the rise and fall of one of baseball's greatest teams.

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Woodall's North American Campground Directory (2011)

2011-07-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Woodall's North American Campground Directory has been completely updated from the 2010 edition, with over 300,000 changes and updates. Plus, 2011 marks Woodall's 75th anniversary, and each copy of the North American Directory includes a commemorative edition mark and an entry form into Woodall's 75th Anniversary Sweepstakes. The 2011 Edition includes complete listing information for over 14,000 locations including both public and privately owned campgrounds and RV parks. Woodall's 2011 edition marks parks that meet our strict "green" criteria and now includes full color state and provincial maps for every state and province. Here's what's inside the 2011 edition: - Complete Green RVing information for campgrounds and RV parks- GPS coordinates and physical addresses for many campgrounds- Full color maps for every state and province- Over 14,000 locations- 75th Anniversary commemorative mark, plus an entry form to Woodall's 75th Anniversary sweepstakes!- Exclusive Woodall's "One-Tank Trips" editorial which features over 70 all-new RV trips for campers to enjoy- At-a-glance charts which tell if a campground welcomes big-rigs, is Internet-friendly (including wi-fi info) and allows pets - Privately-owned campgrounds are rated and inspected with Woodall's strict 5W-5W rating system- Rules of the road for every state and province, plus special information for RVers crossing into Canada- Over 2000 pages cover the U.S., Mexico and Canada Campground and RV park listings include facility and recreation descriptions, including driving directions, camping fees, seasonality, full campground contact information, pet restrictions, site RV capacity, handicap accessibility, internet access at sites, and much more. It is the Campground Directory most commonly sold in Bookstores and camping retailers around the United States and Canada.

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Stan Musial: An American Life

2011-06-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

When baseball fans voted on the top twenty-five players of the twentieth century in 1999, Stan Musial didn't make the cut. This glaring omission--later rectified by a panel of experts--raised an important question: How could a first-ballot Hall of Famer, widely considered one of the greatest hitters in baseball history, still rank as the most underrated athlete of all time?
In "Stan Musial," veteran sports journalist George Vecsey finally gives this twenty-time All-Star and St. Louis Cardinals icon the kind of prestigious biographical treatment previously afforded to his more celebrated contemporaries Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio. More than just a chronological recounting of the events of Musial's life, this is the definitive portrait of one of the game's best-loved but most unappreciated legends, told through the remembrances of those who played beside, worked with, and covered "Stan the Man" over the course of his nearly seventy years in the national spotlight.
Stan Musial never married a starlet. He didn't die young, live too hard, or squander his talent. There were no legendary displays of temper or moodiness. He was merely the most consistent superstar of his era, a scarily gifted batsman who compiled 3,630 career hits (1,815 at home and 1,815 on the road), won three World Series titles, and retired in 1963 in possession of seventeen major-league records. Away from the diamond, he proved a savvy businessman and a model of humility and graciousness toward his many fans in St. Louis and around the world. From Keith Hernandez's boyhood memories of Musial leaving tickets for him when the Cardinals were in San Francisco to the little-known story of Musial's friendship with novelist James Michener--and their mutual association with Pope John Paul II--Vecsey weaves an intimate oral history around one of the great gentlemen of baseball's Greatest Generation.
There may never be another Stan the Man, a fact that future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols--reluctantly nicknamed "El Hombre" in Musial's honor--is quick to acknowledge. But thanks to this long-overdue reappraisal, even those who took his greatness for granted will learn to appreciate him all over again.

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No Shortage of Good Days

2011-06-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

IN his new book about the delightful torture known as fly fishing, John Gierach again demonstrates the wit, eloquence, and insight that have become his trademarks.
Consider this observation about fishing: “From my own experience I can say that a bad back makes you hike slower, stove-up knees keep you from wading confidently, tendinitis of the elbow buggers your casting, and a dose of giardia can send you dashing into the bushes fifteen times in an afternoon, but although none of this is fun, it’s discernibly better than not fishing.”
Or this explanation for every fisherman’s fascination with small streams: “The idea is to fish obscure headwater creeks in hopes of eventually sniffing out an underappreciated little trout creek down an un-marked dirt road. Why is another question. I suppose it’s partly for the fishing itself and partly to satisfy your curiosity, but mostly to sustain the belief that such things are still out there to find for those willing to look.”
And perhaps the ultimate explanation for the fishing obsession: “I briefly wondered how much trouble a guy should go to in order to catch a few little trout, but then any fish becomes worth catching to the extent that you can’t catch it, so the answer was obvious: Once you decide to try, you go to as much trouble as it takes.”
In No Shortage of Good Days Gierach takes usfrom the Smokies in Tennessee to his home waters in Colorado, from the Canadian Maritimes to Mexico—saltwater or fresh, it’s all fishing and all irresistible. As always he writes perceptively about a wide range of subjects: the charm of familiar waters, the etiquette 27.99 of working with new fishing guides, night fishing when the trout and the mosquitoes are both biting, fishing while there is still slush on the river, fishing snobbery, and the delights of fresh fish cooked and eaten within sight of where it was caught. No Shortage of Good Days may be the next best thing to a day of fishing.

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The Natural Navigator: A Watchful Explorer 's Guide to a Nearly Forgotten Skill

2011-06-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

Before GPS, before the compass, and even before cartography, humankind was navigating. A windswept tree, the depth of a puddle, or a trill of birdsong could point the way home--and, for the alert traveler, they still can.
Whether you go exploring in the mountains or on a lunch break, natural navigation will keep you on course and open your eyes to the small wonders of the natural world. Almost anything in our environment can help us find our way--if we know what to look for. Adventurer and navigation expert Tristan Gooley unlocks the directional clues hidden in:
the sun, moon, and stars - clouds - weather patterns - lengthening shadows - changing tides - plant growth - and the habits of local wildlife
Enriched by helpful illustrations, and filled with navigational anecdotes collected across centuries, continents, and cultures, "The Natural Navigator" proves that anyone with a curious mind can still find south by looking at the moon--and find adventure in their own backyard.

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Backgammon for Blood: A Guide for Those Who Like to Play But Love to Win (2ND ed.)

2011-06-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

Backgammon is the ultimate head-to-head board game an action-packed race to the finish with an addictive mix of luck and skill. It's easy to pick up the basics, but this is a game that continually surprises there's always something new to learn, and the Internet has opened up a whole other world of gaming opportunities. In Backgammon for Blood, Chris Bray, top-ranked backgammon player, reveals the tips and tricks needed to help you play the game like a pro, whether you want to make serious money in online tournaments or just play for fun at a board with friends. While backgammon can be lost or won on the throw of the dice, tactical moves and game plans can help you adapt your play to deal with whatever comes your way. With chapters on opening rolls, mid-game strategies, and races and endings, his step-by-step suggestions, sample game illustrations, and easy-to-follow text have everything you need to come to grips with the game. The different ways to play backgammon from tournaments and chouettes to computer and online play are all covered, as are the secrets of making the doubling cube work in your favor. Insightful and informative, Backgammon for Blood: A Guide for Those Who Like to Play but Love to Win is the ideal introduction to this dynamic and challenging game.

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Under Pallor, Under Shadow: The 1920 American League Pennant Race That Rattled and Rebuilt Baseball

2011-05-23T16:53:00.000-07:00

Babe Ruth, in his first season with the Yankees in 1920, was on pace to break the single-season home run record. In August Indians shortstop Ray Chapman was beaned by a pitch thrown by the Yankees' Carl Mays during a game in New York and died the next day. In September a grand jury convened in Chicago, and four White Sox players were called to testify about fixing the 1919 World Series.
Focusing on the Cleveland Indians, the Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees, this book takes us back to a pivotal season when baseball was shaken by tragedy and scandal and when power shifted irretrievably from the teams' owners to a single commissioner. The struggle for the soul of baseball, both on the field and off, is the story of how the entire American League structure changed. Following the fortunes of baseball's stars of 1920, "Under Pallor, Under Shadow" shows us how a unique opportunity for reform was squandered and how the result was the transfer of authority from one powerful dictator (Ban Johnson) to another (Judge K. M. Landis). The first book to tie together the disparate elements of the 1920 pennant race, "Under Pallor, Under Shadow" shows us America's pastime at a critical moment in the nation's cultural history.

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Knuckler: My Life with Baseball's Most Confounding Pitch

2011-05-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

At forty-four years old, Tim Wakefield is the longest-serving member of one of baseball's most popular franchises. He is close to eclipsing the winning records of two of the greatest pitchers to have played the game, yet few realize the full measure of his success. That his career can be characterized by such words as "dependability" and "consistency" defies all odds because he has achieved this with baseball's most mercurial weapon--the knuckleball.
"Knuckler" is the story of how a struggling position player bet his future on a fickle pitch that would define his career. The pitch may drive hitters crazy, but how does the pitcher stay sane? The moment Wakefield adopted the knuckleball, his career sought to answer that question. With the Red Sox, Wakefield began to master his pitch only to find himself on the mound in 2003 for one of the worst post-season losses in history, followed the next year by one of the most vindicating of championships. Even now, as Wakefield battles, we see the twists and turns of a major league career pushed to its ultimate extreme.
A remarkable story of one player's success despite being the exception to every rule, "Knuckler" is also a lively meditation on the dancing pitch, its history, its mystique, and all the ironies it brings to bear.

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Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game

2011-05-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

Think you know how the game of baseball began? Think again.
   Forget Abner Doubleday and Cooperstown. Forget Alexander Joy Cartwright and the New York Knickerbockers. Instead, meet Daniel Lucius Adams, William Rufus Wheaton, and Louis Fenn Wadsworth, each of whom has a stronger claim to baseball paternity than Doubleday or Cartwright.
   But did baseball even have a father—or did it just evolve from other bat-and-ball games? John Thorn, baseball’s preeminent historian, examines the creation story of the game and finds it all to be a gigantic lie, not only the Doubleday legend, so long recognized with a wink and a nudge. From its earliest days baseball was a vehicle for gambling (much like cricket, a far more popular game in early America), a proxy form of class warfare, infused with racism as was the larger society, invigorated if ultimately corrupted by gamblers, hustlers, and shady entrepreneurs. Thorn traces the rise of the New York version of the game over other variations popular in Massachusetts and Philadelphia. He shows how the sport’s increasing popularity in the early decades of the nineteenth century mirrored the migration of young men from farms and small towns to cities, especially New York. And he charts the rise of secret professionalism and the origin of the notorious “reserve clause,” essential innovations for gamblers and capitalists. No matter how much you know about the history of baseball, you will find something new in every chapter. Thorn also introduces us to a host of early baseball stars who helped to drive the tremendous popularity and growth of the game in the post–Civil War era: Jim Creighton, perhaps the first true professional player; Candy Cummings, the pitcher who claimed to have invented the curveball; Albert Spalding, the ballplayer who would grow rich from the game and shape its creation myth; Hall of Fame brothers George and Harry Wright; Cap Anson, the first man to record three thousand hits and a virulent racist; and many others. Add bluff, bluster, and bravado, and toss in an illicit romance, an unknown son, a lost ball club, an epidemic scare, and you have a baseball detective story like none ever written.
   Thorn shows how a small religious cult became instrumental in the commission that was established to determine the origins of the game and why the selection of Abner Doubleday as baseball’s father was as strangely logical as it was patently absurd. Entertaining from the first page to the last, Baseball in the Garden of Eden is a tale of good and evil, and the snake proves the most interesting character. It is full of heroes, scoundrels, and dupes; it contains more scandal by far than the 1919 Black Sox World Series fix. More than a history of the game, Baseball in the Garden of Eden tells the story of nineteenth-century America, a land of opportunity and limitation, of glory and greed—all present in the wondrous alloy that is our nation and its pastime.

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Play Their Hearts Out: A Coach, His Star Recruit, and the Youth Basketball Machine

2011-05-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

Eight years of unfettered access, a keen sense of a story’s deepest truths, and a genuine compassion for his subject allow Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist George Dohrmann to take readers inside the machine that produces America’s basketball stars.
    Hoop dreams aren’t just for players. The fever that grips college basketball prospects hoping to strike big-time NBA gold afflicts coaches, parents, and sneaker executives as well. Every one of them has a stake in keeping America’s wildly dysfunctional, incredibly lucrative youth basketball machine up and running—no matter the consequences.
    In Play Their Hearts Out, George Dohrmann offers an up-close and unforgettable look inside the maw of that machine. He shares what he learned from his years spent embedded with a group of talented young recruits from Southern California as they traveled the country playing in elite Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) events. It’s a cutthroat world where boys as young as eight or nine are subjected to a dizzying torrent of scrutiny and exploitation. Coaches vie to have them on their teams. Sneaker companies ply them with free shoes and gear. “All-star camps” are glorified cattle auctions, providing make-or-break opportunities to secure the promise of an elusive college scholarship.
   At the book’s heart are the personal stories of two compelling figures: Joe Keller, an ambitious AAU coach with a master plan to find and promote “the next LeBron”—thereby paving his own path to power and riches; and Demetrius Walker, a fatherless latchkey kid who falls under Keller’s sway and struggles to live up to the unrealistic expectations his supposed benefactor has set for him. As their fortunes take shape and the pressure mounts—Demetrius finds himself profiled in Sports Illustrated at age fourteen, while Keller cultivates his business empire—Dohrmann weaves in the stories of numerous other parents, coaches, and players. Some of them see their prospects evaporate as a result of poor decisions and worse luck. Others learn how to thrive in a corrupt system by playing the right angles.
    Written with incomparable detail and insight, Play Their Hearts Out is a thoroughly unique narrative that reveals the inner workings of an American game, exposing the gritty reality that lies beneath so many dreams of fame and glory.

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Joe Louis: Hard Times Man

2011-04-25T15:37:00.000-07:00

Joe Louis defended his heavyweight boxing title an astonishing twenty-five times and reigned as world champion for more than eleven years. He got more column inches of newspaper coverage in the 1930s than FDR did. His racially and politically charged defeat of Max Schmeling in 1938 made Louis a national hero. But as important as his record is what he meant to African-Americans: at a time when the boxing ring was the only venue where black and white could meet on equal terms, Louis embodied all their hopes for dignity and equality.

Through meticulous research and first-hand interviews, acclaimed historian and biographer Randy Roberts presents Louis, and his impact on sport and country, in a way never before accomplished. Roberts reveals an athlete who carefully managed his public image, and whose relationships with both the black and white communities—including his relationships with mobsters—were far more complex than the simplistic accounts of heroism and victimization that have dominated previous biographies.

Richly researched and utterly captivating, this extraordinary biography presents the full range of Joe Louis’s power in and out of the boxing ring.

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Hiking the Continental Divide Trail: One Woman's Journey

2011-04-18T15:30:00.000-07:00

Hiking the Continental Divide: One Woman's Journey

is the story of our 2,414 mile hike from Mexico to Canada on the Continental Divide Trail. During the course of our six-month trek we hiked through:

Arid ranchland in New Mexico
Snow packed mountains in Colorado
The Red Desert and Wind River Range in Wyoming
The Anaconda-Pintlar and Glacier Natl Park in Montana

In addition to tales of the trail, Hiking the Continental Divide Trail: One Woman's Journey contains valuable information for those seeking to make their own section or thru-hike of the CDT, including:

Thru-hikers Preparation & Timeline
Equipment List
Food List
Itinerary
Map List & Sources
Complete Index

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Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run

2011-04-13T12:06:00.000-07:00

Built on the success of her popular blog on RunnersWorld.com, Kristin Armstrong’s new book is an intensely personal look at how running creates a special sense of community for the women who participate, and how it has helped her and many others mark the milestones of their lives. Each of the 26 chapters (the .2 is the epilogue) is dedicated to a specific theme, such as Friendship, Gratitude, Healing, Balance, and Motherhood. The specific experience of running is knitted into each chapter,
but the real messages about inspiration, growth, family, empowerment, and endurance are universal. Mile Markers details the essence of Armstrong’s belief that running is a valuable source of connection, life, and health for all the women who love it.

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Rockin' Steady: A Guide to Basketball & Cool

2011-04-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

For millions of basketball fans in the 1970's, Walt "Clyde" Frazier defined the world cool. One of the greatest point guards in NBA history. Clyde guided the New York Knicks to their only two championships with a style and flair that was wholly his own. Worshipped for both his skills on the court and his flamboyant fashion sense off it, he was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987, was named one of the NBA's 50 greatest players in 1996, and is currently the Knick's color analyst on the MSG Network.
Back in 1974, Clyde and New York Times sportswriter and future Pulitzer Prize winner Ira Berkow collaborated on a book that has become an iconic and much-sought-after piece of basketball history. Now, three decades later, Rockin' Steady is back with an all-new introduction, afterword, and everything that made it one of the most uniqie sports books of all time, including:
Rare, full-color photos from legendary photographer Walter Iooss Jr.

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Baseball: How to Play the Game: The Official Playing and Coaching Manual of Major League Baseball

2011-03-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

Major League Baseball has compiled the definitive instruction manual on learning to play the game. Fully illustrated with action photos of MLB stars illustrating key points and drills for each defensive position, this book also includes special tips from MLB players on batting, base running, the rules of the game, and coaching. Easy-to-follow instructions and diagrams of all the skills beginning players need to master the game--how to throw, hit, and field all the positions--while also promoting good sportsmanship. Each skill and position is presented separately, with photographs and drawings of a player executing the specific skill, advice on how to perform it, and when to use it, and the most common mistakes. Written and compiled by the best baseball instructors, coaches, and players in the world, this comprehensive how-to is informative enough to help even the brightest young stars shine brighter. With keen insights from instruction and developmental coaches, the need to create a positive environment in practice and encourage creativity as well as technical correctness is stressed. Most importantly, the coaches understand that kids are not just small adults--and they back up their understanding with advice on how to help kids fall in love with "America's pastime." Model training sections construct excellent practice sessions--from warm-up through cool-down exercises and hundreds of drills and games to reinforce--this is an essential tool for all coaches as a guide to improving performance and enjoyment of practice and playing the game. This must-have resource covers it all: Batting, Pitching, Base running and sliding, Specific drills for playing all defensive positions, Coaching and rules, Offensive and defensive strategy. Partial list of Big League tips on How to Play the Game: Tony Gwynn (hitting), Sammy Sosa (judging fly balls), Bernie Williams (playing the outfield), Mark Grace (approach to hitting), Alex Rodriguez (fielding ground balls), Jeff Bagwell (hitting), Roberto Alomar (fielding ground balls), Jaret Wright (pitching mechanics), Edgar Renteria (how to play SS), John Lackey (improving your pitching), Carlos Delgado (mastering 1B), Rocco Baldelli (basic approach at plate), Cristian Guzman (fielding ground balls), Danny Kolb (good approach on the mound), Dontrelle Willis (pitching strategies), Torii Hunter (playing the outfield), Jason Marquis (pitching with control), Chone Figgins (sliding), Orlando Cabrera (improving your game), Gary Bennett (becoming a better catcher), Ervin Santana (pitching under pressure), Mark Teixeira (playing 1B), Ryan Howard (hitting), Joey Gathright (playing the OF), Troy Tulowitzki (succeeding at the plate), Joel Zumaya (pitching with poise), Josh Johnson (pitching with confidence)
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Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines

2011-03-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

In Slot Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines! you'll learn new and radically different information to actually beat the slot machines.

·        Learn to recognize machines that give you a real mathematical edge!
·        Learn how to properly play these advantage slot machines!
·        Learn which machines to play and which to avoid!
·        Learn why you "can't quit when you're ahead!"
·        Learn about the relationship between slots and sex!
·        Learn about proper money management!
·        Learn about the great myths and mistakes of slot play!

Plus: Weird and wacky true slot adventures.
Plus: Players' psychic slot experiences - are they real or ridiculous?

Slot Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines! by best selling author Frank Scoblete is the most comprehensive book on slot machines ever written. You'll find totally new and important information that can radically transform your slot play. This is a must-read for all slot players interested in the finest strategies.

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Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love

2011-03-14T10:56:00.000-07:00

The fastest-growing sector of today’s sports audience is the alienated fan. Complaints abound: from inflated ticket prices, $6 hot dogs, and $9 beers to owners endlessly demanding new multimillion-dollar stadiums funded by public tax dollars. Those sitting in the owners’ boxes are increasingly placing profit over players’ performances and fan loyalty. Bad Sports cuts through the hype and bombast to zero in on tales of abusive, dictatorial owners who move their teams thousands of miles away from their fan base, use their stadiums as religious and political platforms, or hold communities ransom for millions of dollars of taxpayer money to fund their gargantuan stadiums.
As the multibillion-dollar sports-industrial complex continues to lumber along, Dave Zirin is the voice in the wilderness, speaking out for the common fan with a tough, passionate, and intelligent voice that will remind readers that there is more to sportswriting than glowing athlete profiles.

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Ice Fishing: The Ultimate Guide

2011-03-07T15:11:00.000-08:00

Whether you're a beginner or an expert, a lone wolf angler or a parent with fish-fanatic youngsters, fishing on ice has lots to offer everyone. But fishing on ice isn't without it's challenges, and that's where this book comes in. Ice Fishing: The Ultimate Guide covers everything you need to know to make your hard water adventures as comfortable, safe, enjoyable and productive as possible. The first part of the book looks at the equipment that's involved with ice fishing. The second part of the book takes an in depth look at winter's best sport fish, including walleye, perch, crappie, pike, trout, whitefish, sunfish, catfish, bass and more. For each species, you'll find detailed information about them, where you can expect to find them, and the different strategies for catching them. You'll learn about: Staying warm and safe on the ice Rod, reel and line selection Lure selection and techniques Specialty gear selection Ice fishing strategies Where to find the fish Jigging and set line secrets * Includes tips from many of North America's finest pro ice anglers and guides.

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The WWE Championship: A Look Back at the Rich History of the WWE Championship

2011-03-01T12:27:00.000-08:00

Suddenly it’s over, and in the center of the ring, one man is victorious. The referee raises his hand, and from somewhere (you’re not quite sure where because you’re still cheering), the shining symbol of this momentous win appears. With the crowd still roaring, the winner stands alone in the ring and raises the championship belt high over his head. The lights shine off the WWE Championship title belt, and in that instant, the winner’s life will be changed forever.

For over half a century, Superstars have battled to win the WWE Championship. While the name may have changed, the prestige attached to the championship has exploded. That is due in no small part to the immortals of wrestling who have held this coveted title—Bruno Sammartino taking the title from the first holder, Buddy Rogers...the totally unexpected win of “Superstar” Billy Graham...Hulk Hogan’s win over the Iron Sheik, who had refused a payoff to injure Hogan...Andre the Giant’s surrender of the title to Ted DiBiase...the newcomer win of the Undertaker...the commanding wrestling abilities of Bret Hart...Shawn Michaels’s win in Montreal...the stunning victories of Stone Cold Steve Austin...the triumph of the People’s Champion, The Rock...Triple H playing the game...the never-surrender attitude of John Cena.

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Come to Win: Business Leaders, Artists, Doctors, and Other Visionaries on How Sports Can Help You Top Your Profession

2011-02-22T06:10:00.000-08:00

In the tradition of Marlo Thomas's "The Right Words at the Right Time," the multiple grand slam tennis champion and entrepreneur, along with an esteemed group of business leaders and acclaimed artists, serves up a book of wisdom that shows how to turn a competitive spirit into successes off the field.

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The Final Call: Hockey Stories from a Legend in Stripes

2011-02-15T10:29:00.000-08:00

After thirty years as an official in the National Hockey League, legendary referee Kerry Fraser has decided to hang up his skates and enjoy the game from the other side of the boards. Never shy about offering his opinion or afraid to step in and separate an on-ice fight, Fraser is arguably the most respected referee in the history of the game. Over the course of the 2,165 NHL contests he oversaw, Fraser has shown himself to be an unbiased, courageous, and sometimes controversial judge.
In "The Final Call," Fraser provides a highly entertaining, honest, and sometimes hard-hitting look at the game and its many faces and changes over his record-breaking career. Go to ice level and experience first-hand the interactions of your favourite players and coaches from the man you love to hate!

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Across America by Bicycle: Alice and Bobbi's Summer on Wheels

2011-02-07T12:17:00.000-08:00

Biking from Oregon to Maine is no small feat, especially for two newly retired women who carry everything they need for three months, powered only by the strength of their legs and a desire for adventure. Alice Honeywell and Bobbi Montgomery invite readers to follow their ride by bicycle across the United States, as they face scorching sun, driving rain, buffeting winds, equipment failures, killer hills, wild fires, and even a plague of grasshoppers.
As Alice and Bobbi pedal along their 3,600-mile journey, they test and deepen their friendship, defy their aches and pains, experience the vast and varied beauties of their country, and discover the challenges and satisfaction of a scaled-down lifestyle. And, they encounter unfailing generosity from people they meet--from the prayers of a North Dakota woman for their safekeeping, to the offer of a house in Michigan, to invitations for dinner and a place to sleep at stops all along the way. And there are incidents to laugh over, too, such as the bewildered woman who asked them, "Well, but where do you pack your dresses?"
Ride along with Alice and Bobbi as they embrace retirement with gusto and live their dream.

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Fencer's Start-Up: A Beginner's Guide to Traditional and Sport Fencing

2011-01-31T13:25:00.000-08:00

An engaging guide to fencing covers Olympic-style foil, epee and saber methods and includes tips on safety, etiquette and technique; a historical overview of the sport; and an updated resource section.

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Cowboys Chronicles: A Complete History of the Dallas Cowboys

2011-01-24T16:15:00.000-08:00

Just in time for the 50th anniversary of America's Team, a complete history of the Dallas Cowboys features recaps of every game of every season; the unforgettable players, coaches and Super Bowl teams; statistics of every season; and even the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. By the author of Yesterday & Today.

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Speed Duel: The Inside Story of the Land Speed Record in the Sixties

2011-01-16T12:58:00.000-08:00

Until the 1950s, the land speed record (LSR) was held by a series of European gentlemen racers such as British driver John Cobb, who hit 394 miles per hour in 1947. That record held for more than a decade, until the car culture swept the U.S.
Hot-rodders and drag racers built and souped up racers using car engines, piston aircraft engines and, eventually, jet engines. For this determined and dedicated group, the LSR was no longer an honor to be held by rich aristocrats with industrial backing -- it was brought stateside.
In the summer of 1960, the contest moved into overdrive, with eight men contending for the record on Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats. Some men died in horrific crashes, others prudently retired, and by mid-decade only two men were left driving: Art Arfons and Craig Breedlove. By 1965, Arfons and Breedlove had walked away from some of the most spectacular wipeouts in motor sport history and pushed the record up to 400, then 500, then 600 miles per hour. Speed Duel is the fast-paced history of their rivalry.

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The Long Run: A New York City Firefighter's Triumphant Comeback from Crash Victim to Elite Athlete

2011-01-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

On the morning of December 22, 2005, Matt Long was cycling to work in the early morning when he was struck by and sucked under a 20-ton bus making an illegal turn. The injuries he sustained pushed him within inches of his life. Miraculously, more than 40 operations and months later, Matt was able to start his recovery. In spite of the severity of his injuries, Matt found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process. He would no longer be able to compete at the highest level.
In the 18 months before the accident, he had competed in more than 20 events including several triathlons and marathons and had qualified for running’s most prestigious race, the Boston Marathon. After the accident, his doctor told him he’d be lucky if he could even walk without a cane. The Long Run is an emotional and incredibly honest story about Matt’s determination to fight through fear, despair, loneliness, and intense physical and psychological pain to regain the life he once had. The book chronicles Matt’s road to recovery as he teaches himself to walk again and, a mere three years later, to run in the 2008 New York City Marathon—a gimpy seven-and-a-half hour journey through the five boroughs. “Running saved my life,” Matt says, and his embrace of the running community and insistence on competing in the marathon has inspired many, turning him into a symbol of hope and recovery for untold numbers of others.
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Checkmate Tactics

2011-01-03T12:06:00.000-08:00

Tactical play is the nitty-gritty of chess. It’s the stuff that players are trying to work out when they say to themselves, “If I go there and he goes there ... and then I check him with the knight ... now, what can he do ... etc.” At a social or weak club level, virtually 100% of games are decided for tactical reasons.

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Blowgun Techniques: The Definitive Guide to Modern and Traditional Blowgun Techniques

2010-12-28T13:10:00.000-08:00

Blowgun Techniques is a complete introduction to one of the world's oldest weapons. It provides detailed explanations and instructions on all aspects of the blowgun's use—from grips and stances, to targets and trajectories, to how to construct your own blowgun.

While shooting the blowgun may seem effortless, it actually requires not only power, but also intelligence, focus and good technique. This unique combination—simplicity of design yet complexity of technique—has caused the blowgun to undergo a dramatic rise in popularity in the modern world. This popularity makes Blowgun Techniques a timely guide for hunting enthusiasts and those interested in archery-style sports competitions.

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Football's Last Iron Men: 1934, Yale vs. Princeton, and One Stunning Upset

2010-12-27T13:43:00.000-08:00

In November 1934, the Princeton football team—unbeaten in its last fifteen games—faced the 3–3 Yale Bulldogs, who gave new meaning to the term “underdogs.” As much a thrilling play-by-play account of college football at its finest as it is a fascinating work of sports history, this book chronicles the season that brought Princeton and Yale together in a game like no other since.

Football’s Last Iron Men follows the teams from the hiring of future Hall of Fame coaches Fritz Grisler and Greasy Neale through spring practice to their annual clash on November 17. The Yale Elis, it seemed, had no chance. How those eleven players—who never left the game—stunned Princeton 7–0 is a chapter in football history. It was an era of 165-pound linemen, quarterbacks who called their own plays, and student athletes who earned no special treatment. But the story of Yale’s Iron Men is also part of a larger history, for it took place during the Great Depression, when millions of struggling Americans found hope in the courage and grit of the team who wouldn’t quit.

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The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron

2010-12-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

       The first definitive biography of Henry Aaron—baseball’s great home-run champion and one of its most enduring legends.
       As the steroid controversy has increasingly tarnished baseball’s image, Hank Aaron’s achievements have come to seem all the more remarkable: the first player to pass Babe Ruth in home runs, Aaron held that record for thirty-three years while shattering other records (RBIs, total bases, extra-base hits) and setting new ones (hitting at least thirty home runs per season fifteen times). But his achievements run much deeper than his stats. Chronicling the social upheavals of the years during which Aaron played (1954 to 1976), Howard Bryant shows us how the dignity and determination with which he stood against racism—on and off the field, and as one of the first blacks in baseball’s upper management—helped transform the role and significance of the professional black athlete and turn Aaron into an national icon.
       Eloquently written, detailed, and penetrating, this is a revelatory portrait of both the great ballplayer and the complicated private man.

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Fifty Places to Hike Before You Die: Outdoor Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations

2010-12-10T12:18:00.000-08:00

Fifty Places to Hike Before You Die is the latest offering in the bestselling Fifty Places series. Chris Santella, along with top expedition leaders, explores the world’s greatest walking adventures. Some, such as the Lunana Snowman Trek in Bhutan and the Kangshung Valley Trek in Tibet, are grueling multiweek adventures at high altitudes. Others, such as Japan’s Nakesando Trail, move leisurely from village to village, allowing walkers to immerse themselves in the local culture. Whether it’s climbing the Rwandan mountains to view mountain gorillas or strolling through bistros along Italy’s Amalfi Coast, there’s a memorable hike at everyone’s level within these 50 chapters. With commentaries from expert trekkers and insider tips that lead the reader off the beaten path, Santella has again captured the special characteristics that make these must-visit destinations.

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The Boys from Little Mexico: A Season Chasing the American Dream

2010-12-06T15:58:00.000-08:00

Woodburn High’s Bulldogs, aka Los Perros, started their 2005 soccer season with eight undocumented students, a midfielder groomed to play for a pro Mexican team, a goalkeeper living in his third foster home, three boys who spoke almost no English, and an Irish-descended white coach desperate to lead all of them to success. Caught between a Mexico they barely remembered and an America they hardly knew, this band of brothers forged an unlikely family.
More than just riveting sports writing, this story is about the fight for the future of the next generation— and a hard, true look at boys dismissed as gangbangers, told to "go home." They played through the slurs of "pickers" from sideline crowds in lily-white Oregon. Off the field, they struggled to stay academically eligible, in a country where just over half of all Hispanic boys graduate.

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Tales from the 5th Street Gym: Ali, the Dundees, and Miami's Golden Age of Boxing

2010-11-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

Presents the history of the Miami boxing gym which during the 1950s and 1960s provided training for three champion fighters, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, and Sugar Ray Leonard, as well as other notable boxers and was frequented by sport, music, and Hollywood celebrities.

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Field of Screams: Haunted Tales from the Baseball Diamond, the Locker Room, and Beyond

2010-11-23T11:23:00.000-08:00

Baseball and ghost stories are as American as apple pie. Field of Screems combines both in this fun and freaky collection of otherworldly yarns. From the authors of the successful Haunted Baseball, this is an all-new collection of more, scarier, creepier stories collected from ballplayers, stadium personnel, umpires, front-office people, and fans, exploring the sometimes amusing and often spooky connection between baseball and the paranormal.

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Winning Craps for the Serious Player

2010-11-15T15:27:00.000-08:00

Updated and revised, this is the “bible” for both beginning and serious craps players—in essence, a complete course on how to play and win at craps. Readers learn how and when bets can be placed, the chances of these bets winning, and the odds and payoffs involved. More than 100 pages alone are dedicated to winning strategies for every type of player—conservative, aggressive and super-aggressive—as well as how to bet with and against the dice and for games offering one, two, three and even ten times odds! Packed with tables, charts, examples, anecdotes and insider tips on every aspect of winning

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Minus 148 Degrees: The First Winter Ascent of Mount McKinley

2010-11-03T11:36:00.000-07:00

Minus 148 is one of the few true classics in the literature of mountaineering. It richly deserves a republication that will bring it a whole new generation of readers, hungry young climbers and armchair graybeards alike. It is an honor to salute the book's reappearance, and a pleasure to wish it well.

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The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood

2010-10-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Meticulously reported and elegantly written, The Last Boy is a baseball tapestry that weaves together episodes from the author's weekend with The Mick in Atlantic City, where she interviewed her hero in 1983, after he was banned from baseball, with reminiscences from friends and family of the boy from Commerce, Oklahoma, who would lead the Yankees to seven world championships, be voted the American League's Most Valuable Player three times, win the Triple Crown in 1956, and duel teammate Roger Maris for Babe Ruth's home run crown in the summer of 1961---the same boy who would never grow up.

As she did so memorably in her biography of Sandy Koufax, Jane Leavy transcends the hyperbole of hero worship to reveal the man behind the coast-to-coast smile, who grappled with a wrenching childhood, crippling injuries, and a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. In The Last Boy she chronicles her search to find out more about the person he was and, given what she discovers, to explain his mystifying hold on a generation of baseball fans, who were seduced by that lopsided, gap-toothed grin. It is an uncommon biography, with literary overtones: not only a portrait of an icon, but an investigation of memory itself. How long was the Tape Measure Home Run? Did Mantle swing the same way right-handed and left-handed? What really happened to the red-haired, freckle-faced boy known back home as Mickey Charles?

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The Last Putt: Two Teams, One Dream, and a Freshman Named Tiger

2010-10-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

Based on exhaustive reporting and interviews, The Last Putt tells the story of an epic rivalry that encapsulated the changing face of the game. On one side was Oklahoma State, a true golfing dynasty featuring the young bloods of a privileged golf family and a coach whose winning record and reputation for toughness made him a mythical figure. On the other side was the Stanford Cardinal, progressive, diverse, and born of the creative recruiting of an unforgettable group of players: Notah Begay (golf’s first prominent Native American), Casey Martin (who broke down barriers by playing with a severe disability), and Tiger Woods, who was already the most famous young name in golf but was also a freshman that year, carrying his upperclassmen’s bags, learning how to be teammate, and harnessing a talent that would define a new generation in the sport.

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Think Like a Caddie...Play Like a Pro: Golf's Top Caddies Share Their Winning Secrets

2010-10-10T10:39:00.000-07:00

All professional touring golfers depend on their caddie to serve as a valuable team member to help them make better decisions and achieve the lowest possible score. This book will provide golfers with insight into competitive preparation and play, course strategies, and clear thinking on the golf course. Every golfer will benefit from the inside tips and advice provided by the world's best caddies. This lively, accessible book will feature 50+ color photos of these caddies in action on some of the greatest golf courses. Forward by Arnold Palmer. Preface by Ben Crenshaw.

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Backpacker Trailside Navigation: Map and Compass

2010-10-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Backpacker's Trailside Navigation informs readers about choosing and using a compass; basic map reading skills; plotting a course and finding your way through the wilderness; using stars to navigate rivers, streams and trails at night; using maps and compass in concert with a GPS receiver. This handy pocket-sized guide is 96 pages, includes two popouts, and incorporates color photos, charts, and illustrations as needed throughout the interior.

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Chasing Baseball: Our Obsession With Its History, Numbers, People and Places

2010-09-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

For more than five decades, pioneering researcher Dorothy Seymour Mills has studied and written about baseball's past. With this groundbreaking book, she turns her attention to the historians, stat hounds, and many thousands of not-so-casual fans whose fascination with the game and its history, like her own, defies easy explanation. As Mills demonstrates, baseball elicits a passion--and inspires a slightly off-kilter, obsessive behavior--that is only slightly less interesting than the people who indulge it.

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The Most Memorable Games in Giants History: The Oral History of a Legendary Team

2010-09-20T15:52:00.000-07:00

With extensive reporting and engrossing storytelling, Jim Baker and Bernard Corbett give us the scenes of one of the NFL's most successful and popular franchises. Interviews with Giants legends who participated in these historic moments put us behind closed doors in the commissioner's office during a fixed game in 1946, in the backfield wit Frank Gifford as the Giants advance to the championship in 1958, and in the huddle with Eli Manning as he diagrams the play that would result in the deciding touchdown in the 2008 Super Bowl.
With an eye for memorable details and historical significance, Baker and Corbett let the players themselves tell the war stories that all Giants fans love to relive, and in so doing, construct an engrossing and exciting history of the team and the sport.
The book will also feature revealing statistical sidebars and fresh analysis of the games that throw new light on the history of the team.

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King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution

2010-09-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Bill Russell was not the first African American to play professional basketball, but he was its first black superstar. From the moment he stepped onto the court of the Boston Garden in 1956, he began to transform the sport in a fundamental way, making him, more than any of his contemporaries, the Jackie Robinson of basketball. In King of the Court, Aram Goudsouzian provides a vivid and engrossing chronicle of the life and career of this brilliant champion and courageous racial pioneer. Russell's leaping, wide-ranging defense altered the game's texture. His teams provided models of racial integration in the 1950s and 1960s, and in 1966, he became the first black coach of any major professional team sport. Yet, like no athlete before him, Russell challenged the politics of sport. Instead of displaying appreciative deference, he decried racist institutions, embraced his African roots, and challenged the nonviolent tenets of the civil rights movement. This beautifully written book-sophisticated, nuanced, and insightful-reveals a singular individual who expressed the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. while echoing the warnings of Malcolm X.

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Practical Carp Fishing

2010-08-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Practical Carp Fishing is brimming with practical and sound advice and is invaluable for all budding carp anglers as well as more experienced carp anglers who wish to improve their skills and their catches.

The popularity of carp fishing has increased drmatically during the last thirty years; many now regard the sport as a separate branch of angling in its own right, alongside coarse fishing, game fishing and sea fishing. The increase in the popularity of carp fishing has been accompanied by a great thirst for knowlege about this exciting form of angling. More fishing magazines and websites are dedicated to carp than to any other species and there is no sign of this enthusiasm slowing down. There are books of all kinds but this volume is particularly aimed at the coarse angler with some experience, who has decided to enter the exciting world of carp fishing for the first time, and at relatively inexperienced carp anglers who wish to improve their catches.

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Wiffle Ball: The Ultimate Guide

2010-08-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

Author Michael Hermann, president of Wicked Cow Entertainment, and The Wiffle Ball Inc.'s, brand managers, gives readers an inside look at this palatial Wiffle get-up and at the best Wiffle fields around, as well as the down-and-dirty on how in 1953 a down-on-his luck shoe polish salesman and his 16-year-old son concocted the first Wiffle Ball from spare perfume packaging, turning a plastic orb into an American icon. You'll explore The Science of Wiffle, and why a Wiffle Ball, well, "waffles." You'll also learn all the how to's: how to build the best field; how to throw the best sinker ball; and how to best tape up a Wiffle Bat. And best of all, major leaguers and A-list celebs will share their fondest and funniest Wiffle memories.

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Jump Rope Training

2010-08-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

Olympian Buddy Lee has developed training programs that have helped athletes on 25 U.S. Olympic teams compete on the international stage. As athletes strive to improve speed, agility, balance, strength, power and endurance, the progressive programs Lee presents will help them achieve those goals. With instruction on techniques for increasing difficulty and intensity along with strategies for adding jump rope drills to current training methods, athletes will learn to maximize performance in minimal training time. Check Catalog

African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World's Game

2010-08-10T10:30:00.000-07:00

From Accra and Algiers to Zanzibar and Zululand, Africans have wrested control of soccer from the hands of Europeans, and through the rise of different playing styles, the rich rituals of spectatorship, and the presence of magicians and healers, have turned soccer into a distinctively African activity. African Soccerscapes explores how Africans adopted soccer for their own reasons and on their own terms. The ConfÃ©dÃ©ration Africaine de Football democratized the global game through antiapartheid sanctions and increased the number of African teams in the World Cup finals. The unfortunate results of this success are the departure of huge numbers of players to overseas clubs and the influence of private commercial interests on the African game. But the growth of the women’s game and South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup also challenge the one-dimensional notion of Africa as a backward, “tribal” continent populated by victims of war, corruption, famine, and disease.

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You're the Umpire: 139 Scenarios to Test Your Baseball Knowledge

2010-08-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Divided into three sections, this unusual handbook offers Routine Calls, which deal with scenarios and rules that typically come up in games and deal with clear cut rules--fair and foul, strike zone questions, and the like. The next section, Basic Situations, deals with umpiring matters and rules that are just a bit more unusual or, for the casual fan, obscure. Interference and obstruction calls, for example, don't come up too often, but they remain standard stuff involving rules that umps and many fans know quite well. In the final section, Obscure Rules and Situations, you will be presented with what many baseball people call knotty problems. Here, you will be asked questions involving the complex infield fly rule, and other arcane matters. This section, then, is the ultimate test of your umpiring skills and knowledge Check Catalog

Unicycling: First Steps - First Tricks

2010-07-26T11:06:00.000-07:00

This is the ideal volume for anyone who wants to get involved in the fantastic world of unicycling. With the aid of detailed descriptions and illustrated by more than 125 photographs, this volume shows you how to get started and avoid common mistakes and injuries. "Unicycling" goes on to introduce more advanced techniques, such as riding backwards and 'bunny-hopping'. Further chapters introduce numerous games and sports, including Mountain Unicycling and Unihockey. Also included is a list for further reading and reference, both in print and online.

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North by Northwestern: A Seafaring Family in Deadly Alaskan Waters

2010-07-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is the story of a family of survivors; part memoir and part adventure tale, North By Northwestern brings readers on deck, into the dockside bars and into the history of a family with a common destiny. Built around a gripping tale of a deadly shipwreck like The Perfect Storm, North By Northwestern is the multi-generational tale of the Hansen family, a clan of tough Norwegian-American fishermen who, through the popularity of The Deadliest Catch, have become modern folk-heroes.
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The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches: How to Unlock and Unleash Your Team's Full Potential

2010-07-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

The book shows coaches and leaders of all kinds (managers, teachers) how to unlock and unleash your team’s full potential. Learn how to build confidence and commitment, motivate and inspire your team, handle difficult discipline issues, earn your team’s respect, and leave a lasting legacy as a leader. This practical, information-packed book will help you create a confident, committed, and coachable team.

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7 Steps to Better Chess: A Guide to Immediately Making You a Better Player

2010-06-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

Players of all levels learn how to improve their chess play by cutting down on tactical and strategic mistakes. Using examples from his own games, Schiller illustrates the types of errors typically found at each stage of chess development, from early scholastic games to professional encounters with grandmasters. In each case, Schiller shows how such errors can be overcome while at the same time showing how professional players can fall prey to the same problems as amateurs. Learn from the author’s mistakes and you won’t suffer the terrible fate that awaits most blunders! Check Catalog

Top of the Order: 25 Writers Pick Their Favorite Baseball Player of All Time

2010-06-21T09:55:00.000-07:00

There have been plenty of collections devoted to our national pastime’s greatest players, but here, finally, is an amazing array of original writing dedicated to those whom, for reasons far more personal than stats-based, we call our favorites. The result is an assortment of reflections—by turns uplifting, woeful, and hilarious—on the love of the game and what it means to be beset by the strange, incurable condition known as baseball fandom.Featuring: Roger Kahn on Jackie Robinson, Buzz Bissinger on Albert Pujols, Jonathan Eig on Lou Gehrig, Neal Pollack on Greg Maddux, Laura Lippman on Brooks Robinson, Jeff Pearlman on Garry Templeton, Carrie Rickey on Crash Davis, Jim Bouton on Steve Dembowski, Pat Jordan on Tom Seaver, Steve Almond on Rickey Henderson, and many more.

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Fireman: The Evolution of the Closer in Baseball

2010-06-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

Baseball is in a constant state of flux and change. Whether the developments are as obvious as the advent of the designated hitter or as subtle as the time limit between pitches, changes continue to occur that shape and reshape America's Pastime. One of the most discernable changes has been the specialization of the pitching staff. There was a time when the typical relief pitcher was either a washed-up veteran trying to hold on, an underachieving starter sent to bullpen Siberia by the manager, or a pitcher with good stuff but without the mojo to pitch deep into games. How things have changed. Fireman will bridge the gap between those days and today's game by reviewing the history of relief pitching and examining the influence and changes in the game that have brought bullpens to their present state. Using statistics, tend analysis, and interviews with front-office personnel, managers, coaches, and pitchers past and present, author Fran Zimniuch delves into the changing nature of the bullpen in baseball and how the current, specialized role of the closer came into being.

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Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas

2010-06-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

When legendary Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas died in April 2009, the Philadelphia Phillies organization held an allday tribute with his body laid in state at Citizens Bank Park. Tens of thousands of dedicated fans came through to pay their respects and celebrate “Harry the K”—the beloved play-by-play announcer for the Phillies.According to the Baseball Hall of Fame, only Babe Ruth and broadcast great Jack Buck had ever been honored with such magnitude.
Indeed, Harry Kalas was a larger-than-life figure in the world of sports broadcasting. Considered one of the family by Philadelphians, Kalas was also one of the most recognizable voices to all Americans. Called “The Voice of the NFL” by NFL Films President Steve Sabol, Kalas narrated countless NFL Films productions as well as TV’s longest-running NFL highlights show—Inside the NFL—for over 30 years.
But beyond his incredibly successful and diverse career, he also led an extraordinary personal life. From his childhood in Iowa to his early career in Hawaii and Houston, to his ubiquitous voice work in TV and radio, to his masterwork with the Phillies and the NFL—plus all the personal highs and lows he experienced along the way.
Harry Kalas may be “Outta here!”, but he will never be forgotten.

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The Chess Player's Bible: Illustrated Strategies for Staying Ahead of the Game

2010-06-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

Master the ancient art of chess, the game of kings. Learn the key techniques and classic moves of the chess masters, including basic and advanced tactics, combinations, sacrifices, and pawn structures.

This unique visual guide is arranged so that you can quickly identify your problem and locate the appropriate solution. Over 300 examples demonstrate attacking and defensive strategies for the opening, middle, and end phases of the game. Each move is accompanied with annotated 3-D illustrations so you can easily follow the moves, and the spiral-binding allows you to lay the book flat for ease of reference.

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Stan the Man: The Life and Times of Stan Musial

2010-06-01T11:23:00.000-07:00

In a biography that draws from never-before-published anecdotes gained through interviews with former classmates, relatives, friends and teammates, the author details not only the personality and accomplishments of the greatest player in Cardinals baseball history, but also casts his life against the backdrop of American history. Check Catalog

Running Injuries: Treatment and Prevention

2010-05-24T15:47:00.000-07:00

Running Injuries - Treatment and Prevention" offers easy to access tips on treating and avoiding injuries. It is written in a language that is easy to understand. This book will help runners and walkers understand how injuries occur, how to print them, how to heal them: knee, foot, calf, iliotibial band, plantar fasciia, achilles tendon, neuroma, and much more. There is also a section on coming back from an injury and exercising while injured.

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Red Sox Fans Are from Mars, Yankees Fans Are from Uranus: Why Red Sox Fans Are Smarter, Funnier, and Better Looking (In Language Even Yankee Fans Can Understand)

2010-05-13T17:18:00.000-07:00

Each year, millions of these baseball fans engage in verbal (and sometimes physical) tete-a-tete with the opposing base, and with only around 200 miles of terra firma dividing the two capitals of the "Empire" and the "Nation," this book provides the only well-constructed tutorial on how both tribes can peaceably coexist. Such a guide promises to save the reader from emotional distress, time-consuming arguments, and, most importantly, cleaning bills. (And if all else fails, the book makes a wonderful projectile.)

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Roger Maris: Baseball's Reluctant Hero

2010-05-10T13:07:00.000-07:00

A portrait of the baseball legend who broke Babe Ruth's single-season home-run record describes his childhood in North Dakota, his glory years with the Yankees and the ways in which he was unfairly targeted by the media and adversarial fans.

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Martial Arts Made Easy

2010-05-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

100 cool moves from a range of martial arts disciplines.
Martial Arts Made Easy allows readers to teach themselves skills from such martial arts as karate, kung fu, judo, tae kwon do and ninjutsu. Each featured move is illustrated with step-by-step line drawings accompanied by expert advice that assures learning is fun and safe.
This easy how-to guidebook covers:

Training
Warm-up exercises
Basic positions
Equipment
Kicks
Rolling
Hand techniques
Tactics
Defensive moves
Foot patterns and movements
Competitions
Belt grading

Kiai, the yell of super power.
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Ken Schultz's Essentials of Fishing: The Only Guide You Need to Catch Freshwater and Saltwater Fish

2010-04-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

Detailed entries cover all aspects of both freshwater and saltwater fishing, fish species information and identification, equipment, and techniques. There are color photos and detailed black-and-white illustrations throughout the book. Extensive information is included about modern catch-and-release techniques, as well as the best practices for proper care of fish for the table. Packed with solid, practical information, Ken Schultz's Essentials of Fishing belongs on the bookshelf or next to the tackle box of every fishing enthusiast.

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Quarterback Abstract

2010-04-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

The quarterback has been the pivotal position in football since the 1940s, when the T formation became the sport's standard configuration. Since 1950, 339 men have started at least 10 games at the position. The Quarterback Abstract has gathered them all, along with 27 notable pre-1950 QBs.
Each quarterback's statistical information is presented here, from his scoring totals to his draft status and personal information. Author John Maxymuk has devised a sophisticated rating system that compares the quarterbacks across the decades. Who were they? What were their playing styles? How good were they? A full spectrum of numerical data is presented, from passing and rushing data to fourth-quarter game-winning-drive totals and won-lost records. Maxymuk also provides incisive analysis and interesting anecdotes, fleshing out each field general's personality.

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Practice Perfect Baseball

2010-04-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Collegiate coaches from the American Baseball Coaches Association team up for Practice Perfect Baseball, the ultimate guide to organizing, running and evaluating baseball practices. Their advice will help coaches from youth leagues through college ball prepare players in the field, on the mound, at the plate and on the bases. The book covers every key aspect of preparing players for competition, from session organization and assessment to establishing work ethic and providing tips for improvement.

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Basketball Training: For the Athlete, by the Athlete

2010-04-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

One glance at his near-perfect physique makes it hard to believe that Dwight Howard had his doubters while playing at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. Once a scrawny underclassman, the NBA superstar has transformed himself into the NBA's most intimidating, high-flying athletes thanks to safe and effective training, which both sculpted his muscular frame and boosted his on-court performance to amazing levels. As with other NBA stars, proven training methods formed the foundation of Howard's road to athletic dominance. Access to state-of-the-art training information and guidance from the best strength coaches in the business are what allowed Howard and other NBA greats to realize their dreams and master their athletic destinies.

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Something in the Air: American Passion and Defiance in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics

2010-03-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

IN SOMETHING IN THE AIR, Richard Hoffer has written a gripping sports narrative that brilliantly tells the individual stories of the unforgettable athletes who gathered in Mexico City in 1968, a year of dramatic upheaval around the world.
A narrative series of portraits traces the stories of the athletes who competed in Mexico City's 1968 Olympics, evaluating such figures as George Foreman, Bob Beamon, and John Carlos while tracing how period politics and racial tensions influenced the games.

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The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running: Everything You Need to Know About Equipment, Finding Trails, Nutrition, Hill Strategy, Racing, Avoiding Injury, Training, Weather, Safety

2010-03-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

Trail running combines all the health and fitness benefits of walking and road running with the outdoor adventure of sports such as hiking and mountain biking—not to mention the spiritual renewal from a day spent communing with nature. Is it any wonder that it has in recent years become one of the world’s most popular fitness activities? This fully illustrated, one-of-a-kind guide is a valuable resource for trail runners of all abilities, whose interests range from running trails as part of their training for adventure races or high school cross country to competing in ultradistance trail races or endeavoring to run the Appalachian, Muir Woods, or Continental Divide Trails.

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Born to Play: My Life in Baseball

2010-03-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

The inspirational story of Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia—a giant talent in a small package—who defied his critics to become one of the greatest players in the game today
Dustin Pedroia, at five feet seven inches and 170 pounds, is not the biggest, the strongest, or the fastest player in the game of baseball, but in just two years of major-league play he was named Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, and helped the Boston Red Sox win a World Championship. At a time when steroid scandals dominate media coverage of America’s beloved pastime, Pedroia has proven to the world that a good baseball player is more than size and statistics. His success comes from the heart.

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The Art of a Beautiful Game: The Thinking Fan's Tour of the NBA

2010-03-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

Packed with lively characters and basketball history, and grounded in superb writing and the reportage that is the hallmark of Sports Illustrated, The Art of a Beautiful Game is an often witty, always insightful look at the men like Steve Nash, Yao Ming, and Alonzo Mourning who devote themselves to this elegant and complicated sport. It ultimately provides basketball fans what they all want: an inside read on the game they love.

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American Victory: Wrestling, Dreams, and a Journey Toward Home

2010-03-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

American Victory is Henry's poignant and powerful memoir of growing up in a segment of the American population that is too often overlooked and underestimated, and how he rose above the statistics and the dangers to become a winner-a hero who embodies all that's best and most hopeful in the American dream.
Henry Cejudo's remarkable journey follows an unlikely hero from the mean streets of South Central L.A. to the glory of the Beijing Olympics. The first American in sixteen years and the youngest American ever to win the gold medal in this event, Henry's grit, passion, and resolve on display in China was a culmination of a life spent fighting- both on and off the mat.

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Figure Skating's Greatest Stars

2010-02-22T15:32:00.000-08:00

Milton, a sports journalist who has covered figure skating for three decades, profiles 63 figure skaters in men's and women's singles, pairs, and ice dancing, including pioneers, legends, influential skaters, technical innovators, and current stars. Accompanied by color photos, the profiles give information on skaters like Dick Button, Brian Boitano, Sonja Henie, Michelle Kwan, Katarina Witt, Gordeeva and Grinkov, Shen and Zhao, Torvill and Dean, Brian Joubert, Miki Ando, Yu-Na Kim, Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Robin Cousins, Toller Cranston, Carol Heiss, and Kristi Yamaguchi. Sidebars discuss important themes and moments in skating's history, like the judging system, nationalism, and the Nancy Kerrigan incident.

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Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain

2010-02-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

MUNSON is the authoritative biography fans have been awaiting for thirty years. Written by Marty Appel, who worked as the PR director for the Yankees during the seventies (and co-wrote Munson’s own autobiography in 1978), this triumphant, energetic, and tragic baseball biography captures the young man from Canton and his meteoric rise to stardom in baseball’s most storied franchise. MUNSON examines the tumultuous childhood that led Thurman to work feverishly to escape Canton—and the marriage and cultural roots that drew him back (so much so that he took up flying and bought his own plane to allow himself to spend more time at home).

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Rock Climbing

2010-02-08T15:49:00.000-08:00

Rock Climbing will help you explore one of the world's fastest-growing activities safely and successfully. The experts at the Wilderness Education Association ensure you learn proper technique essential to a safe and enjoyable experience. They prepare you for your adventure with information on fitness and conditioning, equipment and gear selection, and nutrition. Safety skills are integrated throughout the book, ensuring safety is never overlooked. You'll learn how you can use indoor climbing to practice basic skills before moving on to refine and build on those skills in the outdoors. You'll find easy-to-follow instruction of climbing fundamentals, including knots, belaying, building anchor systems, moving on rock, descending, and lead climbing, giving you all the skills and knowledge you need to be a capable beginning climber.

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Then Madden Said to Summerall: The Best NFL Stories Ever Told

2010-02-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

Here is your chance to go inside the huddle, head into the locker room, or grab a seat on the sideline. This is your exclusive pass to get on the team plane or have beakfast at the team hotel. Go behind the scenes and peek into the private world of the players, coaches, and decision makers and eavesdrop on their conversations.

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