The Game of Our Lives: The English Premier League and the Making of Modern Britain

The Game of Our Lives is a masterly portrait of contemporary Britain through the lens of soccer. In the last two decades soccer in the United Kingdom has made the transition from a peripheral dying sport to the very center of British popular culture, from an economic basket-case to a booming entertainment industry that has conquered the world. What does it mean when soccer becomes so central to the private and public lives of the British people? Has it enriched this island nation or impoverished it? From the goals, to the players, to the managers, to the money, David Goldblatt describes how the English Premier League was forged by Margaret Thatcher's Britain and an alliance of the big clubs -- Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur -- the Football Association and Rupert Murdoch's Sky TV. He identifies the real winners and losers in this extraordinary period, and explains how soccer has closely mirrored the wider political and social scene.Goldblatt argues that no social phenomenon tracks the momentous economic, social and political changes of post-Thatcherite Britain in a more illuminating manner than soccer, and The Game of Our Lives provides the definitive social history of the EPL -- most popular soccer league in the world.

Check Catalog

Swim, Bike, Run - Eat: The Complete Guide to Fueling Your Triathlon

It's race day and you have your quick-closure running shoes, sleek suits, bikes, goggles, and watches, but if you haven't been training with the proper nutrition, you'll be left in the dust in the third mile. Enter "Swim, Bike, Run--Eat" to guide you from day one of training to the finish line and help your body perform at it's peak of fitness. In this book, author Tom Holland joins up with sports dietitian Amy Goodson to cover race-day essentials, food choices to complement your training regimen, as well as recovery nutrition. Learn how to determine what to eat; what to drink; how many calories to consume each day; whether or not to carry snacks while training; the difference between taking in calories from solid foods, semi-solids, and liquids; and whether or not to take electrolyte or salt tablets.This books is the ideal companion to Holland's "The 12-Week Triathlete." Casual and core triathletes alike require a nutrition guide that is easy to understand with expert advice that is easy to implement. Look no further and get ready to take your triathlon to a new, healthier level.

Check Catalog

You're Not Lost If You Can Still See the Truck: The Further Adventures of America's Everyman Outdoorsman

Writing for magazines and newspapers for more than twenty years, including two decades at Field & Stream, Bill Heavey has become famous as America's everyman outdoorsman, unafraid to draw attention to his many and varied failures--from sporting French lavender deodorant to scaring a UPS man half to death while bowhunting in his front yard. Heavey's 2007 collection If You Didn't Bring Jerky What Did I Just Eat?, co-published with Field & Stream, the leading American outdoors magazine, was a resounding success that went into multiple hardcover printings. This new book, again co-published with Field & Stream, collects more of Heavey's top pieces from the magazine, as well as the best of his writing from the Washington Post and elsewhere. In this far-ranging read, Heavey's adventures include nearly freezing to death in Eastern Alaska, hunting ants in the urban jungles of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and reconnecting to cherished memories of his grandfather through an inherited gun collection. With Heavey's trademark witty candor, You're Not Lost if You Can Still See the Truck traces a life lived outdoors through the good, the bad, and the downright hilarious.

Check Catalog

Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard

The tragic death of hockey star Derek Boogaard at twenty-eight was front-page news across the country in 2011 and helped shatter the silence about violence and concussions in professional sports. Now, in a gripping work of narrative nonfiction, acclaimed reporter John Branch tells the shocking story of Boogaard's life and heartbreaking death.
Boy on Ice is the richly told story of a mountain of a man who made it to the absolute pinnacle of his sport. Widely regarded as the toughest man in the NHL, Boogaard was a gentle man off the ice but a merciless fighter on it. With great narrative drive, Branch recounts Boogaard's unlikely journey from lumbering kid playing pond-hockey on the prairies of Saskatchewan, so big his skates would routinely break beneath his feet; to his teenaged junior hockey days, when one brutal outburst of violence brought Boogaard to the attention of professional scouts; to his days and nights as a star enforcer with the Minnesota Wild and the storied New York Rangers, capable of delivering career-ending punches and intimidating entire teams. But, as Branch reveals, behind the scenes Boogaard's injuries and concussions were mounting and his mental state was deteriorating, culminating in his early death from an overdose of alcohol and painkillers.
Based on months of investigation and hundreds of interviews with Boogaard's family, friends, teammates, and coaches, Boy on Ice is a brilliant work for fans of Michael Lewis's The Blind Side or Buzz Bissinger's Friday Night Lights. This is a book that raises deep and disturbing questions about the systemic brutality of contact sports from peewees to professionals and the damage that reaches far beyond the game."

Check Catalog