ELEVATE YOUR GAME If you have ever played golf in the Carolina Mountains, the pages inside will be a treasure. If you have wanted to play golf at a higher level, this will be your guide. You can learn about the best public and semi-private 18-hole courses to play. Or you can read about two of the nation's finest course architects, the late Donald Ross and the great Tom Fazio... our toughest 18 holes... where you can rent llamas as caddies or how to send used clubs to the military serving in the world's largest sand traps.

Yes, your golf ball will travel further on tee shots in the higher elevations. But the remarkable scenery will be a distraction.

Our courses include boulders larger than your vehicle, streams winding through many fairways, lots of ponds, the largest lake in the state in terms of shoreline, even a few flat spots for aiming at those undulating greens - usually above or below you. And gorgeous waterfalls.

Oh, don't forget to enjoy the views

Cover photo: By Ron Clark of First Tee Mountain Golf at Mount Mitchell Golf Club.

Cover design: By Mike Davis of Graphic Imprints - Asheville.

As football clubs have become luxury investments, their decisions increasingly mirror those of any other business organisation. Football supporters have been encouraged to express their club loyalty by thinking business - acting as consumers and generating money deemed necessary for their clubs to compete at the highest levels. In critical studies, supporters have been portrayed as passive or reluctant consumers who, imprisoned by enduring club loyalties, embody a fatalistic attitude to their own exploitation. As this book aims to show, however, such expressions of loyalty are far from hegemonic and often interface haphazardly with traditional ideas about what constitutes the loyal fan . While there is little doubt that professional football is experiencing commodification, the reality is that football clubs are not simply businesses, nor can they ever aspire to be organisations driven solely by expanding or protecting economic value. Rather, clubs hover uncertainly between being businesses and community assets."

Football Supporters and the Commercialisation of Football" explores the implications of this uncertainty for understanding supporter resistance to, and compromise with, commodification. Every club and its supporters exist in their own unique national and local contexts. In this respect, this book offers a Euro-wide comparison of supporter reactions to commercialisation and provides unique insight into how football supporters actively mediate regional, local and national contexts, as they intersect with the universalistic presumptions of commerce.

This book was previously published as a special issue of "Soccer and Society."

To the ardent Major League baseball fan, statistics make the game. Base hits are exciting, but the rabid fan wants to know how a particular batter fares against a particular pitcher with a particular count with men on base. Or, who holds the record for the most grand slams hit against left-handed pitching after the fourth inning. Stats like these can be found in the team media guides or on team web sites.

But what about the other stats and records? For example, what U.S. president holds the record for most season opening ceremonial first pitches? Who are the only two players to be traded for themselves?

This is where "Moon Shots and Short Hops" comes in. For the sincere fan, it answers the questions he never thought to ask. It is a collection of facts and figures about the game that few people know and even fewer have ever thought about. Divided into chapters, each covering one aspect of the game, Moon Shots even has a collection of players who have the same names as rock stars.

Jammed with facts and figures, Moon Shots fills in the gaps that watching the game or listening to the commentary just can't provide.

There are many books that detail the lone golfer's ever-failing battles with the golf course. While Fluffed Chips Shouldn't Count again shows how the courses, despite their different natures and settings, continue to triumph, it also shows there is much solace in the companionship of good friends who frequently suffer similar fates. Fluffed Chips Shouldn't Count traces the developing friendship of four aspiring golfers over a period of forty years when they met while working in Nassau in those idyllic Bahamian islands. Between the years of 1972 to 1980, they somehow scraped through (sometimes literally) a long initiation at the hands of the brutal Coral Harbour Golf Course (RIP) and became firm friends. In the late 1970s, they returned to their native lands and became involved in the chores of domesticity and fatherhood. But the friendships were strong and survived distance and time, and in 1994, with the obligations of family waning slightly, they met again to play golf in Scotland. Such was their enjoyment and renewed camaraderie that they made a commitment to meet and play every two years in different parts of the world. In that period, from 1994 to the present, they have played in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, America, and the Bahamas. They have aged and become more realistic about their golfing abilities, but they remain unbowed, and Chris still harbours hopes of turning pro.

Now in a fully revised and updated fourth edition, Science and Soccer is still the most comprehensive and accessible introduction to the physiology, biomechanics and psychology behind the world's most popular sport. Offering important guidance on how science translates into practice, the book examines every key facet of the sport, with a particular focus on the development of expert performers. The topics covered include: • anatomy, physiology, psychology; sociology and biomechanics; • principles of training; • nutrition; • physical and mental preparation; • playing surfaces and equipment; injury • decision-making and skill acquisition; • coaching and coach education; • performance analysis; • talent identification and youth development. Science and Soccer: Developing Elite Performers is a unique resource for students and academics working in sports science. It is essential reading for all professional support staff working in the game, including coaches at all levels, physiotherapists, conditioning specialists, performance analysts, club doctors and sport psychologists.

How to stick to the rules -- and avoid the traps of the game

Filled with tips and anecdotes from the pros plus the 34 rules of golf, this ideal companion to the top-selling Golf For Dummies, 2nd Edition includes:

• Expert advice on the do's and don'ts of golf etiquette -- from dress code to betting on the game
• Advice on how to survive a business golf outing -- plus tips on behavior as both a spectator and a player
• The inside scoop on proper etiquette, from replacing divots to using your cell phone

Born out of expansion in 1962, the New York Mets have more than filled the void left by the departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants. They have provided baseball fans in New York and around the baseball world with close to 40 years of memories including Casey Stengel's loveable losers, the improbable 1969 miracle, another world championship in 1986 and National League pennants in 1973 and 2000 with many unforgettable moments in between. Amazing Mets Trivia tests the memories of Met fans of all ages with hundreds of questions and facts about players including: Tom Seaver, Cleon Jones, Willie Mays, Rusty Staub, Dave Kingman, Lee Mazzili, Darryl Strawberry, Doc Gooden, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo, John Franco and many others.

In the shadows of the nation's most storied football program, Muffet McGraw has quietly built the Notre Dame women's basketball program into a national power. Arguably, women's basketball has been the university's most consistently successful varsity sport. Over the past 15 years, Irish women's basketball teams have made 12 post-season appearances including nine trips to the NCAA tournament. The team's rise to national prominence was underscored with a national championship in 2001. In short, the Notre Dame women's basketball prgram has been steadily built into a perennial national championship contender, and its architect for those 15 years has been Head Coach Muffet McGraw. McGraw has more than 300 victories at Notre Dame and a winning percentage of .729 with numerous awards to attest to McGraw's coaching success. Her honors in 2001 alone: Women's Basketball Coaches Association National Coach of the Year, Naismith's Women's College Coach of the Year, Associated Press' Coach of the Year, Sports Illustrated for Women's Coach of the Year, and Big East Conference Coach of the Year. Personal accolades aside, Coach McGraw works hard to define effective methods for her players that will not only mean success on the court-but will also translate to personal fulfillment in life. Accordingly, in Courting Success McGraw outlines her ingredients for success-on and off the court-by sharing stories of hard lessons learned, the value of finely tuned work ethic and discipline, experiences that motivate and inspire, and "key plays" to put into daily living practice.

What is it like to be a heavily recruited high school football star? James and step-dad Dave learn the ins and outs of the college courting process and share their inside story in Recruiting Confidential. With all the controversy surrounding NCAA compliance breakdowns, booster bribes and big time pressure in coaches and athletic staffs to bring the best of the best to their institution, how do this father/son duo navigate the murky waters of big promises and big expectations? Claerbaut reveals in honest reflection how the schools go about bringing star players to their team, what impressed them and what turned them off to various coaches and campuses. As the journey to a college decision nears, father and son discover a bond that has developed and hopefully will grow as James announces to the world where he will spend his college days-on and off the field.

In 1919, members of the Chicago White Sox "threw" the World Series, intentionally losing to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for money. Two years later, after a lengthy investigation, eight players, including the immortal "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, received lifetime bans for their part in the scandal. Debates have raged ever since about whether all of the eight banned players actively "threw" plays or games."Sorry Kid, I Don't Much Feel Like Playing Today" settles the debates once and for all by breaking down each player's contributions on a play-by-play basis. Section one addresses Chicago's pitching and fielding, while section two is all about the White Sox hitters; the final section analyzes the overall statistics. Each player is put under the microscope. Each play is dissected and analyzed. You will be the final judge. Journey back to the second decade of the twentieth century to relive the most famous World Series in baseball history.

The Secrets of the Miniature Rose is one of the first books devoted exclusively to miniature roses. This reprinted and updated edition, which includes more than 75 color photographs of all colors and varieties, is a complete planting guide for these lovely and popular household and garden adornments. Written with the authority of the author's renowned expertise and spiced with her light humor, this book provides a comprehensive plan for planting, arranging, and caring for these increasingly popular roses-from scarlet gems to pink petticoats. Whether you plant in containers or in the ground, this book will prove an invaluable resource for handling roses before final planting, preparing the soil, controlling insects and diseases, trimming and pruning, and watering. Informative, enlightening, and entertaining, The Secrets of the Miniature Rose is the only book miniature rose enthusiasts will need to successfully grow these delightful plants.

To mark the 100th anniversary of America's most storied baseball franchise, authors David Hickey and Kerry Keene salute a very special Yankees fraternity. The Proudest Yankees of All celebrates the 39 players, managers, and team executives who have been elected to Baseball's Hall of Fame for the baseball feats they achieved during their tenure with this storied ball club and over their careers. Ruth, Gehrig, Grove, Mantle, Jackson, McCarthy, Stengel, MacPhail and more are gathered in this one-of-a kind blue and white pinstriped reunion. It's an entertaining and informative reference and tribute to the men who most define Yankees excellence.

FORMER NBA STAR LUTHER WRIGHT SHARES HIS HARROWING AND UPLIFTING JOURNEY OF FINDING GOD--AND HIMSELF--WHEN HE HAD NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE.
Luther Wright had the life hoop dreams are made of. A first-round NBA draft pick for the Utah Jazz, he was a rookie on a team with basketball legends Karl Malone and John Stockton. He had money, women, cars, and a luxurious bachelor pad overlooking Salt Lake City. But within a year, ravaged by drugs and unable to cope with life as an NBA star, he was homeless, broke and addicted to crack cocaine.
Wright never wanted to play basketball, yet standing more than seven feet tall even as a boy, he thought he had no choice. In this heartrending memoir, he writes candidly about the self-destructive spiral he found himself on after neglecting his passions to pursue the dreams of others. After years of living on the streets, he finally found a gift greater than anything his millions could have bought him--God. Today, Wright offers a simple message: believe in yourself, follow your dreams, and only then will you find your "Perfect Fit."

First published in 1988, this book contains edited and revised papers presented at the first World Congress of Science and Football. Held under the auspices of the International Council of Sport, Science, and Physical Education, the Congress was a unique gathering of international scientists researching into football and practitioners professionally involved in the many football codes. American football, soccer, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules, Gaelic football and national variations of these games are all covered in depth, in both amateur and professional systems. Nutrition, biomechanics, equipment, physiology, sociology, psychology, coaching, management, training, tactics, strategy are among the main subject areas the contributors cover. With over 22 countries represented and with players, managers and coaches involved as well as academics the book represents a truly international, comprehensive and practical picture of contemporary football.

Golf should be a fun, magical, memorable experience. This book does not offer some hidden mind trick or ancient secret. It provides a solid foundation where you can find yourself and build. The book gets you started if you're just beginning. Or started on the right next step from where you currently are now, so that you'll be able to transform your game. You will better understand the information you already have, you will hear, and you will see to get you better. Once you hear new information, you can evaluate it both mentally and physically and use it to change your body. This book does not offer a jedi mind trick, it's must have, fundamental understanding. First, this book offers simple, fundamental ideas. Ollen offers simple clarity, removing the mystery of how to learn golf. Learn a process to improve. You will learn to play your best.

The Complete Mental Game is a comprehensive instructional system to guide the baseball player --- at any competitive level---- to take chagre of the process of playing the game, on and off the baseball diamond. Through this book, the baseball player will learn to establish a consistent approach to their continuous development and improvement, not only as a player but also as a person. The book includes guidelines methods and procedures so that the baseball player will learn how to do the following:

* Understand their personality, core values, strong points and limitations--- the player as a Person

* Cope effectively with negative people, places, and things that can put them at risk, while developing a posituve support system---the player as a "Coper"

* Buy into something larger than the individal-- the player as a Teamnate

* Enage prodictively in preparing for each game,, take their preapration into the game, be an accurate self evalautor, and make effective adjustments -- the player as a Performer