`It's a funny old game.' The world's favourite sport has certainly given us its fair share of strange moments, and this absorbing collection gathers together the best of them, from more than a century of the beautiful game. From Blackburn Rovers' one-man team to Wilfred Minter's seven-goal haul in which he still ended up on the losing side, here are goals and gaffes galore drawn from all levels of the footballing world, whether high-profile internationals or the lowest tiers of domestic football. The stories in this book are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious, and, most importantly, true. This brand new edition, redesigned in splendid hardback for 2018, is the perfect gift for the soccer obsessive in your life. Word count: 45,000 words

Correct preparation is important in all aspects of life, but if you fail to warm up properly before playing tennis it could land you in the hospital for weeks. Just look how often professional tennis players are getting injured sometimes bringing an early end to a promising career and consider that these athletes are in peak physical shape. So just imagine the risk you are putting yourself at when you venture out for your weekly tennis match. With images illustrating the exercises to accompany the text, Safe Tennis teaches you how to avoid these injuries and how to properly prepare yourself with detailed warm-up plans and exercises that specifically strengthen you for the sport of tennis. This includes stretching exercises that are designed by physical therapists who specialize in sports medicine. You will also learn the correct way to cool down after your match because injuries can arise if you let your body cool too quickly. Without the worry of nagging injuries, your time on the court will be that much more enjoyable. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Rugby fans will delight in this astonishing collection of outlandish stories from the past 150 years of the game. Here you'll find, among many other curious events, the Irish international who arranged his marriage in order to play against England, the team of top soccer players who beat their rugby counterparts at their own game, the day the entire Wales team was sent off, and when in an astonishing turn of events underdog Japan trimphed and beat South Africa (and who doesn't love an underdog). The tales in this book are bizarre, fascinating, and, most importantly, true. Revised, redesigned and updated for 2016, this book makes the perfect gift for the rugby obsessive in your life. Word count: 45,000

Three days before the 1969 Super Bowl, Joe Namath promised the nation that he would lead the New York Jets to an 18-point underdog victory against the seemingly invincible Baltimore Colts. When the final whistle blew, that promise had been kept. Namath was instantly heralded as a gridiron god, while his rugged good looks, progressive views on race, and boyish charm quickly transformed him - in an era of raucous rebellion, shifting social norms, and political upheaval - into both a bona fide celebrity and a symbol of the commercialization of pro sports. By 26, with a championship title under his belt, he was quite simply the most famous athlete alive. Although his legacy has long been cemented in the history books, beneath the eccentric yet charismatic personality was a player plagued by injury and addiction, both sex and substance. When failing knees permanently derailed his career, he turned to Hollywood and endorsements, not to mention a tumultuous marriage and fleeting bouts of sobriety, to try and find purpose. Now 74, Namath is ready to open up, brilliantly using the four quarters of Super Bowl III as the narrative backbone to a life that was anything but charmed. As much about football and fame as about addiction, fatherhood, and coming to terms with our own mortality, All the Way finally reveals the man behind the icon.

Lifting the Covers is the inside story of South African cricket's journey to reinvent itself after years in the international wilderness. Using key figures, Hansie Cronje, Makhaya Ntini, Ray White and Ali Bacher, the book tells the story of South Africa's national summer game from an insider's perspective. It looks at the debates, the administrative crises and the Cronje affair as key episodes in the unfolding history of game that has struggled in post-apartheid South Africa to keep its traditional constituency on the one hand while embracing a new constituency on the other. The onfield activities during this era are also discussed, with particular attention being paid to South Africa's 1999 World Cup campaign, the tour by England in the summer of 1999/2000 and South Africa's subsequent tour of India, the tour which led to Cronje's fall from grace. The author argues that while the UCBSA (United Cricket Board of South Africa) have had no alternative but to transform the game over which they preside, their noble initiative has sometimes met with disastrous results-the Hansie Cronje affair being the most notable example. Finally, the debate to transform cricket is in many ways also the story of contemporary South Africa, a country that is struggling to transform itself into an enlightened, workable democracy. The lessons learnt by cricket are lessons pertinent to the country as a whole.

The Mamba Mentality: How I Play is Kobe Bryant's personal perspective of his life and career on the basketball court and his exceptional, insightful style of playing the game--a fitting legacy from the late Los Angeles Laker superstar. In the wake of his retirement from professional basketball, Kobe "The Black Mamba" Bryant decided to share his vast knowledge and understanding of the game to take readers on an unprecedented journey to the core of the legendary "Mamba mentality." Citing an obligation and an opportunity to teach young players, hardcore fans, and devoted students of the game how to play it "the right way," The Mamba Mentality takes us inside the mind of one of the most intelligent, analytical, and creative basketball players ever. In his own words, Bryant reveals his famously detailed approach and the steps he took to prepare mentally and physically to not just succeed at the game, but to excel. Readers will learn how Bryant studied an opponent, how he channeled his passion for the game, how he played through injuries. They'll also get fascinating granular detail as he breaks down specific plays and match-ups from throughout his career. Bryant's detailed accounts are paired with stunning photographs by the Hall of Fame photographer Andrew D. Bernstein. Bernstein, long the Lakers and NBA official photographer, captured Bryant's very first NBA photo in 1996 and his last in 2016--and hundreds of thousands in between, the record of a unique, twenty-year relationship between one athlete and one photographer. The combination of Bryant's narrative and Bernstein's photos make The Mamba Mentality an unprecedented look behind the curtain at the career of one of the world's most celebrated and fascinating athletes.

Shortlisted for the 2017 Cross Sports Book Awards Best Biography of the Year Bryant is one of basketball's greatest-ever players, a fascinating and complicated character who says he knew when he was a boy that he would be better than Michael Jordan. Aloof and uncompromising, Bryant is the grand enigma of American professional basketball, easily the most driven player in the history of the sport, the absolute master of study and preparation. But his career has also been one of almost constant conflict: with his teammate Shaquille O'Neal; with Phil Jackson, coach of the championship-winning Lakers team that Kobe led; with the law; with his wife Vanessa; and with so many of his contemporaries, opponents and teammates. Comprehensive and unflinching, Showboat unravels the conundrum that is Kobe Bryant.

Harry Kane: The Ultimate Fan Book takes you into the England superstar's world like no other book. Feared and respected as a goalscorer across England and Europe, Harry has been a prolific marksman where ever he has played. Born in London on 28 July 1993, he made his debut, for Tottenham on 25 August 2011, aged 18. He captained England to their first FIFA World Cup semi-final for 28 years in Russia and went onto winning the FIFA World CUp 2018 Golden Boot as top scorer with six goals. Written in a lively style and filled with fun features, fantastic photographs and enlightening quotes, Harry Kane: The Ultimate Fan Book celebrates his greatest moments and most famous goals, including the goals which have made him one of the world's most watchable superstars.

Since 1971, 35 Negro League baseball players and executives have been admitted to the Hall of Fame. The Negro League Hall of Fame admissions process, which has now been conducted in four phases over a 50-year period, can be characterized as idiosyncratic at best. Drawing on baseball analytics and surveys of both Negro League historians and veterans, this book presents an historical overview of NLHOF voting, with an evaluation of whether the 35 NL players selected were the best choices. Using modern metrics such as Wins Above Replacement (WAR), 24 additional Negro Leaguers are identified who have Hall of Fame qualifications. Brief biographies are included for HOF-quality players and executives who have been passed over, along with reasons why they may have been excluded. A proposal is set forth for a consistent and orderly HOF voting process for the Negro Leagues.

The definitive history of Leeds United's first century.

100 Years of Leeds United tells the story of a one-club city and its unique relationship with its football team. Since its foundation in 1919, Leeds United Football Club has seen more ups and downs than most, rising to global fame through an inimitable and uncompromising style in the 70s, clinching the last Division One title prior to the Premier League's inauguration in 1992, before a spectacular fall from grace at the start of the 21st century.

United finally restored their top flight status after a sixteen-year wait with an unstoppable promotion campaign in the club’s 100th year; the transformation under manager Marcelo Bielsa fittingly reminiscent of those instigated by Howard Wilkinson and Don Revie decades earlier.

In 100 Years of Leeds United, Chapman delves deep into the archives to discover the lesser-known episodes, providing fresh context to the folkloric tales that have shaped the club we know today, painting the definitive picture of the West Yorkshire giants.

There is a commonly held belief that golfers are calm and contained and never give vent to their feelings in public. The truth, however, indicates otherwise. There is as much passion and emotion in the seemingly genteel, ancient pursuit of golf as in any boxing title match. Golfers are driven by a multitude of personal motives, including ambition, jealousy and defiance. But above all, there is an honesty that is shared by all because golf is a great leveller - golfers are victims of the game, never its complete master. "Great Golf Quotes" is a catalogue of two thousand of the most expressive and insightful thoughts and sayings of players and commentators, from past centuries to the present day. They define the essence of golfing, and range from frustrated anger (Seve Ballesteros telling his caddie, 'It's not your fault. It's mine because I listen to you'), to self-deprecation (Bruce Crampton, finishing second for the fifth time, 'I shall appear next year in my customary role as defending runner-up'). This is the world of golf as seen by its leading characters who were brave - or daft - enough to voice their thoughts in front of a camera notebook or tape-recorder.

'[An] honest and courageous book' Mike Brearley 'Engrossing...it looks back and thinks ahead, jumps between wit and woe' Lawrence Booth, Mail on Sunday Following the critical and commercial success of Absolutely Foxed, Graeme Fowler returns with a stunning new book that takes the reader inside the mental side of cricket. Few sports can be played as much in the mind as cricket. When bowlers are hurling the ball down at your head at 90 mph, or fielders are crowded round the bat waiting to snap up an edge, only the most resilient can thrive. In Mind Over Batter, former Test batsman, commentator and coach Fowler looks into all facets of the game to assess the mental aspect of cricket. What is mental strength? And how can you improve it, or why do some people suddenly lose it? Can the environment in a dressing room have any impact on both mental strength and mental health? When a game builds up to a dramatic climax - how do you train yourself to cope? Can pressure really lead to catastrophic decision-making and even lead players to bend the rules? Told with his familiar mix of brilliant insight, hilarious anecdotes and moving personal experience of his own mental demons, Fowler delivers a superb portrait of the game. Mind Over Batter will not only shed light on the top echelons of cricket, but it will also provide the reader with many useful ideas on how they can improve their own game and performance - in cricket or in other walks of life. Finally, having resisted for many years despite his own mental health issues, Fowler decides to take a closer look inside his own mind and for the first time undergoes therapy to see if he can work out what makes him tick. What he discovered surprised even him.

The City by the Sea boasts an ambitious baseball history dating back to the early days of America's favorite pastime. In 1897, the Newport Colts became the first professional baseball team to ever tie in a playoff series. By the 1900s, baseball was being played daily on open fields and diamonds throughout Newport. The city has sported six major ball fields, including Cardines Field, host to the oldest continuously running amateur baseball team in the country. Discover the humble beginnings of players like Newport native Frank Corridon, who allegedly invented the now outlawed spitball, and the legacy of the great Trojans baseball club. Team up with baseball historian Rick Harris and walk through the history of Newport baseball from amateur games to the major leagues and all the strikes, homers and grand slams in between.

`The most eccentric golf book ever' Sports and Leisure Magazine Golf's Strangest Rounds is an absorbing collection of bizarre tales from the lengthy annals of the sport's history. There are stories of tragedy, eccentricity, tactical slipups and ones that defy categorization altogether - meet `Mysterious Montague', for example, one of the world's best golfers but a man who refused ever to compete in a tournament. You'll find plenty of golfing greats here - Gene Sarazen, Chip Beck, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo - all of whom have played their parts in irrational finishes, record rounds and famous freak shots. The tales within these pages are bizarre, fascinating, hilarious and, most importantly, true. Fully revised, redesigned and updated, this book is the perfect gift for any golf fanatic. Word count: 45,000

The beautiful game as we know it today was founded at the end of the nineteenth century. The history of football as a sport in England can be traced back to at least the eighth century, but the laws of the modern game were first standardised between 1848 and 1886. Charles William Alcock has been described as one of the fathers of the modern game. In 1871, as Secretary of the Football Association, he founded the world's oldest footballing competition, the FA Cup. He set down much of the history and knowledge he had accumulated over his long career in this, one of the very first 'manuals' of the sport, in 1906.

A fun, miniature version of football that is perfectly portable! Kit includes: * Field goal post (assembles in 3 pieces) * Football * Kicking tee * Challenge flag * Mini illustrated rule book

As supporter, player and broadcaster, John Gwynne has enjoyed a lifelong passion for football. In 'Soccer Satisfied' we follow a footballing journey which originated in the Shropshire countryside of the 1950s. Shrewsbury Town was the local league team but a move to Manchester triggered over sixty years of undying love for Manchester City. This sky blue thread weaves through the book, interspersed with memories of John's own playing career at grass roots level, anecdotes from his broadcasting career on local radio and for Sky's 'Soccer Saturday' and memorable evenings on the dinner circuit. John has met and befriended many great characters including Bert Trautmann, Denis Law, Jimmy Armfield and Gordon Banks. Meetings with Sir Matt Busby, Bobby Moore and Sir Alex Ferguson have left a lasting impression. Pain and passion are felt as he writes movingly of the Munich tragedy and the death of his beloved and ever-supportive wife Margaret. On a lighter note, there are a host of humorous anecdotes and one of broadcasting's most distinctive voices can be heard on every page. 'Soccer Satisfied' is a warm, nostalgic journey connecting two quite different eras. The game has changed markedly but John's enthusiasm for it has not dimmed.

Few in Chicago sports history have been as beloved on both the North and South Sides of the baseball-crazy city as Steve Stone--a privilege that made no small contribution to the incredible stories shared in this fun baseball exploration led by the man himself. Part anecdote and part analysis, the book shares the unique slant of the American League Cy Young Award-winning pitcher and fan-favorite broadcaster on the game that has been his passion for nearly five decades. He starts by analyzing the game position by position; illustrating his points with personal experiences and the players he has either played with or covered. What he hasn't seen, his broadcast partner of 15 years, Harry Caray, probably had, and he shares plenty of funny stories about their years together in the booth as well. Finally he takes a serious look at how the game has changed and what the future holds for America's pastime.