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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Ball games
There is no event in sports quite like the Final Four. John Feinstein will explore what it means to a school, a coach and a player to be in the Final Four or even at The Final. There are moving stories of players and coaches who thought they'd never make it to college basketball's final weekend, spectacular triumphs of the winning teams and heartbreaking defeat of those who missed the cut. He also brings us inspiring and dramatic stories from people behind the scenes: from officials and referees to scouts and ticket-scalpers. With the unflinching eye of a seasoned reporter and the remarkable skill of a true storyteller, Feinstein exposes the driving force behind one of the most revered events in American sports.
Jamie Peacock is the ultimate modern forward in rugby league. Taking the hard hits, making the toughest yards and leading by example in the Super League and international arenas, 'JP' has come through adversity, on and off the pitch, to become one of the most respected players of his generation. His strength, determination and unfailing will to win have seen him claim the 'Man of Steel' and 'International Forward of the Year' awards, along with a host of other individual honours, while picking up Super League titles and Challenge Cups with Bradford and Leeds. His autobiography No White Flag is a revelatory and inspirational account of a life in professional sport, from starting out as a skinny youth and being told he wouldn't make the grade to dark days in hospital waiting rooms with his career hanging by a thread - culminating in the euphoria of winning the Grand Final with hometown club Leeds Rhinos and leading Great Britain to a historic series whitewash over New Zealand in the autumn of 2007. Forthright and to the point, Jamie pulls no punches in describing rugby league as he sees it. Replete with opinions and anecdotes, this book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in what it takes to become one of sport's true gladiators.
*OUT NOW* THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Neville at his authentic best. [He] is the closest thing to a spokesman there is for English football.' Sunday Times 'Brilliant.' Mail on Sunday 'Gary Neville usually talks a lot of sense, and writes it too . . . Neville's words are timely.' Henry Winter, The Times 'The People's Game is [Gary's] call to mend football, harmed by the greed and selfishness of bigger clubs and associations.' Radio Times __________ The beautiful game is under threat. The greed and selfishness of the biggest clubs is harming the sport, with smaller clubs struggling for financial survival and supporters being left behind. It's time to fix football. __________ Football is the people's game. A sport accessible to everyone and enjoyed by millions around the world. But football is broken. Beneath the glamourous sheen of the Premier League, it's a game that's rusting and rotten. The growing influence and wealth of the biggest teams is harming the game, leaving fans out of pocket and smaller clubs clinging to survival. The European Super League, which looked to eradicate competition in favour of guaranteed profits, was just the beginning. This isn't what football is about. Something's got to change. Enough is enough. Gary Neville has had a front-row seat in football for over 30 years, witnessing the sport at every level - as a player, a coach, a pundit and an owner. Most of all, he's a fan. Shocked by the state of the game, Gary looks to find out how we got into this mess, who's responsible, and what we can do about it. The People's Game is Gary's vision for a brighter future. Drawing on interviews with those at the epicentre of the sport's biggest issues - from the role of ownership to the lack of funding in the football league, the rise in racism, ownership models and the future of the women's game - he explains how football has sleepwalked into this mess and offers a new path forward. With stories from his own playing career, as well as insight into some of the biggest footballing decisions in recent history, this is a total look at the game today. This is a passionate, personal and critical account of how football lost its soul, and what we can do to get it back. __________
Welcome to the Official Hibernian FC Annual 2022! Packed inside you'll find features on your favorite players, learn more about what your club does in the community, take quizzes to test your knowledge on all things Hibs, and enjoy fantastic pictures of the season. Enjoy the read!
His Name is McNamara is the riveting story of the life and career of football manager and former player Jackie McNamara. Jackie played for a series of clubs but is best known for the trophy-laden decade he spent at Celtic, culminating in a spell as club captain and a Scottish international career. His departure from Celtic in 2005 was controversial and abrupt, taking the football world by surprise when he signed for Wolves despite a last-minute attempt by the club to keep him in Glasgow. After spells at Aberdeen, Falkirk and Partick Thistle, he finished playing and moved into management with Thistle, Dundee United and York City. Jackie pulls no punches as he gives us the inside track on a career at the highest level of the game and the battling qualities he needed to succeed. It was those qualities that he drew on when his life was threatened by a brain aneurism in early 2020. His Name is McNamara is a story of success and survival.
Winner of the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Children's Book of the Year Small, skinny and short-sighted . . . and dazzlingly talented. Jimmy Joseph loves rugby. All he dreams about is one day playing for his country in a World Cup, or winning a Test series for the Lions with a last-minute drop-goal. But when he kicks an up-and-under in the schoolyard and accidentally hits the new head of PE, Mr Kane, on the head, he makes a powerful enemy. Jimmy and his best friends - Manu, Scott and Kitty - try to prove their worth on the rugby field, but to no avail. Mr Kane has it out for them, and he's being helped by team captain Mike Green, well known as the school bully. Can Jimmy and his friends overcome the tyranny of Mr Kane and help Mike see the error of his ways? Or will the combination of bullying, pressure and dirty tactics derail the friends' rugby careers before they have even begun? An epic new rugby series begins here!
The late 1960s and early 1970s, in New York City and America at large, were years marked by political tumult, social unrest . . . and the best professional basketball ever played. Paradise, for better or worse, was a hardwood court in midtown Manhattan. Harvey Araton has followed the Knicks, old and new, for decades--first as a teenage fan, then as a young sports reporter with the New York Post, and now as a writer and columnist for the New York Times. When the Garden Was Eden is the definitive account of the New York Knicks in their vintage pomp. With measured prose and shoe-leather reporting, Araton relives their most glorious triumphs and bitter rivalries, and casts light on a team all but forgotten outside of pregame highlight reels and nostalgic reunions at the Garden.
Described by Richard William of The Guardian as 'the best sports book of 2013, and the best sports book of all time', The Boys of Summer is the story of the young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the Brooklyn Dodgers team that broke the colour barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a book by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for The Herald Tribune. A story about what happened to Jackie, Carl Erskine, Pee Wee Reese, and the others when the glory days were behind them, it is also a book about fathers and sons and the making of modern America.
As usual, the Official Celtic Annual 2022 has the Player Profiles on the current Celts aiming to add to the club's already illustrious silverware tally as we also welcome Ange Postecoglou to the Celtic fold. Celtic Women had a real season to remember and your Annual focuses on three highlights - Chloe Craig making her 200th appearance, the green and whitewash over Rangers and the nail-biting climax to the term that saw the Ghirls qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time ever. We also look back at a few Celtic legends, namely Henrik Larsson, Tommy Burns, Jackie McNamara and Tom Boyd to find out what their careers were like BC (Before Celtic). All this, along with your traditional Paradise Puzzle Pages, is inside your Official Celtic Annual 2022 and we hope you enjoy reading once more about your heroes in green and white.
The Official Bournemouth Annual 2022 gives you exclusive access behind the scenes at Vitality Stadium to find out about our squad, journey and all things AFC Bournemouth! The squad have helped us by picking out their favourite games and moments, all while wearing our famous red and black stripes. Can you crack our mega quiz selection? From agonising anagrams, wicked word searches to super squad questions, pit your wits to prove you're a champion of Cherries knowledge! Know your history! Find out more about our incredible journey to the Premier League, including a look at some of the best Cherries kits from down the years. Find out exactly what happens on matchday - all from the view of some of our heroes in the dressing room! Could you pick out a Cherries dream team? We've profiled loads of our stars from the last century, you'll need to decide who you'd put in our best-ever starting 11.
The history of the fierce football rivalry between England and Germany is encapsulated in a single moment - Geoff Hurst's extra-time shot off the crossbar in the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final and the decision of an infamous Russian linesman to award a goal. It is a rivalry that now spans more than 90 years since the first official match between the two nations. For the English, a series of high-profile defeats at major tournaments saw Germany become the Angstgegner on the field, as well as an enduring obsession for the national press. For Germans, Wembley still represents the home of football, where the memories of 1966 have been supplanted by numerous successes and the appropriation of the English anthem 'football's coming home'. The rivalry has long crossed the lines of the football field, with the two nations at various moments forced to admire and learn from each other, and with football encounters between England and Germany repeatedly marking important developments in a unique and ever-changing political and cultural relationship.
By James Pearce, Oliver Kay, Simon Hughes and Other Award-Winning Writers of The Athletic As Liverpool ended their 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England, they were followed by their equivalent from the world of sports writing: a team of elite talents, assembled to leave all competition trailing in their wake. This is the story of Liverpool's title win in the longest season, as told by the writers of The Athletic, with their blend of inside access and expert analysis; great ideas and beautiful writing. Articles include profiles of each of Liverpool's title winners by their former youth team coaches; Oliver Kay watches Sadio Mane score against Manchester City in the company of the striker's family, in his hometown in Senegal; James Pearce spends 90 minutes analysing Virgil van Dijk; plus there are exclusive interviews with Jurgen Klopp, and the club's US owners. Read the stories behind a unique and historical season from a team of writers every bit as good as the footballers they were following.
WINNER OF THE WISDEN BOOK OF THE YEAR As a young boy of eight, Jonny Bairstow was dealt a cruel blow. His father David 'Bluey' Bairstow, the combative and very popular wicketkeeper and captain of Yorkshire, took his own life at the age of forty-six. David left behind Jonny, Jonny's sister Becky and half-brother Andy, and his wife Janet, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer at the time of his death. From these incredibly tough circumstances, Jonny and his family strived to find an even keel and come to terms with the loss of their father and husband. Jonny found his way through his dedication to sport. He was a gifted and natural athlete, with potential careers ahead of him in rugby and football, but he eventually chose cricket and came to build a career that followed in his father's footsteps, eventually reaching the pinnacle of the sport and breaking the record for most Test runs in a year by a wicketkeeper. Written with multiple-award-winning writer Duncan Hamilton, this is an incredible story of triumph over adversity and a memoir with far-reaching lessons about determination and the will to overcome.
While women's cricket, and women's sport in general, has gained enormously in popularity in terms of both spectators and TV audiences, comparatively little is known about it and its participants, and there are few, if any, quantitative assessments of the game. The Economics of Gender and Sport: A Quantitative Analysis of Women's Cricket fills that gap. The work analyses the different forms of cricket - Test cricket, One-day, T20 - and is based on the latest sets of available data. It seeks to answer questions such as how well female cricketers play, how well they are paid, who the superstars are, and how competitive women's cricket is. It also examines more general issues which affect men's cricket too, with the over-arching theme of this book being inequality. First, the chapters discuss inequality in the distribution of luck. The book discusses the importance of luck in cricket and suggests a way of distinguishing between luck and ability in determining match outcomes. Second there is access inequality, which means that players from certain groups have an advantage in terms of being chosen to play in representative teams. Third, there is inequality in tournament outcomes, and this carries implications for the degree of competitive balance in contests between teams. Fourth is the issue of inequality in the quality of umpiring in men's and women's cricket. Fifth, there is inequality between men and women in their respective remunerations as cricketeers. Lastly, there is inequality in performance between players: the book explains how batting and bowling averages can be adjusted to better reflect player performance. The volume will find an audience among advanced students and researchers in sports economics, sports-related and gender studies. More generally, it will appeal to lovers of cricket who wish to read about the game in terms which are more than simply anecdotal.
This is the ultimate guide for any football fan who wants to know everything about the "beautiful game" - from World Cup winners to football skills and techniques. Whether you are a keen player, a lifelong supporter, or an armchair football manager, this book illustrates every aspect of the most popular sport in the world. The Football Book reveals the story behind the game - from the history of the sport to the results of the Qatar 2022 Men's World Cup, and the build-up to the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Bold step-by-step artworks and jargon-free text profile the roles of players, equipment, team formations, strategies, and individual skills, while maps, quotes, and statistics give you all of the key facts on national teams, famous club sides, and iconic players, as well as the greatest competitions around the world.
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM CRICKET'S HUGELY POPULAR COMMENTATOR With his infectious enthusiasm for the game, David 'Bumble' Lloyd blends immense knowledge and experience with an eye for the quirky detail and an unending fund of brilliant stories. This definitive autobiography recalls his childhood in Accrington, Lancashire, when, after a long day playing cricket in the street, he would get his chance to wash himself in his family's bath - but only after his parents and uncle had taken their turn first. From being last in the tin bath, he moved on to make his debut for Lancashire while still in his teens, eventually earning an England call-up, when he had to face the pace of Lillee and Thomson - with painful and eye-watering consequences. After retiring as a player, he became an umpire and then England coach during the 1990s, before eventually turning to commentary with Sky Sports. After spending more than 50 years involved with the professional game, Bumble's memoir is packed with hilarious anecdotes from the golden age of Lancashire cricket through to the glitzy modern era of T20 cricket. He provides vivid behind-the-scenes insight into life with England and on the Sky commentary team. Last in the Tin Bath is a joy to read from start to finish and was shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year.
*Largt-format hardback edition* The 160th edition of the most famous sports book in the world - published every year since 1864 - contains some of the world's finest sports writing. It reflects on the extraordinary life of Shane Warne, who died far too early in 2022, and looks back at another legendary bowler, S. F. Barnes, on the 150th anniversary of his birth. Wisden also reports on England's triumph at the T20 World Cup, to go alongside their 2019 ODI success, and on their Test team's thrilling rejuvenation under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. Writers include Lawrence Booth, Gideon Haigh, James Holland, Jonathan Liew, Emma John, David Frith, Simon Wilde, Jon Hotten, Robert Winder, Tanya Aldred and Neil Harvey, the last survivor from Australia's famous 1948 Ashes tour of England. As usual, Wisden includes the eagerly awaited Notes by the Editor, the Cricketers of the Year awards, and the obituaries. And, as ever, there are reports and scorecards for every Test, together with forthright opinion, compelling features and comprehensive records. "There can't really be any doubt about the cricket book of the year, any year: it's obviously Wisden" Andrew Baker in The Daily Telegraph @WisdenAlmanack
The King of Dens Park is the authorised life story of Alan Gilzean, the legendary, world-class Dundee, Spurs and Scotland footballer. Exclusive insights provided by his family, closest friends and colleagues add to the author's own experience to reveal Gilzean, the man and the player. A reserved, charming and intelligent individual who shunned the limelight off the field, Gilzean played with a swagger as a maker and taker of goals. We discover how the native of the Perthshire town of Coupar Angus became one of the greatest performers in the history of both his clubs. Gilzean emerged a Scottish folk hero having scored the winning goal against England in front of 133,000 at Hampden Park - and was later welcomed back with open arms by the game after ending a self-imposed exile during which the uninformed conjured often defamatory myths. The elegant striker dubbed 'Nureyev in Boots' left us on Sunday, 8 July 2018. There will never be another like him.
You've seen him become a Liverpool legend, watched as he and Jude Bellingham lead England through the world cup - now get to know the real Jordan Henderson, both on off the pitch . . . 'A brilliantly told story with a uniquely vivid sense of what it is like on the pitch in matches of extreme importance . . . The perfect book for all football fans' DAILY MAIL 'SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR' __________ Captain. Father. Leader. Fearless ambassador. World-class midfielder. Jordan Henderson is all of these things, and it is why he is one of the most widely respected players of his generation. In this tell-all autobiography, Jordan reveals how his early love for the game as a kid became an all-consuming passion that led him to follow his dream - to play for his home club of Sunderland. Transferred to Liverpool in June 2011, Jordan's early years at the club saw him struggle to settle under Sir Kenny Dalglish then Brendan Rodgers before eventually establishing himself at Anfield as a force of nature in midfield. In 2015, Jordan took the reins from Steven Gerrard. Under his captaincy, Liverpool have reached monumental heights - winning six trophies headed by the Champions League and the Premier League, bringing the club its first league title in 30 years. In this book, Jordan charts his decade-long journey with the Reds, and a behind-the-scenes look at his life both on and off the pitch. A must-read not only for Liverpool fans but for football lovers everywhere, this is the candid behind-the-scenes look into the lire of a top-flight footballer as you've never seen it before. |
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