What do Julius Erving, Larry Brown, Moses Malone, Bob Costas, the Indiana Pacers, the San Antonio Spurs and the Slam Dunk Contest have in common? They all got their professional starts in the American Basketball Association.

The NBA may have won the financial battle, but the ABA won the artistic war. With its stress on wide-open individual play, the adoption of the 3-point shot and pressing defense, and the encouragement of flashy moves and flying dunks, today's NBA is still -- decades later -- just the ABA without the red, white and blue ball.

"Loose Balls" is, after all these years, the definitive and most widely respected history of the ABA. It's a wild ride through some of the wackiest, funniest, strangest times ever to hit pro sports -- told entirely through the (often incredible) words of those who played, wrote and connived their way through the league's nine seasons.

Following 150 Bars, 150 Restaurants, 150 Hotels, 150 Houses and 150 Gardens, 150 Golf Courses You Need to Visit Before You Die is the newest addition to the successful 150 series. Here are the most beautiful golf courses in the world presented in a handy and handsomely illustrated guide. The golf courses bundled in this book are located all over the world and can be found along coastlines, in the mountains, in deserts, and along lakes, and they are all accessible to the public. "When great golf courses meet the world's most stunning land forms, it makes for the most epic experience in the game." - GolfPass

All golfers have fourteen clubs in their bag, but the real winners have a little something extra -- that mental attitude that puts their game above the others. Dr. Bob Rotella, author of the bestselling book "Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect," brings together his skills and years of experience as a golf psychologist to give readers the insight they need to improve their game -- before they ever step up to the tee.

The 15th Club is the tool that golf stars like Tiger Woods use to block out negative thoughts, doubt, and fear. It is what allows champions to perform at their peak both in practice and during the game. Golfers who lack it find the game elusive and frustrating. Confident golfers play the game as they have always sensed they could play it. Now, one of the most renowned golf writers offers up the foolproof methods that will allow golfers at any skill level to give their game that extra boost.

Dr. Rotella provides tips and techniques for how to learn from better golfers, overcome fear in pressure situations, and keep a clear mind, no matter what. He tells golfers that inner arrogance is not a negative trait, but instead is something that can improve performance on and off the course. In order to perform at peak levels and achieve your goals, you must believe that you can win. Positive thinking is an incredibly powerful tool, and it can change the way a player approaches the game. Knowing how to focus on the challenge at hand and understanding your own talent are crucial parts of becoming a confident golfer.

Dr. Rotella provides a detailed plan that anyone can use to build the self-image of a winner. He offers a one-year schedule in diary and calendar form that will incorporate the daily mental routines that he assigns to players on the PGA Tour. This is how the pros learn to ignore negative influences, focus on productive advice, and take pride in their abilities.

"Your 15th Club" will tell golfers of all abilities how to develop the confidence they need to maximize their physical gifts and defeat the Tigers of their world, whether that world is the PGA Tour or the third flight of the club championship.

When you grow up in a predominantly Italian neighborhood surrounded by the other ethnic communities made up of small towns in Central Jersey, you develop a love of family, sports and the strong desire to compete. Jump on the bus with me traveling north and south on the turnpike and parkway, east and west on Routes 22 and 278 having fun playing and coaching high school football on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons for over forty years. Everyone had to buy in to be successful. A real look in the eye commitment was needed. On this ride you get to share some great stories about these experiences in eight different high school districts in Union, Essex, Middlesex, Somerset, Ocean and Hunterdon Counties. These teams played for six State Championships in football winning four and three. State Championship in wrestling, winning all three. As you read about these programs you will understand what the concept of "Winning Jersey Style" is all about both on the field and off.

Golf Fore Ever provides very helpful information for the novice or newcomer to the sport of golf. The information provided in Golf Fore Ever will make golf an even more enjoyable and rewarding experience for you and help you avoid the pitfalls most players encounter when they are first learning to play. Golf Fore Ever is a guide for beginning golfers taken from the experiences of Mike Deagle who has over thirty years of experimenting and playing golf. This guide will provide you with the right information to help you start to play golf the "right way." On your journey to a better golf game, you will discover the delights and frustrations associated with the game of golf. Golf can be a roller coaster ride of emotions, from euphoria when you hit a career shot to a tight pin placement, to complete dismay when your ball finds the water or goes out of bounds on the very next hole. It is up to you, the player, to determine whether you enjoy the ride by not letting the game get the better of you. This guide will truly help you on your challenging journey to the wonderful world of golf.

Every year a new champion is crowned in the world of professional basketball. But few seasons feature a champion that has countless ups and downs, key coaching and player changes, dominating defensive play, and one player who is criticized heavily early in the season that later becomes a hero, making one of the greatest plays in team history.

Detroit experienced all these things during the 2003-2004 season and along with it, won the team's third ever championship. David Lawless was there, like he always is every year, following this team at the arena; on TV; even occasionally on the road. It's quite clear that he has "The Fever."

In "The Fever," Lawless chronicles what it's like to be a fan of a team that plays such an exciting style and ends up winning the game's ultimate prize. True fans of the team and true fans of the sport itself, will relate to his use of first names, always, when describing the players and the exclamations of emotion that come out during the middle of a big playoff game. Each game is discussed in the same language and expressions that fans use.

They're all here: each and every game analyzed like a coach would, but described with the passion of a true fan.

Lacrosse, a game of speed, complexity, and nuance, is fast becoming one of the most popular sports nationwide. In this thoroughly updated edition of a Sports Illustrated bestseller ten-time national championship coach David Urick shows players and coaches the pathways to lacrosse success. With this book you can learn: * 10 fundamental stick skills every player should know * The rules of lacrosse: penalties, play, and positions * How you can dodge, shoot, feed, cut, pick, and screen like a champion * Individual defense: the art of the check and the hold * 15 team offensive formations and how to make them work for you * How your team can play quality defense * 18 skills and drills for becoming a better goalie * Extra-man defenses, man-down-defense, fast breaks, team practice, equipment, and more!

The definitive account of the life and tragic death of baseball legend Lou Gehrig.
Lou Gehrig was a baseball legend--the Iron Horse, the stoic New York Yankee who was the greatest first baseman in history, a man whose consecutive-games streak was ended by a horrible disease that now bears his name. But as this definitive new biography makes clear, Gehrig's life was more complicated--and, perhaps, even more heroic--than anyone really knew.
Drawing on new interviews and more than two hundred pages of previously unpublished letters to and from Gehrig, "Luckiest Man" gives us an intimate portrait of the man who became an American hero: his life as a shy and awkward youth growing up in New York City, his unlikely friendship with Babe Ruth (a friendship that allegedly ended over rumors that Ruth had had an affair with Gehrig's wife), and his stellar career with the Yankees, where his consecutive-games streak stood for more than half a century. What was not previously known, however, is that symptoms of Gehrig's affliction began appearing in 1938, earlier than is commonly acknowledged. Later, aware that he was dying, Gehrig exhibited a perseverance that was truly inspiring; he lived the last two years of his short life with the same grace and dignity with which he gave his now-famous "luckiest man" speech.
Meticulously researched and elegantly written, Jonathan Eig's "Luckiest Man" shows us one of the greatest baseball players of all time as we've never seen him before.

This encyclopedic listing of every man who played on or coached the New York Knicks from the team's inception in 1946 to the present is jam-packed with details on everything from a player's careers statistics to his height, weight, and jersey number. Included is information about a player's life before and after the NBA, college career, and dates of birth and death. Relive the glory days of Bill Bradley, Walter "Cylde the Glide" Frazier, Patrick Ewing, Bob McAdoo, Dave DeBusschere, and all the other Knickerbockers in this comprehensive guide to Madison Square Garden's most famous denizens.

In 1984 the University of Washington Huskies won every game but one, ranking second in national polls. For most coaches, such a season would be a career pinnacle. But for Don James second place motivated him to set aside what he knew about football and rethink the game. James made radical changes to his coaching philosophy, from recruitment to becoming one of the first college teams willing to blitz on any down and in any situation. His new approach initially failed, yet it finally culminated in one of the most explosive teams in college football history. In Fear No Man, Mike Gastineau recounts the riveting story of Don James and the national championship team he built. Undefeated, the 1991 Huskies outscored opponents by an average of 31 points per game on their way to winning the Rose Bowl and a national championship. The team included twenty-five future NFL players, and in Gastineau’s gripping account they come alive with all the swagger and joy they brought to the game. A brilliant examination of one of college football’s greatest coaches and teams, Fear No Man is the inspirational story of an improbable journey that led to one classic and unforgettable season.

With incredible skill, passion, and insight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam returns us to a glorious time when the dreams of a now almost forgotten America rested on the crack of a bat.

The year was 1949, and a war-weary nation turned from the battlefields to the ball fields in search of new heroes. It was a summer that marked the beginning of a sports rivalry unequaled in the annals of athletic competition. The awesome New York Yankees and the indomitable Boston Red Sox were fighting for supremacy of baseball's American League, and an aging Joe DiMaggio and a brash, headstrong hitting phenomenon named Ted Williams led their respective teams in a classic pennant duel of almost mythic proportions--one that would be decided in an explosive head-to-head confrontation on the last day of the season.