The history of blacktop basketball in fast-paced words and pictures. A New York street hustler. A lonely man in a Maryland prison. A confused Native American on a reservation in Idaho. What do they all have in common? They are among the best pickup basketball players in the country. In Pickup Artists, Lars Anderson and Chad Millman tell the complete story of the street game from its mythical past to its glorious present. Using original reporting to examine the evolution of playground basketball, Anderson and Millman are the first journalists to unravel the thickly woven tapestry of the sport's subculture. Today's super-hyped, corporate-sponsored tournaments weren't always the norm. The foundation of the game was laid with sweat in the 1920s and it has grown from a rudimentary sport to a sophisticated exhibition. Basketball is more than macho melodramas acted out in America's inner cities. It's a town meeting in the heart of Indiana and symbol of freedom for prisoners in jail. Anderson and Millman tap into the essence of pickup basketball, examining its importance everywhere the game is played. They profile not just legends like Earl Marigault and Joe Hammond, but players like Fred "Spook" Stegman, the man who carries the legacy of being the first to connect the playgrounds with colleges, and Gregory Vaughn, whose tragic death in the 1980s exposed the underground world of drugs in basketball. Forget about the NBA and showtime. Pickup basketball is about basketball on the blacktops, at its most basic level. It's about the unusual lives of some of the nation's best players you've never heard of. Until now.

" I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell myself." Mark Twain. This is the impetus for this book. I'm a story teller. The fact that the stories unveiled here are about professional basketball players and coaches merely raises the level of interest. We are a society that worships at the feet of celebrity. Right or wrong the images and glorification of these celebrities is normally all we are permitted to see. "7 Foot Man-Eating Chicken" is designed to take the reader a little deeper. To see famous and borderline famous athletes and coaches as real people with real attributes and real flaws. In other words, they are just like us, only a foot or so taller. After all sports were created originally just for exercise. Back in 1891 when Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball I suspect he never thought it would become the multi billion "Big Business" we see today. Certainly the thought of his students playing as a form of "Entertainment" for anyone but themselves never popped into his mind. Things have clearly morphed into those areas. If someone sees an opportunity to make a little cash off something, there's no harm in that. If you put out a product that is interesting enough so that folks will pay to see it, that's terrific. Some of my observations revolve around the disingenuous way these sporting events are being marketed. We can't even tell where the marketing ends and the games begin. This nicely brings us to the very title of this book. In 1841, P.T. Barnum, who is possibly the greatest showman in our history, purchased Scudder's American Museum. Located in New York City at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street, it was renamed Barnum's American Museum. He owned and operated it until 1865 when it burnt to the ground in one of the most spectacular fires in New York City history. Barnum filled it with many strange exhibits and educational attractions. There were dioramas, panoramas, scientific instruments, modern appliances, a flea circus, a loom operated by a dog, a rifle range, glass blowers, waxworks, Siamese twins, and on and on. It cost 25 cents to get in. Barnum realized that people we lingering too long in the Museum and he needed to "turn over" the crowd to get some fresh paying customers through the turnstiles. His solution for this was to post signs saying: "This way to the Egress!" Not knowing that "Egress" was another word for "Exit", people followed the signs to what they assumed was just another tremendous exhibit and found themselves outside. Barnum had another exhibit called the "6 Foot Man Eating Chicken!" No one could even imagine this. First of all, a 6-foot chicken in and of itself is an attraction. Throw the "man-eater" angle in there and you've got to go, especially for 25 cents! When the exhibit opened after three months of advertising the line was around the block. One by one, they filed in. Once inside, they found a 6-foot tall man sitting in a chaira|.eating chicken! The people had been snookered. They laughed. Most people don't mind laughing at themselves. Barnum got over on them and they would happily come back, especially for only 25 cents. This "snooker" reminded me of how professional sports has been "snookering" the public for some time now. I simply added a foot of height to accommodate for the increased size of an NBA player. Advertise one thing and give aem something else. The problem is that it's not as funny when the price of taking your family to one of these sporting events no longer costs a quarter and you went expecting to see an actual sporting event. So what's my problem? While I admire the accomplishments of P. T. Barnum, I also realize that he came as advertised: A Showman. He never claimed to be a coach/teacher or an administrator or anything else associated with athletics. When he "snookered" you, he was doing what he warned you he was going to do. That's honest. What professional sports are doing to some degree is not. They are advertising one thing and giving us something else. I think they call this a "bait and switch." Fine at a used car lot buta| All this being said, "7 Foot Man-Eating Chicken" is certainly not a book of complaints. What I hope I've done is tell you stories from this world that I have lived in for 36 years! I'm not preaching! Suggestions sounds better! My stories are designed on one level to inform but hopefully they make you laugh. I've always found that if you can make someone laugh, they have a tendency to listen. Along the way if the reader finds a deeper message within these stories, all the better.

For over 125 years, Hoosier athletes and coaches have grabbed headlines with their accomplishments and accolades. Legendary performers and larger-than-life figures have called Bloomington home, and their stories have been passed down through generations. But for every classic tale about a Hoosier athlete, coach, or program, there's another that's been forgotten. Until now. After gaining unprecedented access to IU archives and longtime employees, authors John Decker, Pete DiPrimio, and Doug Wilson reveal events and images that were lost for decades. Filled with new and entertaining stories of the people who have made IU Athletics legendary, Unknown, Untold, and Unbelievable Stories of IU Sports is a must-have for any fan. Discover behind-the-scenes stories of the Olympic Trials featuring Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Chris Mullin, and Steve Alford; the infamous 1997 black football jerseys; Ernie Pyle's outlandish automobile polo match to raise funds for the IU marching band; A. J. Moye's notorious block against Duke; the time Sam Bell won the bid for an NCAA track meet-without a facility or even bleachers; and many more incredible stories from the renowned IU Athletics program.

When most people think of Michael Jordan, they think of the beautiful shots, his body totally in sync with the ball, hitting nothing but net. He is responsible for incredible moments so ingrained in basketball history that they have their own names: The Shrug, The Shot, The Flu Game. But for all his greatness, there's also a dark side to Jordan: a ruthless competitor, a gambler. There's never been a biography that balanced these personas-until now. Drawing on personal relationships with Jordan's coaches; countless interviews with friends, teammates, family members, and Jordan himself; and a career in the trenches covering Jordan in college and the pros, Roland Lazenby provides the first truly definitive study of Jordan: the player, the icon, and the man.

Kenny Sailors was a basketball star, and the inventor of the jump shot. He attended the University of Wyoming and was MVP in 1943 in college AA basketball. After WWII, he spent five years as an early player in the new NBA. As a youngster, Kenny was five-foot-seven but his older brother was six-foot-two so when playing basketball, Kenny had to jump up over his brother to get off a shot. That is how the jump shot was born, and Kenny used it in college and professional basketball. He played in Denver and several other cities whose team names have now changed, but he also played for the Boston Celtics with Bob Cousy. After he left the NBA, he moved to Alaska and in 1965 settled in the Glennallen area, where he was a fishing and hunting guide in the Wrangle Mountains for thirty-five years. He now lives in Idaho, and his son lives and flies aircraft from Antioch, California.
Excellent choice for sports/basketball buffs
Popular historic sports hero thanks to recent features in "Sports Illustrated" and "Denver Post."
Inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame 2012
Early in the 2008-9 basketball season, Wyoming designated Sailors's No. 4 jersey as the first to be retired and hung in the field house. His fans are advocating for Kenny to be inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame.https: //www.facebook.com/pages/Get-Kenny-Sailors-into-the-Basketball-Hall-of-Fame/107319762637644
Sailors led Wyoming to its only national championship, in 1943, when he was named the NCAA tournament's Most Outstanding Player as well as college basketball's player of the year.
For two years in the NBA he was the top scorer for the original Denver Nuggets in 1949--50
His innovative jump shot landed him in "LIFE" magazine in 1946.
Indie Christian Film Festival piece on Kenny by Jacob Bryan Hamilton, Austin, TX: http: //www.atticfilmfest.org/portfolio-item/jumpshot/
Featured in Wyoming PBS Documentary in 2012
Released in time for NCAA March Madness
Excerpt from "Sports Illustrated" 3/06/13: Sailors was also a revolutionary who changed the game by developing and ultimately popularizing the modern-day jump shot. . . . "Once I started using the jumper], I realized I could get this shot off over anybody," says Sailors, who was five-foot-ten in college. "It paid off every time I ran into a six-foot-five player who could give me trouble."

So you're thinking about volunteering to coach youth basketball? Great You're in for a fun, rewarding experience. Whether you're new to the sport and looking for some guidance or you're a seasoned coach hunting for some fresh tips, "Coaching Basketball For Dummies" will help you command the court with confidence.

Each friendly chapter is packed with expert advice on teaching the basics of basketball--from dribbling and shooting to rebounding and defending--and guiding your kids to a fun-filled, stress-free season. You get a crash course in the rules and regulations of the game, as well as clear explanations of what all those lines, circles, and half-circle markings mean on the court. You'll assign team positions, run great practices, and work with both beginning and intermediate players of different age groups. You'll also see how to ramp up your players' skills and lead your team effectively during a game. This book will also help you discover how to: Develop your coaching philosophyUnderstand your league's rulesConduct a preseason parents' meeting--crucial for opening the lines of communicationTeach offensive and defensive strategiesKeep your kids healthy and injury-freeEncourage good sportsmanshipMake critical half-time adjustments during a gameHelp struggling playersAddress discipline problems and handle difficult parentsCoach an All-Star or Travel team

Complete with numerous offensive and defensive drills and tips for helping your kids relax before a game, "Coaching Basketball For Dummies" is the fun and easy way to get the score on this worthwhile endeavor

One. Two. Three. That's as long as it took to sear the souls of a dozen young American men, thanks to the craziest, most controversial finish in the history of the Olympics-the 1972 gold-medal basketball contest between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the world's two superpowers at the time. The U.S. team, whose unbeaten Olympic streak dated back to when Adolf Hitler reigned over the Berlin Games, believed it had won the gold medal that September in Munich-not once, but twice. But it was the third time the final seconds were played that counted. What happened? The head of international basketball-flouting rules he himself had created-trotted onto the court and demanded twice that time be put back on the clock. A referee allowed an illegal substitution and an illegal free-throw shooter for the Soviets while calling a slew of late fouls on the U.S. players. The American players became the only Olympic athletes in the history of the games to refuse their medals. Of course, the 1972 Olympics are remembered primarily for a far graver matter, when eleven Israeli team members were killed by Palestinian terrorists, stunning the world and temporarily stopping the games. One American player, Tommy Burleson, had a gun to his head as the hostages were marched past him before their deaths. Through interviews with many of the American players and others, the author relates the horror of terrorism, the pain of losing the most controversial championship game in sports history to a hated rival, and the consequences of the players' decision to shun their Olympic medals to this day.

Pete Axthelm follows the 1969-70 season of the New York Knicks and provides a parallel focus on basketball as it was then played in the black neighborhoods of New York City. Throughout, he writes clearly, intelligently, and passionately about the game, bringing alive the players' efforts, accomplishments, and failures.

Anyone who has spent time in Syracuse, New York, knows that basketball season is the most wonderful time of the year. And while the local popularity of the sport is known nationwide, the region also has a long and rich basketball history. Sports historian Mark Baker traces the evolution of Syracuse's "hoops roots," beginning in the early days, when local, national and college basketball organizations were primitive institutions. It was during this time that one of the first teams to gain a national following was founded here by an Italian immigrant, Danny Biasone, and it was in Syracuse that the 24 second clock was invented. From the outset, Syracuse residents and fans were hooked, and this love of the game has endured, feeding the fanaticism that sustains the sport today.

The late 1980s were a boom time for college basketball, and the Vanderbilt Commodores were right in the middle of it. Led by Hall of Fame Coach C.M. Newton, All-America center Will Perdue, and a group of three-point shooters known as """"The Bomb Squad,"""" the Commodores made their mark in the Southeastern Conference and challenged for the conference title in 1988 and 1989. Along the way, they played-and, often, beat-many of the game's national powers, including Kentucky, North Carolina, Louisville, Duke, Notre Dame, Indiana, Michigan, and Kansas. Here is the inside story of those Commodore teams as told by Barry Goheen, the Vanderbilt guard and """"Bomb Squad"""" member who became nationally known for his numerous clutch shots and """"buzzer beaters"""" that lifted the 'Dores to victory. Goheen and his Commodore teammates encountered many of the greatest players and coaches of the era--Bob Knight, Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Danny Manning, Chris Jackson, Digger Phelps, Denny Crum, Steve Alford, Rex Chapman, Glen Rice, and many more. They captured thrilling wins, endured painful losses, and achieved several firsts for the Vanderbilt basketball program. This is a story centered in Nashville, Tennessee, particularly Vanderbilt's venerable Memorial Gym, with stops in Hawaii and Taipei; Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina; Bloomington and South Bend, Indiana; and Lincoln, Nebraska. Even the casual basketball fan will enjoy Buzzer Beaters and Memorial Magic.

Twenty-four million people wager nearly $3 billion on college basketball pools each year, but few are aware that winning strategies have been developed by researchers at Harvard, Yale, and other universities over the past two decades. Bad advice from media sources and even our own psychological inclinations are often a bigger obstacle to winning than our pool opponents. Profit opportunities are missed and most brackets submitted to pools don't have a breakeven chance to win money before the tournament begins. Improving Your NCAA (R) Bracket with Statistics is both an easy-to-use tip sheet to improve your winning odds and an intellectual history of how statistical reasoning has been applied to the bracket pool using standard and innovative methods. It covers bracket improvement methods ranging from those that require only the information in the seeded bracket to sophisticated estimation techniques available via online simulations. Included are: Prominently displayed bracket improvement tips based on the published research A history of the origins of the bracket pool A history of bracket improvement methods and their results in play Historical sketches and background information on the mathematical and statistical methods that have been used in bracket analysis A source list of good bracket pool advice available each year that seeks to be comprehensive Warnings about common bad advice that will hurt your chances Tom Adams' work presenting bracket improvement methods has been featured in the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and SmartMoney magazine.

Unlike the stories of most visible Division I college athletes, Amanda Ottaway's story has more in common with those of the 80 percent of college athletes who are never seen on TV. The Rebounders follows the college career of an average NCAA Division I women's basketball player in the twenty-first century, beginning with the recruiting process when Ottaway is an eager, naive teenager and ending when she's a more contemplative twentysomething alumna. Ottaway's story, along with the journeys of her dynamic Wildcat teammates at Davidson College in North Carolina, covers in engaging detail the life of a mid-major athlete: recruitment, the preseason, body image and eating disorders, schoolwork, family relationships, practice, love life, team travel, game day, injuries, drug and alcohol use, coaching changes, and what comes after the very last game. In addition to the everyday issues of being a student athlete, The Rebounders also covers the objectification of female athletes, race, sexuality, and self-expression. Most college athletes, famous or not, play hard, get hurt, fail, and triumph together in a profound love of their sport and one another, and then their careers end and they figure out how to move on. From concussions and minor injuries to classrooms, parties, and relationships, Ottaway understands the experience of a Division I women's basketball player firsthand. The Rebounders is, at its core, a feminist coming-of-age story, an exploration of what it means to be a young woman who loves a sport and is on a course of self-discovery through that medium. Purchase the audio edition.

In the autumn of 1999, Wayne Embry was so highly thought of by his peers that he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor to the game. In the summer of 1999, the Cleveland Cavaliers thought so little of him that they replaced him as general manager. Now in his new autobiography Embry, who was once sent home from a game in the old Richfield Coliseum when a bullet was found on his seat, tells the inside story of his fall from grace and the part he believes racism played in it. He deals with the unsavoury dealings that led to his departure from the Cavs and introduces startling information about one of the most highly regarded coaches in the league. He discusses the social and economic changes affecting the league and other problems threatening to destroy it. What Embry most wants is to provide inspiration not only to those in the sports world, but to those in the worlds of business and education, where he has demonstrated leadership time and time again. His book is part historical perspective, part inside look behind the scenes, part business strategy and part social commentary, all told in a straightforward style sprinkled with humorous anecdotes. It is a virtual guide for how to develop and maintain successful intra-personal relationships.

Before you can make that winning buzzer beater, you need to master fundamental skills in all phases of the game. The fourth edition of the best-selling instructional resource Basketball Skills & Drills provides the perfect blueprint for building the foundation that all well-rounded players and championship teams need. With complete coverage of individual skills and team play, you'll find 103 developmental drills covering everything from stance and footwork to scoring plays and transitions. Enhanced with an online video library featuring 42 clips demonstrating the drills in action, you'll have the optimal guide for mastering these fundamental skills: * Player positioning * Footwork * Moving without the ball * Ballhandling and court vision * Shooting * Perimeter moves * Post moves * Rebounding * Team offense * Team defense Recognizing that individual skills are effective only when used within the team concept, the book also covers team principles for both ends of the court. Tactics for offense, including special situations for out-of-bounds plays, will improve spacing, ball and player movement, shot selection, and scoring. Defensive tactics emphasize positioning, pressure, and various systems to apply in each zone of the court. At all levels of basketball, success comes with mastery of the basic skills. Basketball Skills & Drills is your best-selling guide to becoming that dominant force on the court.