More than 6 years after his death David Halberstam remains one of this country's most respected journalists and revered authorities on American life and history in the years since WWII. A Pulitzer Prize-winner for his ground-breaking reporting on the Vietnam War, Halberstam wrote more than 20 books, almost all of them bestsellers. His work has stood the test of time and has become the standard by which all journalists measure themselves.
The New York Times bestseller, now with a new introduction "The Breaks of the Game" focuses on one grim season (1979-80) in the life of the Bill Walton-led Portland Trail Blazers, a team that only three years before had been NBA champions.
The tactile authenticity of Halberstam's knowledge of the basketball world is unrivaled. Yet he is writing here about far more than just basketball. This is a story about a place in our society where power, money, and talent collide and sometimes corrupt, a place where both national obsessions and naked greed are exposed. It's about the influence of big media, the fans and the hype they subsist on, the clash of ethics, the terrible physical demands of modern sports (from drugs to body size), the unreal salaries, the conflicts of race and class, and the consequences of sport converted into mass entertainment and athletes transformed into superstars--all presented in a way that puts the reader in the room and on the court, and "The Breaks of the Game" in a league of its own.

The Knicks of the 1990s competed like champions but fell short of their goal. An eclectic group who took divergent, in many cases fascinating paths to New York, they forged an identity as a rugged, relentless squad. Led by a superstar center Patrick Ewing and two captivating coaches--Pat Riley and Jeff Van Gundy--they played David to the Chicago Bulls' Goliath. Despite not winning a championship, they were embraced as champions by New Yorkers and their rivalries with the Bulls, Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat defined NBA basketball for a decade. Drawing on original interviews with players, coaches and others, this narrative rediscovers the brilliance of the Knicks, Ewing and his colorful supporting cast--Charles Oakley, John Starks, Larry Johnson and Latrell Sprewell--in the glory days of Madison Square Garden.

In basketball, as in most sports, a large part of a coach's responsibility is to prepare his or her team for games. Yet, little time in practice is typically devoted to readying the players and coaches for specific game situations. For instance, what are the various ways to use dead ball moments to maximum advantage? What adjustments should be made to launch a comeback in particular circumstances? When is it favorable to purposefully miss a foul shot? In Odds-On Basketball Coaching: Crafting High-Percentage Strategies for Game Situations, Michael J. Coffino presents an innovative system for coaches to prepare for specific game scenarios. Coffino challenges coaches to think differently about what they emphasize in practice, placing greater value on preparing for recurring game situations, crafting strategies by assessing the odds, and creating a culture that elevates how players think about the game. Each chapter begins with an actual game scenario that illustrates the chapter's content and includes discussions of notable college and professional basketball games in order to demonstrate specific points. Odds-On Basketball Coaching provides a framework for making game decisions beyond instincts and habits. It is intended, more than anything, to stimulate coaches and players to think comprehensively and realistically about how to approach games and practices, fostering an environment where everyone can more incisively make game-time decisions. While high school and youth basketball coaches will find this book most helpful, coaches at all levels will benefit from this novel approach to the game.

In basketball, as in most sports, a large part of a coach's responsibility is to prepare his or her team for games. Yet, little time in practice is typically devoted to readying the players and coaches for specific game situations. For instance, what are the various ways to use dead ball moments to maximum advantage? What adjustments should be made to launch a comeback in particular circumstances? When is it favorable to purposefully miss a foul shot? In Odds-On Basketball Coaching: Crafting High-Percentage Strategies for Game Situations, Michael J. Coffino presents an innovative system for coaches to prepare for specific game scenarios. Coffino challenges coaches to think differently about what they emphasize in practice, placing greater value on preparing for recurring game situations, crafting strategies by assessing the odds, and creating a culture that elevates how players think about the game. Each chapter begins with an actual game scenario that illustrates the chapter's content and includes discussions of notable college and professional basketball games in order to demonstrate specific points. Odds-On Basketball Coaching provides a framework for making game decisions beyond instincts and habits. It is intended, more than anything, to stimulate coaches and players to think comprehensively and realistically about how to approach games and practices, fostering an environment where everyone can more incisively make game-time decisions. While high school and youth basketball coaches will find this book most helpful, coaches at all levels will benefit from this novel approach to the game.

The most up-to-date and in-depth book on the business of professional team sports Pro team sports are the biggest and most important sector of international sport business Strong focus on applied analysis and performance measurement, invaluable real-world skills Covers sports, teams and leagues all over the world from the EPL to the NFL Addresses key themes from ownership and competitive balance to media revenue and the role of agents

The story of global sport is the story of expansion from local development to globalized industry, from recreational to marketized activity. Alongside that, each sport has its own distinctive history, sub-cultures, practices and structures. This ambitious new volume offers state-of-the-art overviews of the development of every major sport or classification of sport, examining their history, socio-cultural significance, political economy and international reach, and suggesting directions for future research. Expert authors from around the world provide varied perspectives on the globalization of sport, highlighting diverse and often underrepresented voices. By putting sport itself in the foreground, this book represents the perfect companion to any social scientific course in sport studies, and the perfect jumping-off point for further study or research. The Routledge Handbook of Global Sport is an essential reference for students and scholars of sport history, sport and society, the sociology of sport, sport development, sport and globalization, sports geography, international sports organizations, sports cultures, the governance of sport, sport studies, sport coaching or sport management.

The celebration of Washington D.C. basketball is long overdue. The D.C. metro area stands second to none in its contributions to the game. Countless figures who have had a significant impact on the sport over the years have roots in the region, including E.B. Henderson, the first African-American certified to teach public school physical education, and Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to take the court in an actual NBA game. The city's Spingarn High School produced two players - Elgin Baylor and Dave Bing - recognized among the NBA's 50 greatest at the League's 50th anniversary celebration. No other high school in the country can make that claim.These figures and many others are chronicled in this book, the first-ever comprehensive look at the great high school players, teams and coaches in the D.C. metropolitan area. Based on more than 150 interviews, The Capital of Basketball is first and foremost a book about basketball. But in discussing the trends and evolution of the game, McNamara also uncovers the turmoil in the lives of the players and area residents as they dealt with prejudice, educational inequities, politics, and the ways the area has changed through the years.

Year round on Martha's Vineyard Island off Cape Cod, Massachusetts, residents and vacationers have played basketball-almost since the game was invented. The Oak Bluffs summer league on the Island was innovative, ethnically diverse, welcomed female players, and fostered thousands of friendships. President Obama, NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving, and Family Matters sitcom star Jaleel White have all played basketball on Martha's Vineyard, as did future college stars, authors, war heroes, and entrepreneurs. Their stories touch current events from World War I through the Civil Rights Movement-and even include the filming of the blockbuster Jaws. Martha's Vineyard Basketball: How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race and Class follows the rich history of basketball on the Island and tells the stories of the players and coaches themselves. During the heyday of Martha's Vineyard basketball in the 1970s and '80s, the courts provided a place for friendships that looked past social class and race-a unique situation given that nearby cities such as Boston were sites of violent demonstrations against integration. Original interviews with those who were there not only reveal the racial dynamics on Martha's Vineyard, but also relate amusing anecdotes of encounters with celebrities that include Charles Lindbergh, James Cagney, Frank Sinatra, and future star James Taylor. Martha's Vineyard Basketball reveals little-known aspects of the Island, shares the realities and triumphs of residents and vacationers alike, and demonstrates the unifying power of basketball. New Englanders, basketball fans, and those interested in race and class relations will all find this book a noteworthy account of a singular place.

Buying In: Big-Time Women's College Basketball and the Future of College Sports juxtaposes the rise of women's college sports with the historical transformations that set the stage for contemporary big-time college sports. Aaron Miller draws on positive psychology to create a new framework he calls "positive anthropology." He uses this lens to highlight the accomplishments of women's college basketball teams and engages with college athlete exploitation, pay-for-play, and other contemporaneous issues that affect both women's and men's teams, though women's teams are often excluded from the popular conversation. With insights drawn from - and applicable to - a wide range of scholarly fields in the humanistic social sciences, this book will be of particular interest to scholars, researchers and educators working in the fields of sports studies, gender studies, education, sociology, history, and anthropology, as well as anyone interested in the future of big-time college sport and higher education. This book poses and answers the question: "How can scholars help envision a brighter future for all college athletes, male and female?"

Buying In: Big-Time Women's College Basketball and the Future of College Sports juxtaposes the rise of women's college sports with the historical transformations that set the stage for contemporary big-time college sports. Aaron Miller draws on positive psychology to create a new framework he calls "positive anthropology." He uses this lens to highlight the accomplishments of women's college basketball teams and engages with college athlete exploitation, pay-for-play, and other contemporaneous issues that affect both women's and men's teams, though women's teams are often excluded from the popular conversation. With insights drawn from - and applicable to - a wide range of scholarly fields in the humanistic social sciences, this book will be of particular interest to scholars, researchers and educators working in the fields of sports studies, gender studies, education, sociology, history, and anthropology, as well as anyone interested in the future of big-time college sport and higher education. This book poses and answers the question: "How can scholars help envision a brighter future for all college athletes, male and female?"

The story of Giannis Antetokounmpo's extraordinary rise from poverty in Athens, Greece, to superstardom in America with the Milwaukee Bucks-becoming one of the most transcendent players in history and an NBA Champion-from award-winning basketball reporter and feature writer at The Ringer Mirin Fader. As the face of the NBA's new world order, Giannis Antetokounmpo has overcome unfathomable obstacles to become a symbol of hope for people all over the world; the personification of the American Dream. But his backstory remains largely untold. Fader unearths new information about the childhood that shaped "The Greek Freak"-from sleeping side by side with his brothers to selling trinkets on the street with his family to the racism he experienced. Antetokounmpo grew up in an era when Golden Dawn, Greece's far-right, anti-immigrant party, patrolled his neighborhood, and his status as an illegal immigrant largely prevented him from playing for the country's top clubs, making his NBA rise all the more improbable. Fader tells a deeply human story of how an unknown, skinny, Black Greek teen, who played in the country's lowest pro division and was seen as a draft gamble, transformed his body and his game into MVP material. Antetokounmpo's story has been framed as a feel-good narrative in which everyone has embraced him-watching him grow up, sign a five-year supermax contract extension worth $228 million, and lead the underdog Bucks to the NBA Championship in 2021. Giannis reveals a more nuanced story: how lonely and isolated he felt, adjusting to America and the NBA early in his career; the complexity of grappling with his Black and Greek identities; how he is so hard on himself and his shortcomings-a drive that fuels him every day; and the responsibility he feels to be a nurturing role model for his younger brothers. Fader illustrates a more vulnerable star than most people know, a person who has evolved triumphantly into all of his roles: father, brother, son, teammate, and global icon.

From the time conference play began in 1905, the Big Ten was the Western force in collegiate basketball. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Purdue were the first powers in the league, with a combined 23 titles by 1930. Purdue was dominant in the '30s, with seven titles under Coach Piggy Lambert, including a national title in 1935 led by player of the year John Wooden. The creation of a national tournament in 1939 showed the league's early dominance, as a different Big Ten team went to the Final Four in each of the first three years, with two wins. Over the next 30 years, the league produced some of the top teams in the country, led by Hall of Fame coaches like Branch McCracken, Walter Meanwell, Dutch Lonborg, Harold Olsen and Fred Taylor. Top players emerged from the conference, like Jerry Lucas, Cazzie Russell, John Havlicek, Terry Dischinger, Walt Bellamy, Johnny Green, Lou Hudson, Archie Clark and a host of others. This book provides the first-ever basketball history of the Big Ten.

In basketball, just as in American culture, the 1970s were imperfect. But it was a vitally important time in the development of the nation and of the National Basketball Association. During this decade Americans suffered through the war in Vietnam and Nixon's Watergate cover-up (not to mention disco music and leisure suits) while the NBA weathered the arrival of free agency and charges that its players were "too black." Despite this turmoil, or perhaps because of it, the NBA evolved into a cultural phenomenon. Tall Tales and Short Shorts: Dr. J, Pistol Pete, and the Birth of the Modern NBA traces the evolution of the NBA from the retirement of Bill Russell in 1969 to the arrival of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson ten years later. Sandwiched between the youthful league of the sixties and its mature successor in the eighties, this book reveals the awkward teenage years of the NBA in the seventies. It examines the many controversies that plagued the league during this time, including illicit drug use, on-court violence, and escalating player salaries. Yet even as attendance dwindled and networks relegated playoff games to tape-delayed, late-night broadcasts, fans still pulled on floppy gray socks like "Pistol Pete" Maravich, emulated Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's sweeping skyhook, and grew out mushrooming afros a la "Dr. J" Julius Erving. The first book-length treatment of pro basketball in the 1970s, Tall Tales and Short Shorts brings to life the players, teams, and the league as a whole as they dealt with expansion, a merger with the ABA, and transitioning into a new era. Sport historians and basketball fans will enjoy this entertaining and enlightening survey of an often-overlooked time in the development of the NBA.

While the starting lineup of an NBA team consists of five players, there are at least 12 on each roster. Allocating time on court to keep each of them satisfied is challenging. Theoretically the worst position on the roster is the sixth man-so close to being the starter yet seeming to be the odd man out. This book aims at dispelling that notion, presenting many important players who through the years came off the bench for NBA teams, proving that despite not starting, they were worthy of playing in the best basketball league in the world.

South Asian American men are not usually depicted as ideal American men. They struggle against popular representations as either threatening terrorists or geeky, effeminate computer geniuses. To combat such stereotypes, some use sports as a means of performing a distinctly American masculinity. Desi Hoop Dreams focuses on South Asian-only basketball leagues common in most major U.S. and Canadian cities, to show that basketball, for these South Asian American players is not simply a whimsical hobby, but a means to navigate and express their identities in 21st century America. The participation of young men in basketball is one platform among many for performing South Asian American identity. South Asian-only leagues and tournaments become spaces in which to negotiate the relationships between masculinity, race, and nation. When faced with stereotypes that portray them as effeminate, players perform sporting feats on the court to represent themselves as athletic. And though they draw on black cultural styles, they carefully set themselves off from African American players, who are deemed "too aggressive." Accordingly, the same categories of their own marginalization-masculinity, race, class, and sexuality-are those through which South Asian American men exclude women, queer masculinities, and working-class masculinities, along with other racialized masculinities, in their effort to lay claim to cultural citizenship. One of the first works on masculinity formation and sport participation in South Asian American communities, Desi Hoop Dreams focuses on an American popular sport to analyze the dilemma of belonging within South Asian America in particular and in the U.S. in general.

Winner of the Frankfurt eBook Award for Best Nonfiction Book

In Native American tradition, a warrior gained glory by touching his enemy in battle and living to tell the tale. They called it...

COUNTING COUP

Freelance journalist Larry Colton traveled to the Crow Indian reservation in Montana to do a story on high-school basketball. There he met Sharon LaForge, a seventeen-year-old Native American basketball player who lit up the gym with talent, spirit, and a fierce will to win...a young woman engaged in a heroic struggle not only to lead her team to the state finals but to save herself from a life of poverty and loss.

In this brilliant account, Colton takes us through one frantic, pressure-packed basketball season with Sharon. Through her eyes, and those of the Indians and whites around her, we witness a harrowing battle with alcoholism, a shattered family, racial conflict, and perhaps the most daunting challenge of all: growing up. Set on the banks of the Little Big Horn River, COUNTING COUP is Sharon's unforgettable story-and the story of today's forgotten Americans fighting for the victories that count.

SPECIAL READING GROUP GUIDE INSIDE THE BOOK
Includes an 8-page photo insert

ALSO AVAILABLE FROM WARNER BOOKS

IN THESE GIRLS, HOPE IS A MUSCLE
A True Story of Hoop Dreams and One Very Special Team
by Madeleine Blais
They were a talented team with a near-perfect record. But for five straight years, when it came to the crunch of the playoffs, the Amherst Lady Hurricanes somehow lacked the scrappy desire to go all the way. Now finally, it is their season to test their passion for the sport and their loyalty to each other. This is the fierce, funny, and intimate look into the minds and hearts of one group of girls and their quest for success and, most important of all, respect.

"Beautifully written...a celebration of girls and athletics."
-USA Today

LITTLE GIRLS IN PRETTY BOXES
The Making and Breaking of Elite Gymnasts and Figure Skaters
by Joan Ryan
This book chronicles the real world of women's gymnastics and figure skating that happens away from the cameras, at the training camps and in the private lives of these teenage competitors. From starvation diets and debilitating injuries to the brutal tactics of trainers, it portrays the horrors endured by girls at the hands of their coaches and sometimes their own families. An acclaimed exposé that has already helped reform the Olympics, it has now been updated to reflect the latest developments in these sports.

"Scathing...profoundly important."
-San Francisco Chronicle

GIRL POWER
Personal Writings from Teenage Girls
by Hillary Carlip
In this extraordinary book, discover the secrets and deepest needs of girls from across the country—the thoughts, the fears, and the dreams of girls between the ages of thirteen and nineteen. Hear from teen mothers and beauty queens, girl rappers and farm girls, surfers and sorority sisters. Theirs are voices that are too often silenced or ignored, and in this stunning collection they dare to reveal things that will enlighten and touch readers.

"Moving, striking, and important...a beacon in the darkness. Should be required reading for all young women."
-Melissa Etheridge

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is widely recognized as an entertaining and innovative league whose teams play regular season and postseason games in packed arenas at home and away sites in the United States and Canada. This book discusses the development, growth, and success of the 61-year-old NBA from a business perspective. Covering the late 1940s to 2009, it focuses on the league's expansions and mergers, team territories and relocations, franchise organizations and operations, basketball arenas and markets, and NBA domestic and international affairs. Readers will gain an insight into when, how, and why the NBA emerged, reformed, and gradually matured to become one of the world's most dominant, prosperous, and popular professional sports organizations today.

This book analyzes career narratives of selected prominent NBA players after the Michael Jordan era, understood as the time after his second retirement in January 1999. It was a pivotal time for the league, as Jordan became synonymous with NBA basketball and the face of its global expansion. The players discussed in the book have been selected because of the significance of their career narratives, as all of them correspond with certain archetypes, prevalent in the world not only of professional basketball, but of professional sports in general. The private and public personas of eight players as well as their depiction by the media are analyzed not only regarding their success on the basketball court, but also in light of what they have come to represent for the modern NBA. The players discussed in this book are Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, Vin Baker, Allen Iverson, Antoine Walker, Steve Nash, Tim Duncan, and Kobe Bryant. Collectively, these eight players embody the distinguishing character profiles and career arcs of sports superstars with dominance, individualism, and athleticism being as much parts of sports star culture as egotism, injuries, boredom, addiction, and bankruptcy.

Let Stephen Curry, Charles Barkley, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, and more, tell you what it was like to take the floor against one of the Greatest of All Time. With a Foreword by Jerry West, and a new tribute from the author about Kobe's tragic death. When he entered the NBA in 1996 as a high-school star from Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, Kobe Bryant faced enormous expectations. No one can deny that he rose to the challenge. Today Bryant's status as a future Hall of Fame player is assured. During his stellar career, Bryant won five NBA championships; was a seventeen-time All-Star, NBA MVP, and two-time NBA Finals MVP. He led the league in scoring in 2006 and 2007. Now for the first time, hear stories from opponents, teammates, and players about what it was like to go against Kobe in Remembering Kobe Bryant. Contributors include: Chris Webber Jeff Van Gundy Rick Barry Doc Rivers Dwayne Wade Draymond Green Giannis Antetokounmpo Russell Westbrook Carmelo Anthony And many more Kobe Bryant was the greatest basketball player of his generation-a former schoolboy prodigy whose moves are now imitated in gyms and playgrounds around the world. Remembering Kobe Bryant provides an unprecedented glimpse into what it was like to play against one of the best of all time. Skyhorse Publishing and our Sports Publishing imprint is proud to publish a range of books for readers interested in sports-baseball, pro football, college football, pro basketball, college basketball, hockey, soccer, and more, we have a book about your sport or your team. Whether you are a New York Yankees fan or hail from Red Sox nation; whether you are a die-hard Green Bay Packers or Dallas Cowboys fan; whether you root for the Kentucky Wildcats, Louisville Cardinals, UCLA Bruins, or Kansas Jayhawks; whether you route for the Boston Bruins, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, or Los Angeles Kings; we have a book for you. 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.