Brian Doyle himself explains it best: ""A few years ago I was moaning to my wry gentle dad that basketball, which seems to me inarguably the most graceful and generous and swift and fluid and ferociously-competitive-without-being-sociopathic of sports, has not produced rafts of good books, like baseball and golf and cricket and surfing have . . . Where are the great basketball novels to rival The Natural and the glorious Mark Harris baseball quartet and the great Bernard Darwin's golf stories? Where are the annual anthologies of terrific basketball essays? How can a game full of such wit and creativity and magic not spark more great books?"" ""Why don't you write one?' said my dad, who is great at cutting politely to the chase."" And so he has. In this collection of short essays, Brian Doyle presents a compelling account of a life lived playing, watching, loving, and coaching basketball. He recounts his passion for the gyms, the playgrounds, the sounds and scents, the camaraderie, the fierce competition, the anticipation and exhaustion, and even some of the injuries.

Maggie Dixon, a 28-year-old women's basketball coach at the United States Military Academy, led the West Point team to its first appearance in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Four weeks later, Maggie died suddenly, leaving behind a devastated family and a group of heartbroken players. Despite their tragic loss, friends, family, and team members took comfort in knowing that the values Maggie instilled in themselves and others would live on. In The Legacy of Maggie Dixon: A Leader on the Court and in Life, Jack Grubbs looks at the remarkable accomplishments of this young woman. Drawing on interviews with Maggie's brother, friends, colleagues, and student players, Grubbs provides an engaging portrait of a woman who achieved the pinnacle in her sport through hard work, determination, and enthusiasm, attributes that continue to inspire those who knew her. In addition to chronicling the events surrounding her golden season at West Point, the book offers a study in the power of inspirational leadership that Maggie embodied. The Legacy of Maggie Dixon captures the wonderful impact she had on those around her in such a short amount of time.

Perhaps the greatest all-around player in basketball history, Oscar Robertson revolutionized basketball as a member of the Cincinnati Royals and won a championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. When he was twenty-three, in 1962, he accomplished one of basketball’s most impressive feats: averaging the triple-double in a single season—a feat never matched since. Cocaptain of the Olympic gold medal team of 1960; named the player of the century by the National Association of Basketball Coaches; named one of the fifty greatest players in NBA history; and inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1980—Robertson’s accolades are as numerous as they are impressive. But The Big O is also the story of a shy black child from a poor family in a segregated city; of the superstar who, at the height of his career, became the president of the National Basketball Players Association to try to improve conditions for all players. It is the story of the man forced from the game at thirty-four and blacklisted from coaching and broadcasting. But two years after he left basketball, after six years of legal wrangling, Robertson won his lawsuit against the NBA, eliminating the option clause that bound a player to a single NBA team in perpetuity and ending restrictions on free agency.  The Big O is the story of how the NBA, as we now know it, was built; of race in America in the second half of the twentieth century; and of an uncompromising man and a complex hero.

Now in paperback: ?An impressive achievement...Not likely to be forgotten anytime soon.?(Washington Times) Here is the riveting true story of Jason McElwain? better known as ?J-Mac the autistic student who made headlines when he scored twenty points, including a school record six three-pointers, for his high school basketball team in 2006. Including the revealing perspectives of J-Mac's family and coach, this is McElwain's inspiring account of the challenges of growing up autistic?not only for himself, but for his family. It's also the tale of his unlikely star turn, the difference it made in his journey through life?and all the heartbreaking and heart-lifting stops along the way.

The often hilarious, occasionally heart wrenching story of a professional basketball player, Shirley details his years playing in America, Spain, and even Siberia. This is a sports memoir that details the highs and lows of trying to make it as a professional athlete.

Reaching back over a century of struggle, liberation, and gutsy play, ""Shattering the Glass"" is a sweeping chronicle of women's basketball in the United States. Offering vivid portraits of forgotten heroes and contemporary stars, Pamela Grundy and Susan Shackelford provide a broad perspective on the history of the sport, exploring its close relationship to concepts of womanhood, race, and sexuality, and to efforts to expand women's rights. Extensively illustrated and drawing on original interviews with players, coaches, administrators, and broadcasters, ""Shattering the Glass"" presents a moving, gritty view of the game on and off the court. It is both an insightful history and an empowering story of the generations of women who have shaped women's basketball.

The National Basketball Association is a place where white fans and black players enact virtually every racial issue and tension in U.S. culture. Following the Seattle SuperSonics for an entire season, David Shields explores how, in a predominantly black sport, white fans-including especially himself-think about and talk about black heroes, black scapegoats, and black bodies. Critically acclaimed and highly controversial, Black Planet was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN USA Award, and was named one of the Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 1999 by Esquire, Newsday, Los Angeles Weekly, and Amazon.com. Purchase the audio edition.

In the twenty-first century, the idea of race in sports is rapidly changing. The National Basketball Association, for instance, was recently home to a new kind of racial conflict. After a recent playoff loss, Houston head coach, Jeff Van Gundy alleged that Yao Ming, his Chinese star center, was the victim of phantom calls, or refereeing decisions that may have been ethnically biased. Grant Farred here shows how this incident can be seen as a pivotal moment in the globalization of the NBA. With some forty percent of its players coming from foreign nations, the idea of race in the NBA has become increasingly multifaceted. Farred explains how allegations of phantom calls, such as Van Gundy's challenge the fiction that America is a post-racial society and compel us to think in new ways about the nexus of race and racism in America.

The ConverseR® All Sta^TM team scores with this jam-packed book on the basics of basketball. From jump ball to jump shot, layup to slam dunk, you'll learn the techniques, the terms, and the teamwork you need to master:

• Dribbling
• Passing
• Receiving
• Shooting
• Rebounding
• Freestyle Offense
• Zone Defense
• The Fast Break
• Game Strategies
• And much more

This fact-filled guide to full court fundamentals delivers dazzling action shots, step-by-step diagrams, drills, and games to play with others or on your own. Here's everything you need to be your best at this exciting sport.

On November 15, 1993, a white-haired, 72-year-old gentleman named Dr. Amberry stepped up to the free throw line and into the Guinness Book of World Records by sinking 2,750 shots in a row. He ended his 12-hour streak without a miss, stopping only because they had to close the gym for the night.

In Free Throw, he reveals his secrets. Beginning with the proper mechanics of the shot, he then explains the importance of the mental game and shares his techniques to help players stay on target even while under pressure. Combining these mental and physical elements, he presents a unique and straightforward 7-step method that teaches readers how to become a 90% free throw shooter.

The free throw is the Achilles heel of the basketball player -- many players are great from the floor but lousy at the line. Free Throw is the only book to address this important skill. Clearly written, with principles that are easy to put into practice, it is an indispensable manual for all basketball players and coaches.