Join Ned Boulting as he reports on his dozen-th Tour de France, an event in which blokes do amazing things on bikes, and, we're oft told, the biggest annual sporting event in the world. 101 Damnations is a chance to relive the 2014 race, stage for stage, fall after fall, tantrum by tantrum; just the good bits mind, without all the aerial shots of castles. Or sunflowers. (Though it does wax lyrical about some stunning Alpine scenery . . . and, with the race starting in Yorkshire, even some stunning scenery not far from Bradford). From Leeds to Paris (how often do you say that?), Ned details the minutiae of his encounters with the likes of Vincenzo Nibali, David Millar, Chris Froome, Chris Boardman (or 'Broadman' as some would have it), Marcel Kittel, Mrs Cavendish (Mark's wife), Peter Sagan and the rest. Their endeavours, achievements, humour and occasional rancour, sit alongside his own decade-long quest for the ideal end-of-race T-shirt. Ned weaves together the interesting, amusing and unheralded threads of the race itself, and reflects on his own perennial struggle to get round, get on and get by. 101 Damnations encapsulates all that is incredible - and incredibly ordinary - about the greatest race on earth.

For those fascinated by business dealings in the trillion-dollar global sport industry, this is the anthology you've been waiting for. The Sport Business Handbook: Insights From 100+ Leaders Who Shaped 50 Years of the Industry provides insider perspectives from more than 100 of the biggest names in the sport industry. Plentiful examples and stories, including insiders' views of major sport deals, offer an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the intricacies of sport business. Plus, this revised edition includes brand-new contributions addressing the adaptability and recovery of sport following the pandemic as well as a "Breakthrough Moments" list of the 50 most significant sport-related moments to offer societal context and historical depth. Editor Rick Horrow, an internationally known sport business and sport law expert who has been the architect of more than 100 deals worth more than $20 billion, has teamed up with renowned sport business scholar and practitioner Rick Burton and author Myles Schrag to assemble one of the most unique sport books ever published. You will be both informed and entertained by the personal insights of prominent sport business leaders, including league commissioners such as Gary Bettman, Don Garber, and Paul Tagliabue; team owners such as Jerry Colangelo and Tom Ricketts; executives such as Larry Lucchino and Pat Williams; administrators such as Joe Castiglione and Deborah Yow; professional athletes such as Scott Hamilton and Cal Ripken Jr.; and media personalities such as Jay Bilas and Ann Meyers Drysdale. This all-star team also includes legendary Duke University men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski as the foreword author. The Sport Business Handbook gives you guidance for everything from the basics of breaking into the sport industry to the intricate skills required to become an industry giant: Consider the role you want to play, what your values are, and how you can set yourself up for success in the industry. Understand the value of brand management and the opportunities for those with strong knowledge and skills in this area. Embrace technology and use the power of modern media to guide your organization toward its goals. Master leadership skills by establishing a framework for thinking and behaving as a leader at all times. Each chapter addresses a specific topic and weaves in story-like sidebars that share rare glimpses into professional dealings in sport. These 80-plus sidebars include "Game Changer" sidebars, which describe pivotal moments that influenced sport leaders as they strived for success, and "360" sidebars, which present alternative perspectives so all viewpoints are explored in finding best practices. Nowhere else will you find such a comprehensive guide with practical advice and personal stories from the biggest names in the industry. The Sport Business Handbook is an engaging, informative book that will help you discover your strengths and develop your skills so you can become one of the leaders to shape the sport business industry for the next 50 years.

The sports business has become one of the fastest-growing industries in recent years. Sports organizations now have the potential to generate massive amounts of revenue through a variety of different channels, including broadcasting rights, advertising and branding. However, the rise of sports-related business has so far received relatively little attention from management scholars and social scientists. This book argues that we can no longer afford to ignore this important economic and social phenomenon. It presents a conceptual framework based on the concept of value creation to show how we can understand and explain the success and failure of sports organizations. Key concepts are illustrated with case studies of sporting organizations, including Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and the Americas Cup. Written by a team of authors from one of Spain's leading business schools, it provides a unique set of theoretical and practical insights for researchers and sports organization managers.

In this riveting account of the 1975 Masters Tournament, acclaimed golf television veteran Gil Capps of NBC Sports and Golf Channel recaptures the thrilling excitement when three iconic heavyweights,Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller, and Tom Weiskopf,battled back and forth, riveting the sports world and dramatically culminating in one of the greatest finishes in golf history.

The wildly dramatic story of the Vitality Hockey Women's World Cup London 2018 - the biggest women's team sport event ever to take place on British soil. Under an Orange Sky was written and photographed by the team that brought you The History Makers: How Team GB Stormed to a First Ever Gold in Women's Hockey, winner of the Thompson Reuters Illustrated Sports Book of the Year 2018. At this crazy, anything-goes, ultimately tear-inducing competition there was no such thing as a certainty. High-ranked teams fell by the wayside, reputations were ignored and accepted practices turned on their heads as the form book was torn up in front of the huge crowds that flocked daily to the Lee Valley. Working together with world-class hockey photographers Frank Uijlenbroek and Koen Suyk - joined this time by Argentina's Rodrigo Jaramillo - authors Sarah Juggins and Richard Stainthorpe captured all the twists, shocks and surprises, and even a fabulous Irish fairy-tale, as east London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park welcomed the world's best.

At its core, the goal of any basketball team is relatively simple: take and make good shots while preventing the opponent from doing the same. But what is a “good” shot? Are all good shots created equally? And how might one identify players who are more or less likely to make and prevent those shots in the first place? The concept of basketball “analytics,” for lack of a better term, has been lauded, derided, and misunderstood. The incorporation of more data into NBA decision-making has been credited—or blamed—for everything from the death of the traditional center to the proliferation of three-point shooting to the alleged abandonment of the area of the court known as the midrange. What is beyond doubt is that understanding its methods has never been more important to watching and appreciating the NBA. In The Midrange Theory, Seth Partnow, NBA analyst for The Athletic and former Director of Basketball Research for the Milwaukee Bucks, explains how numbers have affected the modern NBA game, and how those numbers seek not to “solve” the game of basketball but instead urge us toward thinking about it in new ways. The relative value of Russell Westbrook’s triple-doubles Why some players succeed in the playoffs while others don’t How NBA teams think about constructing their rosters through the draft and free agency The difficulty in measuring defensive achievement The fallacy of the “quick two” From shot selection to evaluating prospects to considering aesthetics and ethics while analyzing the box scores, Partnow deftly explores where the NBA is now, how it got here, and where it might be going next.

A thoroughly researched and comprehensive guide to the 2019 Rugby World Cup, to be held in Japan in September. This is the sporting highlight of the year, with teams from England, South Africa, New Zealand, Wales and Ireland all competing for the coveted William Webb Ellis trophy.

The book will provide the reader with all the information and insight needed to understand and enjoy the competition. Written by sports journalist Graeme Copas, the book covers the history and build up to qualification, the tournament schedule and venues for this Rugby Union showcase, while also providing talking points, an in-depth analysis of each team and insightful interviews with players and rugby experts from a variety of countries Also included is a thoroughly researched survey of the host country, Japan, and the growing popularity of rugby there, telling how they won the right the host the first Rugby World Cup in Asia.

All 20 national teams involved are analysed and assessed on their chances of success, the star players are featured and each coach`s basic strategies outlined and explained. With this book, the reader will have a handy, competent source of information on hand both before the start and especially whilst the tournament proceeds to its thrilling conclusion.

On March 31, 1929, seventy-seven men began an epic 3,554-mile footrace across America that pushed their bodies to the breaking point. Nicknamed the ""Bunion Derby"" by the press, this was the second and last of two trans-America footraces held in the late 1920s. The men averaged forty-six gut-busting miles a day during seventy-eight days of nonstop racing that took them from New York City to Los Angeles. Among this group, two brilliant runners, Johnny Salo of Passaic, New Jersey, and Pete Gavuzzi of England, emerged to battle for the $25,000 first prize along the mostly unpaved roads of 1929 America, with each man pushing the other to go faster as the lead switched back and forth between them. To pay the prize money, race director Charley Pyle cobbled together a traveling vaudeville company, complete with dancing debutantes, an all-girl band wearing pilot outfits, and blackface comedians, all housed under the massive show tent that Pyle hoped would pack in audiences. Kastner’s engrossing account, often told from the perspective of the participants, evokes the remarkable physical challenge the runners experienced and clearly bolsters the argument that the last Bunion Derby was the greatest long-distance footrace of all time.

A striking collection of two hundred iconic sports photographs—from local heroes to international icons, pickup games to sold-out stadiums. From the growth of community sports around the province to the successful hosting of large-scale sporting events, and with the impressive development of world-class athletes, British Columbia boasts a vibrant and rich history of sports over the past century. Vancouver Sun and Province photojournalists and other local photographers have had a front-row seat to the action, producing sports photographs with the power to astonish. From Indigenous canoe racers and sumo wrestlers to homegrown champions such as Nancy Greene and Steve Nash to amateur athletes and sports fans, the two hundred photographs in Magic Moments in BC Sports capture an integral part of the province’s identity, in all its diverse, cheering, and face-painted glory.

Introduces all the key functional areas of the sport management curriculum, from human resources to marketing. Explains the practical realities of sport management. Covers both professional and non-profit sport. More international cases, examples and data than any other sport management textbook. New edition includes expanded coverage of key contemporary issues, including integrity and corruption, digital business and technology, and legal issues and risk management. Useful features in every chapter, including 'in practice' guides and extended case-studies with on-line notes for lecturers.

The law relating to anti-doping changes rapidly. The World Anti-Doping Code was first adopted in 2003 to provide a common set of anti-doping rules applicable across all sport worldwide. The Code has evolved and changed significantly through two major processes of review. This third edition provides essential guidance and commentary on the 2015 Code which replaces the 2009 Code. The 2015 Code contains many significant changes in the core Articles of the Code, particularly in the regime on sanctions for anti-doping rule violations, and in the amended International Standards. The text outlines how the current law has developed from anti-doping rules and principles in operation before the Code and explains the central role of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in this development and in applying the current Code. This third edition will be an important single resource for any reader working or studying in the field.

At the outset of summer break in 1959, Texas Tech senior Jerry Craft had no more enticing options than to stay home and help on the family ranch–so the telephoned offer to play for a semipro baseball club he'd never heard of came as a welcome surprise. But Craft was in for an even bigger surprise when he reported for tryout and discovered he'd been recruited for the West Texas Colored League. Wichita Falls/Graham Stars manager Carl Sedberry persuaded Craft to put aside his misgivings and pitch for the Stars. Despite the derision of black teammates, fans, and opponents, and his own trepidation, �that white boy� took the mound to close a rousing victory in his first game. At home and on the road in segregated Texas, Craft saw discrimination firsthand and from every side. Yet out of his two seasons with the Stars comes an unlikely story of respect, character, humor, and ultimately friendship as the teammates pulled together to succeed in a game they loved.

A top-to-bottom look at England's national game, from one of the UK's leading business economists. The Premier League is the most commercially successful football league in history, the self-proclaimed 'best league in the world'. But success has come at a cost, unbalancing the English game to a profound and damaging degree. Football's stumbling response to COVID-19 and the European Super League disaster are just the most recent examples. It is estimated that more than two thirds of the country's 92 professional clubs are loss-making; payments to agents each year regularly total more than the combined income of all 44 clubs in Leagues 1 and 2; supporters have been squeezed to the limit; racist incidents are on the rise; grassroots facilities are in a dreadful state; and failed World Cup bids have severely weakened England's standing in the global game. The national team's performance at Euro 2020 can't paper over the cracks. There is an alternative. In this revealing and eye-opening analysis, leading economist Mark Gregory reveals the breadth and depth of the problems facing our national men's game, and shows us a way to bring football home for good.

The Rhondda Valleys have always produced hard men. The descendants of those who flocked there in the nineteenth century to work in the expanding coalfield combined to form a special kind of society, in which brawn and brain were equally respected. While the famous miners' institutes nurtured the intellect, each village also had its gymnasium and these spawned some of the fight game's most famous practitioners. Jimmy Wilde was arguably the greatest British boxer of all time, while a whole nation stayed up to listen to the radio commentary of Tommy Farr's brave challenge to the legendary Joe Louis. Since this book first appeared Liam Williams has breathed new life into an old tradition. This updated and expanded volume tells the stories of Wilde and Farr, of course, but also those of more than 45 others, including Wales's forgotten world champion, Percy Jones, and two who wore the Lonsdale Belt, Tom Thomas and Llew Edwards. With 125 illustrations, many seen for the first time, this is the definitive account of Rhondda's boxing heritage and is essential reading for anyone interested in the square ring.

Leadership in Recreation and Leisure Services presents cutting-edge guidance and helps students apply their newfound knowledge as they prepare to enter the rapidly changing leisure services field. This text presents fresh insights on leadership from the most prominent voices in the field today. The contributors present a comprehensive look at modern leadership, identify the challenges future leaders will face, and reveal how future leaders can best prepare to meet those challenges. Leadership in Recreation and Leisure Services provides * a detailed look at the collaborative approach to leadership in leisure services that represents a new direction in the field; * insight into classical leadership as well as innovative and modern leadership theory and best practices; and * an understanding of the roles and functions students will fulfill as they enter the profession. The material, designed for undergraduate recreation and leisure services leadership courses, is presented in three parts. Part I explores personal leadership issues, including communication skills, negotiation strategies, and leadership styles. Part II delves into professional leadership, examining topics such as group dynamics, supervision practices, and team leadership. Part III explores organizational leadership, including internal and external leadership and professional development. The authors present new theories of leadership from research in the field of recreation and leisure. Several learning aids-including chapter-opening scenarios, key terms, glossary, references, and chapter-ending questions for reflection and discussion-appear throughout the text. In addition, each chapter features a Leisure Leaders sidebar that profiles a leader in the field who addresses preparation for the job, a peek at day-to-day work, and advice for aspiring leaders. And a Best Practices sidebar showcases an organization whose innovative leadership has led to positive organizational outcomes. Leadership in Recreation and Leisure Services helps students understand the range of leadership skills they need to develop for successful careers.

This insightful volume explores the major challenges facing sports journalism in Australia today, discussing how, in an environment dominated by sports organisations and increasing commercial factors, the role of the sports journalist is being severely compromised. By combining quantitative and qualitative responses from 120 sports journalists with previous research and placing these in the theoretical lenses of field and gatekeeping theories, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the field of Australian sports journalism. Topics discussed include ethical questions in reporting on sports, the role of women in sports journalism, and the increased commercialisation of the field, as well as journalists' perceptions on sports organisations and the changing access for media. The book also offers suggestions for the future of the industry, and two contemporary conceptual models are developed. Offering important insight into the workings of contemporary sports journalism in Australia, this book is a useful resource for academics and students around the world in the fields of journalism, media, sports and communication.

In this illustrated view of the history of Raith Rovers the author builds up the story of the club by recounting events that happened on every day of the year, even during the summer months. Triumphs, disasters, shipwrecks, crazy Board Room decisions, managers (good and bad), players (brilliant and mediocre) all feature. As do Davie Morris, who captained Scotland when they beat all three Home Nations in 1925; the wizardry of Alec James; the command of the famous half back line of Young, McNaught and Leigh; and the dash and enthusiasm of the team which won the Scottish League Cup. But it is not just about the good days. There are bad days, and loads of mediocre and mundane times too, as well as some accounts of Raith Rovers in war time. The year as a whole reveals the undeniable charm of the institution which means so much to so many - Raith Rovers Football Club - or, as they are referred to in Kirkcaldy, “the” Rovers.