The seven-foot Dirk Nowitzki is one of the greatest players in basketball history. The Dallas Maverick's legend revolutionized the sport, redefining the role of the big man in the modern game. Dirk moved differently: flexible and fast, confident and in control. He thought differently, too. On the court, his shots were masterful-none more venerated than his signature one-legged flamingo fadeaway, a move that lives on in the repertoire of today's most skilled NBA players. How did this lanky kid from the German suburbs become an all-time top ten scorer and NBA champion? How can a superstar stay so humble? Award-winning novelist and sportswriter Thomas Pletzinger spent over seven years traveling with Nowitzki. He witnessed Dirk's summer workouts, involving fingertip pushups and the study of the physics, and spent days discussing literature and philosophy with Holger Geschwindner, Dirk's enigmatic mentor and coach. Watching Nowitzki in empty gyms and in packed arenas with 30,000 fans, Pletzinger began to understand how Dirk and Holger's philosophical insights on performance, creativity, and freedom enabled his success and longevity. The Great Nowitzki tells Dirk's dramatic story like never before. Pletzinger describes Dirk's youth in small-town Germany, follows the steep learning curve of Dirk's early seasons, the devastating Finals loss to the Miami Heat, and the triumphant championship five years later. Traveling with Dirk in his final seasons, Pletzinger immerses himself in the community of people impacted by Nowitzki's game, interviewing everyone from average fans in Dallas and security guards at the arena to front office executives and Hall of Fame teammates, who reflect on what Dirk's career means to the next generation of ballplayers. And to the game itself. A masterpiece of sports writing that reads like a novel, The Great Nowitzki brims with a fan's passion. Pletzinger shows how strongly basketball influences our imagination and the extraordinary journey an icon like Dirk Nowitzki must take to reach the pinnacle of the game.

Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature. 'As I sat cradling the man's head, with his blood and brains sticking to my hands, I heard a voice - my own voice. It was asking me something. Asking how I had ended up like this, desperate and lost among people who thought nothing of caving in a man's head and then standing back to watch him die.' Nick Bullock was a prison officer working in a maximum-security jail with some of Britain's most notorious criminals. Trapped in a world of aggression and fear, he felt frustrated and alone. Then he discovered the mountains. Making up for lost time, Bullock soon became one of Britain's best climbers, learning his trade in the mountains of Scotland and Wales, and travelling from Pakistan to Peru in his search for new routes and a new way of seeing the world - and ultimately an escape route from his life inside. Told that no one ever leaves the service - the security, the stability, the 'job for life' - Bullock focused his existence on a single goal: to walk free, with no shackles, into a mountain life. Echoes is a powerful and compelling exploration of freedom, and what it means to live life on your own terms.

In the early 1970s, the athletes of the German Democratic Republic started to achieve incredible sports results, winning medals and setting new world records with astonishing frequency. For many years, their sporting supremacy was hailed as a triumph of the socialist government's commitment to scientific research and innovative training methods. But after the Cold War ended, the Stasi archives revealed a sinister secret behind the successes: a perverse doping system imposed by the government itself. Drugs were administered to young athletes, often without their consent, and the price their bodies are now paying is very high, both physically and mentally. Through the athletes' personal stories, Synthetic Medals reveals the events that led to the discovery of the state-doping system and the subsequent trial. It also explores the state's motives for this crime against its own people - people who were sacrificed on the altar of a distorted ideology, for the simple purpose of achieving glory on the international chessboard.

When in 1911 Phillies pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander set the National League record for wins by a rookie (28), it was a sign of things to come. Alexander went on to win 373 games over his 20?year career, the third highest total in major league history, and he would lead the league in ERA four times, shutouts seven times, complete games six times, and wins six times. But he also became a deeply troubled man. After the Shell-Shocked pitcher returned from World War I, he would battle alcoholism, epilepsy, and personal demons that damaged his reputation and proved disastrous for his life outside of baseball. This biography sheds new light on the pitcher and the man, focusing on Alexander's personal life, especially his complex relationship with his wife, Aimee, as well as their marriages and divorces. His Hall of Fame career, wartime service, and long decline are also documented.

In this controversial national bestseller, former NBA star and author of I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It Charles Barkley takes on the major issue of our time. Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man is a series of charged, in-your-face conversations about race with some of America's most prominent figures, including Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Ice Cube, Marian Wright Edelman, Tiger Woods, Peter Guber, and Robert Johnson.

Few people have made such an impact on so many areas of football, in so many parts of the world, as Gordon Jago. Jago - a tall, thoughtful centre-half with Charlton Athletic - made his biggest impression as a manager. In England, he created the foundation for the greatest Queens Park Rangers side in history - leading to speculation linking him with the national job - before transforming the identity of one of the country's most notorious clubs, Millwall. Jago resigned from the Den out of principle after a controversial episode of BBC TV's Panorama and moved to the US. He spent time in Florida before settling in Texas. From there, he was engaged in the political side of the North American game and was involved in discussions for America's hosting of the 1994 World Cup and the creation of the MLS. After retiring from coaching, Jago remained heavily involved with the Dallas Cup - a key part of the cultural heritage of the North American game - and was rewarded for his services to youth football with an MBE in 2006.

You could argue that Dennis Amiss' seven-decade cricket career started the day he was born, when his parents named him after not one but two celebrated cricketers. Or maybe it started when he was 7, sneaking into the Birmingham Cooperative Society to play a few matches with his friends - as long as they avoided the groundskeeper! Or perhaps it was on 7 April 1958; not only his fifteenth birthday, but also his first day as a professional cricketer. Whatever day you start on, there's no denying that Amiss has had an extraordinary career. He is one of England's cricketing greats, with 100 first-class hundreds to his name and a place as one of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year. Hugely well-respected on and off the pitch, he didn't shy away from controversy, taking part in the 1982 'Rebel Tour' of Apartheid South Africa, and somehow ending up in the midst of the battle between World Series Cricket and the England Cricket Board. Not Out at Close of Play is the story of how passion, commitment and practice - and no small amount of stubbornness! - took a boy from the backstreets of Birmingham to worldwide cricket stardom.

'EXTREMELY ENTERTAINING...REMARKABLY FRANK' DAILY TELEGRAPH 50 GREATEST SPORTS BOOKS OF ALL TIME After finishing as runner-up three times in the drivers' world championship, in 1992 Nigel Mansell finally secured the title. It was the crowning achievement of a hugely successful career, in which he won 31 Grand Prix, a record for a British driver that stood until Lewis Hamilton overhauled him in 2014. Always an aggressive driver, his exciting style meant he was hailed as a hero by his millions of fans in the UK and around the world. Out of the car, he was outspoken and charismatic, which merely served to enhance his reputation. Now, 20 years after he retired from F1, Mansell looks back on a stellar career in which he battled against many legends of the sport, from Niki Lauda through the Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost years and on to Michael Schumacher. He provides vivid insights into what it was like to race against those greats in an era when the risks to drivers were enormous. He explains what motivated him to get to the top, and takes the reader behind the scenes to give an unrivalled insight into the sport and the key moments of his career. Still closely involved in Formula One, Mansell assesses how F1 has changed, and gives his authoritative verdict on the sport, the cars and the drivers. It is an unmissable account from one of Britain's greatest sporting heroes. THE MASSIVE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER.

Confluence tells the uplifting non-fiction story of the Duzi canoe marathon partnership of Piers Cruickshanks, a seasoned paddler who had won multiple gold medals in the Duzi, with Siseko Ntondini, a paddler who had come up through the ranks of the Soweto Canoe Club, whose dream was to win a gold medal in the Duzi.

The two men agree to paddle together and start training towards their gold-medal goal, but in order to get to even the start line, they need to overcome cultural and physical challenges to create a winning combination.

Timed to be released at the same time as Beyond The River, a movie based loosely on their story, this is a book that will have wide-ranging, feel-good appeal.

King of the Fells. Iron man. Lake District fell running legend. Joss Naylor is all of these things and more. His achievements are astounding, his records stand the test of time. In 1983 he completed the 105-mile Lakes, Meres and Waters (LMW) route in a staggering 19hr 14min and to this day, describes it as one of the best routes he ever ran. High praise indeed and yet, so few know of it. Part guidebook, part inspirational regaling, this book interweaves tales of past and present as Naylor reflects on his 1983 epic on a re-walk 37 years later. In the company of award-winning author, Vivienne Crow, Naylor recalls that magical day, sharing stories and anecdotes from, not just his run, but the 1980s fell running scene, his working life and growing up in the Wasdale Valley. Naylor's tales, together with breathtaking photography, are accompanied by basic guide notes for the LMW route, sticking as closely to his 1983 run as possible. These notes divide the route into ten stages (ranging from 9 to 14 miles), allowing runners and walkers to follow in the footsteps of the King of the Fells, albeit on a more relaxed schedule. From Loweswater to Over Water, visiting 27 of the Lake District's largest bodies of water, the LMW route guarantees vistas of unparalleled beauty and an unforgettable experience in true fell country.

Almost unknown when in 1945 he purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and its famous race, the Indianapolis 500, Tony Hulman soon became a household name in auto racing circles. He is credited with not only saving the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - shuttered during World War II - from becoming a residential housing development but also with re-invigorating auto racing in the United States. Until his purchase of the Speedway, Hulman had not been involved in auto racing; he was the CEO of Hulman & Company, a wholesale grocer. An astute businessman, Hulman made Clabber Girl Baking Powder a national brand. With the rise of the chain grocery stores, such as Kroger, the wholesale grocery industry was slowly consolidating. Hulman successfully led the reorientation of the family fortunes to include a range of businesses including a beer company, a Coca-Cola franchise, a broadcast empire and real estate and gas companies. The book traces the rise of Hulman & Company from a small wholesale grocer in Terre Haute to a dominant regional business, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indianapolis 500 races during Hulman's tenure and his other major investments as well as his philanthropy, particularly to higher education in Terre Haute.

Shane Warne, who died in 2022, is universally acknowledged as one of the greatest cricketers of all time - and the greatest spin bowler ever. Warne in Wisden records the highlights of an exceptional career - handpicked from all Wisden publications over a twenty-plus-year period and curated for a global audience. Warne in Wisden features coverage from Warne's first Test against India in 1992 - where he took one wicket - to his retirement from Test cricket in 2007, having taken 708 Test wickets. It includes complete reports and scorecards for key Tests, as well as Wisden's assessment of his impact on the English county game and the Indian Premier League, and his journey from master spinner to global celebrity. Warne combined a prodigious talent for leg-spin with a turbulent life off the pitch. While Wisden's focus was generally on his cricket, Warne in Wisden also relates the controversies and rows that earned him a occasional mention in the Chronicle section of the book. Wisden's authoritative and independent voice/writing provides a unique insight into one of the most discussed cricketers in history. Warne in Wisden includes: Cricketer of the Year by Vic Marks, 1994 'A Spin-Doctor Writes' by Ashley Mallett, 1997 Five Cricketers of the Century, 2000-13 Leading Cricketer in the World, 2004-2005 'The mighty craftsman' by Mike Atherton 2007 'The Ashes Masters' by David Frith 2009 The ebbs and flows of Warne's 21 -year -long career His obituary and related articles from Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2023 Scorecards of his most significant Test matches Colour plate section

Widely regarded as the greatest footballer of all time, seven-time Ballon d'Or and six-time Golden Shoe winner, Lionel Messi, enjoyed a record-breaking 17-year career at FC Barcelona during which time he scored more goals, played more games, won more titles and provided more assists than any other player in the Catalan club's history. Adored by Barca fans, Messi reigned supreme until August 2021, when he made a tearful farewell to a stunned global audience. Messi: The King of Camp Nou is the definitive story of Lionel Messi's entire Barca career, written by Jason Pettigrove, a football journalist who worked for FC Barcelona during Messi's final years in Catalonia. Charting Messi's rise as a hopeful 13-year-old Argentinian boy from Rosario to becoming the best footballer in the world, Pettigrove's comprehensively researched book features exclusive interviews with key individuals in Messi's story - team-mates, opponents, managers, agents and fellow journalists - including: Joan Laporta, Lionel Scaloni, Victor Font, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Jamie Carragher, Mike Phelan, Josep Maria Minguella, Horacio Gaggioli, Tony Watt, Santi Padro and Jorge Barraza. From being signed by Barca on a napkin to Champions League glory and becoming FC Barcelona captain, Messi: The King of Camp Nou reveals the inside story of Leo's remarkable reign at Barca including breaking Pele's incredible record for most goals scored at one club, how the longed for Copa America title was won and how he, season-on-season, mesmerised the football world.

WITH A FOREWORD BY TOM BRADY "As a sportscaster and sports historian, Jim's career genuinely stands the test of time. . . . This book is sports history about some of the greats by one of the greats, who was taking it all in on the sidelines, in the stands or the dugout, by the eighteenth green, courtside, or in the broadcast booth." --Tom Brady, six-time NFL Super Bowl champion GOAT A riveting, insightful memoir of never-before-told stories from Jim Gray, twelve-time Emmy Award-winner, Hall of Fame sports broadcaster, and renowned interviewer-- that explores the author's career and the inside stories and memorable moments of the famous legends he has covered including, Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan and Mike Tyson. In Talking to GOATs, award-winning broadcaster Jim Gray looks back at his four decades of sports reporting from the unparalleled perspective of one of the world's most respected and skilled interviewers. A journalist who many iconic athletes have trusted to tell their stories (of both triumph and disgrace), Jim has had unprecedented access to the people, places and extraordinary events in the world of sports. Asking tough but fair questions, he has broken numerous stories, and landed squarely in the middle of others, from the Ben Johnson and Barry Bonds steroid scandals, to Michael Jordan's surprise retirement, to the off-the-court Kobe/Shaq feud which led to their on-the-court break up, to being part of the live broadcast for twenty-two Super Bowls. He's climbed into the ring to interview Mike Tyson after he bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield's ear, and stood next to Ron Artest when the "Malice at the Palace" melee erupted, and was on site at the bombing of the Atlanta Olympics. Anyone who has watched Jim effortlessly engage his subjects at the precise moment of triumph or tragedy has little idea what it takes to secure the interview, or what actually happens when the camera cuts away. These are real, mesmerizing, and previously untold stories. Talking to GOATs features numerous world-class athletes, including Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Floyd Mayweather, Michael Phelps, Mike Tyson and Tiger Woods, and world leaders George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Mikhail Gorbachev, and many more. On each page, Jim gives the reader a coveted all-access pass as he reviews the best interviews, the best athletes, and the best games in modern sports history. It's like a personal introduction to the characters and careers of these heroes and villains we've known since childhood. He examines how money, celebrity, the media, and power interact, and how sports, more than any other institution, has led to momentous transformations in American society.

Three days before the 1969 Super Bowl, Joe Namath promised the nation that he would lead the New York Jets to an 18-point underdog victory against the seemingly invincible Baltimore Colts. When the final whistle blew, that promise had been kept. Namath was instantly heralded as a gridiron god, while his rugged good looks, progressive views on race, and boyish charm quickly transformed him - in an era of raucous rebellion, shifting social norms, and political upheaval - into both a bona fide celebrity and a symbol of the commercialization of pro sports. By 26, with a championship title under his belt, he was quite simply the most famous athlete alive. Although his legacy has long been cemented in the history books, beneath the eccentric yet charismatic personality was a player plagued by injury and addiction, both sex and substance. When failing knees permanently derailed his career, he turned to Hollywood and endorsements, not to mention a tumultuous marriage and fleeting bouts of sobriety, to try and find purpose. Now 74, Namath is ready to open up, brilliantly using the four quarters of Super Bowl III as the narrative backbone to a life that was anything but charmed. As much about football and fame as about addiction, fatherhood, and coming to terms with our own mortality, All the Way finally reveals the man behind the icon.

At dusk on 24 September 1975, Doug Scott and Dougal Haston became the first Britons to reach the summit of Everest as lead climbers on Chris Bonington's epic expedition to the mountain's immense south-west face.As darkness fell, Scott and Haston scraped a small cave in the snow 100 metres below the summit and survived the highest bivouac ever - without bottled oxygen, sleeping bags and, as it turned out, frostbite. For Doug Scott, it was the fulfilment of a fortune-teller's prophecy given to his mother: that her eldest son would be in danger in a high place with the whole world watching.Scott and Haston returned home national heroes with their image splashed across the front pages. Scott went on to become one of Britain's greatest ever mountaineers, pioneering new climbs in the remotest corners of the globe. His career spans the golden age of British climbing from the 1960s boom in outdoor adventure to the new wave of lightweight alpinism throughout the 1970s and 1980s.In Up and About, the first volume of his autobiography, Scott tells his story from his birth in Nottingham during the darkest days of war to the summit of the world.Surviving the unplanned bivouac without oxygen near the summit of Everest widened the range of what and how he would climb in the future. In fact, Scott established more climbs on the high mountains of the world after his ascent of Everest than before. Those climbs will be covered in the second volume of his life and times.

'Immaculate footballer. Imperial defender. Immortal hero of 1966. Master of Wembley. Captain extraordinary. Gentleman of all time.' These are some of the words inscribed beneath the statue of England's World Cup-winning captain, Bobby Moore, at Wembley stadium. Since Moore's death, of bowel cancer at just 51, these accolades represent the accepted view of this national treasure. But what do we actually know about Bobby Moore as a person? What about the grit alongside the glory? Moore was undeniably an extraordinary captain and player. Pele called him the greatest - and fairest - defender he ever played against. His feats for West Ham United and England are legendary and his technical mastery of the game ahead of its time. Few footballers since have come close to his winning combination of intelligence, skill, temperament and class. Yet off the pitch, Moore knew scandal, bankruptcy, divorce and drink. What about the string of failed businesses, whispers of bad behaviour, links to the East End underworld and turbulent private life? Ignored by the football world post-retirement, this great of the game drifted into obscurity and, famously, there was no knighthood. Acclaimed football writer Matt Dickinson traces the journey of this Essex boy who became the patron saint of English football, peeling away the layers of legend and looking at Moore's life from all sides - in triumph, in failure, in full.

The autobiography on one of cricket's best-loved characters. With his trademark bow tie, his distinctive rich, plumy voice and his eccentric observations Henry Blofeld is one of Britain's prized experts. He has been close to the heart of the game for over 40 years. As a leading commentator on Test Match Special and cricket writer, at home and abroad, he has informed and entertained wide audiences with his extensive knowledge and perception of cricket at the very highest level. Last year Henry Blofeld was forced by major heart surgery to take stock of his life and here in this autobiography he offers sharp pictures and vivid memories, a few sad, and many humorous.

The remarkable story of three Yorkshire cricketers from the Golden Age - George Hirst, Wilfred Rhodes and Schofield Haigh - who transformed their county's fortunes, inspired a generation of cricketers and left a unique legacy on the game. Between them, Hirst, Rhodes and Haigh scored over 77,000 runs and took almost 9000 wickets in a combined 2500 appearances, helping Yorkshire to seven County Championship triumphs. The records they set will never be beaten, yet the three men - known throughout England as The Triumvirate - were born in two small villages just outside Huddersfield, in Last of the Summer Wine country. Hirst pioneered and perfected the art of swing and seam bowling, Rhodes took more first-class wickets than anyone else in history, while the genial Haigh's achievements as a bowler at Yorkshire have been surpassed only by his two close friends; their influence would extend far beyond England, as they all went to India to coach, laying the foundations of cricket in the subcontinent. Pearson, whose biography of Learie Constantine, Connie, won the MCC Book of the Year Award, brings the characters and the age vividly to life, showing how these cricketing stars came to symbolise the essence of Yorkshire. This was a time when the gritty northern professionals from the White Rose county took on some of the most glittering amateurs of the age, including W.G.Grace, C.B.Fry, Prince Ranji and Gilbert Jessop, and when writers such as Neville Cardus and J.M.Kilburn were on hand to bring their achievements to a wider audience. The First of the Summer Wine is a celebration of a vanished age, but also reveals how the efforts of Hirst, Rhodes and Haigh helped create the modern era, too.

The autobiography of one of the greatest names in mountain climbing. Joe Brown is one of the greatest names in British climbing. This book not only describes his many notable climbs, but reveals a most engaging personality with a highly interesting approach to his craft. He was born in a Manchester slum, the youngest of seven children; his father died before he was a year old. The characteristics he showed as a child - a quite extraordinary self-reliance and an unexpected love of the countryside - are reflected throughout his life-story. THE HARD YEARS is also the story of Joe Brown's climbs up some of the toughest mountains in the world.