The Greatest Team of All is your definitive, blow-by-blow account of the Geelong Football Club team's rise to win the AFL 2022 Premiership. Revealing, insightful and action-packed, this book will take you through the 2022 season round-by round with award-winning AFL correspondent and Geelong insider Scott Gullan. After 11 years, a flurry of false starts, and naysayers at every turn, the Cats' ascension to the top of the ladder and into finals was no easy task. With the grit, talent and aggression that a true Grand Final challenger needed, the Cats, led by record-breaking captain Joel Selwood, would not only need to battle through one of the most challenging and competitive finals series the game has seen in a very long time, but also turn the tide of public opinion that the team was too old and too slow. But with thirteen wins on the trot as they entered finals, they would emerge as the team to beat. Relive the lows to highs of this incredible AFL season to Grand Final victory with The Greatest Team of All,an official AFL book.

This book is both research report and performance piece. Here is a team of researchers as they study communication on the volleyball court. And here are the voices and actions of the volleyball coach and his players as they practise and play. Research in process and research findings are represented in a play script which brings vividly to life both ethnographic research methods and communication in the world of sport. This highly original book adds innovation and imagination to the representation of language in social life.

Tottenham, From the Lane: The Story of Spurs in N17 is the remarkable local history of the club's journey from humble beginnings in 1882 to opening its state-of-the-art new ground. Founded by schoolboys under a streetlamp, Tottenham Hotspur has become one of the world's biggest football institutions. Its GBP1bn stadium, a worthy successor to White Hart Lane, the world-famous home of the Spurs, sits among the tower blocks. The same Lane that played host to glory, glory nights, graced by legends from Danny Blanchflower to Harry Kane, had been transformed into a munitions factory in World War One. Those streets that welcomed parades at the height of the club's success in the 1960s would later witness rioting and carnage. A move to east London loomed large and Tottenham might have lost its Spurs altogether. Tottenham Hotspur's 130-year relationship with its home has been complex, changing, but always proud.

Put your Liverpool knowledge to the test with the ultimate quiz book for Reds fans. Do you think you know it all about Liverpool? Could you name the starting line-up in 2005 Champions League final? The most decorated player in the club's history? Do you know which sides Liverpool have beaten most, and vice versa? Or which game drew the Reds' biggest-ever crowd? Whatever your area of interest or depth of knowledge, this expertly assembled quiz will have some testing questions for you. From the club's earliest days to the glory years of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, the renaissance under Jurgen Klopp and beyond, Think You Know It All? Liverpool will challenge your knowledge of the iconic team's players, managers, records and more. Featuring an entertaining mix of questions and puzzles, this is the perfect test for new and veteran LFC fans alike. Proving you know it all about your club has never been such fun - or so tricky.

It's time we all stopped whining and learned a thing or two from The Toughest Cyclists Ever. Including:

Stephen Roche, whose cure for exhaustion was to go up a gear and fight harder, all the way to the ambulance. Eddy Merckx, who hurt himself so badly in breaking the Hour record that, he estimated, he shortened his career by a year. Beryl Burton, who crushed her (male) rival's morale with the offer of a piece of liquorice, before speeding past to victory. Nicole Cooke and Edwig Van Hooydonck, who rejected dope and became legends.

The Hardmen tells the stories - the good bits, anyway - of the 40 most heroic Cyclists ever. Their bravery, their panache and their Perfect Amount of Dumb.

It reminds us that suffering on a bike liberates us from our daily lives, and that, in the words of Lance Armstrong 'pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever'; proof that even assholes can be insightful.

In October 1969, the New York Mets stunned the sports world by defeating the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in a memorable World Series. Their five-game triumph capped off a true Cinderella season, when the woebegone National League franchise rose from laughingstock to popular champions. The histories of both the Mets and Orioles are traced, along with their paths to the climactic '69 Series. A batter-by-batter recap of all five games gives a box seat view to a storied moment in baseball history.

Packed full of trivia, facts and stats, The Top 10 of Everything England covers every aspect of the Three Lions' long and colourful history in dozens of ranked lists. With a star cast of past and present internationals, the lists include the most inspirational skippers, the most prolific goalscorers, the great managers and the biggest stars in the England Women's team. Among the many memorable moments revisited are England's most iconic World Cup matches, the most celebrated wins against arch-rivals Scotland, the finest goals scored by the likes of Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker and Wayne Rooney and the most appreciated own goals gifted by the opposition. Additionally, a host of miscellaneous categories rank England's best (and worst!) kits, the funniest fan chants, the most striking and controversial player tattoos and the bizarre incidents on and off the pitch that left supporters bewildered. Fun, informative and thought-provoking, The Top 10 of Everything England is guaranteed to spark lively debate among football fans everywhere.

Manchester City stormed to the clubs fourth Premier League title in 2019, the fourth championship in seven seasons, which is a far cry from the 44-year wait which ended in 2012! It is hard to believe that less than 20 years ago, City were in what is now League One. Their loyal fans spent so many years riding on the wildest roller-coaster in English football, with so many ups and downs that they hardly knew in which division they were competing, but things have changed and now City are among not only England's elite, but also Europe's. This incredible journey is recorded in this updated edition of The Little Book of Man City, a selection of the wit and wisdom of the great characters who have been associated with the club. From managers, such as Malcolm Allison, Kevin Keegan, Roberto Mancini and Pep Guardiola, via garrulous fans such as Radio 1's Mark and Lard and the Gallagher brothers to voluble players such as Francis Lee, Dennis Tueart, Rodney Marsh, Kun Aguero and Vincent Kompany, here are more than 170 funny and biting quotes for the avid fan of 'the only club in Manchester'. As their chaplain once said, 'Imagine where City would be if I hadn't been praying for them all these years.'

The Big Red Machine dominated major league baseball in the 1970s, but the Cincinnati franchise began its climb to that pinnacle in 1961, when an unlikely collection of cast-offs and wannabes stunned the baseball world by winning the National League pennant. Led by revered manager Fred Hutchinson, the team featured rising stars like Frank Robinson, Jim O'Toole, and Vada Pinson, fading stars like Gus Bell and Wally Post, and a few castoffs who suddenly came into their own, like Gene Freese and 20-game-winner Joey Jay. In time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their pennant-winning season, the amazing story of the "Ragamuffin Reds" is told from start to finish in Before the Machine. Written by long-time Reds Report editor Mark J. Schmetzer and featuring dozens of photos by award-winning photographer Jerry Klumpe of the Cincinnati Post & Times Star, this book surely will be a winner with every fan in Reds country and coincides with an anniversary exhibit at the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum. Through interviews and research, Before the Machine captures the excitement of a pennant race for a team that had suffered losing seasons in 14 of the past 16 years. Schmetzer also beautifully evokes the time and place--a muggy Midwestern summer during which, as the new song of the season boasts, "the whole town's batty for that team in Cincinnati." Led by regional talk-show star Ruth Lyons (the Midwest's "Oprah") fans rallied around the Reds as never before. The year didn't begin well for the team. Budding superstar Frank Robinson was arrested right before spring training for carrying a concealed weapon, and long-time owner Powel Crosley Jr., died suddenly just days before the start of the season. Few experts--or fans--gave the Reds much of a chance at first place anyway. With powerhouse teams in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Milwaukee, the National League pennant was unlikely to fly over Cincinnati's Crosley Field. But manager Hutchinson somehow galvanized his motley crew and led them to victory after victory. Joey Jay, who had languished with the Braves, mowed down hitters while his rotation mates O'Toole and knuckleballer Bob Purkey did the same. The team also featured a dynamic duo in the bullpen in Bill Henry and Jim Brosnan, whose book about the season, Pennant Race, became a national bestseller the following year. As the rest of the league kept waiting for the Reds to fade, Hutch's boys kept winning--and finally grabbed the pennant. Though they couldn't continue their magic in the World Series against the Yankees, the previously moribund Reds franchise did continue to their success throughout the decade, winning 98 games in 1962 and falling just short of another pennant in 1964. They established a recipe for success that would lead, a few years later, to the emergence of the Big Red Machine.

Since 2015, Fred Segal has chronicled "unprophetic" sports predictions on the internet. His Freezing Cold Takes social media pages feature quotes and predictions from members of the sports world that have aged poorly or were, in hindsight, flat-out wrong. The pages have become a guilty pleasure for hundreds of thousands of sports fans who love to see (okay, and mock in good humor) sports media's infamous "hot takes" that went cold. With this book, Segal focuses on the NFL, and provides a vast collection of poorly aged predictions and analysis from NFL media members and personalities about some of the most famous teams and players in the league's history. He also explores ill-fated commentary related to draft picks, hiring decisions, and some of the NFL's most notable games. But this book is not simply a list of quotes. It delves through content mined from internet archives and original interviews with media, players, and coaches. Segal provides important background surrounding each featured mistake to offer essential context as to why the ill-fated prediction was made as well as why the personality who made the prediction is eating their words. Together, the fourteen chapters-each spotlighting Freezing Cold Takes about a specific team or topic within a certain defined period-create a wholly unique and endlessly entertaining lens through which to explore NFL history. A few illustrative examples: - (1987-94 San Francisco 49ers): "The 49ers should do everyone a favor. Trade Steve Young. The myth. And the man." - (1989-93 Dallas Cowboys): "The Vikings fleeced the Cowboys to get Herschel Walker" - (2000 New England Patriots): "The Patriots will regret hiring Bill Belichick" - (2008 Green Bay Packers): "Brian Brohm has more upside than Aaron Rodgers" - (NFL Draft Picks): "The Dolphins could have had their next Dan Marino if they selected Brady Quinn" (2007)

In their early years, the Chicago Bears and the Chicago Cardinals-two of the longest-lived teams in football-travelled the country with only rare mention in the newspapers. Both teams later saw their official records destroyed by fire. Most of what is now known about them is based on often inaccurate statements made many years later. Reconstructing their missing history, this book draws on newly available resources to document the battles and brawls both on and off the field, the cunning backroom deals, the financial woes and the 40-year rivalry that endured while both teams were in Chicago. Figures like Al Capone, Red Grange, Jim Thorpe and Bronko Nagurski make appearances in the unearthed lore of two old adversaries whose uneasy alliance helped ensure the survival of the fledgling NFL.

In 2020, Liverpool Football Club reclaimed its position as the number one football team in England. But it was a journey that had taken the world-famous club 30 years; a journey that was filled with drama, intrigue, and numerous false dawns. Written by a lifelong Liverpool fan, this is a dramatic story of highs and lows, and how the club overcame their extended wait to become Champions Again! Featuring analysis of the managers, the players (good and bad), and the owners who have come and gone, this is a rollercoaster ride from the success of 1990 through the disappointments that were endured during a three-decade hiatus. Covering the triumphs and travesties - and the incidents and tragedy - along the way, this book celebrates the reappearance of Liverpool FC at the pinnacle of English football. Ian Carroll is a published writer of fiction and non-fiction, and was the Script Editor for the play 'Waiting for Hillsborough', which won the Liverpool Echo Best Writing award. He was born in 1966, and named after Ian St John, who scored the winning goal in the 1965 FA Cup final - the first time in the club's history that they had won the cup - and has been a Liverpool football fan since the day he was born.

This book carefully examines the careers of the fifty men who made the greatest impact on one of the most successful franchises in the history of professional sports. Features of The 50 Greatest Players in Detroit Tigers History include quotes from opposing players and former teammates, summaries of each player's best season, recaps of their most memorable performances, and listings of their notable achievements.

As Lou Brock was chasing 3000 career hits late in the 1979 season-his last after 18 years in the majors-the St. Louis Cardinals were looking for a new identity. Brock's departure represented the final link to the team's glory years of the 1960s, and a parade of new players now came in from the minor leagues. With the Cardinals mired in last place by the following June, owner August A. Busch, Jr., hired Whitey Herzog as field manager, and shortly handed him the general manager's position, too. Herzog was given free rein to rebuild the club to embrace the new running game trend in the majors. With an aggressive style of play and an unconventional approach to personnel moves, he catapulted the Cardinals back into prominence and defined a new age of baseball in St. Louis.

With the world turning rightwards and democracy looking at its most precarious since the 1930s, the emergence of a global network of left-wing, anti-fascist and anti-racist football fans has been one of the few shining lights in dark times. Some support clubs that are globally renowned, including the great St Pauli - more famous for the quality of its politics and its merchandise than its football. Others, no less committed, follow virtual minnows, like Red Star Paris and Bohemians Prague. But they still have proud histories, deep convictions and something to say. The left often fails to connect. How can these clubs inform and inspire? How can their example help collectivist, internationalist and inclusive principles defeat the seductive slogans and symbols of the growing nationalist and nativist movements across the planet? The Roaring Red Front explores theses questions while examining the history and current struggles of these special clubs - and why it all matters.

An illustrated exploration of the design, meaning and symbolism of world football club crests.

Why is there a devil shown on the crest of Manchester United? Which club's crest motto is 'To Dare Is To Do'? And whose emblem depicts a bear and a strawberry tree?

From the seahorses of Newcastle United to the royal crown of Real Madrid, via the riveting hammers of West Ham United, Valencia's famous bat design and German club St Pauli's unofficial skull-and-crossbones emblem, there is a story behind every crest, a tale of identity.

Covering more than 200 clubs from 20 different leagues, World Football Club Crests explores the design, meaning and symbolism of the game's most famous club crests to reveal why the badges look as they do.

This carefully curated collection charts the continuing evolution of the designs and describes the changing styles, varied influences and remarkable controversies that have shaped football's most iconic crests. These important symbols of football heraldry will never be viewed in the same way again.

The 1951 Los Angeles Rams were one of the greatest teams in professional football history. Led by pioneer owner Daniel Reeves, head coach Joe Stydahar, and future Hall of Famers Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Elroy Hirsch, Tom Fears, and Andy Robustelli, the team won the NFL championship of that season. In doing this, they defeated the defending champion Cleveland Browns in a fantastic rematch of the 1950 title game. The Rams were the first team in a major professional sports league to relocate to the West Coast, forever changing the face of the NFL and professional sports in America. Fueled by an exciting and accomplished lineup of veteran star players and impactful rookies, the product of the Rams' innovative scouting system and their reintegration of the NFL in 1946, the Rams successfully married the NFL to the glamorous world of Hollywood. Delve into the story of the '51 Rams, the NFL's First West Coast Champions.

55 Olympic medals. 6 Tour de France victories. Countless world records and world championship victories. Since the year 2000, British Cycling, Team Sky and INEOS have dominated the sport of cycling to an unprecedented degree. But at what cost? Did Sir David Brailsford, Peter Keen and the other brains behind British Cycling's massive and sudden dominance in the modern era find a winning "Moneyball" formula? Or did their success come down to luck and personal chemistry? Did this organisation, founded on relentless, ruthless efficiency contain contradictions which threatened to overwhelm it, amid accusations of drug-taking, bullying and sexism? The Medal Factory tells the full story from amateurish beginnings through a sports-science revolution to an all-conquering, yet flawed, machine. Through interviews with Brailsford and Keen, Shane Sutton, Fran Millar, Chris Boardman, Sir Chris Hoy and many other key players, Kenny Pryde interrogates the parts of the story - lottery funding, marginal gains - that we think we know, and reveals others that have remained hidden, until now.

West Ham United's move to the new Olympic Stadium ended a 114-year stay at the Boleyn Ground. The spiritual home of some of football's greatest heroes: Bobby Moore, Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking and Frank Lampard were just a few who made their name there, and revelled in its close-knit east London atmosphere. With the club anthem 'Bubbles' ringing around the stands, the Boleyn Ground had a raw flavour of its own. There were unforgettable afternoons fashioned by the club's two greatest managers, Ron Greenwood and John Lyall; fabulous nights under the lights, as the tightly-packed confines of the ground made it the most intense of stadiums; wonderful evenings competing against the best in Europe, such as beating Eintracht Frankfurt on a mud-heap of a pitch. Now it is gone, but the magic, the fervour, the triumphs, the disappointments and the special brand of humour which flourished there is captured here in all its glory. With full access to The Times archives and stunning photographic collection, lifelong Hammers fan John Dillon has penned the definitive history of the Home of the Hammers.

The ultimate guide to Real Madrid. The Real Madrid Handbook is an entertaining compendium of fascinating facts, match coverage, stories, personalities and trivia from the biggest club team on the planet. Rab MacWilliam traces the history of Real Madrid from the early 20th century, examining its progress in the domestic cup and league, and analyses the impact that the Republic, the Spanish Civil War and the repressive authoritarian aftermath had on the club. He relates how the stunning success in European football in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s was one of the factors that helped to ease Spain's integration into Europe and explores the club's rise to become one of the most skilful and dominant teams in the global game over the last thirty years. Fascinating, informative, irreverent and insightful, The Real Madrid Handbook is the perfect guide to the history of this extraordinary club.

During the 1956 baseball season in the city of Los Angeles, Mickey Mantle's pursuit of Babe Ruth's single-season home run record was matched only by the day-to-day drama of Steve Bilko's exploits in the Pacific Coast League. While Mantle was winning the Triple Crown in the American League, Bilko was doing the same in the highest of all the minor leagues with the Los Angeles Angels. He led the league hitters in eight categories, and the Angels romped to the pennant. Bilko hit one mighty home run after another to earn Minor League Player of the Year honors and inspire the team's nickname, "The Bilko Athletic Club." The Bilko Athletic Club tells the story of the 1956 Los Angeles Angels, a team of castoffs and kids built around Steve Bilko, a bulky, beer-loving basher of home runs. Author Gaylon H. White provides an intimate portrait of life in minor league baseball in the 1950s and gives readers a glimpse inside the heads and hearts of the players as they experience the same doubts and frustrations many face in the pursuit of a dream. The Angels' unforgettable season unfolds through stories told by the players themselves, as they racked up runs and rolled to a 107-61 won-loss record, finishing sixteen games ahead of their closest competitor. Featuring in-depth interviews with Steve Bilko and twenty-five of his '56 Angels teammates, The Bilko Athletic Club also includes several photos and is highlighted by never-before-told anecdotes. A fascinating account of a season to remember, The Bilko Athletic Club will take fans and historians of the national pastime back to the golden era of baseball.

Described by Richard William of The Guardian as 'the best sports book of 2013, and the best sports book of all time', The Boys of Summer is the story of the young men who learned to play baseball during the 1930s and 1940s, and went on to play for one of the most exciting major-league ball clubs ever fielded, the Brooklyn Dodgers team that broke the colour barrier with Jackie Robinson. It is a book by and about a sportswriter who grew up near Ebbets Field, and who had the good fortune in the 1950s to cover the Dodgers for The Herald Tribune. A story about what happened to Jackie, Carl Erskine, Pee Wee Reese, and the others when the glory days were behind them, it is also a book about fathers and sons and the making of modern America.