Book picks similar to
A Legacy Unrivaled: The Story of John Gagliardi by Boz Bostrom
coaching
biography-memoir
football
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When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone
James Montague - 2008
James Montague travelled there for three years, observing the region's cultures and politics through the prism of football and interviewing all the major teams along the way. He soon realised that to understand the game there is to understand its people. For as much as football forms an unlikely common thread between different countries, the sport also reflects what is unique in the national characters of those who play, support and organise it.When Friday Comes is an insightful and humorous account of Montague's journey, during which he gets stoned with the Yemeni FA, harangues Iran's Deputy President at the World Cup, has a gun pulled on him by genocidal Lebanese football fans, encounters a rioting group of fanatical young Jews singing 'I'm West Ham 'til I Die' in mockney English and was made to strip and then dance for the Iraqi national team.This is a compelling travel memoir that will enlighten, surprise and entertain football fans everywhere.
The Didi Man
Dietmar Hamann - 2012
The foreigner with a Scouse accent. The German who now plays cricket for his local village team. The overseas footballer turned anglophile who fell deeply in love with the city of Liverpool, its people and its eponymous football club.The classy midfielder had a long and distinguished playing career, but it was his seven seasons at Anfield that marked him out forever as a true Liverpool legend. His cult status was secured when he came off the bench at half-time during the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul to inspire his team to a dramatic come-back and spectacular European glory.The Didi Man is Hamann's warm, personal and highly entertaining story of his time on Merseyside at a football club which will always have a very special place in his heart.
Rush: The Autobiography: Liverpool's Greatest Striker, Liverpool's Greatest Era, The True Story
Ian Rush - 2008
The story of one of Liverpool’s greatest soccer goal scorers, from his beginnings as a rough-edged Welsh teenager thrust into the ranks of an already great team, to how he learned to grow as a player and a man.
Show Time: Inside the Lakers' Breakthrough Season
Pat Riley - 1988
8-page photo insert.
Center of Attention: A True Crime Memoir
Jami D. Brown Martin - 2020
The photo looks completely out of place on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list where it’s been since December, 8, 2007. For eight of those years, Jason appeared directly beside Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden is long gone, but Jason is still wanted for armed robbery and murder.For years, his sister, Jami D. Brown Martin has watched the true crime programs and read the amateur investigative blogs devoted to Jason, his crime, and the efforts to apprehend him knowing the story wasn’t as simple, nor was it just Jason’s. To be the sister, brother, or relative of one of the world’s most wanted men is to live every day with the horrible truth and many consequences of his brutal act.CENTER OF ATTENTION is the story of a former Mormon missionary turned murderer. It is also a riveting look behind the facade of the genetically blessed, seemingly prominent and pious Brown family of Laguna Beach, California. It is a tale of the family patriarch, John Brown, who disappeared without a trace ten years before his son. More important, it is the gripping and ultimately hopeful story of the sister of one of the world’s most wanted fugitives and her journey to accept that despite being a product of the same crazy environment as her brother, her life and path are her own.
Wayne Rooney: The Way It Is
Wayne Rooney - 2007
It's all about a young man coming to terms with a career in the limelight – the good and the bad.What is the true story behind the most gifted yet often misunderstood character in the British game? Were there signs of things to come in his upbringing in the backstreets of Liverpool? What were the early influences that shaped his character? And how has the meteoric rise to fame and fortune affected this seemingly shy yet prodigiously gifted youngster?For the first time, Rooney opens up about the defining years of his life as the son of a working-class family, brought up in a council house with his Everton-mad family. There followed his first tentative steps in football, the triumphs and knockbacks along the way, the accolades that began to follow his every move as a young teenager, and destiny fulfilled on his Premiership debut for Everton at the tender age of 16.He describes how his life changed irrevocably when Alex Ferguson and Manchester United came calling in the summer of 2004, his dazzling efforts for England in the European Championships, a private life never far from the tabloid headlines, and the real story behind his relationship with partner Coleen McLoughlin.He reveals the anguish of the foot injury that threatened his participation in World Cup 2006, and how his determination led to a remarkable recovery in time to play a part in the group stage of the tournament. And he describes how his delight at playing again for his country turned to depair after his controversial sending-off in the quarter-final against Portugal and England’s subsequent elimination in the penalty shoot-out.And in this updated paperback edition, he revisits the drama of United’s Premiership-winning 2006/07 season and their tumultuous battles with Chelsea and giants AC Milan.This is the story in Rooney's own words. From the streets of Croxteth to the stadiums of Germany and beyond – a journey of a lifetime squeezed into a mere twenty-one years.Wayne Rooney was born in Liverpool in October 1985. He was only nine when he was spotted by Everton scout Bob Pendleton playing for boys' club Copplehouse. In his last season with them he scored 99 goals before joining the Everton academy. He was the youngest scorer in Premier League history in 2002, at the age of 16, and the youngest to score for England, age 17. He joined Manchester United in August 2004 for a fee of £20 million. He has 33 international caps and 11 goals to date.Hunter Davies has written over 40 biographies, including the authorized book on The Beatles and the 2004 hardback bestseller Gazza: My Story.
Game On
Olivia Lancaster - 2016
Or maybe it's just me. But either way, I've always got girls lined up around the block, just waiting to jump into bed with me.And what can I say? I'm pretty good. Both on-field, and off.But when I met Danielle... damn. She was cute as hell, and smart as a whip to boot. One look and I knew I had to have her, and I'd do whatever it took to get her in bed with me. And I had a feeling once just wasn't going to be enough, this time.When Danielle figured out the owner of my team was trying to screw me over, and he started trying to keep her quiet, I knew I'd do anything to protect her.The guys going after her had better watch out. Because there's not a thing in the world I won't do to stop them.DANIELLEAs a sports journalist, working my way up the world, I'd met my fair share of arrogant douchebags who think they're God's gift to women.But Kieran Michaels was by far the worst.And just when I thought I'd finished with the brash, infuriating, cocky asshole, he offers me the opportunity of a lifetime, and I just can't say no.What I don't realize is that this good girl's about to get into a whole lot of trouble...
*** Game On is a safe, full-length novel with a HEA ending. For a limited time, it also includes TKO by Olivia Lancaster as a bonus. ***
The Little Book of Breaking 80 - How to Shoot in the 70s (Almost) Every Time You Play Golf
Shane Jones - 2013
This is not a book of swing techniques. There are plenty of other resources that teach you how to swing, chip and putt. What this book does provide is a true framework for breaking 80 based on sound principles that will work for any golfer of any level. Provided you faithfully follow and apply these principles, you will begin to improve surely and steadily, to the point where you will eventually gain the ability to break 80, not just as a one-time fluke, but over and over again as a reflection of your true new-found ability. Whether you're struggling to break 100, 90, 80 or even a complete beginner, the Little Book of Breaking 80 will help take your game to the next level!
Manchester United Ruined My Life
Colin Shindler - 1998
Colin Shindler recalls the problems of growing up in an Orthodox Jewish family in central Manchester in the 1950s and 1960s as a Manchester City fan, permanently under the shadow of Manchester United.
Ron Santo: A Perfect 10
Rich Wolfe - 2011
Never before told, behind the scenes stories mixed with humor and fascinating facts, plus a whopping 24 pages of great photos make this book a must read for Cubs fans. The remembrances are all here, told by an all-star team of people. It is like sitting around Wrigley Field listening to Ron's friends reminiscing about the man we all loved. Ron Santo Jr., contributed the Foreword.
Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL
Jeff Benedict - 1998
Reprint. NYT.
Confessions of a Baseball Purist: What's Right--And Wrong--With Baseball, as Seen from the Best Seat in the House
Jon Miller - 1998
The author offers his views on the state of basball today, and comments on his experiences as a sportscaster.
Chasing the Bear: How Bear Bryant and Nick Saban Made Alabama the Greatest College Football Program of All Time
Lars Anderson - 2019
CHASING THE BEAR examines how they did it, revealing along the way their similarities in style, background, football philosophy, and recruiting methods, while providing readers a rare inside look at two of the greatest leaders in the history of sports.Bear Bryant and Nick Saban never met, but they have more in common than either of them realize. Both grew up in small towns -- Bryant in Moro Bottom, Arkansas, a dot on the map, and Saban from Monongah, West Virginia, population five hundred. As a child, Saban pumped gas at his father's service station, washing and waxing cars and doing anything he could to help the business. Bryant's father suffered from multiple physical ailments, which forced Bryant to work to keep the family farm going. Both men knew the value of hard work from the time they were young boys, and both understood that there were no shortcuts to success. But both dreamed of escaping their hometowns, and both used football as the means to do so.Separated by two generations, Bear Bryant and Nick Saban are mythic figures linked by a school, a town, and a barroom debate centering on one question: Which is the greatest college coach of all time?
Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming: Texas Vs. Arkansas in Dixie's Last Stand
Terry Frei - 2002
In the centennial season of college football, both teams were undefeated; both featured devastating and innovative offenses; both boasted cerebral, stingy defenses; and both were coached by superior tacticians and stirring motivators, Texas's Darrell Royal and Arkansas's Frank Broyles. On that day in Fayetteville, the poll-leading Horns and second-ranked Hogs battled for the Southwest Conference title -- and President Nixon was coming to present his own national championship plaque to the winners. Even if it had been just a game, it would still have been memorable today. The bitter rivals played a game for the ages before a frenzied, hog-callin' crowd that included not only an enthralled President Nixon -- a noted football fan -- but also Texas congressman George Bush. And the game turned, improbably, on an outrageously daring fourth-down pass.But it "wasn't" just a game, because nothing was so simple in December 1969. In "Horns, Hogs, & Nixon Coming," Terry Frei deftly weaves the social, political, and athletic trends together for an unforgettable look at one of the landmark college sporting events of all time.The week leading up to the showdown saw black student groups at Arkansas, still marginalized and targets of virulent abuse, protesting and seeking to end the use of the song "Dixie" to celebrate Razorback touchdowns; students were determined to rush the field during the game if the band struck up the tune. As the United States remained mired in the Vietnam War, sign-wielding demonstrators (including war veterans) took up their positions outsidethe stadium -- in full view of the president. That same week, Rhodes Scholar Bill Clinton penned a letter to the head of the ROTC program at the University of Arkansas, thanking the colonel for shielding him from induction into the military earlier in the year.Finally, this game was the last major sporting event that featured two exclusively white teams. Slowly, inevitably, integration would come to the end zones and hash marks of the South, and though no one knew it at the time, the Texas vs. Arkansas clash truly was Dixie's Last Stand.Drawing from comprehensive research and interviews with coaches, players, protesters, professors, and politicians, Frei stitches together an intimate, electric narrative about two great teams -- including one player who, it would become clear only later, was displaying monumental courage just to make it onto the field -- facing off in the waning days of the era they defined. Gripping, nimble, and clear-eyed, "Horns, Hogs, & Nixon Coming" is the final word on the last of how it was.
The Range Bucket List: The Golf Adventure of a Lifetime
James Dodson - 2017
A few years ago, now in his sixties and one of the most respected golf writers of all time, Dodson rediscovered the piece of paper in an old trunk. Realizing that he had yet to achieve many of his thirteen-year-old dreams, and pondering the things he’d add to the list if he wrote it today, he expanded the list into a golfing “bucket list” of the people and places he had yet to meet and see in the golf world. In this tribute to the game he loves, Dodson takes readers on a journey around the world and into the lives of characters large and small. From an interesting lunch with Donald Trump to rounds with John Updike and intimate conversations with Arnold Palmer, from scoring a memorable thirteen on a hole at St. Andrews to revealing the real reason The Masters has always been broadcast on CBS, The Range Bucket List is simultaneously an exhilarating armchair adventure and one man’s love letter to a game that has fundamentally shaped him and his life, filled with unforgettable characters, untold history, and lots of heart.