Farrell --The pitcher and the plutocrat / P.G. Wodehouse --One down, 713 to go / Damon Runyon --Roger Maris / Jimmy Cannon --Home run fever / Gary Smith --Woman whiffs Ruth and Gehrig / William E. Brandt --The silent season of a hero / Gay Talese --A native son's thoughts / Richard Ben Cramer --K as in Koufax / Vin Scully --The rocky road of Pistol Pete / W.C. Heinz --One vote for Morganna / Red Smith --Yogi / Roy Blount, Jr. --The thrill of the grass / W.P. Kinsella --The green fields of the mind / A. Bartlett Giamatti

    Shortly before a serious accident ends his dream of pitching, Roy Tucker is called up from a small-town team in Connecticut to help the Brooklyn Dodgers out of a slump. Includes an introduction by Bruce Brooks.

    In Hank Haney's Essentials of the Swing, the world's premier expert on the golf swing takes you back to step one to master the essentials and build a complete, powerful, and consistent swing that will improve your game quickly and keep you playing better for years to come.This step-by-step guide brings you the same careful analytical approach that Hank has shared with the hundreds of touring pros who have been his students — including the world's #1 golfer. It walks you through every aspect of your swing, from grip to contact to follow-through, and shows you how to analyze ball flight to shape your shots and put the ball where you want it more frequently and with much more consistency.Packed with helpful pictures, invaluable practice tips, and insightful pointers on everything from club selection to the difference between a good miss and a bad miss, Hank Haney's Essentials of the Swing is the resource you need to hit the top of your game and stay there.

    No Lions team had ever defeated the All Blacks in a Test series. Since 1904, six Lions sides had travelled to New Zealand and all had returned home with their tails between their legs. But in 1971 a tour party led by John Dawes set out to carve their names into the annals of the sport with their assault on the great bastion of world rugby. Lying in wait were team after team of hardened rugby warriors and an All Blacks side filled with legends of the game. But as the Lions began to sweep their way across the length and breadth of the country, displaying ferocity and magic in equal measure, it became clear that a Test series of epic proportions was set to unfold. When Lions Roared delves into the very heart of that famous summer as Lions, All Blacks and provincial players recount their memories to bring to life one of the most celebrated tours in rugby history - one that changed the game forever and continues to resonate powerfully to this day.

    They can be branded as heroes, ousted as scapegoats, quietly valued as friends, and everything in between. It's all in the job description for an NHL head coach. In Behind the Bench, ESPN's Craig Custance sits down for film sessions and candid conversations with some of the game's most notable modern luminaries—names like Mike Babcock, Joel Quenneville, Dan Bylsma, Todd McLellan, Ken Hitchcock, and Claude Julien—all of whom share their singular views on topics ranging from leadership secrets to on-ice game plans. Dissect some of hockey's greatest moments with the men who set the pieces in motion. Go straight to the source on what it's like to manage a dressing room full of the league's top stars or execute line changes with everything at stake. Signature games, including Stanley Cup finals, Olympic gold medal clashes, and World Championship contests—both wins and losses—are reflected upon and broken down in detail, making this essential reading for current and aspiring coaches, players, and hockey fans alike.

    

    Those supplements you’re taking? They might get you a little bigger, but just a little. If you’re after serious results, there’s other stuff that produces better results much faster, stuff that a lot of guys in the gym use.” “What other stuff?” “You know what I’m talking about—gym candy.”Runningback Mick Johnson has dreams: dreams of cutting back, finding the hole, breaking into the open, and running free with nothing but green grass ahead. He has dreams of winning and of being the best. But football is a cruel sport. It requires power, grace, speed, quickness, and knowledge of the game. It takes luck, too. One crazy bounce can turn a likely victory into sudden defeat. What elite athlete wouldn’t look for an edge? A way to make him bigger, stronger, faster?This novel explores the dark corners of the heart of a young football player as he struggles for success under the always glaring—and often unforgiving—stadium lights.

    Through it all, the former Torquay United player-coach never fails to illuminate his words with sharp comparisons and ironic contrasts that are part and parcel of the game in this country.Following on from his first book, the bestselling Left Foot Forward, Garry Nelson has established himself as an excellent writer and a shrewd and thoughtful analyser of football.

    And yet, question marks have followed him around; question marks about his goalkeeping suitability after arriving on Merseyside; question marks about his integrity after match fixing allegations were laid against him. Here, Grobbelaar takes you to Africa, where nothing is at it seems; he takes you back to an era when Liverpool ruled Europe; he takes you to the benches of the Anfield dressing room, where only the strongest personalities survived. For the first time, he takes you inside the court room, detailing the draining fight to clear his name.

    Alphas. Protectors. Bad to the bone. Fall for the hottest mountain men around in a collection box set of 3 Amazon Best Sellers. Picking a favorite? Impossible. Putting the Kindle down? You won’t stand a chance! Includes Amazon top 100 titles Feral, Reckless, and Savage. Complete set with HEAs. Books included: BOOK 1 – FERAL You can’t tame a beast that’s truly wild. She’s my best friend’s sister. But I don’t see ‘off limits’. I see a challenge. Little Ava’s come home with curves in all the right places and a sassy mouth to match. She’s forbidden forest fruit ripe for the ravaging. But I’m going to take her body before I take her heart. BOOK 2 – RECKLESS My mountain, my rules. Until Federal Agent Edie Ness arrives and breaks every god-damned one of them. With her perfect curves and sassy mouth she’s going to get herself killed going after these poacher bastards. Unless I stand in their way. Because I always protect what’s mine. And she will be mine--screaming and moaning for every hard inch. BOOK 3 – SAVAGE Tame me? The Mountain King? She can try. I don’t do commitment. The only strings in my life are the lacy, hanging-off-the-bedhead kind. Getting laid is a matter of clicking my fingers. But Lexi Shane is different. Her country smile and soft curves don’t fool me. She’s hiding something… and it’s more than a great a$s. She wants the legend of Hell's Bitters, she’s going to get it The entire length of my long, hard mountain wood.

    The complex and troubled relationship with discipline, alcohol and authority during his exhilarating cricket career. The search for an authentic voice as a player, free from the blandness and conformity of modern professionalism. Is Flintoff the last of his kind, in any sport?Through all his highs and lows, triumphs and reversals, this book reveals a central tension. There is 'Fred' - performer, extrovert, centre of attention. Then there is 'Andrew' - reflective, withdrawn and uncertain. Two people contained in one extraordinary life. And sometimes, inevitably, keeping the two in balance proves too much.We are taken backstage, seeing the mischief and adventure that has defined Andrew Flintoff's story. Above all, we observe the enduring power of fun, friendship and loyalty - the pillars of Flintoff's career. At ease with his faults as well as his gifts, Andrew Flintoff has sought one thing, even more than success: to be himself.

    Seriously. The upper classmen used to call me Squirrel Nut, because I was little and jumpy. Then, during sophomore year, I got tall and huge and so fast the gym teachers in their tight shorts fell all over themselves. During summer, three things happened all at once. First, the pee-smelling jocks in my grade got me to work out for football, even though I had no intention of playing. Second, on my paper route the most beautiful girl I have ever seen moved in and played piano at 6 a.m. Third, my mom, who never drinks, had some wine, slept in her car, stopped weeding the garden, then took my TV and put it in her room and decided she wouldn’t get out of bed. Listen, I have not had much success in my life. But suddenly I’m riding around in a jock’s pick-up truck? Suddenly I’m invited to go on walks with beautiful girls? So, it’s understandable that when my little brother stopped playing piano and began to dress like a pirate I didn’t pay much attention. That I didn’t want to deal with my mom coming apart.

    But Scott Grady is a brilliant and dedicated student working on his doctoral dissertation, and walking away from everything is just not his style. Although former news-hound Ben Tripp considers carpentry his current career (if you can call it that), he can occasionally be persuaded to put his natural instincts to work with some small time private-eyeing. Doing the persuading this time is Professor Kathy Sullivan, one of the few people who could call the missing Scott Grady a friend. Tripp's search for Scott Grady leads him to the site of Scott's research, where new dinosaur discoveries are a serious matter, especially in the cutthroat world of academia...

    When he climbs on his back, they ride off on the most wondrous adventures--jousting with knights and capturing outlaws. But as the years go by & the boy outgrows his favorite childhood friend, the rocking horse is stowed in the attic with other old toys. Faithfully the rocking horse waits, hoping his boy will return. Years later, on another Christmas, another little boy (whose father had ridden the rocking horse) discovers the enchanted horse, and off they ride on adventures beyond imagination.

    It's about where to hit the ball, when, and why. It focuses on playing tennis strategically, which is the quickest and best way to raise your game to the next level. For recreational players, developing a strategic approach to the game is the single, most transformative step you can take. In this book, you will learn how to take advantage of the strengths in your game, how to minimize your weaknesses, and how to attack your opponent's game. Most tennis players start by focusing on the mechanics of their strokes. That makes sense. If you can't hit the ball over the net and inside the lines, the rest doesn't really matter. Later, when you're hitting the ball well, it's fun to keep working on your shots. All tennis players love to hit the ball. Unfortunately, stroke improvement has a diminishing return. Early on you improve rapidly, but then the pace levels off. It can be frustrating to work, week after week, month after month, and not see any progress. Developing your strategic understanding of the game completely changes that dynamic. It's difficult to exaggerate how much focusing on strategy can improve every aspect of your game. At first glance, tennis is a marvelously simple game. All you have to do is hit the ball over the net and inside the lines one time more than your opponent does and you win the point. Do that often enough and you win the match. In truth, however, tennis is endlessly complex. That's why it becomes a lifetime passion for so many of us. It's a demanding amalgamation of muscle memory, hand-eye coordination, geometric understanding, stamina, and split-second decision making. Adding another layer of complexity, most of us model our games on professional tennis players. We see them win points by smacking the felt off the ball, going for the lines, serving aces, and hitting topspin lobs from outside the doubles alley. We want to play like that. The catch is we don't have unbelievable hand-eye coordination and don't practice eight hours a day. Is it any wonder, then, that about 80 percent of points in a recreational match end with an unforced error? That's right. Eight out of 10 points-and often more-end because you or your opponent hit the ball into the net or outside the lines. When we come out of top in a match, we like to think that we won. It's probably more accurate to say that we didn't lose. At the core of strategic success at the recreational level is reducing unforced errors. Cutting them by just one or two per set can lead to an exponential leap in matches won. This book are filled with strategies and tactics that you can adopt and adapt to improve your game. You don't need to apply all of them; use only the concepts that work for you. If altering the strategies better suits your game, go for it. Playing strategically will make your game more consistent. You'll become a better competitor, and you'll have more fun.