Plus, the Philadelphia Phillies' 2011 rotation also happens to include Cole Hamels--the 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP--and an alternating fifth starter. This awe-inducing rotation has been the talk of baseball since coming together in December 2010. They were featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated's 2011 baseball- preview edition, interviewed on the MLB Network on opening day of spring training, covered in the New York Times Magazine, and mentioned in numerous newspapers and magazines nationwide.Authored by two of the most knowledgable and connected Phillies beat writers, The Rotation is a remarkably detailed day-in-the-life story of one complete season with a Major League Baseball starting-pitching staff. The authors offer deep daily access to the Phillies players, coaches, and front-office staff, as well as the players and staff of other major league teams and the national baseball media.With firsthand reporting and extensive interviews, plus two full-color photo inserts, this is a fascinating and detailed look into the day-to-day operation of what is arguably the greatest pitching rotation ever assembled. It is a must-read for Phillies fans and general baseball fans alike.

    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.

    

    Now take those events and transfer them to a volcanic rock with cruel winds, searing sun, rough seas and nosebleed-inducing hills, and you have Ironman Lanzarote. Why, then, would Andy Holgate – who admittedly has never swum in the sea, who can’t cope with the wind, sun or even stairs – take on such an extreme challenge? Simple: Because he can. Can’t Sleep, Can’t Train, Can’t Stop! continues Andy’s inspirational journey from where Can’t Swim, Can’t Ride, Can’t Run left off, chronicling his attempt to complete two Ironman triathlons six weeks apart. Already in his fortieth year, would Andy make it to his forty-first? Would Lanzarote prove one triathlon too far – or will Andy succeed against the odds and live to swim, ride and run another day?

     Two good feet. Stamina. Decent in the air. He could run, shoot, pass, dribble, read the game, track back, tackle and score goals, brilliant goals, and one – a bicycle kick at Grimsby Town in 2002 – still rated as Leicester City’s greatest-ever goal. A half-English/half-Turkish kid from London’s East End, Izzet learned his trade the hard way; in kids’ leagues, playing against youngsters two or three years older, then as a young pro at Chelsea, kicked all over the Southern Counties League. When it looked like he couldn’t get a break, he contemplated jacking in the only thing he could do – the only thing he wanted to do – to go roofing with his old man. Enter Martin O’Neill and Leicester City… Inspired by the Northern Irishman’s unique motivational methods, Muzzy flourished in a side littered with big characters who worked hard and played hard, established names like Steve Walsh and Garry Parker who helped new faces like Neil Lennon, Robbie Savage and Emile Heskey. This is more than just a football book. It’s about what happened in the changing room, in the bar, being banned from La Manga – not once, but twice – and what happened when O’Neill’s side was dismantled, the club was relegated and, later, fell into administration. Muzzy was there for it all – the good times, the bad, the bits in between. Then there was Turkey. The dressing room rite of passage that spared no blushes and the secret drama behind the World Cup semi-final… Funny, unflinching and occasionally heartbreaking, Muzzy: My Story lifts the lid on 1990s football and a Leicester City legend, remembered fondly by all those who saw him.

    A tall, lean striker with the world at his feet, Ferguson seemed destined to develop into one of Scotland's most successful exports, but anger, and a number of injuries, hampered his progress. Ferguson has scored the most goals of any Scot in the Premiership but also shares the record for Premiership red cards. In 1995, he became the first professional footballer to be jailed for an offence committed on the pitch. It earned him a three-month sentence in Glasgow's infamous Barlinnie Prison and a twelve-match ban from the SFA. Bruised by the experience, he walked away from the Scotland team and blanked the media from then on. Featuring contributions from numerous top players, this explosive biography uncovers the real Duncan Ferguson. The author delves into Ferguson's personal and professional life and reveals that there is more to him than the media portrayal of a Scottish hard man.

    Aged 16, White was the youngest player to win the English Amateur Championship. At 18, he won the World Amateur title. By 1984, he's a professional success, married but not at all settled. He's the kind of man who goes out for a packet of cigarettes and comes home two weeks later. Gambling, women, marathon binges with showbiz friends like Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, have threatened the stability of his marriage. But somehow White has survived, to tell in candid detail, a most unusual, often outrageous story of a very sporting life.

    In early March 2020 Liverpool were two wins away from an extraordinary achievement, on course for their first league title win in 30 years - since the heads days of Kenny Dalglish - and likely to seal it in the Merseyside derby against their great rivals Everton. And all this an incredible two months before the season was due to end. Then, as we all know, the season was postponed.The architect of the club's great resurgence - including their 2019 UEFA Champions League win - has been J�rgen Klopp. In his personal love-letter to the man, Anthony Quinn, journalist, novelist and life-long Liverpool fan, has written an inspiring and affectionate portrait of the incredible German manager, who came to Liverpool in late 2015, with a growing reputation from his successes at Borussia Dortmund.Closely following the three month break, as well as the club's title-clinching return, Quinn offers a uniquely revealing and personal take on this long-awaited triumph.

    

    'The Unforgiven' reveals how far the eccentric Revie was responsible for Leeds' outlaw status, using carpet bowls sessions for team building and exorcising a gypsy's curse at their ground.

    The first of its kind, this book explores college football's current events, numbers, and tactics from a number of perspectives. It is an attempt to bridge the gap between the analytical side of the game and its real-life application. So many of us love this ridiculous sport; Study Hall gives us ways to love it even more. Table of Contents 1. It's Personal 2. An Ungovernable Mess 3. The Case for Computers 4. You, Me, and Stats 5. We Meet Again, Mr. Wizard 6. Coaches vs. Stats 7. The New Box Score 8. Advanced Stats 101 9. College Football's Curveball 10. QBs and the Passes They Throw 11. Sometimes Cliches Are Cliches for a Reason 12. The 'Spread Offense' Meme Dies 13. Beating, And Becoming, Goliath

    As the only English football captain ever to raise the World Cup, he was not just a football icon but a national one.Yet Bobby was an intensely reserved, almost mysterious personality. Only one person was his true friend and confidante – his boyhood sweetheart, Tina, whom he met at 17 and married soon after.Tina Moore’s story of her life with Bobby, the triumphs and crises of his football career, the break-up of their marriage and what happened afterwards, is a moving tribute to a national icon by the person who knew him better than anyone.

    They were the rank underdogs and they swept to victory on an unprecedented tide of goodwill that washed over the nation. Only Martin Flanagan could bring to life this particular miracle. The club's two guiding spirits - captain Bob Murphy and coach Luke Beveridge - welcomed him in, Beveridge making available his match diaries, pre-match notes and video highlights. Flanagan interviewed every player, watched every match, talked with the trainers, the women in the football department, the fans who never miss a training session, the cheer squad.What Flanagan shows is that the Bulldogs found a new way to play partly because they found a new way to be a team - a new way to support each other, even a new way to be. A Wink from the Universe takes us into the heart of the community Luke Beveridge and Bob Murphy dreamt into being with the support of the Bulldog people around them. This is a classic of sportswriting - a book for fans of the club, and of the game, but also a book for anyone who wants to know how a group of people can will a miracle to happen.

    That’s not physically possible, but if you could Nick Matthew would have done it by the bucket-load. Throughout his 15-year career, Matthew has fought his way to the top of the PSA World Rankings in his gladiatorial sport, winning 25 World Tour titles, including being crowned world champion on two occasions and British Open champion three times. Nick holds the record of five British National titles in addition to being crowned Men’s Singles and Men’s Doubles Gold Medalist at the 2010 Commonwealth Games making him England’s most successful player. Sweating Blood: My Life In Squash is much more than the tale of a squash player. In this brutally honest story: Nick psychoanalyses his own obsessive-compulsive personality and explains how it helps him win; He remembers how, as a late developer, he was constantly told he lacked the talent to succeed yet went on to become the most successful English player of all time; He gives an amazing behind-the-scenes access to the sport: the prize money, the anti-doping, the gruesome training, the post-match celebrations, the crazy players on the PSA World Tour and the far-flung corners of the globe where he competes; He remembers the career-threatening shoulder operation that eventually put him on the road to World Championship and Commonwealth Games glory; He tries to understand how his relationship with another top British player went so horribly wrong; He digs back into his Yorkshire upbringing and remembers the colourful characters who turned him into the champion he is today; And he pinpoints the most crucial moments in his career – the moments when he really felt like he was sweating blood.

    Now a veteran of five NBA seasons at the age of 23, Bryant has earned a place among pro basketball's elite.Mad Game documents his hard lessons on the road to stardom, his rapid rise through the NBA, and his conflicts with--and, at times, alienation from--his teammates, including his on-and-off-again relationship with Shaquille O'Neal. This is a story of triumph, of an unusually gifted young athlete trying to remain true to himself and his game.