Now, 40 years after sports history was made, acclaimed sports writer Mike Freeman celebrates the Dolphins’ singular achievement in Undefeated. A riveting story filled with heartbreaking injuries, miraculous finishes, and tested relationships—featuring a roster of gridiron greats, including Bob Griese, Earl Morrall, Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield, Mercury Morris, Nick Buoniconti and others—Undefeated follows a underdog team on its remarkable run: 14 regular season victories, 2 postseason wins, and a Super Bowl championship. It is a book no football fan will want to miss.

    The ginger-haired lad who was plucked from Ayr United for just £300,000 in 1981 didn’t at first seem like he would fit the mould of a Liverpool Football Club player. Nicol made headlines for having ‘the biggest feet in football’ and by his own admission could sometimes act a bit daft. It wasn’t long before he fell victim to countless wind-ups from fellow Anfield Scots Kenny Dalglish, Alan Hansen and Graeme Souness. They made him wait at a motorway service station on a Sunday morning for a boot deal meeting that didn’t exist… they forced him out of a car to check faulty windscreen wipers then drove off and left him in the snow… when his teammates saw a teddy bear in his bag on an away trip abroad, the stick he got was merciless. But Nicol could take a joke and there was more to him than first met the eye. Brave, skilful and with a winner’s mentality, he was able to play any number of positions on the field. He could pass, head, tackle, read the game well and even had an eye for goal. His love of a packet or three of crisps didn’t seem to affect his appetite for success. He became a mainstay in the record-breaking Liverpool sides that steamrollered their way to trophy after trophy. From the teams of Paisley and Fagan to Dalglish, he played dream football with the likes of Rush, Barnes, Beardsley, Aldridge, Whelan and McMahon. He topped it off with a Player of the Year award and represented his country in a World Cup. It was laughter and glory all the way. Then he hit a brutal turning point in his life. It was hard to take. He drank too much. Kenny left. Souness arrived. He wore the captain’s armband and won an FA Cup… but it felt like the end. Stevie Nicol: 5 League Titles and a Packet of Crisps is the entertaining autobiography of a man who took the good, bad and ugly of his football life on the chin, shrugged it off and ended up having the last laugh.

    would start a new professional league. The North American Soccer League had failed just four years prior, and the prospects of launching a new league for Americans, who didn’t share the rest of the world’s love for soccer, were both exciting and daunting.The United States of Soccer is the engaging history of MLS’s bootstrap origins prior to its 1996 launch, its near-demise in the early 2000s, its surprising resilience and growth in the following years, and its continued rise in respectability and recognition from soccer fans around the world.The book also explores the origin of a number of MLS’s best-known supporters groups – the superfans responsible for setting the tone within MLS stadiums and defining what it is to be a North American soccer fan. The book looks at how MLS helped develop the massive American audiences for the most recent men’s and women’s World Cups – peaking at 27 million for the 2015 Women’s World Cup finals – even as it looks to expand its number of franchises and grow its audience in a sports-saturated world.Phil West chronicles those fans’ voices – intermingled with league officials, former players and coaches, journalists, and newspaper accounts – to detail MLS’s remarkable journey for those new to the U.S.’s top-tier league, as well as those who think they know the full MLS story.

    This book revisits the main performers of this illustrious team and weaves their stories into a cohesive narrative that captures all the drama and color of Detroit's 1968 season.

    Easy-to-find answers to the most common (and obscure but fascinating) baseball questions." - USA Today"A great starting point for newbies of the game." - Ron Kaplan, "501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read Before They Die""Surprisingly, there is no other book so comprehensive, concise or readable." - St. Paul Pioneer-Press"Instructive and fun." - Chicago Sun-Times**Selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame Bookstore in Cooperstown**Lose yourself in all the marvelous memories and hallowed history of America’s national pastime with "The Book of Baseball Literacy: 3rd Edition." From the gloveless pioneers of the 1840s to the strife-ridden headlines of the 2000s, this comprehensive reference offers nearly 700 important baseball yarns, stats, and stories—cross-referenced and hyperlinked—in a style as lively as the game itself. Incredibly thorough, never dull, the book answers these and countless other questions:- Who was Ray Chapman, and why is he important?- Did Abner Doubleday really invent baseball?- What is sabermetrics?- Who set off the Pine Tar Incident?- Where was the first organized baseball game?- Were the Cubs cursed by a billy goat?- What are waivers and options?Written by SABR member and former college baseball broadcaster David H. Martinez and even selected as required reading for a college course on baseball history, "The Book of Baseball Literacy: 3rd Edition" puts over a century and a half of legends and lore, right in your mitt. It will settle arguments and provoke them, answer questions and ask them. It’s a must for veteran baseball fans—and a perfect way to get up to speed on baseball history for newcomers.

    He was the toast of the business world before his litany of crimes were detected and his empire began to unravel in 2009, leading to a conviction and prison sentence in 2012 with more charges pending.Through compelling storytelling supported by extensive research and documentation-including interviews with many of Dykstra's friends, family, and business associates-Nailed! Peels back the layers to reveal that the criminal charges of grand theft auto, identity theft, vandalism, lewd behavior, sexual assault, are just the tip of the iceberg. This is an engaging read of a sports and business hero gone bad.

    8-page photo insert.

    Yet many may be surprised to learn that the true story behind the making of the film is as captivating as the film itself. In The Making of Slap Shot, veteran sports writer Jonathon Jackson lets fans not only relive just how the film was made, but brings to light surprising facts (i.e., Al Pacino was the first choice for the role of Reggie Dunlop; almost every scene-even the absurd and unbelievable ones-depicts a real life event). With access to those involved in the making of the film, he brings to life some of the magic behind the creation of memorable scenes and characters, especially the Charleston Chiefs, one of the most popular fictional sports teams in history. Based on interviews with over 50 cast members, production staff, and anyone of note involved in the film's creation Destined to be a collectible and keepsake (along with the jerseys, bobbleheads, and other paraphernalia associated with the film), The Making of Slapshot is a must for fans eager to learn even more about their favorite film.

    But one man has been proving them wrong for four decades. In the summer of 1975 Barney Curley, a fearless and renowned gambler, masterminded one of the most spectacular gambles of all time with a racehorse called Yellow Sam. It cost the bookmakers millions of pounds. They said that it could never happen again. But in May 2010, thirty-five years after his first coup, Curley staged the ultimate multimillion pound-winning sequel.The Sure Thing tells the complete story of how he managed to organise the biggest gamble in racing history – and how he then followed up with yet another audacious scheme in January 2014.

    I am the shop window and he is the goods in the back.’ Often outrageous and always compelling, Peter Taylor and Brian Clough’s partnership shook the very foundations of the footballing world. They took two peripheral clubs – Derby County and Nottingham Forest – from the sleepy backwaters of East Midlands football to international renown. The first to pay £1 million for a player and the first to win two European Cups and two League Cups in successive seasons, their journey was a whirlwind of trophies, record-breaking transfers, bust-ups and sackings.In a first-hand account told with immense candour, Taylor reveals the highs and lows of their relationship, and details the events that led to their unprecedented success.Originally published in 1980 and available now for the first time in forty years, With Clough, By Taylor is the definitive account of the partnership that revolutionised English football and the trade of the football manager.

    After four previous defeats in Grand Slam finals, Murray had finally achieved what no British man had managed since the 1930s. But the story of how he got there was just as compelling as the final itself, with as many twists and turns along the way. Writer Mark Hodgkinson has been covering that story since the start - he was actually the first person to interview Murray for a national newspaper back in 2004, and has worked closely with Judy Murray in the past. In Andy Murray: Champion, Hodgkinson explains how Murray first emerged as a tennis player of true quality, and how his rivalry with his brother Jamie spurred him on. He looks at the close relationship Murray has with his mother, and the various coaches who haved worked with him to assess their influence on his game. In a hugely competitive era of tennis, with Federer, Nadal and Djokovic all counted to be among the greatest tennis players of all time, Murray has earned the right to be ranked alongside them all - and this book explains how and why he has done so, becoming a true national sporting icon in the process.

    While The Damned United was a fictional account of Clough’s short-lived but controversial reign at the club, this book reveals the true story, as told by the players he managed at the time. Vividly recreating the atmosphere of the era, the book features candid contributions from legendary names such as Peter Lorimer, Eddie Gray, and Norman Hunter. They reveal what it was like to make the transition from the relatively smooth management style of former manager Don Revie, who helped the club achieve success in Europe, to a constant crossing of swords with the outspoken Brian Clough, who left the club flailing at the foot of the league upon his premature departure. This explosive account covers all the drama that ensued from the moment Clough was earmarked by the club directors as the favorite to succeed Revie to his exit less than two months later, saddled with the knowledge that he had been the club’s most unsuccessful manager ever. Told from the perspective of those who experienced Clough’s dictatorial managerial methods at Leeds at first hand, We are the Damned United tells it how it really was rather than how it might have been.

    Armstrong • Marv Albert • Grant Hill • Jerry Colangelo • Bill Cartwright • Jerry Reinsdorf • Johnny Bach • Rod Thorn • Rick Barry • Kevin Loughery • David Axelrod • President Barack Obama • and many more!Written by Sam Smith—author  of the New York Times bestseller THE JORDAN RULES and recent inductee  into the NBA Hall of Fame—THERE IS NO NEXT assembles a cast of Hall-of-Famers, teammates, opponents, coaches, and others who experienced the ferocious drive and unparalleled greatness that defined Jordan’s career. Packed with previously untold stories and stunning insight into Jordan and his six championships, THERE IS NO NEXT is the last word on why there has never been, and will never be, another Michael Jordan.

    An outstanding, thought-provoking study of the state of modern professional football.