Herb Brooks: The Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind
John Gilbert - 2008
S. hockey team’s victory at the 1980 Olympics was a “Miracle on Ice”--a miracle largely brought about by the late Herb Brooks, the legendary coach who forged that invincible team. Famously antagonistic toward the press at Lake Placid, Brooks nonetheless turned to sportswriter John Gilbert after each game, giving his longtime friend and confidant what became the most comprehensive coverage of the ’80 team. This book is Gilbert’s memoir of Brooks. Neither strictly biography or tell-all exposé, Herb Brooks: Born to Coach is the story of an extraordinary man as it emerged in the course of a remarkable friendship.Gilbert, writing for the Minneapolis Tribune, first met Brooks during his coaching days at the University of Minnesota, whose hockey program he resurrected in the 1970’s. The two became fast friends, and here, for the first time, Gilbert relates anecdotes--his own and former players’--that illuminate Brooks’ oftentimes hard-nosed coaching methods, his dramatic successes, and his incomparable character. From Brooks’ beginnings in East St. Paul and his stint with the 1960 gold medal-winning Olympic team (from which he was famously the last player cut), Gilbert goes on to dissect the coach’s tenure with the Gophers (including three national titles) and the Lake Placid story, from the selection process and yearlong barnstorming tour to the Games themselves. Throughout this and later chapters of Brooks’ career--including coaching turns with St. Cloud State University, four NHL teams, and the 2002 U.S. Olympic squad--readers are treated to impossibly colorful quotes, rare photographs from Brooks’ playing and coaching careers, and pertinent sidebar pieces that originally appeared in the Minneapolis Tribune.
Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja's Historic Treble
Graham Hunter - 2013
At Euro 2012 they became the first team to win three consecutive tournament titles.Graham Hunter was inside the dressing room as the players celebrated after the finals of the World Cup and Euro 2012. His access-all-areas pass at all three tournaments has resulted in remarkable eyewitness accounts and new interviews with star players and the men behind the scenes. Across every day of La Roja’s treble, the author takes you on to the training ground; on the team bus; into the canteen; inside the hotels and on to the pitch.You’ll hear the team talks that inspired Spain to victory plus the inside stories from Fernando Torres, Xavi, Iker Casillas, David Villa, Cesc Fàbregas, Andrés Iniesta, Gerard Piqué and the others behind an unprecedented era.
How NOT to be a Football Millionaire - Keith Gillespie My Autobiography
Keith Gillespie - 2013
And lost a lot.One afternoon he added up how much he had squandered during the course of his professional career. It made for uncomfortable reading...Manchester United £60,000Newcastle United £1,102,000Blackburn Rovers £3,510,000Leicester City £1,050,000Sheffield United £670,000Bradford City £15,000 Glentoran £43,875Total (plus extras) £7,215,875That day seemed a world away from 1993 when he burst on to the scene as a fresh-faced young star with Manchester United. A dark-haired lad from the streets of Northern Ireland with a God-given talent, he was dubbed the new George Best.One of the famous Fergie fledglings, he made his debut aged just 17 before moving on to Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle where he came so close to landing a Premiership title winner’s medal. International caps piled up too. It was a thrilling adventure. Flying down the wing and sharing pitches and dressing rooms with legends, but behind the success and glamour, it was a different story.Like Best, Gillespie had a talent for self-destruction. He liked a drink and there were women but they weren’t causing a big problem – it was keeping hold of the millions he had earned from the game that ultimately proved his downfall.It wasn’t just about gambling. A nightmare ordeal during a training break in La Manga landed him in jail for a crime he did not commit. Then, in 2010, Gillespie became headline news again when a series of flawed business deals saw him declared bankrupt.How Not To Be A Football Millionaire is one of the most honest autobiographies you will read, about a player who lived the football life to the full.It tells a fascinating and moving human story of the darker side of the glory game. About winning and losing, fortune and fate, hope and heartache... About having the world at your feet and being left to ask yourself: ‘Where did it all go wrong?
Riding in the Zone Rouge: The Tour of the Battlefields 1919 – Cycling's Toughest-Ever Stage Race
Tom Isitt - 2019
It covered 2,000 kilometres and was raced in appalling conditions across the battlefields of the Western Front, otherwise known as the Zone Rouge. The race was so tough that only 21 riders finished, and it was never staged again.With one of the most demanding routes ever to feature in a bicycle race, and plagued by appalling weather conditions, the Circuit des Champs de Bataille was beyond gruelling, but today its extraordinary story is largely forgotten. Many of the riders came to the event straight from the army and had to ride 18-hour stages through sleet and snow across the battlefields on which they had fought, and lost friends and family, only a few months before. But in addition to the hellish conditions there were moments of high comedy, even farce.The rediscovered story of the Circuit des Champs de Bataille is an epic tale of human endurance, suffering and triumph over extreme adversity.
Finding My Feet
Jason Robinson - 2004
He made the transition to Rugby Union with Sale Sharks in 2000 and was fast-tracked to the England squad. His speed, unpredictability and charisma have ensured that he is now widely acknowledged as one of the most exciting players in the world. His extraordinary turnaround from hard-drinking, deeply troubled teenager to born again Christian and dedicated family man makes his story all the more intriguing.
Fan Mail
Nick Hornby - 2013
But occasionally over the years he’s found it impossible to turn down a particularly enticing assignment or, in the case of the 2012-13 Premier League, just unable to resist writing about that most spectacular of seasons. Fortunately for those who love great writing about soccer, all these fugitive pieces are collected in Fan Mail. You can follow the fortunes, as Hornby did, of a hopelessly out-of-their-depth Cambridge United in the old Second Division, discover why Perry Groves was an unlikely hero among Arsenal fans, enjoy Hornby trying to explain the World Cup to Americans, and share with him the pain of watching his national team.
José Mourinho : up close and personal
Robert Beasley - 2016
José Mourinho is undoubtedly one of the most charismatic and controversial characters in football today. Never far away from the headlines, it is the drama surrounding him as much as his many successes that make him such a fascinating figure.Having worked at some of the biggest clubs in the world – Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United – Mourinho knows how to deliver when it matters. Leaving trophy cabinets bursting wherever he’s been, he has a claim on being the greatest manager in his sport. But is the way he conducts himself on the touchline and in front of the cameras the real José Mourinho, or an act he puts on for the watching world?Author Robert Beasley has followed Mourinho’s career closely since his arrival on the English football scene in 2004. An award-winning sports correspondent, Beasley has been the one person granted privileged access to the Special One’s inner sanctum, and he found there a man few ever get to know – let alone get to call a friend.This is the story of José Mourinho, up close and personal. Delving into the workings of the famed manager’s mind, as well as the backroom antics and transfer sagas at the game’s greatest clubs, we see the world from José’s point of view. Revealing the untold stories behind how close Mourinho came to getting the England and Tottenham jobs and his sometimes tumultuous relationships with the likes of Roman Abramovich, Rafael Benítez and Arsenal boss Arsène Wenger, and why he will always put family and friends before football, this is a side to José Mourinho you never thought you’d see.
Englischer Fussball A German's View Of Our Beautiful Game
Raphael Honigstein - 2006
Jim Cornette Presents: Behind the Curtain - Real Pro Wrestling Stories
Jim Cornette - 2019
This is the graphic novel that old-school wrestling fans have been waiting for: a no-holds-barred representation of the moments that wrestling insiders couldn't talk about for years!Behind the Curtain - Real Pro Wrestling Stories presents three chapters of tales, personally curated by Jim Cornette and adapted by Brandon Easton and Denis Medri, the team behind the critically acclaimed Andre the Giant: Closer to Heaven.Featuring stories about Ric Flair, Jerry Lawler, Andy Kaufman, Sputnik Monroe, The Sheik, Junkyard Dog, the Fabulous Freebirds, the Midnight Express, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and more. Also includes Jim's colorful Glossary of Pro Wrestling Terms, as well as photos and newspaper clippings from his personal archives!
The Elements of Scoring: A Master's Guide to the Art of Scoring Your Best When You're Not Playing Your Best
Raymond Floyd - 1998
The Elements of Scoring explains how paying attention to the way you play -- regardless of your level of skill -- will guarantee you fewer strokes, a better overall game, and at the end of the day, more fun. With a practical and encouraging touch, Raymond Floyd shares his vision of what makes a scorer and shows how you can become this most dangerous of opponents. Discover the ten mistakes amateurs make that pros never doLearn why the 6-foot putt is the most important shot in golfPlay to your strengths and hide your weaknessesBanish first-tee jitters and focus on the rest of your gameKnow when bogey can be a good score Golf is a game of mistakes: The secret to better golf lies in making fewer of them and making sure the ones you do make don?t prove too costly. With Raymond Floyd as your teacher, you are sure to shoot the lowest scores you can, day in and day out, playing the game like a true scorer.
Champions League Dreams
Rafa Benítez - 2012
Rafa expertly navigates fans through intriguing European adventures that embrace the triumph and despair of two Champions League finals, three semi-finals and five quarter-finals in what was a golden era for the Anfield club - an era that supporters felt gave them their pride back after years in the wilderness. What sets Champions League Dreams apart is the unique ways in which Rafa allows fans into his high-pressured world, the fascinating glimpses he offers of a top manager's thought processes and decision making during the cut and thrust of a high-octane European campaign. Understand how a great manager prepares for, then executes, a master-plan for European success.
Golazo!: A History of Latin American Football
Andreas Campomar - 2014
But it is also gripping social history. Andreas Campomar shows how the sport that started as the eccentric pastime of a few ex-pat cricket players has become a defining force, the architect of national identity and a reflection of the region’s soul. How can you hope to understand this tumultuous and disparate collection of young republics without first understanding the game that has become such a dominant presence in every corner of South American society?Including not only the well-known heroes of ‘the beautiful game’ – Garrincha, Maradona, Pelé, Schiaffino, Di Stéfano, Sánchez and Messi – but also the numerous forgotten gems of Latin American football – ‘The Black Chief’, Obdulio Varela; Heleno de Freitas, the Brazilian who squandered his talent and died half-mad with syphilis; Peru’s 1930s golden generation; the unstoppable River Plate of La Máquina; El Ballet Azul, the Colombian team who were so lavishly gifted that they all but dispensed with defending; Omar Corbatta, El Loco, undisputed master of the nutmeg and author of ‘the most impossible move ever’, and the indomitable Bolivian team of the early 1990s – ¡Golazo! is the extraordinary tale of how football came to define a continent.
Damn! Why Did I Write This Book?
Jayson "JTG" Paul - 2015
In this compilation all focused around the four letter word that has ended more wrestling careers than steroids, pills and alcohol combined: HEAT!HEAT: A dark cloud that follows a wrestler after a personal conflict or misunderstanding between two individuals or more backstage.JTG will take you, the reader, on a journey, from the beginning of his career, to the final curtain call; sharing stories on how he battled Heat from day one. Join JTG on this epic pilgrimage through this blazing inferno that was his career, while managing to piss off more people for writing this book!!!
How Football (Nearly) Came Home: Adventures in Putin’s World Cup
Barney Ronay - 2018
Still reeling from the wincing exit to Iceland in the 2016 Euros, expectations were at an all-time low. Qualification had been smooth if not spectacular, and pundits and fans alike were lukewarm about the team’s chances. Just avoiding embarrassment would have counted as some kind of success. As the tournament kicked off, a stunningly stage-managed occasion by Putin and his cronies at FIFA, we all took a deep inhale of breath and waited for the inevitable: technical ineptitude and crap penalties.How wrong we were. Over the next three weeks, as back home we dissolved in the heat, our football team gave us reason to believe. We squeaked a win against Tunisia, trounced Panama and had a great tactical defeat to Belgium to open up the draw to the final. We all bought waistcoats and eulogised Southgate’s calm, fatherly manner. We all fell in love with ‘Slabhead’, aka Harry Maguire. And we did it all to the tune of ‘It’s Coming Home’.Barney Ronay was there through the whole tournament, criss–crossing over Russia as he followed the England team, and the rest, on their quest for glory. Here, he captures the sights and sounds, the twists and turns, the bad food and the great football that contributed into making this World Cup one of the greatest of all time.
Commitment: My Autobiography
Didier Drogba - 2008
Didier Drogba is renowned for his heading ability, sharp shooting and sheer strength. He has played for his native Ivory Coast and for clubs in France, China and Turkey, but it is as a Chelsea striker that he is best known. His feats with Chelsea have made him a cult hero among supporters. In Didier Drogba's honest and revealing autobiography he will talk about life as an immigrant in Paris, the importance of his education and how finding success later than most professional footballers has kept him grounded. In 2012 Didier was voted Chelsea's greatest ever player. He talks from a privileged behind-the-scenes position about tactics and how he felt mentally and physically as well as anecdotes from the dressing room. Didier provides unique insight into important and controversial matches from the first trophy he won with them in 2005 to the Premier League title a decade later; as well as what persuaded him to stay when he was at his lowest ebb. Away from football Drogba has been widely applauded for his involvement in trying to broker peace in the Ivorian civil war - he is a UN Goodwill Ambassador and does a huge amount of work with the Didier Drogba Foundation - "Time "magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people. Go behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge and find out about life on and off the field for this humble Chelsea hero.