Service Alert
Delay in delivery of CDs
We are currently experiencing a delay with CD production. CDs are being sent and will be delivered as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
We are currently experiencing a delay with CD production. CDs are being sent and will be delivered as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Showing 161 - 180 of 2861 items
By Jeff Pearlman. 2006
No player in the history of baseball has left such an indelible mark on the game as San Francisco Giants…
outfielder Barry Bonds. In his twenty-year career, Bonds has amassed an unprecedented seven MVP awards, eight Gold Gloves, and more than seven hundred home runs, an impressive assortment of feats that has earned him consideration as one of the greatest players the game has ever seen. Equally deserved, however, is his reputation as an insufferable braggart, whose mythical home runs are rivaled only by his legendary ego. From his staggering ability and fabled pedigree (father Bobby played outfield for the Giants; cousin Reggie Jackson and godfather Willie Mays are both Hall of Famers) to his well-documented run-ins with teammates and the persistent allegations of steroid use, Bonds inspires a like amount of passion from both sides of the fence. For many, Bonds belongs beside Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron in baseball's holy trinity; for others, he embodies all that is wrong with the modern athlete: aloof; arrogant; alienated.In Love Me, Hate Me, author Jeff Pearlman offers a searing and insightful look into one of the most divisive athletes of our time. Drawing on more than five hundred interviews -- with former and current teammates, opponents, managers, trainers, friends, and outspoken critics and unapologetic supporters alike -- Pearlman reveals, for the first time, a wonderfully nuanced portrait of a prodigiously talented and immensely flawed American icon whose controversial run at baseball immortality forever changed the way we look at our sports heroes.By Tania Rodriguez. 2013
Yadier Molina is part of a trio of brothers that are taking the baseball world by storm. Yadier, the youngest,…
might also be the best player. He's one of the best catchers in baseball today. During his decade with the St. Louis Cardinals, Molina has had an impressive career. Base stealers rarely have a chance when Molina is behind the plate! He can catch every ball thrown to him, and he's helped the Cardinals win game after game. Discover how Yadier Molina got so good!By Tim Vandehey, Jason Lester. 2010
In 2008, Jason Lester became the first person with a disability to finish the Ultraman World Championship alongside able-bodied competitors.…
With the use of only three limbs, Jason competed in one of the most demanding endurance races in the world, swimming 6.2 miles, biking 261.4 miles, and running 52.4 miles to the finish line. Jason has completed over seventy triathlons, biathlons, marathons, Ironmans, and Ultramans. In 2009, he became the first male triathlete to win an ESPY Award and the fifteenth athlete in the history of Ultraman to complete both the Ultraman World Championship and Ultraman Canada in the same year. Yet Jason Lester's life as an athlete almost never happened. When a speeding car ran a red light, a bike ride to the local video store nearly became Jason's last, sending him 130 feet into the air and ultimately to the hospital with twenty broken bones. The pain was intense and long rehabilitation grueling, compounded by the sudden death of his father (his best friend and mentor) and the realization that his right arm was paralyzed. Only twelve years old and struggling to heal amid the grief, Jason miraculously found the strength to fight his way back. Without the use of his arm, he refused to give up the sports he'd grown to love, recommitting himself to life and ultimately surpassing goals that few dared to set. Running on Faith reveals how to develop the mind-set of a true competitor and includes riveting stories of the precarious and often unforeseen conditions encountered on the race path-jellyfish-infested waters, suffocating heat, and blinding sheets of rain. With passion, dedication, and strength of purpose, Jason shares his experience facing extreme challenges head-on, gleaning insight from each trial. He offers the principles he's learned to live by in order to accomplish his goals and shows how they can be applied to the tests we all face. An inspirational guide to overcoming adversity, recognizing God's guiding hand in our lives, and achieving our dreams, Running on Faith is a spirited testament to the power of faith.By Jeffrey Marx. 2009
Brian Kinchen was a thirty-eight-year-old husband, father of four, and seventh-grade Bible teacher whose professional football career had been over…
for three years when the New England Patriots called on December 15, 2003. With the Patriots riding a ten-game winning streak and the playoffs only a few weeks away, they needed a fill-in for the obscure but vital job of snapping the ball for their punter and kicker--a long snapper. Brian had received similar invitations to tryouts that yielded only disappointment--the teams always went with a younger guy. But could he really turn away from the chance of a lifetime? The Long Snapper chronicles Brian's remarkable journey as he and the Patriots seek the ultimate trophy. Unfortunately, the dream come true turns into a personal nightmare as Brian struggles both on and off the field, and the pressure to perform on the biggest stage in professional sports nearly causes him to walk away. Seven weeks after leaving the classroom, however, Brian overcomes his greatest fear and snaps the ball on the historic game-winning field goal with only seconds left in the Super Bowl. As told by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jeffrey Marx, The Long Snapper is the story of a man who finally achieves the success he has always wanted. Brian Kinchen's championship ring is a powerful status symbol for all to see. But his journey forces him to reexamine what really matters, and he realizes the true measure of a man has nothing to do with status: life is not about prestige; it is about passion and purpose. It is about impacting the lives of others.By Geoffrey Dunn. 2013
Its inviting climate, enticing rugged mountains, and welcoming beaches have always made Santa Cruz County a haven for athletic activities.…
A wide variety of sporting endeavors, some beyond the norm, have called Santa Cruz home over the decades. In the 19th century, Santa Cruz served as a springboard for modern surfing. It was an early bastion for organized baseball, too, beginning in the 1860s, and it was home to a series of professional teams as early as the 1870s. Other colorful athletic activities took place here (including fire hose teams, long-distance walking, and bicycling), along with more traditional American sports like basketball, football, boxing, and tennis. The region boasts of a strong tradition of women athletes as well, in particular Marion Hollins, perhaps the greatest all-around woman athlete of the early 20th century.By Sylvia Harris. 2011
Seabiscuit meets Manic when Sylvia Harris, a single mother crippled by her struggles with bipolar depression, discovers the healing, calming…
effect of horses. Alcohol. Lithium. Buddhist chanting. To quiet the voices in her mind, Sylvia Harris tried all of the above. At times, her manic behavior led her to dress up as a cowgirl and show off her imaginary rope skills in the middle of a quaint Northern California village, or spend the night in a torpor of fear awaiting the alien invasion she knew was on the horizon. At its worst, it led her to look for love in all the wrong places and create a family she had difficulty caring for. Although she sometimes found temporary relief and brief moments of calm, darkness always followed. At the nadir of her twenty-year battle with bipolar depression, Harris found salvation in the most unlikely of places: Cardinal Farm, an equine ranch outside of Orlando, Florida. Harris had always been drawn to animals, but she had no idea of the healing power she would discover while working with horses. And though she still experienced raging highs and destabilizing lows, eventually-through grooming, caring for, and, against all odds, racing horses-she was able to find stability and, ultimately, joy. With an unflinching eye toward her weaknesses and the pain that her life decisions have inflicted on others, Harris examines the ravaging power of her bipolar behavior and the magical power of horses, showing us how the mythic interspecies connection between humans and these magnificent animals continues to astonish and inspire.By Raymond Obstfeld, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 2017
The first memoir for young readers by sports legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.At one time, Lew Alcindor was just another kid from…
New York City with all the usual problems: He struggled with fitting in, with pleasing a strict father, and with overcoming shyness that made him feel socially awkward. But with a talent for basketball, and an unmatched team of supporters, Lew Alcindor was able to transform and to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.From a childhood made difficult by racism and prejudice to a record-smashing career on the basketball court as an adult, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's life was packed with "coaches" who taught him right from wrong and led him on the path to greatness. His parents, coaches Jack Donahue and John Wooden, Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, and many others played important roles in Abdul-Jabbar's life and sparked him to become an activist for social change and advancement. The inspiration from those around him, and his drive to find his own path in life, are highlighted in this personal and awe-inspiriting journey.Written especially for young readers, Becoming Kareem chronicles how Kareem Abdul-Jabbar become the icon and legend he is today, both on and off the court.By Chris Jericho, Pete Fornatale. 2007
Chris Jericho is the first undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the WWE and WCW, and has been called one of the…
fifty greatest wrestlers of all time. Now retired, he is writing his memoir, telling the story of his journey from wrestling school in Canada to his time in leagues in Mexico and Japan to his big break in the WCW. He'll dish the dirt on how he worked his way through the ranks alongside major wrestling stars like Chris Benoit and Lance Storm to become a major superstar.By Roger Kahn. 2014
In Rickey & Robinson, legendary sportswriter Roger Kahn at last reveals the true, unsanitized account of the integration of baseball,…
a story that for decades has relied on inaccurate, second-hand reports. This story contains exclusive reporting and personal reminiscences that no other writer can produce, including revelatory material he'd buried in his notebooks in the 40s and 50s, back when sportswriters were still known to "protect" players and baseball executives. That starts, first and foremost, with an in-depth examination of the two men chiefly responsible for making integration happen: Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson. Considering Robinson's exalted place in American culture (as evidenced by the remarkable success of the recent biopic), the book's eye-opening revelations are sure to generate controversy as well as conversation. No other sportswriter working today carries Kahn's authority when writing about this period in baseball history, and the publication of this book, Kahn's last, is a true literary event. In Rickey & Robinson, Kahn separates fact from myth to present a truthful portrait of baseball and its participants at a critical juncture in American history.By Chris Jericho, Peter Thomas Fornatale. 2011
The eagerly awaited follow-up to the New York Times bestselling A Lion's Tale documents Chris Jericho's meteoric rise to wrestling…
glory in the WWE.A Lion's Tale gave readers a portrait of Jericho as a young man. Fighting his way through Mexico, rinky-dink leagues and a battery of thieving, sleazy promoters/managers, the book ended with the author's WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) debut. Never one to leave his fans hanging, as demonstrated by his recent return to wrestling glory, Jericho now tells the story of life in the big leagues. But "making it" in the premier wrestling league in the world comes with its own set of obstacles and hard lessons. Jericho, in his witty, hilarious, and surprisingly endearing manner, lays it all out: the good, the bad, and the spandex.By David J. Mcgillivray, Linda Glass Fechter. 2006
"If you can dream it, it can happen." In this heartening book, Boston Marathon race director and motivational speaker David…
McGillivray shares the challenges he has overcome to inspire readers to similar triumphs in their own lives. Always the last pick for team sports because of his small stature, David McGillivray drove himself to excel at individual sports. When he was 16, he set himself up for the one "failure" that would motivate the rest of his life. He attempted to run in his first Boston Marathon--without training for the event. Not crossing the finish line could have been a crushing blow. Instead he went on to complete 115 marathons and eventually to become the Boston Marathon's race director. At age 23, McGillivray completed his celebrated 3,452-mile run across the United States to raise money for cancer research. The story of his journey and what he learned about himself will give all readers a new understanding of how to prepare for and achieve success. McGillivray's many accomplishments will convince readers that virtually any goal is possible. This book will motivate them to overcome the mental obstacles that often keep dreams from becoming reality.By Jim Pransky. 2018
"Austin, Pa.'s Major Leaguer" tells the story of Mark Corey, one of the 18 graduates of Austin High School in…
1992. The book traces Mark's determined, but detoured trek to baseball's big leagues. It's a tale of one family's love, guidance and support, but it also recognizes residents living in sparesly populated villages and towns in nothern Pennsylvania, and the role that youth athletics plays in the morale and fabric of a small community. It shines a spotlight on the past and present achievement of many whose actions on the field or court united citizens and created memories that defy the march of time.The incredible true story of hope and inspiration, struggle and triumph: how former NBA star "Penny" Hardaway selflessly coached a…
young basketball team through the hardships of life--and to their first-ever state championship.NBA All-Star Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway had fame, fortune, and a Nike shoe line. Yet for all his basketball accomplishments, the one thing he lacked was a championship season. Penny Hardaway, like so many pro athletes, struggled with the question of "What now?" when his whirlwind career came to an end in 2007. The answer came from one of his oldest friends, Desmond Merriweather, who was sick with colon cancer and could no longer commit to full-time coaching the Lester Middle School boys basketball team. On These Courts is the moving story of a superstar who takes over coaching duties in the crime-ridden streets of Memphis he once called home. Coach Penny selflessly helped his young players navigate their way through impossible circumstances: failing grades, incarcerated fathers, gang pressures. But this is not just a story about Penny; the true stars are the kids on the Lester Lions team who rewarded Penny with his first championship season, winning the state title by one point. A penny.By Lauren St. John. 1998
Greg Norman is golf's most complex and controversial celebrity and perhaps its most gifted and charismatic player. Winner of more…
than 70 tournaments, including the 1986 and 1993 British Opens, he has reigned as the world's number-one-ranked golfer for most of a decade and began 1998 as the PGA Tour's career-earnings leader with almost $12 million. As ruthless in the boardroom as he is on the golf course, the Shark turned a $2 million stake in Cobra Golf into a payoff of more than $40 million, bought a Boeing 747 jet for his personal use, and launched a clothing line bearing his multicolored-shark motif. Three parts Crocodile Dundee, two parts Jack Nicklaus, and one part Don Quixote, the jet-setting Shark is larger than life. He has raced Ferraris with Nigel Mansell, hauled marlin over the side of plunging boats, scuba dived with sharks, taken a joyride in an F-14, saved drowning friends, and entertained a US president at his Florida compound. Yet Norman stands blond head and broad shoulders above golf's elite as the sport's most notorious victim of cruel calamity. His dramatic losses at the 1986 PGA Championship, the 1987 Masters, and the 1996 Masters rank among golf's most inexplicable defeats rendered by the most outrageous strokes of misfortune. In this riveting and revealing biography, internationally acclaimed journalist Lauren St. John examines Norman's conquests as well as his failures and his relationships with his father, his agents, fellow golfers, and caddies. Using her unparalleled access to dozens of people who know Norman best, including the Shark himself, St. John explains how Norman's fear of bankruptcy drove him to win the 1986 British Open; exclusively reveals the background of the break-up with his first manager and his subsequent split with IMG; tells why golf's greatest natural talent has so often snatched defeat from the jaws of victory; and explains his tempestuous relationships with Jack Nicklaus and other top players.By John Calipari, Michael Sokolove. 2014
"If you are a college basketball fan like I am, you'll understand why I've long admired John Calipari's leadership style.…
While no coach treasures a win more than John, this terrific book reveals his greater purpose--to lead his young players to better lives, and then challenge them to give back to others." --President William J. Clinton In Players First, John Calipari relates for the first time anywhere his experiences over his first four years coaching the Kentucky Wildcats, college basketball's most fabled program, from the doldrums to a national championship, drawing lessons about leadership, character, and the path to personal and collective victory. At its core, Calipari's coaching philosophy centers on keeping his focus on the players--what they need to get the best out of themselves and one another. He is beloved by his players for being utterly honest with them and making promises that he always keeps, no matter what. He knows that in this age, they come to Kentucky to prepare for the NBA; every year he gets players who in a previous era would have gone directly into the pros from high school but now have to play college basketball for one year. Calipari has fought against this system, but he has to play within it, and so he does, better than anyone. The result is an extraordinary leadership challenge: every year Coach Cal gets a handful of eighteen-year-old kids who have been in a bubble for the previous four years at least, filled with hype about their own greatness, and they come to Kentucky feeling sure that they will play for their coach only for seven months before they go on to greater glory. Every year, he has to reinvent his team. After his 2012 NCAA championship, it was particularly dramatic; he lost his first six players in the first round, meaning that someone who couldn't even start for Kentucky was a first-round draft pick. The overall record at Kentucky, and for his career, puts Calipari in the pantheon of the greatest coaches in the history of the game. Bold, funny, and truthful, like Coach Calipari himself, Players First is truly the first deep reckoning with the meaning of his experiences and the gifts of insight they offer.By Lynne Cox. 2016
From inspired and inspiring open-water swimmer and supreme athlete, able to endure cold water temperatures that would kill others, author…
of Swimming to Antarctica ("Riveting" --Sports Illustrated) and Grayson ("Moving, mystical" --People)--a powerful book about super athleticism and human frailty, about invincibility and the sudden (mind-altering) repercussions of illness, and about the triumph of spirit, surrender, and love.Lynne Cox is an elite athlete who broke many world records, among them swimming the English Channel at fifteen, being the first woman to swim across Cook Strait (eighteen miles), and being the first to swim off Antarctica in 32-degree water--for twenty-five minutes!--all without a wetsuit. And that's where Swimming in the Sink begins--at a laboratory at the University of London, with Cox's hand in ice-cold water, hooked up to thermocouples and probes, with three scientists trying to make sense of her extraordinary human capabilities. The test results paved the way for new medical and life-saving practices. As an athlete, Cox had put her heart into everything she'd ever accomplished. In turn her heart gave her great physical strength and endurance.In the midst of becoming the embodiment of a supreme endurance athlete, Cox took care of her elderly parents, both of whom passed away in quick succession, followed by the death of her beloved Labrador retriever, leaving Lynne in shock from loss and loneliness and soon literally suffering from the debilitating effects of a broken heart.On the edge of a precipice, Cox was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AFib). As the prognosis went from bad to worse, Cox was in fear of living out a lesser life as an invalid with a pacemaker and a defibrillator and the real possibility of her own death was before her. Cox writes of her full surrender to her increasing physical frailty, to her illness, her treatment, her slow pull toward recovery. In Swimming in the Sink we see Cox finding her way, writing about her transformative journey back toward health, and slowly moving toward the one aspect of her life that meant everything to her--freedom; mastery; transcendence--back to open waters, and the surprise that she never saw coming: falling in love.From the Hardcover edition.By Howard Webb. 2016
The long-awaited autobiography of Howard Webb, the man who refereed the World Cup final. Webb's first game as a match…
official came when he was just 18 and his father's verdict was blunt: 'Useless - he doesn't know his arse from his elbow.' It wasn't the last time his performance would come under fire. But Webb progressed through the ranks, and his natural calm authority made a good impression on players and administrators alike, and soon he was being offered the top matches and the toughest fixtures. The policeman went on to take charge of some of the most important games, including the 2009 FA Cup final, the 2010 Champions League final and - the biggest of the lot - the 2010 World Cup final. Now, in this superb and honest memoir, Howard Webb reveals what it is like to be at the heart of the action in the modern-day game where every decision can be unpicked by television cameras. He explains how he learned to handle some of the game's superstars. Refereeing is a hard business, but Webb shows just why he enjoyed it so much and provides fascinating insights into how he dealt with the most challenging situations. With his unique perspective on the game, and the characteristic honesty he has displayed as a pundit on BT Sport, Webb has written a book that reveals the game - and the man himself - in a new light.In Masters of Modern Soccer, Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl asks: How do some of the game's smartest figures master…
the craft of soccer? By profiling players in every key position (American phenomenon Christian Pulisic, Mexican superstar Javier "Chicharito" Hernández, Belgium's Vincent Kompany, Spain's Xabi Alonso, Germany's Manuel Neuer) and management (Belgium coach Roberto Martínez and Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc), Wahl reveals how elite players and coaches strategize on and off the field and execute in high pressure game situations. Masters of Modern Soccer is the definitive thinking fan's guide to modern soccer. For a supporter of any team, from the U.S. national teams to Manchester United, or any competition, from Mexico's Liga MX to the World Cup, this book reveals what players and managers are thinking before, during, and after games and delivers a true behind-the-scenes perspective on the inner workings of the sport's brightest minds. America's premier soccer journalist, Grant Wahl, follows world-class players from across the globe examining how they do their jobs. This access imbues Masters of Modern Soccer with deep insight from the players on how goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards function individually and as a unit to excel and win. Wahl also shadows a manager and director of soccer as they juggle the challenges of coaching, preparation, and the short- and long-term strategies of how to identify and acquire talent and deploy it on the field. A book that will stand the test of time, Masters of Modern Soccer is the most in-depth analysis of the craft of soccer ever written for the American fan. For any fan, player, coach, or sideline enthusiast, this book will change the way they watch the game.By Colt Baird Toombs, Ariel Teal Toombs. 2016
The biggest pro wrestling bio since Bret Hart's Hitman: legendary Rowdy Roddy Piper's unfinished autobiography, re-conceived and completed by his…
children, actress/musician Ariel Teal Toombs and wrestler Colt Baird Toombs.In early 2015, Roderick Toombs, aka Rowdy Roddy Piper, began researching his own autobiography with a trip through Western Canada. He was re-discovering his youth, a part of his life he never discussed during his 61 years, many spent as one of the greatest talents in the history of pro wrestling. Following his death due to a heart attack that July, two of his children took on the job of telling Roddy's story, separating fact from fiction in the extraordinary life of their father. Already an accomplished wrestler before Wrestlemania in 1985, Roddy Piper could infuriate a crowd like no "heel" before him. The principal antagonist to all-American champion Hulk Hogan, Piper used his quick wit, explosive ring style and fearless baiting of audiences to push pro wrestling to unprecedented success. Wrestling was suddenly pop culture's main event. An actor with over 50 screen credits, including the lead in John Carpenter's #1 cult classic, They Live, Piper knew how to keep fans hungry, just as he'd kept them wishing for a complete portrait of his most unusual life. He wanted to write this book for his family; now they have written it for him.From the Hardcover edition.By Roy Macgregor. 2011
The gift book of the year for hockey fans: Roy MacGregor has been called "the best hockey writer in the…
country," and we finally have a collection of his very best hockey writing, revised and updated.For nearly 40 years Roy MacGregor has brought hockey, our national sport, alive on the page. From tales of the game's greats (Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Marcel Dionne) to today's stars (Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Daniel and Henrik Sedin), his magazine and newspaper coverage has revealed so much about these and so many other personalities, in moments of promise, victory and defeat. While many of these stories play out on the ice, some of the most compelling take place on the home front (Mario Lemieux's battle against cancer, the many tribulations of Bob Gainey), and MacGregor's prose shines especially when focused on the human side of a sport defined by superhuman feats of speed, aggression and power.Wayne Gretzky's Ghost will be a personal book, and also a book of challenging ideas: that Wayne Gretzky, through no fault of his own, was the worst thing to happen to hockey; that CBC's Hockey Night in Canada has lost sight of what it is; that goaltending has become a position out of all proportion to what was intended. And who could offer a better perspective on the game than a writer who, playing as a youngster, had to face an onrushing phenom from Parry Sound named Bobby Orr, or who spent a year ghostwriting a national newspaper column for the Great One himself? When it comes to hockey, Roy MacGregor has seen (and in some cases, done) it all.From the Hardcover edition.