One for the Ages: Jack Nicklaus and the 1986 Masters Review

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One for the Ages: Jack Nicklaus and the 1986 Masters ReviewThe 1986 Masters truly was one for the ages...When they said it "couldn't be done," Jack did it...again...
In doing so, he cemented a legacy that will last for as long as the game is played from tee to green.
All the glory, pagentry, challenge and uncertainty of that marvelous victory are contained in these pages. A book about an exceptional moment in golf history.
Tom McCollister of The Atlanta Journal did a good thing when he wrote that Sunday morning that Jack couldn't win...it was all the challenge the ole Bear needed to propel him to one of his greatest, and and one of golf's greatest victories...
And don't you miss Nicklaus and others like him?
Having said all of this, this book suffers from the lack of Nicklaus' participation and shared insight from a 25-years-later perspective.
This book is primarily history. Another recent book, John Boyette's "The 1986 Masters: How Jack Nicklaus Roared Back to Win" has more insight, feeling and emotion from the Nicklaus family, then and now. This book tells the story from a historical perspective. Boyette's book takes us back to the moment and let's us relive it again.
This book is good, but Boyette's book is better.One for the Ages: Jack Nicklaus and the 1986 Masters Overview

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Chasing Tiger Review

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Chasing Tiger ReviewI have enjoyed Sampson's writing in the past, but this book disappointed. As advertised, it really is a book about the chasing of Tiger Woods -- by competitors, fans and media. One can enjoy the "behind the scenes" looks at the tour, and if you are interested in Charles Howell III, you will get a bunch of info here. I felt the book headed off in too many directions, the metaphors were WAY overblown, and the lack of focus was frustrating. If you are interested in the peripheral insights to be gained, or simply love Sampson -- wait for the paperback!Chasing Tiger Overview

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Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The Long, Twisted History of the Texas-OU Rivalry Review

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Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The Long, Twisted History of the Texas-OU Rivalry ReviewI have read many books about OU vs Texas - the rivalry. IMO the rivalry is the third best in the country. This book is very informative, truthful (I live in Austin) and to the point. It is an excellent read.Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The Long, Twisted History of the Texas-OU Rivalry OverviewRaucous, raw, and reliably remarkable, the century–old football riavlry between the state universities of Texas and Oklahoma stands as testimony that hate–based relationships are the most enduring. Texas and Oklahoma have been top–level programs for a long time, but in the last few years the rivalry has garnered ever more national attention. Mike Shropshire, an observer of this football war for more than 40 years, chronicles the long and colorful history of this fierce rivalry that has endured for more than a century. The teams have been playing at the Texas State fair since 1929–just a three–hour drive from each campus. This is the only football game in the country that is louder than a NASCAR race, because there's no place in the country that's more football–mad than Texas. Animosity runs deep in this relationship–but beyond the emotional urgency that the Texas–OU followers expend on this event, this is a union of like–minded spirits. They were brought up amid the simple mantra of the Red State road to success: "Get up early. Work hard. Find oil." Football would naturally become the spectator sports of preference in these parts. RUNNIN' WITH THE BIG DOGS is an account of that game and of the game and the events that lead up to the three–and–one–half hours when, deep in the heart of the heartland, it's the day the earth stands still. It will also chronicle the long and colorful history of this fiercest of football rivalries, and inundate the reader in the craziness of the week preceding the game. Year in, year out, the Texas–OU celebration equals or trumps any other rivalry in sheer excitement and entertainment value–and presently, these two teams more than any other pairing are consistently in the hunt for a national championship. The excitement is due in large part to the raw and dynamic history of the two states involved, from the Indian wars to the oil boom. Before statehood Oklahoma was known as Indian Territory, so this Red River Shootout is Cowboys and Indians all over again.

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Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played Review

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Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played ReviewIt's amazing that years can go by without a great tennis book, and now in 2009 - only a month after "A Terrible Splendor" - we've got another one.
Wertheim is one of the best tennis writers around, and one of the fairest, and he brings the 2008 Wimbledon final to life with a highly readable portrait of both Federer and Nadal, and how their games combined to create a clash for the ages.
An interesting and informed analysis of the tennis itself is complemented by the author's take on the two players that lets the reader understand why each has such passionate fans, and on the tennis scene, whose absurdities inspire a number of humorous asides.
If the book has one relative weakness, it's that it doesn't have a broader context in the way that "A Terrible Splendor" does. But in terms of getting to the heart of why tennis (and sports in general) can be so enthralling, the book definitely scores. Since finishing it, I'm eager to re-watch the DVD of the final with Wertheim's writing in mind.Strokes of Genius: Federer, Nadal, and the Greatest Match Ever Played Overview

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Soccer: The Ultimate Guide to the Beautiful Game Review

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Soccer: The Ultimate Guide to the Beautiful Game ReviewNow in a fully revised and updated second edition, Soccer: The Ultimate Guide To The Beautiful Game by Clive Gifford is an in-depth guide to the basic skills needed to play one of the world's most popular team sports. Included are all the rules and strategies, along with a brief history of the popular and widely beloved sport of soccer. Full-color illustrations throughout, including three-dimensional realistic computer models of soccer players handling the ball as well as photographs of real-life athletes, Soccer: The Ultimate Guide To The Beautiful Game stands out -- both as a "user friendly" how-to manual and as collectible to cherish for dedicated soccer enthusiasts. Soccer is very highly recommended for anyone of any age wanting to enjoy the game as either a participant or a spectator.Soccer: The Ultimate Guide to the Beautiful Game Overview

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Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story Review

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Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story ReviewVince Scully the legendary Hall Of Fame announcer for the Brooklyn and now Los Angeles Dodgers... is nearing his sixtieth complete year of broadcasting. I happen to have been blessed to listen to Vinnie as a young boy in New York... and then miraculously... our family moved to Los Angeles the same exact year as the Dodgers... so I have never missed a single year of Vinnie's poetic... magical... announcing of our families beloved Dodgers from the time I was old enough to know the difference between a ball and a strike... till today... when as a Grandfather I listen to Vinnie with my grandchild. This is a book that is long over do... but unfortunately... I'm sad to say it is disappointing for a number of reasons.
Since Vinnie did not participate in the development of this book the author depends entirely on historical quotes... and on countless occasions many sentences and paragraphs include numerous quotes from multiple individuals... and many times the same section has more than one quote from the same individual... IN NO LOGICAL SEQUENCE... and the reader becomes dumbfounded as to which quotes came from which individuals. At times such as these the flow of the story comes to a standstill as the reader literally scratches his head and tries to figure out who said what.
There are also numerous typos and/or sentences that just don't make sense. Such as page forty-eight when the author writes: "IT WOULDN'T HAVE GONE THROUGH THE (BROOKLYN) FENCE." "MUSED CAMPANELLA. MIGHT HAVE GONE THROUGH IT, THOUGH." Huh?? Or on page ninety-nine "THE KID YOU'D LIKE TO SEE RINGING YOUR DOORBELL WHEN YOU DAUGHTER STARTS DATING." There are also important historical mistakes such as the stating that in 1966 Koufax won his third straight Cy Young award. That is incorrect. Koufax didn't win three straight awards... though he did win the Cy Young in 1963,1965 and 1966. The reader is also let down when the most famous baseball fight in modern history involving the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers when Giant Juan Marichal hit Dodger catcher Johnnie Roseboro over the head with a bat is discussed, and none of the prior game detail that culminated in this horrendous event is covered.
When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles Vinnie and the transistor radio is what fueled the Dodgers growth in popularity as much as the team itself. Every member of the family from Grandma and Grandpa... to Mom and Dad... and the kids... all knew Vince Scully simply... and lovingly... by one word "VINNIE". He was a one name superstar way before Madonna... Britney... Magic and Michael. Vinnie was voted *THE MOST MEMORABLE PERSONALITY IN THE HISTORY OF THE LOS ANGELES DODGER FRANCHISE!* This book chronologically covers all the bases in Scully's career... but it is not an easy read due to the sloppiness mentioned earlier. What may or may not be an interesting coincidence... is that this book and the last shoddy baseball book I read... were both mysteriously delivered a couple of weeks "earlier" than the original release dates that had been posted on Amazon for months. Perhaps the publishers cut down on quality control to simply get the books out quicker than originally scheduled for some unknown marketing reasons. If so... I hope they learned their lesson.
Pull Up a Chair: The Vin Scully Story OverviewIn 1950, Vin Scully broadcast his first major league baseball game for the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. Nearly sixty years later he still invites a listener to 'pull up a chair," completing a record fifty-ninth consecutive year of play-by-play. Recruited and mentored by the legendary Red Barber, the New York-born Scully moved with the Dodgers to Los Angeles in early 1958. His instantly recognizable voice has described players from Duke Snider to Orel Hershiser to Manny Ramirez, with hundreds in between.At one time or another, Scully has aired NBC Television's Game of the Week, twelve All-Star Games, eighteen no-hitters, twenty-five World Series, and network football, golf, and tennis. He has made every sportscasting Hall of Fame; received a Lifetime Emmy Achievement award and a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; and been voted 'most memorable [L.A. Dodgers] franchise personality." In 2000, the American Sportscasters Association named Scully the Sportscaster of the 20th Century.The first biography of Vin Scully is long overdue. Curt Smith-to USA Today, 'The voice of authority on baseball broadcasting"-is the ideal man to write it. Scully opens each broadcast by wishing listeners, 'A very pleasant good afternoon." Pull Up a Chair will provide a reader with the same.

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White Angels: Beckham, the Real Madrid and the New Football Review

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White Angels: Beckham, the Real Madrid and the New Football ReviewThis book delves deeply into the business of European Soccer and is a great book to read after the beckham experiment by Grant WahlWhite Angels: Beckham, the Real Madrid and the New Football OverviewA look at soccer superstar David Beckham, the Real Madrid team he joined in 2003, and at how this combination has forever changed the face of the world's most popular sport.

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The Economics of Football Review

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The Economics of Football ReviewI just got the newer version in the mail today. It is about 8 years more recent. Similar material and price but the newer version seems to have broken up some of the chapters into smaller pieces.The Economics of Football OverviewThis book presents an original economic analysis of the English professional football industry. The economic influences on decisions taken by owners, managers, players and spectators are all considered, using theoretical and empirical methods of economic investigation. The empirical analysis draws on English club-level data, with extensive international comparisons. Concludes with an extended discussion of a number of major economic policy issues affecting the future of the football industry, including European super league proposals, contractual arrangements in the players' labor market, and football's evolving relationship with the broadcasting media.

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Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship Review

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Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship ReviewFor those of us who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, The Sound and Fury is a wondrous re-telling of the period through the lives of two unlikely partners, Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali. It is not a boxing book. It is a work of social history, responsibly reported and told. Dave Kindred's superior writing and interviewing have made a book that should last for many years. The tales of Cosell's and Ali's lives, each up-from-bootstraps, and their accidental friendship, will impress even the most jaded sports fans and grownups.
I could not stop reading this once I began.Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship Overview

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Cougars of any Color: The Integration of University of Houston Athletics, 1964-1968 Review

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Cougars of any Color: The Integration of University of Houston Athletics, 1964-1968 Review
The University of Houston should be proud of it's contribution to collegiate sports. "Cougars of Any Color" tells a story of courage and determination by UH to dismantle segregated athletics. This book has very thorough documentation and first person accounts and is a quick read.Cougars of any Color: The Integration of University of Houston Athletics, 1964-1968 OverviewAfter years of playing sub-par teams in weak athletic conferences, the University of Houston athletic program sought to overcome its underdog reputation by integrating its football and basketball programs in 1964. Cougar coaches Bill Yeoman and Guy V. Lewis knew the radical move would grant them access to a wealth of talented athletes untouched by segregated Southern programs, and brought on several talented black athletes in the fall semester, including Don Chaney, Elvin Hayes, and Warren McVea. By 1968, the Cougars had transformed into an athletic powerhouse and revolutionized the nature of collegiate athletics in the South. This book gives the Cougars athletes and coaches the recognition long denied them. It outlines the athletic department's handling of the integration, the experiences of the school's first black athletes, and the impact that the University of Houston's integration had on other programs.

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Broadcast Rites and Sites: I Saw It on the Radio with the Boston Red Sox Review

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Broadcast Rites and Sites: I Saw It on the Radio with the Boston Red Sox ReviewThis book was awful. I lost this book halfway through and it didn't matter to me. Normally if I lost a book I would go through the house so I could finish it.
I'm a big Sox fan and Joe Castiglione is a great broadcaster, but he's not a great author. One star for trying.Broadcast Rites and Sites: I Saw It on the Radio with the Boston Red Sox Overview

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On Any Given Sunday: A Life of Bert Bell Review

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On Any Given Sunday: A Life of Bert Bell ReviewAs one moves through On Any Given Sunday, A life of Bert Bell, it becomes clear that author Robert S. Lyons was holding back in certain areas to the extent it seems that he was "protecting" the story of a colorful, wonderful individual whose live needed no cover. It's not that Lyons did not get interesting stories. It is obvious that Bell's sons, Bert Jr and Upton did their best to convey their feelings about a father they loved. But Bell's live at home in no way covers the nuances of his professional career. It can't. It's the nature of families that children protect their parents - as they should - and they cannot know all a reader should want and get.
The big problem all who ever covered or knew Bell was his lack of a filing system, any system to run a business as the NFL. It is fair to say that Bert Bell acted as a transitory figure from the league's origins to the ultra-slick machine that his successor Pete Rozelle developed from the time he took office at age 33 in 1960. Bell never was the league strongman during his time as the unsuccessful owner of money-starved Philadelphia Eagles franchise, nor even as the commissioner that led the league into the television age. That man, of course, was Chicago Bears founder, owner-coach, and league founder George Halas who carried the league on his back for the first 40 years of its existence. Bert Bell understood that and he understood that all major decisions must be cleared through Halas. That Halas, a Godfather-like figure, operated for the good of the league, not just the welfare of his Bears, is the single salient point Lyons missed.
In his narrative Lyons missed the obvious connection in the television era - Bert Bell's long, close, and loyal friendship with W. Wallace Orr whose TEL RA Productions gave the league its first national exposure in a weekly highlights program to the nascent telvision audience. As long as Bell lived, Orr and Tel Ram thrived in a relationship with the NFL that Rozelle would end when he turnede over league business in 1962 to his own "guy" Ed Sabol and his Blair Motion Pictures that became NFL Films. That was a hard and real fact of Bell's life as his struggle to stay alive in a losing battle with heart disease that ended his life at a football game in 1959. It deserved exposure, explanation, and a the biographer's interpretation that Lyons did not provide.
Let there be no doubt that Bert Bell was a great and wonderful man, but Bob Lyons did not convey it to the detriment of his book.On Any Given Sunday: A Life of Bert Bell OverviewBert Bell, a native of Philadelphia, has been called the most powerful executive figure in the history of professional football. He was responsible for helping to transform the game from a circus sideshow into what has become the most popular spectator sport in America. In "On Any Given Sunday", the first biography of this important sports figure, historian Robert Lyons recounts the remarkable story of how de Benneville 'Bert' Bell rejected the gentility of a high society lifestyle in favor of the tougher gridiron and rose to become the founder of the Philadelphia Eagles and Commissioner of the National Football League. Bell, who arguably saved the league from bankruptcy by conceiving the idea for the annual player draft, later made the historic decision to introduce 'Sudden Death' overtime o a move that propelled professional football into the national consciousness. He coined the phrase 'On Any Given Sunday' and negotiated the league's first national TV contract. Lyons also describes in fascinating detail Bell's relationships with leading figures ranging from such Philadelphia icons as Walter Annenberg and John B. Kelly to national celebrities and U.S. Presidents.He also provides insight into Bell's colorful personal life o including his hell-raising early years and his secret marriage to Frances Upton, a golden name in show business. On Any Given Sunday is being published on the 50th anniversary of Bell's death. For more than 35 years, Robert S. Lyons has covered professional and college sports for the Associated Press and has contributed articles to numerous national publications. He is the author of "Palestra Pandemonium: A History of the Big Five", and co-author (with Ray Didinger) of "The Eagles Encyclopedia" (both Temple). He is the former director of the La Salle University News Bureau, editor of the university's alumni magazine, and an instructor in the school's Communications Department.

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The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels (Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series) Review

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The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels (Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series) ReviewFinally there's a book on the over-flowing wrestling literature market dedicated to the wrestlers that we, the enthusiastic legion of marks, absolutely love to hate. We call them bad guys, villains, or evil-doers, but in the carnival world of professional wrestling, they are known as "HEELS." The purpose of a wrestling heel is to create a buzz around a match or a storyline and influence the marks (fans) to buy tickets and maybe a little merchandise too - this "buzz" is called "HEAT." The heat generated by these sultans of immorality is ultimately the catalyst that builds up our favorite wrestlers, the ones we cheer for, into bonafide heroes. So in essence, the heel is the most important responsibility in a professional wrestling environment.
Established wrestling journalists, Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson, hit the road to conduct hundreds of interviews with wrestlers, managers, promoters, historians and many others to piece together mini-biographies of about seventy-five of the most hated grapplers of all-time. Starting with a top twenty, and then cycling through several categories such as Pioneers, Madmen, Monsters, Technicians, Foreigners and several others (I'm not going to spoil it for you!). All of your favorite bad guys are found in the latest publication in the "Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame" series. Previous Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame books featured compelling stories about Canadian wrestlers, and Tag Teams - both highly recommended.
My personal favorite heel of all-time, The Sheik, did make it to the top twenty but did not place first as I would have prophesized; however the top twenty is a veritable who's who of wrestling villainy.

Some other Hall of Fame heels you can look forward to reading about are (in no particular order); Randy Savage, George "The Animal" Steel, Gorgeous George, Fred Blassie, Gorilla Monsoon, Eddie Gilbert, Nick Bockwinkel, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Mr. Perfect, The Iron Sheik, Jake "the Snake" Roberts, Ted DiBiase, Bad News Allen, JBL, Rick Rude, Bulldog Brower (featured on the cover photo), Johnny Valentine, Terry Funk and that is only the tip of the blood-soaked iceberg. There is a perfect blend of old school and new school incorporated into this book and there are several chapters covering some very obscure wrestlers, who nevertheless are deserving of a mention in this book. All the many heel philosophies are covered in this book, from guys who use fear to manipulate the audience, to the connivers who use their superior intellect to outsmart their opponents, to the guys who pride themselves on being bar-room brawl specialists - you really get a feel for the art of being a wrestling bad guy in, and sometimes out of, the squared circle. It's a fascinating journey that manages to maintain a positive twist despite the focus on debauchery that occurs within the professional wrestling realm.
The wrestling industry has always been build on the philosophy of good vs. evil - but the truth of the matter is one cannot survive without the other. To quote my old pal, Diamond Dallas Page (who is not featured in this book), that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing!

Reviewed by Brad Dykens of OnlineWorldofWrestling.comThe Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels (Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame series) OverviewAs the first comprehensive look at the ruffians, rascals, and rule breakers in the wrestling business, this history explains the rise of the wrestling villain, the reasons for his (or her) success, and the impact these sordid characters have had on the sport. Based on first-hand interviews with hundreds of wrestlers, managers, promoters, and historians, these entertaining profiles document wrestling's top rotten apples from the 1920s to today, providing plenty of support for the book's claim that fans love to hate the bad guys as much as they love to love the heroes. With remarkable candor, wrestling's troublemakers explain why they became villains and how they perceived and honed their roles; the sport is richer for the presence of the nefarious ones-and they know it. With more than 150 never-before-seen photos, this book will satisfy devoted fans and inspire everyone else to take a look at the exciting and often bizarre world of professional wrestling.

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The Rough Guide to Cult Football (Rough Guide Reference Series) Review

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The Rough Guide to Cult Football (Rough Guide Reference Series) ReviewI picked this book up on sale, not sure what to expect - having only a small knowledge of "soccer" (aka football for those in the UK) - I really enjoyed it. Rather than give you the basics of the game, it mostly shares odd stories and tales of bizarre personalities, from the famous (like George Best) to the unknown. There's also a few amusing anecdotes about the many ill-fated attempts to introduce "soccer" into the US. A quick, fun read that will make you want to learn more.The Rough Guide to Cult Football (Rough Guide Reference Series) Overview"The Rough Guide to Cult Football" is the ultimate companion to the beautiful game. The only football book of its kind, it goes beyond the usual back page material to uncover the most amazing stories and unlikeliest personalities on Planet Football. It reveals the stories behind the mavericks and cult figures that make up the real heroes of the game - from cultured mid fielders to jailbirds, drinkers to hard men, local legends to international wanderers. "The Rough Guide to Cult Football" looks at everything from special clubs - like the New York Cosmos and Berwick Rangers - to managers and football rivalries - from 'El Clasico' to the Faroe Islands derby, via an unusual roll-call of talent that stretches from Ferenc Puskas to Stan Bowles, Eric Cantona to Jose Chilavert and Garrincha to Perry Groves. It also recalls extraordinary games, from 'The Battle of Highbury' to underdog fixtures where the likes of Northern Ireland, Wimbledon and Dynamo Kiev overcame the might of Spain, Liverpool and the Nazis. Post-match analyses of football culture, ephemera, science and some strange statistics, complete this ultimate fiesta of football fun.

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The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty Review

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The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty ReviewBill Walsh was the brilliant, insecure coach who won immortality with the the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980's. Mr. Harris follows his career from the Bengals of Paul Brown to Stanford (and other stops in-between) to the 49ers. He perfected an air attack that became known as the West Coast Offense and drafted the players to carry it out (Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, Jerry Rice, etc). The book is heavy on football and light on his personal life which is a pity -- he was eccentric enough that his personal life merits a deeper look. Having died a year ago of leukemia, Walsh won three Super Bowls (1982, 1985, 1989) in his tenure as coach before retiring on his own terms. Mr. Harris interviewed the coach extensively before his death and got the details right.The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty Overview

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Golf's Greatest Championship: The 1960 U.S. Open Review

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Golf's Greatest Championship: The 1960 U.S. Open ReviewGolf's Greatest Championship: The 1960 U.S. Open is an in-depth history of a pivotal golf game. On the final two holes of the 1960 U.S. Open, there was only one stroke difference between the three leaders: veteran players Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmar, and talented newcomer Jack Nicklaus. Golf's Greatest Championship brings the close competition to vivid life; the sports narrative remains as captivating today as it was fifty years ago. An excellent read or giftbook for golf enthusiasts everywhere.Golf's Greatest Championship: The 1960 U.S. Open Overview

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Brand NFL: Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport (Caravan Book) Review

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Brand NFL: Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport (Caravan Book) ReviewMichael Oriard explores an area relatively uncovered in the vast flow of information about football. And that is the establishment of the NFL as a business, especially a media and entertainment enterprise instead of a simple sport played by romanticized warriors.
Oriard is first-rate on the history of the game and its development from a minor sport to the top tier starting in the late 1950s and 1960s. He nicely balanced football and its personalities, such as Lombardi, with the awakening of football as a business, primarily under the timely leadership of Pete Rozelle. People who remember the 1960s should enjoy the history, and young fans could find much to learn. The author is informative and concise.
He then moves into the next wave, with Joe Namath as one of the anchors, with his free spirit and large contract as indicators that, in retrospect, were seminal that seem almost quaint by now. Wow, long hair and white shoes! Here again, the personalities and the business evolved as parallel trends, influencing each other. Pete Rozelle began to lose his grip and the stakes got too high as football became America's #1 sport and the media coverage meant problems became public. Financial visionaries such as Jerry Jones of Dallas were about to open another whole dimension.
Oriard writes extensively about the beginning of the labor movement within football, all the way to the current relative peace. This is possibly both one of the strongest and weakest parts of the book. The strength is that the topic is relatively unfamiliar and normally underestimated in its importance, plus Oriard the ex-player has that insider's perspective. The weakness may be that it may be more than many fans wanted to know, and Oriard certainly is not impartial. Even so, the one-sided nature of owner-player relationship in the old days is almost appalling to read now. Younger fans may also be shocked to hear how little revenue football had and how little players made.
Oriand tackles one of the third rails of sports, that of why black athletes dominate, black cultural issues as they relate to football, and both subtle and obvious racism. He makes some reasonable observations, while also hemming and hawing around specifics where you cannot really win. The "exception" in my title is that he really should have stayed away from intelligence, other than the obvious history of blacks being kept from so-called skill positions that allegedly needed mental skills beyond their capacity. Wading into general intelligence controversies served no purpose, and Oriand misrepresented the famous "Bell Curve" book anyway. In this case, stick to your knitting.
Oriand closed with the transition from Paul Tagliabue to Roger Goodell as the new commissioner, naturally a time to re-assess the state of the business. To Oriand, Goodell fits football's continued growth in complexity that demands far more than Pete Rozelle the PR man. Oriand is very optimistic about football's future, yet he doesn't shy from some of the risks.
That attitude helps the general tone and credibility of the book. A breathless "homer" would have been uninteresting. A negative beat-down would have been unrealistic and pointless. As he said near the end, "Is the NFL become primarily a media company, or, is it still, above all, a national *football* league? It is both, of course, but the balance has been shifting, and how the commissioner will manage that balance over the coming years will be the story of the post-new NFL, whatever it will be called."
I can't argue with that. What I hope Oriand and Goodell realize is that excessive commercialization is itself a major risk. Major sporting events already are flirting with unwatchability with all the commercials and side shows. It's one area that could have gotten a bit more attention here. Why exactly is it that people like me watch less football than before, why don't I want to pay for the NFL Network, and why don't I like being shaken down at every opportunity by Dan Snyder?Brand NFL: Making and Selling America's Favorite Sport (Caravan Book) Overview

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Loyal Sons: The Story of the Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football's 1924 Champions Review

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Loyal Sons: The Story of the Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football's 1924 Champions ReviewJim Lefebvre's description of teamwork, sportsmanship and relentless perseverance exhibited by the team members of the 1924 Notre Dame football team in his book Loyal Sons far exceeded my expectations of what I thought was going to be an interesting historical read about four football players on horseback, a famous Coach, an undefeated season and an invitation to the Rose Bowl.
This is a great book about football...and so much more.
Jim captures the interwoven essence of strong character, devout families, hard work, integrity, selflessness and coachability that made this unpretentious team of young gentlemen "raise the bar" for those who followed.
Mr. Lefebvre's accounting of Knute Rockne and his coaching staff's ability to balance priority of education with a season of unprecedented athletic success and snowballing national recognition for Notre Dame revealed to me a non-compromising dynamic of Rockne's success.
Coach Rockne instilled in his players two important lessons: 1, sacrifice, dedication and hard work yield results; and 2, there is life after football
Don't miss the Epilogue.

Sparky Aldridge
Loyal Sons: The Story of the Four Horsemen and Notre Dame Football's 1924 Champions OverviewWinner, Bronze Medal--Sports/Recreation/Fitness Category2009 Independent Publisher Book AwardsAward-Winning Finalist--Sports: Autobiography/Biography CategoryThe National "Best Books" 2009 AwardsFinalist--Sports Category2010 National Indie Excellence Book Awards"An engaging read.... Especially recommended for football enthusiasts with a passion for the history of the sport." ----The Midwest Book Review"Jim Lefebvre has scored big on both the research and the writing...a great read--whether you are a fan of Notre Dame, Notre Dame football, U.S. history, college athletics, or the human spirit." ---Denis Gullickson, author, Before They Were The PackersTheir photograph is legendary--among the most recognizable images in the history of American sports iconography. Yet who were these Four Horsemen of Notre Dame? How did they become Fighting Irish? What did they and their teammates accomplish under Coach Knute Rockne? And why did it matter?After all these decades, their story is finally told in Loyal Sons--in breathtaking detail that fully engages the reader. The first-ever book-length treatment of this famous team and its triumphant 1924 national championship season is a ground-breaking work of sports history. We learn how these sons of miners and merchants, grocers and doctors are drawn to the University of Notre Dame, and what they helped create once there. Follow along as the '24 Irish literally take the game of college football from coast to coast. Along the way, their flair, timing and teamwork earn for Notre Dame countless new followers, as the phenomenon of Rockne's "wonder team" sweeps the nation.Loyal Sons is a great football story--and so much more. It provides snapshots of American life in the 1920s and chronicles grand dreams, hard work, setbacks and challenges, serendipitous timing, motivation and spirit. Loyal Sons is a must-read for fans of college football history and a treasured keepsake for all those who cherish Notre Dame.

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Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism. Review

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Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism. ReviewReview of Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism by Andrei S. Markovits and Steven L. Hellerman, Princeton University Press, 2001. This remarkable book asks the question "why is there no soccer in the United States." Immediately you respond, "OF COURSE THERE IS!!! My kids play it all the time!!" Markovits and Hellerman would respond, however, that, yes, soccer is played in the US but it is not felt, dreamt, and lived. Fathers and mothers are not drawing on their own wealth of experience in teaching their kids how to play soccer, as they do with other sports; "pick-up games" only infrequently involve soccer; it is simply not part of the texture of daily life, as is checking the box scores of your favorite baseball team. In this book, the authors explain why the US is so different in its "sports space," as the authors call it, from almost all other countries - where soccer, generally known as football, is dominant.More broadly, Offside also offers one of the most interesting attempts to understand the spread of sports internationally. Not only do the authors' question the argument about the globalization of everything but they assert that we need to understand a given country's history and even more so its sports history to grasp how its sports space is configured. Thus, in attempting to explain "why there is no soccer in the US," they discuss the role that powerful organizations have played in cementing baseball, basketball, and football (and to a lesser extent, hockey) into the US sports space during the key 1870-1930 industrialization period and how difficult it has been for other endeavors to gain a strong foothold. Markovits and Hellerman's integration of media, political, and economic factors into this analysis and their complex comparative design (comparisons of sports, countries, time periods) provide us with an excellent model to follow and engage in our further studies of the internationalization (or not!) of sports.In short, this is an excellent, comprehensive account of how and why the "world's game" has not become a part of the American way of life. Drawing on many sources of evidence, ranging historically and cross-nationally, the authors have masterfully told an innovative and original story about US sports.Offside: Soccer and American Exceptionalism. Overview

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In Pursuit of the Yellow Jersey: Bicycle Racing in the Year of the Tortured Tour (Cycling Resources) (Cycling Resources Book) Review

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In Pursuit of the Yellow Jersey: Bicycle Racing in the Year of the Tortured Tour (Cycling Resources) (Cycling Resources Book) ReviewCovering the European peloton for decades, Sam Abt has seen it all and brought it all to life for those of us who can only dream, someday, of going and watching the Tour in person. The 1998 edition of the race is one we all remember, and most of us would like to forget. Since the only way to learn from the past is to revisit it, we have to go back there from time to time, and the best way to do this is by reading In Pursuit of the Yellow Jersey.
As he often does, instead of jumping right in to the Tour de France, Abt takes us through the season's early tests -- the classics -- setting the scene for what's to come in July; a scene for which none of us were ready.
Once the stuff hits the fan, he's there with all the detail and all the opinions you'll need to know exactly what's going on and just exactly how the riders feel about it. But there's more to this book than just the drug scandals; there are the day to day events that make up the very heart of the race, described in vivid detail. And let's not forget the American who ended up on the podium that year.In Pursuit of the Yellow Jersey: Bicycle Racing in the Year of the Tortured Tour (Cycling Resources) (Cycling Resources Book) OverviewThis personal account of the 1998 Tour de France recounts the numerous sensational events throughout the race, including the doping scandals and the favourite competitors who dropped out or trailed behind. It also discusses the great racing that took place.

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