Product Description
Only reference book to ever document the history of sports teams and leagues, both current and defunct, through their use of logos. Over 2350 logos, 83 leagues (49 defunct), 1600 different teams and sports trivia. Must have reference book for anyone involve in sports, i.e., sports fans, logo lovers, athletic directors, graphic designers, leagues, attorneys, broadcasters, journalists, libraries, marketing professionals, sporting good manufacturers and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

a lot of effort for garbage
the author put a lot of effort into developing this book but he must have spent a dollar getting it printed the photo quality is horrioble at best and the logos are all black and white don't waste your time

lots of logos but poor quality
try to preview the book before purchasing it. granted there was a lot of time involved in accumulating the logo pics but the quality of printing suffered. the author should use another printer for his next edition.

very poor quality black and white images
I don't understand why anyone would take as much time accumulating the large QUANTITY of logos this book contains, and then produce a book with such poor QUALITY images.I'd advise anyone to try to view the book beforebuying - I know if I had I would not have spent the money.

Sounds like acouple of the 'reviews' here are not by purchasers such as myself, but areactually pitches from someone trying to increase sales volume.

Outstanding source of Interesting sports logos.One of kind
John Fulgaro's SPORTS LOGO GUIDE is the only book of it's kind and is with out a doubt a necesity for any true sports fan.He has gathered together obscure and defunct team and league logos across the US and Canada.Healso shows the evolution of current teams logos and speciality ones foranniversaries and all-star events.The color front and back covers showmany interesting logos. You may recognize the Chicago Cubs, but where didthe Montreal Beavers play?One of my favorites is the Jersey Turnpikes. Very clever nickname and logo for a team that had to travel cheaply andoften.All major sports are covered and any fan should add this book tohis reference collection if doe no other reason then for more history abouthis favorite team and sport.

huge disappointment- black & white logos, low quality print
When I ordered the book, there was only one review which was very positive.I ordered the book with high expectations.When it arrived, I was very disappointed.The logos are not only in black and white ratherthan color, the print quality is about that of a copy machine.

While thebook does contain some logos I've not found elsewhere, many of them areavailable via a web search -- often in color and of better quality. ... Read more

Product Description
Sports Cars highlights the best cars of the high-performance experience. They look great, drive superbly, and go faster than other cars on the road.This book is a photographic celebration of the greatest cars ever made. From the groundbreaking Porsche 911, to the classic creations of the Italian firms Ferrari and Lamborghini, this book features all of the best sports cars. A series of chapters deals with the breed chronologically, from the prewar World War II roots right up to the present day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Corvette C5(Sports Car Color History) Paternie,MBI-2004,Softcover book-Great C5 BOOK!
Great Corvette book,Great C5 Book By Patrick Paternie, Lots of Information,Color Photos, Development on the car up to the Last year!2004. and C5-R! Including Le Mans Special Edition(Blue) C5-R'S! Great Book for any Corvette Fanatic!

A blast to view and read
I had a great time reading this book. The technical information was solid with the exception of a few minor details. The text is well laid out along with imagery on almost every page. I would defiantly recommend this book or current or soon to be C5 owners.

Good read,but incomplete
This was a good history of the C-5 Corvette, of which I knew little.The only flaw is the book covers engineering and body extensively and practically skips over the interior.The only real interior photographs are of non-stock customs in the back of the book.A complete book on a car should cover the COMPLETE car.

C5 (Sports car color history)
Informative, but not boring, and a great look at the C5 in all its many trials and tribulations.A great bookend for "All corvette are red"

I highly recomend it to any C5 fan.

One of the better titles on C5
At this writing, in late 2004, there are a number of books about the 1997-2004 "C5" Corvettes out there. One of the best and also my favorite is All Corvettes are Red by the late, Jim Schefter. It's a great history of the design and development of theC5, however, "ACR" is a traditional, hardcover title with only a few photos.

Patrick Paternie's C5 Corvette is a nice companion for Schefter's book in that it's a sortof executive summary of what's in ACR but with a little more technical depth, especially on the C5's engines and, most importantly, it has a lot of photos, mainly from GM's Media Archive and noted automotive photographer, David Newhardt. On my Corvette bookshelf, these two are kept next to each other.

One thing C5 Corvette has that All Corvettes are Red does not is a chapter on the C5-R race program. Additionally, where Schefter's book ends with the 1997 model year, Paternie's book covers all the way until the platform ended production at the end ofthe 2004 model year. These qualities of the book were more reasons why I've added C5 Corvette to my collection.

The book's only weakness is the author's misunderstanding of some aspects of the C5's suspension. The technical discussion of that contains several errors, particularly in areas where the Author tries to cover a key, C5 chassis design feature: the decoupling of ride-and-handling through specific suspension bushing placement and design.

As a whole, C5 Corvette reads easy, is an interesting story of the '97-'04-car's design, development and production, is delightful to look at and is a worthwhile addition to any late model Corvette enthusiast's reference collection ... Read more

Product Description
Perhaps more than any other two colleges, Harvard and Yale gave form to American intercollegiate athletics--a form that was inspired by the Oxford-Cambridge rivalry overseas, and that was imitated by colleges and universities throughout the United States.Focusing on the influence of these prestigious eastern institutions, this fascinating study traces the origins and development of intercollegiate athletics in America from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Smith begins with an historical overview of intercollegiate athletics and details the evolution of individual sports--crew, baseball, track and field, and especially football.Then, skillfully setting various sports events in their broader social and cultural contexts, Smith goes on to discuss many important issues that are still relevant today: student-faculty competition for institutional athletic control; the impact of the professional coach on big-time athletics; the false concept of amateurism in college athletics; and controversies over eligibility rules.He also reveals how the debates over brutality and ethics created the need for a central organizing body, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, which still runs college sports today. Sprinkled throughout with spicy sports anecdotes, from the Thanksgiving Day Princeton-Yale football game that drew record crowds in the 1890s to a meeting with President Theodore Roosevelt on football violence, this lively, in-depth investigation will appeal to serious sports buffs as well as to anyone interested in American social and cultural history. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (7)

Use it as kindling!!!
The book starts out with inaccurate statistics. This has to be on the part of the authors. It is easy to find the winningest teams of all time the list should be accurate. Coverage of the selected teams is poor. For 15 years of research this is garbage. The selection of teams is poor. The top teams are included as they should be. Some of the teams included should rarely be mentioned in the discussion of college football; while some of the of the teams that have been at the heart of the college football discussions over the last ten years are excluded. If you need kindling here you go. If you are interested in college football DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!!

college football fans, buy this book
If you are a college football fan, this is a must have.This book has stats and scores and standings so in a way it is similar to the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia: The Complete History of the Game(which I own and reviewed) but what sets this book apart from that one, and what makes it far more itneresting, are the game (for major games for every week during the season, plus bowls) and season recaps.Essentially the game recaps are the same as what you would read in the newspaper the day after the game, and the season recaps give a one page description of the stories and trends in each of the seasons from 1953 to 2006.

The second half of the book lists the 70 (arguably) most notable college football playing schools since 1953 with scores and school records, as well as starting lineups for each school for these years.This section isn't any better than the similar section in the ESPN book, a lot of the info here is the same but this book does have the above mentioned starting lineups.

The product information describes this book as getting "to the heart of college football competition" and being a "fun read".I agree whole heartedly with those statements.If you want one book to cover college football history, this is the book to get.If you read the reviews and the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia seems a better fit for you, I still recomend buying this book alongside that one.

A must-have reference that trounces ESPN
Fifty Years of College Football is a little-known giant of a book that blows away the competition like the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia.Fifty Years even has a bonus...it actually chronicles 54 football seasons of all the important college teams, and does it in an amazingly detailed style.It supplies information on the top 70 football programs that can be found in very few books of this type.

For example, ESPN'sbook offers scores of games but otherwise all but ignores the exciting action that took place on the field.For its part, Fifty Years chronicles every important moment in more than 7,000 important college games.ESPN spoons up inconsistent "teams of the century" for each school while Fifty Years taps each major school's best 54 players, arranged as a squad ready to take on the world.Very cool!

ESPN provides a chart of each team's season leader in stats while Fifty Years lists each starting player and many reserves on offense and defense and supplies all the important stats in each season during the modern era since the early 1950s.

Boyles and Guido make football history come alive, and their amazing effort is massive, and an incredible bargain.

50 Years of College Football
This is the best college football history book I have found.It covers every week since 1953.It has the starting line up of the top 70 college teams for all those years.
It has a year by year wrap up of awards, bowls and polls.It has the All-American teams.You'll never find a book on college football that has the complete history this book contains.
The book settles a lot of arguments.
I purchased this book for many of my friends
The book is well put together and the information is easy to find.

Great resource
This thing is a behemoth. Over 1300 pages and a lot of it is in small type. So, what is 50 Years of College Football? Authors Bob Boyles have compiled something that has to be the most inclusive review of the last 50 years of college football available. It just as easily could have been called "The College Football Dictionary" as that's what it resembles.

It provides a review of 70 teams over the years 1953 to 2006. Each review contains basic school information, andcareer, season, and game statistical leaders - typical of stuff you'd find in a school's media guide. The reviews include won-loss records, coaching records, and bowl records, the scores of all games - stuff that isn't hard to find if you're a powerhouse school, but may be difficult if you're trying to find information on someone lesser known. The season's starting lineups and statistical leaders are also included - that is information that can be very hard to find, especially if you're interested in going back all the way to 1953.

The yearly reviews start with an entertaining and informative overview of each year, highlighting events on and off the field. As an example, the 1961 review relates how the Ohio State faculty voted down a Rose Bowl bid, resulting in the Columbus Dispatch printing each voting faculty member's name, address, and amount of reimbursed out-of-state travel they'd had over the past year. We're told that Woody Hayes was pivotal in quelling potential student riots. (Ah, the good old days!)

The preseason rankings are provided, and a recap of games played between ranked teams and many rivals are reviewed, which comes to more than 7,500 game recaps total. These don't include every game ever played, but obviously a huge number of them, including a "Game of the Year" for each season. .Each year concludes with a listing of conference standings, bowl game reviews, All-America teams, Heisman Trophy voting along with other major award winners. As if that weren't enough (but wait, there's more!), you also get the first eight rounds of each season's NFL draft.

There is a freakish amount of information in 50 Years of College Football, almost too much. At a cost under $20 (see the Amazon price above), it's pretty affordable as a historical reference. It's handy for bloggers like me to go back and find something interesting to write about and it should be in the hands of any college fans that likes to "one-up" their friends. Hmmmm.... wouldn't that be just about all of us? ... Read more

Product Description
In the late 1850s organized baseball was a club-based fraternal sport thriving in the cultures of respectable artisans, clerks and shopkeepers, and middle-class sportsmen. Two decades later it had become an entertainment business run by owners and managers, depending on gate receipts and the increasingly disciplined labor of skilled player-employees. Playing for Keeps is an insightful, in-depth account of the game that became America's premier spectator sport for nearly a century. Reconstructing the culture and experience of early baseball through a careful reading of the sporting press, baseball guides, and the correspondence of the player-manager Harry Wright, Warren Goldstein discovers the origins of many modern controversies during the game's earliest decades. The 20th Anniversary Edition of Goldstein's classic includes information about the changes that have occurred in the history of the sport since the 1980s and an account of his experience as a scholarly consultant during the production of Ken Burns's Baseball. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A walk, not a hit
In baseball terms, Warren Goldstein's book is a walk, not a hit.It's good, but you always feel there was a more satisfying way to get to first base.As a fan of baseball and an avid reader of history, this book seemed like a natural fit for me, but while decent, there was also something missing.

Covering the history of baseball up to 1876 (when the National League came into being), The History of Early Baseball follows the development of the sport from an amateur recreation to a professional competition.In the beginning (in the 1850s), the early versions of baseball were played by clubs who would occasionally compete with each other.There wasn't much rhyme or reason to which teams played each other or even the exact rules.The people who played were from all walks of life, and it was strictly a part-time activity.

Eventually, however, the game got refined.Players started playing specific positions and the best players started representing the clubs.Eventually, to guarantee that such players wouldn't defect, money got into the equation.The transition from amateur recreation to professional sport was gradual but inevitable.

The principal flaw with the book is that Goldstein writes as a historian, and this subject may be better covered by a sports writer.Goldstein is interested in the changing economics of the game and the struggle between the management and the players.This is a fine subject, but the result is that we lose some sense of the sport itself.We don't read much about particular players or teams or games; in addition, the different rules of the 19th century game are not discussed in depth (with the exception of the "fly-ball rule").Every baseball era has its stars, from Cap Anson to Ty Cobb to Babe Ruth to Ted Williams to Hank Aaron; certainly the early baseball era should have a couple, too, but Goldstein really doesn't discuss these people.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and many baseball fans will too.The problem I mentioned does not keep the book from being an interesting read, but it does prevent it from getting a five star rating.Nonetheless, this is a recommended read for fans of the game.

Informative
A nicely written book regarding the beginings of base ball from 1857 - 1876.A great book for the baseball historian.

Informative
A nicely written book regarding the beginings of base ball from 1857 - 1876.A great book for the baseball historian.

Precise and to the point.
Warren Goldstein has written a extensive book on the early beginnings of baseball as a national past-time.He begins with the formation of base ball clubs during the 1850's and takes the history through the formation of the National League in 1876.During this time he highlights the transformation from a game played for fun and recreation to one played as a business.His insight into the history of the post-Civil War Era and the Industrial Revolution add to the social aspect of why baseball emerged into the professional sport which it became.He uses primary sources and footnotes them readily throughout the book.This is a must book for any fan of the game who wants to know the social evolution of the game as well as the famous participants and teams. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

Joe DiMaggio . . . Ted Williams . . . Joe Louis . . . Billy Conn . . . Whirlaway

Against the backdrop of a war that threatened to consume the world, these athletes transformed 1941 into one of the most thrilling years in sports history.

In the summer of 1941, America paid attention to sports with an intensity that had never been seen before. World War II was raging in Europe and headlines grew worse by the day; even the most optimistic people began to accept the inevitability of the United States being drawn into the conflict. In sports pages and arenas at home, however, an athletic perfect storm provided unexpected—and uplifting—relief. Four phenomenal sporting events were underway, each destined to become legend.
In 1941—The Greatest Year in Sports, acclaimed sportswriter Mike Vaccaro chronicles this astounding moment in history. Fueled by a somber mania for sports—a desire for good news to drown out the bad—Americans by the millions fervently watched, listened, and read as Joe DiMaggio dazzled the country by hitting in a record-setting fifty-six consecutive games; Ted Williams powered through an unprecedented .406 season; Joe Louis and Billy Conn (the heavyweight and light-heavyweight champions) battled in unheard-of fashion for boxing’s ultimate championship; and the phenomenal (some say deranged) thoroughbred, Whirlaway, raced to three heart-stopping victories that won the coveted Triple Crown of horse racing. As Phil Rizzuto perfectly expressed, “You read the sports section a lot because you were afraid of what you’d see in other parts of the paper.”
Gripping and nostalgic, 1941—The Greatest Year in Sports focuses on these four seminal events and brings to life the national excitement and remarkable achievement (many of these records still stand today), as well as the vibrant lives of the athletes who captivated the nation. With vast insight, Vaccaro pulls back the veil on DiMaggio’s anxieties and the building pressure of “The Streak,” and chronicles the brash, young confidence Williams displayed as he hammered his way through the baseball season largely in DiMaggio’s shadow. He takes readers inside the head of Billy Conn, a kid who traded in his light-heavyweight belt for a shot at the very decent and very powerful Joe Louis, and tells the story of the fire-breathing racehorse, Whirlaway, who was known either for setting track records or tearing off in the wrong direction.
Rich in historical detail and edge-of-your-seat reporting, Mike Vaccaro has crafted a lasting, important book that captures a portrait of one of America’s most trying, and extraordinary, eras.

Customer Reviews (9)

BUY THIS BOOK!
I was shopping with my wife & daughter in downtown Boston and managed to sneak away for a latte in one of those chi-chi bookstores. As I walked over to a table to sip my liquid treasure I passed by a table full of display books and this was one of them. I picked it up and started reading. It was about 30 minutes later my wife found me, and I was so involved in this book I didn't see her approaching the table.

This is one of the most facinating books I have read in a long time.

Yes, by all means sports fans will enjoy the four major events convered by "Greatest Year", but what is also convered is a years worth of major events also taking place on the world stage. 1941 was the last year America would know peace until 1945, and everybody knew, at some level, that war was coming and it was going to be ugly. Sports got us off page #1 and something else to think about for a while.

My favorite sporting item from this book was being reminded that while Joe DiMaggio was famously chasing his hitting streak, Ted Williams was quietly performing his own unique feat hitting .406 in an era when there was no such thing as steroids, Nautilus machines, Phd'd sports trainersor a "sacrifice fly". An era when pitchers never hesitated to knock batters down and umpires casually called a "ball" as punishment.

My favorite political item was learning that President Herbert Hoover warned against a rush to war. His concern? Wasting American lives in order to rescue Europe from Nazi enslavement only to see it handed over into Soviet enslavement. I had no idea anyone foresaw the "Iron Curtain", but Hoover did.

This is a great book, and a must read!

One of the Best Sports books on the market
Mike Vaccaro does it again. His New York Post columns are great, but his ability to pull a book together is fantastic. He also just recently wrote the foreword to the SportsByTheNumbers Yankees book: New York Yankees: An Interactive Guide to the World of Sports (Sports by the Numbers) If you love Mike Vaccaro, the New York Yankees, or baseball, then you need to buy both of these books.

awesome
Every summer I like to read a baseball book about the history of the game.Adding boxing and horse racing gave me an even better perspective about sports in that bygone era

Wonderfully engaging slice of American (sports) history
An eminently readable, enjoyable and enlightening work, one that weaves together not only Joe DiMaggio's and Ted Williams' early spectacular achievements, Vaccaro adds world history to the mix, breathing life into the memorable year, 1941. Throw in Billy Conn versus Joe Louis and mention the leading race horse of the day, and you have a full year of records, successes, and noteworthy competition -- darkened by Lou Gehrig's rapid demise and death and the Japanese and German march across the globe. Using daily highlights of games and events, quotes and personal angles on the stars, interviews with men who were there, and other sporting details, Vaccaro makes 1941 a wonderful year for sports fans.

A Book Worthy of a Great Sports Year
Mike Vaccaro's 1941 THE GREATEST YEAR IN SPORTS reads with all the excitement that well written sports stories should.Whirlaway's Triple Crown, the Louis-Conn title fight, Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak and Ted Williams' .406 batting average are four of the most significant events in sports history and for them to have occurred in the same year is remarkable.The political events in Europe and America are the backdrop for these events.

Whirlaway a three year old thoroughbred, that many thought was past his prime wins the Triple Crown and ultimately becomes the leading money winner, surpassing Seabiscuit.Eddie Arcaro replaces the regular jockey hours before the Derby, "connects" with him and rides Whirlaway to records that would stand until Secretariat in the 1970's.Vaccaro's writing style captures the drama and excitement of the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes such that it seems you're there, against the rail, shouting "here comes Whirlaway" along with the rest of the crowd.

The second event is the Joe Louis Billy Conn heavyweight fight.Louis was the reigning heavyweight champion while Conn held the light heavyweight crown neither fighter was being challenged by their competition and Conn knows that the only way to get respect and larger purses was to fight Louis and win.Vaccaro describes the pre-game hype and the personal side of each fighter; the description of the fight itself is like being ringside.The fight set records for gate and size of the purse as well as radio listeners.Louis wins in what may have been his toughest fight.

DiMaggio and Williams battled it out during the entire summer; both had significant hitting streaks with DiMaggio's likely never to be broken; while Williams' .406 batting average made him the last major leaguer to reach that milestone which is also destined to last for a long time.The two men had very different personalities, DiMaggio quiet and reserved; Williams cocky and verbose.Both exceptionally talented; DiMaggio assumed the mantle of Lou Gehrig, who died during the 1941 season, and led the team to a World Series win while Williams played for a Red Sox team that was mediocre at best.Both feats required incredible abilities and luck.Changes to baseball make the likelihood of a 56 game hitting streak or hitting over .400 unlikely.

These events served as a distraction to what was becoming the imminent involvement of America in the War and many of the sports figures, including Louis, DiMaggio and Williams would leave sports behind and do their part, even Whirlaway would compete in races that sold war bonds.

For the sports fan and general reader 1941 THE GREATEST YEAR IN SPORTS is an exciting, informative and enjoyable book.

... Read more

Product Description
Greg Proops uses archive, actuality and music as he travels from coast-to-coast exploring the fascinating sport of football. Episode one charts the early origins of the game from Native Americans to the Washington Redskins. Episode two examines the game's obsession with power, size and strength. Episode three explains the magic of Monday Night Football and how the game is in trouble in high schools. Episode four looks at super stadiums and the game's growing popularity abroad. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Superb Book about RX-7's.
"Sports Car Color History" Mazda RX-7 is just that.A picture book about Mazda's RX-7 model from its introduction in 1979 through the 1993 model year.The book includes a lot of specifications about the various versions and explains the variations between model years as well as some text about competition in each year.The book includes a lot of great pictures including engine pictures, interior, racing and exterior pictures.It includes enough to know which version is which and explains the thinking and development work behind the scenes.If you are interested in RX-7's you need this book!

Solid, well-rounded book
This book reviews the history of the RX-7 in a broad brush and well written format.It leaves off a little after the release of 1992 model so does not go into depth on the latest series of RX-7.

Else, good book.

A must have...
...for RX-7 enthusiasts. Provides a great history of and timeline of its progress. High quality. Well written by a John Matras who appears to be passionate about his RX-7s. Buy it!

Fabulous review of a terrific car
Matras has a way with words and a great knowledge of cars. The Mazda RX-7 thanks you, John!

Justice Served For the RX7
Matras did a very nice job of composing this book on the much-loved mazda rx-7. ... Read more

Product Description
A Social History of Indian Football covers the period 1850-2004. It considers soccer as a derivative sport, creatively and imaginatively adapted to suit modern Indian socio-cultural needs - designed to fulfil political imperatives and satisfy economic aspirations. The book is concerned with the appropriation, assimilation and subversion of sporting ideals in colonial and post-colonial India for nationalist needs.

The book assesses the role of soccer in colonial Indian life, to delineate the inter-relationship between those who patronised, promoted, played and viewed the game, to analyse the impact of the colonial context on the games evolution and development and shed light on the diverse nature of trysts with the sport across the country. Throughout this book, soccer is the lens that illuminates India's colonial and post-colonial encounter.

This volume was previously published as a special issue of the journal Soccer and Society. ... Read more

Product Description
Top critics and thinkers write about thepowerful impact that sports have on our ideas about race T alking about race and sports almost always leads to trouble. Rush Limbaugh's stint as an NFL commentator came to an abrupt end when he made some off-handed comments about black quarterback Donovan McNabb. Cincinnati Reds' owner Marge Schott and CBS commentator Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder also landed in hot water for public remarks that most people construed as racist. Ask a simple question along these lines- 'Why do African Americans dominate the NBA?'-and watch the sparks fly. It is precisely this flashpoint that these essays seekto explore. Sports wield a tremendous amount of cultural power in the United States and around the world, and often influence our ideas about race. In the Game brings together top thinkers on race who survey this treacherous terrain. They engagetopics like boxer Joe Louis's iconic status during theJim Crow era, race and soccer in Argentina, how blacks shaped the NFL in the 1970s, and American Indian sports team mascots. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good stuff
This book has such a great range of stuff, especially the essays by Bass, Dinerstein, Rotella, and Jacobson.They know sports, but they know alot of other stuff too.Very worth reading, even the more obscure stuff.

Intelligent and readable
This collection of essays is a good read for interested citizens and sports fans alike.It tackles the serious issues "in the game," and keeps your attention with a wide array of topics and amazing insights.It hits hard right from the beginning, with Bass's insightful and personal essay about the Red Sox, and continues with highlights from Joel Dinerstein, Matthew Jacobson (I'll never call Dick Allen "Ritchie" again!), and Carlo Rotella.A great book, whether you are on the beach or in the classroom, and important for all. ... Read more

Product Description

When you hear the words "Boston sports," does your mind flash to a place or to a person? Do you think of a fly ball arching over the Green Monster, a Celtic breaking across the parquet at Boston Garden, rowers skimming along the Charles River in autumn, or runners tackling the grueling stretch of "Heartbreak Hill" during the Boston Marathon? Or do you conjure faces--a smiling Babe Ruth, a bearded Bill Russell, a determined Rocky Marciano, a boyish and nimble Bobby Orr, or a defiant Pedro Martinez? Most likely, it is impossible to separate the two, impossible to imagine Bob Cousy on any court other than the Garden or Ted Williams playing at any field other than Fenway. Certain people and places are as inseparable as heads and tails on a penny.

The Rock, the Curse, and the Hub is a collection of original essays about the people and places that live in the minds and memories of Bostonians and all Americans. From the Boston of the young Bambino and even younger Francis Ouimet to the glories and agonies of 1986 and the struggles to keep the Patriots in town, each chapter focuses on the games and the athletes, but also on which sports have defined Boston and Bostonians. In a city of deep ethnic and class divisions, sports have provided a common ground, an intense shared experience. Pursuing the legend and the lore, these essays celebrate the players, the games, and the arenas that are at the heart of the city of Boston.

Product Description
From the informal games of Homer's time to the highly organized contests of the Roman world, Miller has compileda trove of ancient sources: Plutarch on boxing, Aristotle on the pentathlon, Philostratos on the buying and selling of victories, Vitruvius on literary competitions, and Xenophon on female body building. With nearly 50 percent more texts than the highly successful second edition, this new version of Arete offers readers an absorbing lesson in the culture of Greek athletics from the greatest of teachers, the ancients themselves, and demonstrates that the concepts of virtue, skill, pride, valor, and nobility embedded in the word arete are only part of the story from antiquity. Illustrations: 15 line illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"... beyond the dug-up area..."
This collection of excerpts from ancient sources concerning
athletes, athletic contests, skills, prizes, and the
athletic "mystique" is excellent.For it gives a
generous overview from different sources, from different
ancient venues, and from different time periods. The
reader gains a growing sense of the awe and reverence
in which skilled as well as beautiful athletes were
held, both by spectators at the events as well as
through the fame which they gained that was passed
down in inscriptions, statues, poetry, and the
memories of those who heard of their skills and
victories even in distant places.
The excerpts are not excessively long, but they are
highy interesting and instructive.The topics covered
by chapters are: the Earliest Days of Greek Athletics/
Nudity and Equipment/ The Events at a Competition
(Running, Wrestling, Boxing, Pankration, Pentathlon,
Equestrian, Music, Poetry and Prose Composition, Acting,
Painting)/ Organization of a Panhellenic Festival/ Local
Festivals/ Role of the Games in Society/ Women in
Athletics/ Athletes and Heroes/ Ball Playing/ Gymnasion,
Athletics, and Education/ Spread of Greek Athletics in
the Hellenistic Period/ Greek Athletics in the Roman
Period/ Amateurism and Professionalism/ Nationalism
and Internationalism/ Our Ideal and the Reality.
As the author, Stephen Miller, explains in the
"Introduction":"A definition of -arete- would
include virtue, skill, prowess, pride, excellence,
valor, and nobility, but these words, whether taken
individually or collectively, do not [completely]
fulfill the meaning of -arete-." *** "...the word
-arete- still carries with it a notion of ephemeral
excellence and of transient triumph that make its
translation an exceedingly risky business."
In any particular chapter, the sources cited
may include: Pausanias (author of the famous Guide
Book to Greece), statue inscriptions, Athenaeus
(author of the multi-volume -Deipnosophists-,
Scholars at Dinner), Diodorus Siculus, poetic
excerpts from the -Greek Anthology-, Plutarch,
the ancient poet Pindar, Plato's dialogues, Aristotle's
treatises, as well as many other Greek and Roman
sources.
The title which I chose for this review comes from
the chapter titled "The Events at a Competition"
and shows both the striving for excellence,
and the transience of the accomplishment (if
not the fame).The 3 excerpts concern the
athlete Phayllos of Kroton, who was a pentahlete.
Some of the ancient writers thought the pentathlete
was the physically most perfect and beautiful
of the athletic competitors. The excerpts come
from "The Suda", "a lexicon compiled toward the end
of the 10th century after Christ and based upon a
variety of earlier material" [Miller]. As "The
Suda" says: "Beyond the dug-up area": beyond
measure.A metaphor from the pentathlon [jumping
pit]. It is said to come from the pentathlete Phayllos
of Kroton who, when the skammata used to be 50 feet,
first exceeded them with his jumps, as the epigram
on his statue says: 'Five and fifty feet flew Phayllos'."
The transience and the agony of ancient competitions,
for they were even more brutal in some physical
aspects than any modern events, come in the 3rd
excerpt: "'To jump beyond the dug-up area': with
reference to doing something hyperbolically, because
Phayllos jumped more than 50 feet and tore up his
leg."
-- Robert Kilgore. ... Read more

Product Description
The all-time roster of Michigan State University athletics reads like a "Who's Who." Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Steve Garvey, Bubba Smith, Robin Roberts, Mateen Cleaves...the list grows with each new season. Now, for the first time, the complete history of MSU men's athletics is contained within the pages of a single book. The Spartan Sports Encyclopedia chronicles more than a century of Michigan State athletic history in an easy-to-read format. Included are vignettes about Spartan seasons and celebrities and an ultracomplete review of scores and statistics. This fantastic reference book is a must-have for any Spartan fan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Spartan Sports encylopedia by Jack Seibold
Excellent, huge book detailing MSU sports over many years. Could have used more photos, I think. A must for Spartan fans. I got mine from the used listings, very cheaply and have passed on to other MSU fans. ... Read more