Product Description

Customer Reviews (25)

Fun, hard-boiled and easy to read
Not your typical fantasy sword-and-sorcery tale, though there's plenty of both sword and sorcery here. The book easily demolishes fantasy cliches -- by embracing the cliches of the hard-boiled detective novel, instead. This is what Robert B. Parker's Spenser would be like if he was a private eye in the old medieval days. The narrow escapes are very narrow, the violence very violent -- this isn't a parody novel that doesn't take itself seriously. Instead, the world that Bledsoe creates is -- almost -- as believable as Parker's Boston.

Great concept, but with some flaws in execution.
This was a valid attempt at an under-explored, interesting concept.Bledsoe asked what would happen if I dropped a Marlowesque, hard-boiled detective type into a fantasy setting.To be honest, I am surprised that this is not a more common theme, so when I heard about this book I had to give it a try.

I think that he did a very admirable job melding these two genres, and from a broad perspective, I think the book was successful.The plot was intricate enough to keep your attention, although anyone who reads fantasy regularly probably knew how it would end about half way through the book.It was light, and easy, and funny in spots.Even the dark points weren't so bleak as to be depressing.

There were, however, some issues that I had a difficult time reconciling.First, the title of the book is simply ridiculous.It sounded silly before I read the book, but I figured that it would make sense by the time I was finished.It didn't.

Then there were the names.People in this book are given names like "Eddie" and "Mike", and "King Phil"(I'm not kidding).It makes me question if the author understands the fantasy genre at all. An important part of the setting is that the names are not modern.It helps transport the reader to a different world.I thought it made it difficult to stay immersed in his world. I can only assume that this was intentional, and meant as a wink-and-a-nudge to the detective part of the story.I just didn't think it was very effective.

While on the subject of names, I would like to mention a pet peeve of mine that crops up in a few places in this book.Simply spelling things backwards does not make it sound all fantasy-like.Examples include the capital city called Sevlow(wolves), and the Ogachic Mountains(Chicago, almost)...Wow...just wow.

The dialogue was equally jarring.Don't get me wrong, it was decent dialogue for a detective novel, and maybe that was intentional.For me though, all of the modern colloquialisms and speech patterns sort of ruined the sword & sorcery mood.Maybe if just our hero had spoken that way it would have been quirky and cool, but the way it was handled felt odd.

I realize that many of my issues with the book are sort of nitpicky, but put them all together, and I think they detract from the overall experience.Still, although I might not recommend running out and buying it, it is probably worth checking out from the library or picking up a used copy.It will get you through a rainy day.

Chandler meets Fireballs
The Sword-edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe is one of those rainy-day kinda novels. You know the type. It's not the deepest book on your bookshelf, but it's fun. It won't stick with you for weeks afterwards, but you can't put it down while you're reading it. It's got problems, but, for some reason, you're willing to look past `em. The Sword-edged Blonde doesn't set out to be anything more than what it is: a pulpy homage to Raymond Chandler, set in a world not unlike those found in any other Fantasy world. Bledsoe knew what he was aiming for, and hit the mark on the first try. Mostly.

It seems obvious: take the tried and true detective novel formula and plunk it down in a standard Sword & Sorcery world. Like Urban Fantasy throwing werewolves and vampires into the mix, putting a traditional story in a new setting can make the old feel new again and that seems to be exactly the angle Bledsoe was trying to take. He pulls more or less every cliche out of the book - a case with a personal connection to the gumshoesword jockey's past; amnesia; a murdered prince; gangsters, gambling dens and thugs; pretty girls and dangerous fellows - but uses them all with tongue firmly in cheek, and comes out the other end with a novel that's fun for all the right reasons.

Bledsoe's prose is easy to tear through, but oftentimes falls into being anachronistically modern. From characters named Cathy, Eddie, Phil and Mike, to casual language that has no right existing in Bledsoe's Medieval-era world, The Sword-edged Blonde takes the reader through a Fantasy world that at once feels archaic and exceedingly modern. This seems to be an intentional move on Bledsoe's part, to further attach the novel to its Noir roots, but requires a leap of faith from the reader. Though I was able to adjust to it rather easily, it could certainly be a deal-breaker for some readers.

World-building is light. Rather than seeming vague and skipped over, though, it gave me the sense that LaCrosse, and even the King he is working for, are just small fish in a vast ocean. So many Fantasy novels fall back on having protagonists who are important to the fate of the world, but in Eddie LaCrosse's case, he's just another guy doing his dirty job. Bledsoe, for the most part, keeps the magic and Fantasy elements light. There's forms of magic there, but not in the throwing-fireballs-and-calling-lightning-down-from-the-sky kind of way, but to say more would spoil the ultimate twist of the novel. There are no elves, and the only dwarf is no different than any three-foot tall gangster you'd find here in our world.

Like any good mystery novel, The Sword-edged Blonde is full of larger-than-life characters. Character interaction and dialogue are top-notch, and everybody stands out from the crowd, from the lowly barmaid who works below LaCrosse's office to the mysterious Queen, charged with her son's murder, to the monstrous father/son combo living deep in the woods and up to no good. Luckily, standing even further above the crowd is Eddie LaCrosse, the aforementioned Sword Jockey and narrator of the novel. LaCrosse is a private eye, so, naturally, he's got a past he's not too proud of and would sooner forget. Though the novel is ostensibly about a missing prince, the real meat of the novel is discovering who Eddie LaCrosse really is, and the direct connections his dark past has on the case he's working. Bledsoe sublimely intertwines two concurrent storylines, past and present, shedding light on the mysteries at just the perfect clip.

The actual mystery-solving is one of the less satisfying portions of the novel, especially when held up against the characters and the action. For a mystery novel to be truly successful, the author needs to lead the reader along, laying out clues and red herrings alike, giving them a sense that they're playing along, solving the crime alongside the detective. The best Agatha Christie novels will give you that `Eureka!' moment several times throughout, then pull the rug fully out from underneath you. The Sword-edged Blonde, however, spends too much time simply telling the plot twists, giving you huge chunks of the puzzle, after they've been interpreted by LaCrosse's sudden leaps of intuition, rather than doling out each piece of the puzzle to be played with individually, allowing you to try to find the answers on your own. Thus, The Sword-edged Blonde lacks the satisfaction of seeing all the pieces fall into place, and finally having that moment when you finally get it.

At times funny, at others gritty, brutal and relentless , The Sword-edged Blonde pulls together the best of Jim Butcher and Joe Abercrombie, deftly mixing Noir and Fantasy into a novel you can't help but love. Did it have problems? Sure. But I didn't care. I just wanted to know what came next. With Butcher paving the path for Noir Fantasy, the future is looking bright indeed with the addition of novelists like Alex Bledsoe. We'd be so lucky if the number of Eddie LaCrosse novels ever reach those of Harry Dresden. With the sequel, Burn Me Deadly, just released, Bledsoe's on his way, but has a long way to go yet.

Every page was a pleasure to read.
I am very impressed by Bledsoe and his 'Sword Edged Blonde'. I have probably read six dozen different fantasy genre authors in my time, and Bledsoe stands starkly apart in his story telling ability. Its remarkable in how well this author manages to pull off such an amazing mesh of fantasy and hard boiled detective noir.

Although I can NOT imagine Humphrey Bogart of 'The Big Sleep' picking up a sword, the narrative style of that film, or the authors Chandler and Hammett, are present. This is almost not a fantasy. Its not filled with Hobbits, orcs or Dragons. But it does contain peripherial aspects of magic. Not more than you would find in a Gabriel Garcia Marquez story, but enough to fully drag this story into that genre.

The plot surrounds Eddie LaCrosse (love the totally contemporary Euro Centric Yuppie naming here). Eddie is a wizened old warrior who now hires himself out as a Private Investigator. He is contacted by a friend from his childhood (the current king of Eddies homeland) and is asked to solve a complex puzzle of sorts.

The story then follows pretty much a step by step contemporary police procedural. This is a great read (and the authors first work???). Very nice, very readable, and a great gift.

A Melding of Two Genres Done Perfectly
Detective novel meets Swords & Sorcery is a lethal combination in the hands of Bledsoe.No one has succeeded with such an enjoyable melding of the two before. The Sword-Edged Blonde stars Eddie LaCrosse who is a very tragic guy, but it takes time to find out why.Bledsoe teases well with LaCrosse's backstory, which had me up late and early to get a further into his head.LaCrosse was a mercenary for many years after leaving his homeland and never returning.Well, never returning until an old friend who is now King calls him home to solve the murder of his son, which right now points at his wife the Queen Rhiannon. The noir style comes out in full force as Eddie questions people and traipses about the countryside looking for evidence that will exonerate the Queen or confirm her heinous acts.

The action sequences are well planned, realistic, and exhilarating. The Sword-Edge Blonde is as fast paced a book you'll likely find.The magic is on the low side, which works well to make the rest of the action believable, but it does seem to come in handy when it is needed. Bledsoe creates some interesting relationships and makes you think gods are not all they are cracked up to be.Also, the names of the characters threw me a little.This is clearly supposed to be a secondary world Fantasy so having names such as Eddie, Ryan, and Cathy seemed a little mundane and out of place.

All minor quibbles aside, I was captured by The Sword-Edged Blonde and it is definitely an action packed read to keep close at hand.The culmination of the case had me on edge, although the last bit felt a little too nice after everything else that transpired.But Bledsoe has more to say with Eddie so I'm sure we'll see him thrown in the mud quiet a few more times so a little happiness is probably in store for him.

The Sword-Edged Blonde is highly recommended for Swords & Sorcery fans looking for a gritty take and for those Dresden Files and Joe Abercrombie fans looking for something between books.I give The Sword-Edged Blonde 8.5 out of 10 Hats.The second Eddie LaCrosse novel Burn Me Deadly has just released and will be read in short order.This will be an episodic series I'll be following for years to come with at least 4 total books signed. ... Read more

Product Description
A rowdy party, booze, boys, and a stripper-and after a wild night of living it up, charges of assault and rape were leveled at certain members of the Duke lacrosse team. When the district attorney brought charges, it seemed like an easy verdict. Few suspected then that this national blockbuster of a news story was all based on lies.
Seasoned trial attorney Nader Baydoun deconstructs the case and reveals the egregious misconduct that led to a rush to judgment and a gross injustice. By presenting the evidence with a trained eye for detail, Baydoun exposes the political pandering of the district attorney, his neglect of crucial evidence, the way in which he stacked the case against the innocent suspects, and how he tenaciously believed unreliable victim testimony-all to ensure his reelection. Baydoun also takes the university leadership to task for its failure to support the students in the case.
In this gripping tale of injustice, Baydoun sets the record straight and points the way to justice for the real victims.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Doesn't hold a candle to "Until Proven Innocent"
"A Rush To Injustice" isn't a bad book or an awful book: it simply isn't anywhere as good or comprehensive or well-written as Until Proven Innocent: Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case.

Where Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson engaged in extensive first-hand research, interviewing many of the participants directly and drilling down to an almost microscopic level, the authors of "Rush" were content to rely primarily on newspaper and magazine articles. Ironically, "Until Proven Innocent" points out the bias and inaccuracy of many of these articles.

The primary author appears to be Nader Baydoun, a Nashville lawyer who graduated from Duke University. The viewpoint is very much first-person. Badoun took it upon himself to "investigate" the situation. He claims he heard "tales of crooked prosecutors, selfserving faculty members, turncoat administrators, irate revenge-seeking neighbors, and even, possibly dirty cops who were out to pursue their own personal agendas." Well, anyone who followed in KC Johnson's blog Durham-In-Wonderland or the Liestoppers blog knew about these things as soon as they came to light.

The book is not well-written. The word "I" appears far too frequently because Baydoun is telling the story of his reactions to the case with the case itself being secondary. Events that were of critical importance have to wait for Baydoun to wade his way through preliminaries with chapter titles like "The Plot Thickens" and "Duked". He doesn't reach one of the most truly outrageous episodes, the infamous and reprehensible Group of 88, until page 93.

Comments such as "Much to my chagrin, it has become all too apparent to me that hypocrisy has been allowed to reign in the halls of Duke, overshadowed and underscored by the arrogance of some seemingly highly educated faculty members and students." This and many other comments sound like apologia from rightfully concerned and embarassed Duke alumni, but do nothing to tell the story of the three falsely accused Duke lacrosse players.

Overall, as I said, this is not an awful book, but "Until Proven Innocent" is far superior for anyone who is interested in the actual story of the case and not Baydoun's subjective shame over the goings on at his alma mater.

Jerry

Good Account of a Legal Lynching
This book was the first of three to bring us an account of the Duke LaCrosse Rape Scandal Hoax of 2006. The authors do a good job of describing how a terrible lie by a mentally disturbed black stripper nearly sent three innocent white Duke students into prison for life. Even more than the lie, we're shown how a gallery of villians conspired to railroad the three innocents because of their various agendas.As the authors point out, on nearly every university campus, students are forced to take diversity classes where they're taught that white males are the source of all problems. This is part of the fanatical politically correct obsessions of white male treachery, black victomhood and feminist radical theory. You're presented with an amazing gallery of lynch mob members, determined to over-ride the truth in their goal of incacerating for life the young trio. You've got a very disturbed female black stripper who had made the same charges three years before against a group of men but didn't pursue her complaint. There's the psychopathic district attorney, Mike Nifong who knew early on that the rape charges were a lie but nevertheless pursued the suspects because he wanted to be re-elected as DA. Duke University's gutless president, Richard Brodhead and his treacherous cronies never wavered in their support of the demented Nifong and consistently refused to look at the pile of documentation by the defense attorneys that proved the innocence of the accused. You had a group of 88 Duke professors (or a gallery of 88 bigots) who signed a newspaper ad that encouraged protestors to "turn up the volume" against the LaCrosse players, even though many of these professors had LaCrosse players in their classes. There were the violently anti-white New Panther Party who came to Duke to demonstrate and urged violence against the players. The North Carolina chapter of the NAACP comes across as a morally derelict group that demanded Nifong imprison the boys.

The Durham Police and judges were also derelict in trying to uncover the truthThe authors show us how the media outrageously distorted the truth and crucified the accused, led by the New York Times and CNN's disgrace, Nancy Grace who constantly referred to the accused as "rapists". The Times articles were so pro-Mike Nifong you would think he was personally writing the articles. Even Duke Hospital helped ignite the inferno when one of its emegency nurses, Tara Livecy distorted her examination of the stripper to show that she had been raped. The nurse was proud of being a feminist and said she never ever doubted any woman who cried rape. Many student protestors were equally guilty, especially one student/faculty led group, The Potbangers, that held countless protests in front of the residences of the LaCrosse players and threatened them with bodily harm. Throughout this book, you may be reminded of an identical case in New York State in 1987 when black teenager Tawana Brawley accused a group of white men, including a young district attorney, of gang rape. For a year, her false charges were fanned by racial arsonists like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. In a horrifying example of deja vu, both Sharpton and Jackson flew into Durham to scream for justice while demanding imprisonment against the accused trio. Like Tawana Brawley, the stripper was never charged with anything. While Nifong was eventually disbarred, none of the lynch mob has ever apologized for its actions. In fact, President Brodhead was just recently praised by his board of trustees for his outstanding efforts in handling the false rape case--which would suggest the board supported the president's unwavering support of Mike Nifong.

My one complaint is that there are no photographs in this book. A true life drama this big demands pictorial enhancement to give us images of both the villians and the heroes. One of the heroes, in addition to the defense attorneys, was the feisty, heroic Duke campus newspaper, The Chronicle, which never wavered in urging for people to hold their judgements until all the facts were in The paper stood up to the administration and to the arrogant faculty members who demanded that they were the only ones who knew the truth. In the end, they were proven to be just as guilty as Mike Nifong in trying to perpetuate a horrendous miscarriage of judgement upon three of its own students.

Nifong's and Brodhead's Rush to Judgment
This book lacks the immediacy of parts of Don Yaeger and Mike Pressler's IT'S NOT ABOUT THE TRUTH and lacks the comprehensiveness of Stuart Taylor's and KC Johnson's UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT, which stands as the definitive book on the Duke case, supported as it is by Johnson's absolutely heroic record of events in his Durham-in-Wonderland blog and by Taylor's early advocacy.You need Yaeger-Pressler for what it contains about the Pressler family which is not in UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT.Do you need the Baydoun-Good A RUSH TO INJUSTICE? The word opportunistic is probably unduly harsh for A RUSH TO INJUSTICE, but the book is too anecdotal, too personal, and the Index is unreliable. As much as the magnificent Robert Ekstrand is quoted here, he does not come to life as he does in Taylor and Johnson's book.Ekstrand should probably write his own book, for the record, as Mike Pressler should have done (rather than turning his diary over to Yeager).Yet you will find some information in A RUSH TO INJUSTICE not in Taylor and Johnson, who left out some of what they knew (imagine the magnitude of evidence in their hands) when they felt it would be distracting.Baydoun and Good have the time to point the reader to Brodhead's rush to judgment (surely the wrong judgment) in the James Van de Velde case at Yale, which resulted in a lawsuit naming Brodhead and others.One wonders if the higher administration at Yale held its breath during the wooing of Brodhead by Duke, afraid he might refuse.Would Yale hire him back, now?This is not a case in which one book says it all, even the splendid UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT.But the Baydoun and Good book is not absolutely essential, unless you are trying to amass a small library of early books on the case.Still, the case is so horrific that there is satisfaction at watching it dissolve, once again--after experiencing the terror, once again, on reviewing the way the ravening rogue prosecutor Nifong seized on the lacrosse players as they were thrown to him by the faculty Gang of 88 and the President of Duke University, Richard Brodhead.

Excellect Accompaniment for It's Not About the Truth
I read this book in less than two days, it was so compelling - as, indeed, was It's Not about the Truth, a particularly accurate and damning title and book itself.

Mr. Baydour's account draws strength from his stance as a very loyal alumnus and a lawyer. He and Ms. Good have provided us many details in this well-written book that I had not digested heretofore. They have also zeroed in upon the overriding problems at Duke University and many other institutions as well: political correctness, the power of such groups, the silence of most others in the presence of political correctness (a national phenomenon), andthe ideological and impenetrable fervor of its perpetrators, fundamentalist in style (The far right and the far left meet here in their intransigence).

To this picture I would add a long-time, widespread view that the University's hiring record for presidents has somehow not been as successful as one would want.For many of us there have been two really superb presidents:Dr. William Preston Few at the beginning and recently Governor Terry Sanford. The latter's operation in a tricky personnel/work situation I personally witnessed. He was a man of great breadth and savoir faire.

This view of the University's administration is not unique to this case. Again, it is widely bruited within and without that the managers, high and low, never make mistakes, never apologize,personnel need to be yes/persons or else no matter how expert they are, and, judging from the experience of the Lacrosse Team, expert groups are also expendable. Again, it is a national problem. Mr. Baydoun and Ms. Good have exposed some of these phenomena at Duke as have none other except the authors of It's Not about the Truth, and even more forcefully.

These problems have gradually worsened in the second half of my fifty years of observation from within and without. Mr. James B. Duke was quoted to a former boss by one of Mr. Duke's associates as saying that, "If I do not hire people who know more about it than I do, I have not done my job." Many institutions and businesses do not want to hear from such personnel and are likely to crush them. The Lacrosse Case contained some of that style.

A "Dukie's"View
The "research" that went into this book appears to be superficial, if not actually suspect.Baydoun (it's his "I" babbling on throughout) condemns Duke faculty members without interviewing one of them. He frequently refers to the defense lawyers opinions as the authority for the "truth."

Much of the information is just hearsay. Baydoun's first person argument is cluttered with cliches and grandiose claims , e.g."the greatness of our country will always balance on the fulcrum of incidents like the one you have just read about." Such bombast spoken by a white man in the south is more than a little ironic.

He likes the word "logic" but his line of thinking is cluttered with his biased emotional "inferences" and conclusions based on "implications."

The value, if any, of reading this book is that it gives an insight into the prejudicial point of view and muddled thinking of a stereotypical good old boy.

The innocence of the young men has been established, but not by Baydoun.
... Read more

Product Description
This high-quality, laminated guide folds to a 8.5 x 4 inch brochure to fit easily into a pocket or purse, and expands to 8.5 x 20 inches to reveal a wealth of information. The content includes the history of the sport, field diagrams, player roles, basic rules and strategies, referee signals, and a glossary of useful terms—the essentials to understand and enjoy women’s lacrosse. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Women's Lacrosse Guide
This was perfect for allowing me to follow along with my daughter's new passion. I'd seen men play in college, but this game was quite different. This guide fit right in my purse.The other parents actually thought I was well versed in the understanding of women's lacrosse.Ha! Ha! Ha!

No more confusion!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sportspectator, for publishing a useable, understandable guide for the parent spectator.A group of us parents orderedWomen's Lacrosse Guides from Amazon with the hope that we might learn what our daughters were doing on the field.This wonderful guide has taken us from complete confusion to a good, basic understanding of how the sport is played, scored, what constitutes fouls and how fouls are handled (moving the fouling team four meters away from the fouled player who is given possession of the ball).Especially instructive is the easy to decipher field diagram which allows us to follow along as the players move on the real field.There is so much accessible information in this little fold out guide!However, the bonus has been the increased dialog between parents and our student/athletes as we are now familiar with the terminology of the sport and can ask educated questions about the games we just watched.Having theseguides in hand to instruct us has opened communication with our children and greatly increased our enjoyment of the game of Lacrosse.

total ripoff
This product (it's not a book, not even a pamphlet, just a fold-up card with a lot of empty space) doesn't have the rules of girls' lacrosse, or basic game strategy, or anything else worthwhile for coaching lacrosse. The Amazon description is a fraud.I won't ever trust their blurbs again.You can get a basic rulebook from US Lacrosse with the complete rules. The Baffled Parents book and the Winning Lacrosse books at least have some content.Stay away!

Baggataway???
Who knew? A Native American sport? And we think of basketball and baseball as the true American sports!

I enjoyed reading about the history of lacrosse.

Like the other pamphlets in this series, this one is well-written and accessible.
One question that went unanswered: do men play lacrosse? If so, how do the games differ? Why does women's lacrosse merit a unique guide?

In this case, the Referee Signals were really helpful. Now, to find a local game! Since I live in the Pacific Northwest, this may be a challenge!

Excellent coverage of a sport completely new to me. Thanks, Bryan Jones. ... Read more

Product Description
The most complete guide to lacrosse, America's fastest growing team sport. Action-packed and fun,lacrosse is a game anyone can play - the big and small, boys and girls. Lacrosse offers a positive outlet, a place to fit in at school, motivation to excel, and opportunities for team travel. Lacrosse can even potentially mean money for college, and can influence career choices.

Product Description
This econometric study covers the latent demand outlook for titanium lacrosse sticks across the prefectures and cities of Japan. Latent demand (in millions of U.S. dollars), or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.) estimates are given across some 1,000 cities in Japan. For each city in question, the percent share the city is of it's prefecture and of Japan is reported. These comparative benchmarks allow the reader to quickly gauge a city vis-a-vis others. This statistical approach can prove very useful to distribution and/or sales force strategies. Using econometric models which project fundamental economic dynamics within each prefecture and city, latent demand estimates are created for titanium lacrosse sticks. This report does not discuss the specific players in the market serving the latent demand, nor specific details at the product level. The study also does not consider short-term cyclicalities that might affect realized sales. The study, therefore, is strategic in nature, taking an aggregate and long-run view, irrespective of the players or products involved.

This study does not report actual sales data (which are simply unavailable, in a comparable or consistent manner in virtually all of the cities in Japan). This study gives, however, my estimates for the latent demand, or the P.I.E., for titanium lacrosse sticks in Japan. It also shows how the P.I.E. is divided and concentrated across the cities and regional markets of Japan. For each prefecture, I also show my estimates of how the P.I.E. grows over time. In order to make these estimates, a multi-stage methodology was employed that is often taught in courses on strategic planning at graduate schools of business. ... Read more

Product Description
This high-quality, laminated guide folds to a 8.5 x 4 inch brochure to fit easily into a pocket or purse, and expands to 8.5 x 20 inches to reveal a wealth of information. The content includes the history of the sport, field diagrams, player roles, basic rules and strategies, referee signals, and a glossary of useful terms—the essentials to understand and enjoy men’s lacrosse. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent Product
This service that Mr. Jones provides is invaluable.So many times when we are introduced to new sports (soccer, lacrosse, etc) it's difficult to figure out and understand the rules and how the game is played.These products provide the critical elements that allow anyone to understand how the different athletic events are played.My only criticism is why I didn't think of this incredible idea and service before Mr. Jones.

I Never Knew...
During the one season that my son played high school Lacrosse, I never figured out what was going on in the game.Several parents tried to explain the lightning fast play but I was lost...always.What a difference it would have made if I had had in hand the SportSpectator Guide to Men's Lacrosse.The guide explains completely and concisely the object of the game, play strategies, position and purpose of players and the scoring of points.I particularly like the Lacrosse Field Diagram which graphically shows all the player positions and names the parts of the field according what type of play occurs in which parts of the field.The guide explains the rough physical contact of "stick checking" and "body checking" during defensive play and as a parent, it would have been helpful to have understood the importance of and guidelines around these maneuvers. The guide is very accessible, easy to carry in a purse or pocket, and laminated so it holds up throughout the season.What a find! ... Read more

Product Description
This econometric study covers the world outlook for titanium lacrosse sticks across more than 200 countries. For each year reported, estimates are given for the latent demand, or potential industry earnings (P.I.E.), for the country in question (in millions of U.S. dollars), the percent share the country is of the region and of the globe. These comparative benchmarks allow the reader to quickly gauge a country vis-à-vis others. Using econometric models which project fundamental economic dynamics within each country and across countries, latent demand estimates are created. This report does not discuss the specific players in the market serving the latent demand, nor specific details at the product level. The study also does not consider short-term cyclicalities that might affect realized sales. The study, therefore, is strategic in nature, taking an aggregate and long-run view, irrespective of the players or products involved. This study does not report actual sales data (which are simply unavailable, in a comparable or consistent manner in virtually all of the 230 countries of the world). This study gives, however, my estimates for the worldwide latent demand, or the P.I.E., for titanium lacrosse sticks. It also shows how the P.I.E. is divided across the world's regional and national markets. For each country, I also show my estimates of how the P.I.E. grows over time (positive or negative growth). In order to make these estimates, a multi-stage methodology was employed that is often taught in courses on international strategic planning at graduate schools of business. ... Read more

Product Description
Did you just volunteer to coach your son's lacrosse team? Is he in elementary school? Could you use a little help? This book is for you.Nowhere else will you receive such detailed help that drills down to the issues you're likely to encounter. No other book will deliver so many, easily implemented solutions suitable for very young kids.How do you deal with each piece of lacrosse equipment? The answers are in Chapter 8.How should you run a practice? Chapter 9 has you covered.What are the basic lacrosse skills and how do you teach them to little boys? Chapter 11 takes you through them step by step.What issues arise with little kids in games? The issues and their solutions are all in Chapter 16.And there is much much more.Kids' Lacrosse focuses on lacrosse for boys in elementary school. There is little or no information available on how to manage or coach this age group in lacrosse. This book fills that gap. ... Read more

Product Description
Ages 6 to 9 years. When lacrosse was first played as a Native American sport, teams of hundreds of people played on a "field" that was miles in length! This book uses full-colour photographs and illustrations to highlight the sport of lacrosse. Features include: player positions; scoring drills and skills; defence and goaltending techniques; equipment and rules. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Frontier RIfeman
A very good book.Filled with uefull information.Mr. LaCrosse knows his material.The drawings are useful.

Interesting and useful
Frontier Rifleman is an important addition to any library concerned with American history.Painstakingly researched, this book would also make a great gift for those interested in the particulars of the rifleman life.

Very informative
This book takes a very in-depth look at the Revolutionary Rifleman.From contemporary accounts to sketches of the rifleman's clothing and accoutrements, it presents a lot of information very useful to the re-enactor or history buff. ... Read more

Product Description
What does your kid want to do now?Lacrosse?What's that?!This Parent Guide will give you the straight scoop on how much it's going to cost, what the game's all about, and how your son can be successful -- even if he's never played before! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Just what every Lax parent needs
As a new lax parent, this book is a heaven sent! At practices and games parents are constantly asking each other questions about the rules, about the equipment, about drills - and needless to say none of usually has the answer. This book takes away the mystery and the guessing! It is awesome! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Comprehensive Lacrosse History from the Beginnings to 1964
This is a loving and detailed history of the sport from the earliest records of the Indian game through 1964.

Hardback bound in nubby cream cloth with a sewn binding on smooth stock with dustjacket. 368 pp! Index, 13 photo plates, illustrated with line drawings throughout. 7 p Bibliography ... Read more