Product Description
Of all major intercollegiate sports, basketball remains preeminently the one that has never had to yield pride of place to its professional competition. This book is a lavishly illustrated, fact-filled celebration both of college basketball's extraordinary past & of its equally extraordinary present. In its pages you will meet again all the great coaches & their fabulous teams. Here, too, you will see the game-transforming superstars once again in action. Add to that a cornucopia of statistics, nostalgia, historic pictures, & an exciting narrative by one of the nation's foremost sportswriters, & this book becomes a work that few real fans will be able to resist. ... Read more

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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
Completely updated and revised, American Sports sets sports in a social-cultural historical context. This highly-acclaimed book offers a reflective, analytical history of American sports from the colonial era to the present. With a focus on the historical relationship between sports, and gender, class, race, ethnicity, religion, and region, this book considers how sports transcend these fundamental categories, and how the experience of sports either as a player or as a fan can bind diverse groups together. This book also looks at how sports at various historical moments have reinforced or challenged the values and behaviors of society ... Read more

Product Description
Enjoy this all-access pass to more than a century of sports in the MusicCity packed into one exciting volume! Watch from the bleachers asTy Cobb practices with the Vanderbilt football team and Babe Ruth blastshome runs out of the old Sulphur Dell Ball Park, or go all the way backto 1843 and witness what was then the richest horse race in the world atthe Nashville Race Course. These are but a few of the stories compiledby local award-winning sportswriter Bill Traughber in this one-of-a-kindcollection no sports fan should be without. Included are excerpts fromlocal sportswriters like the legendary Grantland Rice and over fortyhistoric photographs from the playing field. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Fantastic For The Blokes!
I used this to write a paper on violence in sports and its connection to alcohol and it was fantastic, also beloved by the males in my household! ... Read more

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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
Fly fishing has a rich, varied, and often misread 250-year history in America. This classic account of America's favorite pastime - from colonial time to the present - explores the literature and technology, and the personalities and places where they fished. Thaddeus Norris, John Harrington Keene, Theodore Gordon, Preston Jennings, and Vincent C. Marinaro are just a few of the many prominent angling authors whose contributions are thoroughly examined in this important book.But fly fishing in America is much more than the sum of these and other great names. Author Paul Schullery has studied the changes in fly fishing and its values, the relationship of geography and rivers to the sport, how European traditions were adapted or discarded, and how the evolution of new technology has affected its growth and popularity. An entire section is devoted to the fascinating developments of the gilded age: perforated reels, mass production of split-can rods, railroad-sponsored resort towns, great women anglers, and more.This work remains the first - and most important - account of the sport in the United States, and has been widely praised as essential reading for all fly fishers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Fishing Journey: Colonial America to the 21st Century
As one casts for trout with a modern high-tech rod, line, leader and one of the zillion fly patterns now available, it is easy to forget how far we have come in the 250 or so years that fly fishing has been practiced in North America, and yet how little things have really changed in terms of the techniques used, concepts of what constitutes necessary equipment, and the attitude of serious endeavor that pervades all aspects of fly fishing.Paul Schullery has complied an exhaustive volume that takes the reader from old world origins of the sport and how they influenced Colonial American fishing, and in particular, fly fishing,to the advances in tackle and techniques during the Victorian era, and finally to our modern practices.The reproductions of portraits and early prints, the quotations from period news sources, journals and books, and the high-quality photographs of the flys, rods and reels from the early 1800's and thereafter make this book a source of great value to anyone specifically interested in fly fishing as a sport, and the developing history of fishing and fly fishing in North America from the time of the first Europeon contact, in Colonial America, and thereafter.It shows, in the final analysis,that despite the high-tech materials we now expect when we purchase rods, reels and related fly fishing equipment, our forefathers, with their spliced rods, wenches, and horse hair lines, would have well understood the how and the why of fly fishing as now practiced, and that in some respects, they were closer to such truth as may exist in this never ending pursuit with a fly for trout and lesser fish, than we might have anticipated. ... 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

Product Description
Not Till the Fat Lady Sings: The Most Dramatic Sports Finishes of in Detroit Sports History chronicles 50 of the most memorable moments in Detroit sports. Vibrant full-color photos, statistics, quotes and stories offer fresh details on some of the most famous events in Detroit history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

not till the fat lady sings
This book is not worth the paper it is printed on.Michael Rosenberg is not a writer or a journalist.Pathetic!

Rosenberg's next insight will be his first
After years of writing meaningless drivel for the Detroit Free Press, he has decided to produce a more concentrated dose of his ineptness.If you fancy dry, witless writing that is devoid of either insight or honesty, please buy the book; otherwise, pass.

Author cannot find his facts
Rosenburg stoops to new lows, never byhis book or do an interview with this hack.He ll lie to you and twist your quotes to fulfill his own ambitions stay away

BORING
This is a good book to read if you want to fall asleep.BORING!!!!

Rosenberg should write on toilet paper to cut out the middle man...
Take the most exciting moments in sports history, filter them through the mind of a retarded, dyslexic caveman and what do you get? This book. The only good thing about this tome is that it temporarily employed several people at a printing company. ... Read more

Product Description
An impressive amount of literature, particularly literature on soccer and baseball, has appeared since Joseph Arbena's 1989 bibliography, An Annotated Bibliography of Latin American Sport. This new bibliography includes titles published during the past decade as well as a few items omitted from the earlier bibliography. Arranged topically, it includes sections on indigenous traditions, Iberian background, the National Period in Middle America and in South America, and Hispanic sports and sportsmen in the United States. ... Read more

Product Description
Translation from orignial source material with introductory essay. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Not what I expected
This book had a lot of sports statistics but was not full of any photos or other interesting facts for a child.I was really embarrassed to give it to my nephew

Great book for boys!
This Sports Illustrated book has been a hit for our son. He is more and more interested in sports, and the book encourages his reading in an engaging way.

Great sports reading for young teens
This book is a favorite with my 13-yr old nephew who's just beginning to play team sports himself, but loves to watch and read about them. We gave him Sports Illustrated for Kids in addition to this book and he loves it all.Great gift idea! ... Read more

Product Description

A fascinating look at ESPN and its success as a brand

ESPN The Company reveals the inside scoop on the biggest business story in sports, detailing the creative and innovative spirit and practices that drove the programming, products, and services of the most powerful and prominent name in sports media. The authors provide a behind-the-scenes perspective on how ESPN dealt with their many partners and how they handled mistakes and missteps along the way-from the humble beginnings of ESPN as an underrated startup to the pinnacle of their success as a major industry player.

ESPN and other great organizations invest in their people. They train them. They believe that if you spend the time and resources turning talented performers into leaders, you're going to get better organizational performance and engender higher levels of commitment and sweat. ESPN The Company

• Explores the dedication to excellence that makes ESPN the "Worldwide Leader in Sports"
• Reveals how the steps ESPN has taken to excel can be applied to whatever type of business you're in
• Shares the lessons learned at ESPN about launching and growing a wildly successful enterprise

Engaging and informative, this entertaining guide reveals how any company can benefit by embracing the best practices of ESPN. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Snooze
Smith took a company built on huge personalities and bored me to sleep. Not worth the time or money.

I'm Not Big on Sports or ESPN, but I Loved It!
It's hard for your average author to effectively chronicle a company's growth. You have to draw out lessons and patterns from decades of details. You have to put your own biases aside to tell the story as it was. At the same time, you need to make readers understand the importance of how the company handled the challenges inherent to its evolution.

It takes the right combination of mind and skills to pull this kind of thing off. And that's exactly what authors Anthony F. Smith and Keith Hollihan manage to do in "ESPN: The Company."

"ESPN: The Company" pulls you into life at ESPN through vivid character and company descriptions. You learn by vicariously participating.

That's what consultant Anthony F. Smith did during his 20+-year tenure with ESPN, though he experienced the company firsthand. He joined with McKinsey just as ESPN was gaining traction as a startup. He stayed all the way through to its current incarnation as a $30 billion sports media giant.

In those years, he grew intimate with the people, culture, and strategy of ESPN. He and cowriter Keith Hollihan chronicle the highlights of those years: The prominent personalities within the company, the victories and losses, and the lessons learned.

Each of the book's eight chapters covers a guiding principle to ESPN's success. Those guiding principles helped ESPN evolve from idea to empire, but could be applied to any company wanting to stay competitive and creative while ascending competitive ladder.

Individually, each principle can be applied to any company. Taken together, though, they are the unique formula that led to ESPN's success.

Principles include:

*Turn Fanatics into Fans: Make your business all about the customer, and hire fanatics to work for you.

*Think like an incumbent, but act like a challenger: Let your innate insecurities drive your achievement. Believing you are the best while being driven by doubts can be a good thing.

*Find the right leader at the right time: Every stage of an organization demands a different type of leadership. Surround yourself with other leaders who compensate for your weaknesses.

*Expand your brand: Let your mission drive your brand, not vice-versa. Protect the brand more aggressively than you expand it.

While chronicling ESPN's story, Smith also explains how it developed and kept its winning formula. For example, ESPN started up with a hungry, passionate, hardworking culture. Smith explains how they were able to keep it intact even after they grew large.

Smith also details how the company created the markets it now dominates. In another, especially strong chapter, he describes how each of the company's leaders contributed to the right growth at the right time. He also breaks down how ESPN harnessed its employees' and fans' passion to gain business wins.

These are lesson every business should learn.

"ESPN: The Company" rewards readers with company intimacy and wisdom. The authors incorporate tidbits from a variety of sources to add nuance to the story. These include quotes, anecdotes, cable TV industry history, anthropology, and organizational science.

This richness helps you feel like you're participating in ESPN's story. You come out of each chapter having learned through your reading experience. The authors recap lessons in a short summation at the end of each chapter. The book's tone, while deeply respectful of ESPN, doesn't make bones about the contentious aspects of the company's growth.

Conclusion: The book's a winner.

A book is a success when it makes you respect a company you formerly knew little about. It is a success when you feel like you've experienced, rather than read, the story within. Ditto if it makes you want to read more of the authors' work.

ESPN: The Company did all three for me. I highly recommend it.

(Review by Drea Knufken)

Can't Put It Down
Pick up "ESPN: The Company" and just begin reading it.If you are at all like me, you will find that you can't put it down.This book has all the ingredients of a truly great business book:A hugely successful company, a world-famous brand, a hyper-competitive landscape, a wild ride through the four stages of ESPN's development described by the author, and fascinating and amazingly diverse leaders.And, of course, the "insider/outsider" perspective that author Tony Smith brings to the story.As the primary management consultant to ESPN for 20 years, Tony is in the unique position of being able to reflect in a very compelling way not only the history of the organization, but also the culture -- the stories, the values, the very sense of the place.At the same time, the author does a good job of keeping his obvious admiration for the story's key players in check.We learn, for example, not only about CEO George Bodenheimer's "calm, reassuring, purposeful" leadership style, but also his conflict averse nature; about former CEO Steve Bornstein's extraordinary intelligence and strategic acumen, but also his tendency to "strip people down in a New York minute."As with his first book, "The Taboos of Leadership," Tony seeks at all times to "keep it real."If you are a business-person wondering what to read on that next long flight, you will find that this book resonates, educates, and even entertains.

Inside scoop on the growth of a great Sports Network - ESPN
As a big sports enthusiast and a businessman, I thoroughly enjoyed ESPN The Company!I found the passion of ESPN's founders, as well as their employees and all future leaders to be inspirational. For a growing company to maintain, and improve on, the original commitment to the sports fan is truly impressive. What dedicated adherence to the key core value!As business leaders all know, it is very difficult to stay focused and maintain strategies and corporate cultures over time. To do so over 30 years,with multiple CEO's across an ever-evolving cable environment and sports markets is the true lesson in this book.Each CEO brought his own skill sets and strengths that were perfect for the stage of growth the company was gong through at the time.

As a sports fan it is interesting to learn about the story of how the network expanded their offerings - and the actions that transpired at all levels to make this commitment work. The business lessons Anthony Smith shares throughout this book offer powerful insights business leaders can tap into for instilling or enhancing their own commitment to their employees, customers and markets.

Sports fans and business leaders will both enjoy and benefit from the story and strategies in this excellent book!

Has it all
Tony Smith is a treasure trove of expertise on leadership.Getting his sage observations bundled as a part of sports history is defintely a two-fer.This book is a lot more than just a great lesson for growing businesses--its a great story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

new baseball parks and urban culture
A work in the publisher's series Sport and Popular Culture, "Retro Ball Parks" looks at the urban phenomenon of the building of new, state-of-the-art, baseball stadiums to try to bring back this sport as it is viewed nostalgically. These are the stadiums built in cities around the country usually with some public funds and big tax breaks and other economic favors to the team owners. They are characterized by costly suites for corporate and well-to-do fans, rising ticket prices for all levels of regular seats from boxes to bleachers, moveable roofs and other features to provide comfort for the fans, and corporate logos lining the walls of the playing fields. Rosensweig is interested not only in how these stadiums promising revivals of urban centers come to be out of aspects of contemporary culture and political and economic interests; and also in the peculiar, particularly postmodern, notion of authenticity regarding baseball such stadiums are supposed to revive. In many cases, new businesses have sprung up around the new stadiums attempting to replicate neighborhoods that have been torn down to make way for them. Rosenweig's feelings on this phenomenon he covers are seen in the title of his introduction--"Cheap Grace." The author did most of his research in Cleveland, where the Cleveland Indian's Jacobs Field was built as the anchor of the Gateway Developmental District. "The Gateway serves as a fascinating case study of the cultural shifts enacted by the transformation of a city's economic base from local commerce and manufacturing to recreational tourism." Stadiums in other cities are brought in as well, notably the Baltimore Orioles' Camden Yards, the major urban stadium project giving rise to the others. Rosenweig is a professor of Inter-Disciplinary Studies at the U. of Virginia.
... Read more