Download or read book Streetball Is Life written by Paul Volponi and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From award-winning young adult author Paul Volponi comes the true story of his unforgettable summer spent proving himself as a legitimate New York City streetballer, only later discovering that he had gained a set of skills that would enhance his life off the court, as well. During the sweltering summer of seventeen-year-old Paul Volponi’s life, he had only one goal—he wanted, no, needed to become a legitimate and respected New York City street basketball player. It was a passion that consumed him night and day, and at times even isolated him from his friends and family. So he entered through the gates of the Proving Ground, the roughest streetball yard in the city. It was a place where the fouls resembled felonies, and the atmosphere mirrored that of the Roman Coliseum more than Madison Square Garden. It was where teens and adults contested pickup games with a ferocity seemingly greater than that of the NBA Finals. The Proving Ground was a difficult place to cultivate friendships and an easy environment to make enemies. This is the story of Paul’s summer-long initiation at the Proving Ground. It is truly a streetball testament of a teenager who wanted more than anything else to earn his stripes in streetball society. Only what he didn’t understand at the time was that this experience would deliver to him, as it does today for so many young adults, a set of skills that would enhance his life far beyond the boundaries of a basketball court.

Download or read book Making Your Own Luck written by Fred Glass and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2021-11-02 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One man's odyssey from skid row to rebuilding a major collegiate sports program. In Making Your Own Luck, former Indiana University athletic director Fred Glass recounts how even a self-described "knucklehead" learned to be prepared to recognize and seize opportunities and thus make his own luck through life. Growing up in a skid row bar, having an alcoholic father, struggling with anxiety and self-doubt, and making his share of stupid mistakes, Glass had much to contend with in early life. However, supported by socially enlightened parents, a Jesuit education, and his soulmate, Barbara, his odyssey has led him to serve a mayor, a governor, a senator, and even a president. With great humor and insightful reflection, Glass details how he helped keep the Colts in Indianapolis—he spearheaded a massive convention center expansion and the building of Lucas Oil Stadium and even helped to attract the Super Bowl to his hometown. Any of these accomplishments individually would be more than enough to call Glass's career a resounding success, but they were only the beginning. In the latest stage of his journey, Glass led the rebuilding of the athletic program of his beloved alma mater, Indiana University. Featuring a foreword from IU alumnus and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, Making Your Own Luck is a must-read not only for Indiana sports fans, but for anyone that recognizes the importance of preparation, opportunity and action in creating your own success.

Download or read book The Real Tree of Life written by William R. Jackson and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It’s a time in everyone’s life that brings upon change and it was or is the moment in the time of my life experiences (knowledge inside & understanding), but, when one graduates and exercise WISDOM, Spirituality kicks in and becomes contentous and peaceful. And so, this is how The Real Tree of Life begun. The book “I think” everyone can relate. It begins with scriptures, then broken-down in terms of real life that produces understanding that offers help basically in persons, places and things within our lives.

Download or read book Dad Up written by Steve Patterson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of the country's most beloved comedians and host of CBC Radio's incredibly popular program The Debaters comes a funny, poignant, and at times unexpectedly wise look at what it means to be a dad in this day and age. Steve Patterson has been thinking about dad-dom for quite a while. In Dad Up! he gives his all to be the best father possible to two young girls while imparting his hard-won wisdom and insights to readers everywhere. The youngest of five boys growing up in an Irish Catholic household, Patterson mines his childhood for any sage advice he might have picked up from his own dad. He talks with candour about the difficulty he and his wife, Nancy, had conceiving, finding humour in their experiences with the fertility clinic's automated phone calls (which Patterson calls "RoboPimp") informing them when Nancy was ovulating. He chronicles the disappointment of failing to get pregnant, only to have the miracle conception take place in Regina during Grey Cup Week, under the guiding spirit of the Saskatchewan Roughriders and comedian Brent Butt (don't ask). From that point on, Steve Patterson assumes full dad-mode, riffing on the biohazard that is changing a diaper, the absolute futility of stuffed animals, becoming a public breastfeeding warrior in the most unexpected of places, and how growing up a little boy in no way prepares you to being a father to little girls. Most importantly, Dad Up! charts the awesome experience of watching tiny infants that you somehow had a hand in creating evolve into confident and crafty little people, and the lessons that they teach along the way.

Download or read book American Loser written by Phillip Roberts and published by America Star Books. This book was released on 2011-06-29 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A story about the will? Doesn't sound particularly exciting or extraordinary. Maybe not. Depends on what a person goes through to discover their will. I see. You mean a will to live? Yes. And that's what American Loser is about? Primarily, yes. About discovering how powerful a person's will can be. That's certainly more interesting. Who might read such a story? Someone who's been in pain; who's questioned their own existence and considered maybe not being around tomorrow. Anyone else who might like this story? People amused by extreme behavior: sexual oddity and odysseys, drug use, and other absurdities that arise from passionate living.

Download or read book WORDS written by K. Countz and published by Dorrance Publishing. This book was released on 2019-04-25 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WORDS By: K. Countz I’m Darryl Winters and I have it made. I’m the best player on the best high school basketball team in the state, my two best friends are also my teammates, and I am absolutely killing it with the ladies. Seriously: I’m dating the hottest player on the girls basketball team and the head cheerleader at our school is constantly giving me looks, too. And it’s only a matter of time until the college acceptance letters start flooding my mailbox, all of them stuffed with huge scholarships. My only problem? My parents won’t leave me along about the words coming out of my mouth. I truly believe I have the right to say what I want, how I want, and when I want. But is this the right feeling to have? Is it safe to have this feeling? The majority of religions teach that whatever words we say, we have to face the consequences of them. Is it true that if I speak bad words, bad will come back to me? The majority of religions say that the words that a tongue produces can determine life or death. Are words sharp enough to be used as a weapon? Can the words I say be powerful enough to cause my death?

Download or read book My Father s Heart written by Steve McKee and published by Da Capo Lifelong Books. This book was released on 2008-12-11 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sixteen-year-old Steve McKee watched his father die of a heart attack on the couch in their TV room. A lifelong smoker and workaholic, John McKee had been floored by a heart attack five years earlier. The McKee clan-perhaps including a demoralized John himself-had long been waiting for the other shoe to drop. At age fifty-two, Steve McKee learned that he was his father's son more than he had ever hoped-he, too, has serious cardiovascular disease. Haunted by his father's seeming surrender to the condition, McKee set out to find the man who died before the son could know him. In so doing, what might he, Steve McKee, learn of himself? Chronicling the disorienting first days following John McKee's death, My Father's Heart is an extraordinary story of an all-too-ordinary scenario: A father dies, a son remains, and the loss casts a long shadow across a generation. Rich in evocative detail of time, place, and family, it is a powerful memoir of love, forgiveness, and finding oneself.

Download or read book Meant To Be Mom written by Karen Templeton and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2015 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sabrina Noble and single father Cole Rayburn consider rekindling their romance when she moves back home to New Jersey.

Download or read book Short Stories by Short People written by Daniel Fisher and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2001-10-15 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of stories by young authors covers a wide range of fiction and nonfiction topics. Here is a sampling of works: "The track looked like a huge water slide built of ancient wooden scaffolding. Instead of a plastic trough and running water, it was a bed of twisting, glistening ice. Now I could see that a sixty-foot run, after making a huge curve, merged into a forty-foot run. Then the run made multiple turns before one final downward plunge. For a second it seemed miraculous that the track wasn ́t littered with broken bodies.... I climbed the steep stairs to the lowest run and waited. I felt nauseous, and hoped no one could tell I was a little scared. Too soon it was my turn. There was no escape. I positioned myself on the sled. I fought panic while waiting for the operator to give me the ́go ́ signal. Off I went with my heart skipping a few beats. The wind whipped against my face." --from "Polar Bear Camping" "It ́s 6:50 a.m. I know this time all too well. The ritual has begun. My mom climbs the steps of the ladder to my top bunk to "tickle" my feet: a tactile alarm clock. Oh, it ́s Thursday, not just any day of the week. It ́s the day when exhaustion and fatigue will rule me and my only salvation will be a special place, on the most comfortable sofa in the family room, where the angle of the television screen is just right and the pillows outline the shape of my body. I call this place THE SPOT." --from "The Perfect Spot" "Aaron awoke disoriented and confused. Then suddenly he recognized his surroundings and remembered his fall. He quickly thanked god that he landed in bushes and was only bruised and scratched. He quickly looked down at his watch; it was 8:00 in the morning. He realized that his friends were gone. THEY THOUGHT HE WAS DEAD! He knew that to survive he needed his pack. He looked up and started to climb...without ropes." --from "Lost in the Australian Outback" "Suddenly, the ghost appeared and looked around the room impatiently. ́Where is that girl when I need her? ́ The ghost listened carefully and heard a gurgling sound. She went through the wall and gently tapped Kary ́s shoulder. Kary turned around and screamed, although the foam coating her mouth muffled her scream. She slowly picked up her cup and gurgled while staring at the ghost cautiously." --from "One ́s Pride is One ́s Courage" "The Tooth Fairy wasn ́t pretty at all. Her nose was warty and pointy. Her hair was gray and greasy. Then, all of a sudden, the Tooth Fairy picked up Cindy ́s favorite blanket from her grandmother and started to run away. The Tooth Fairy dashed to the window and Cindy raced after her. She could hear her heart beat so fast. She didn ́t feel shy at that moment at all; she just had to catch the Tooth Fairy. She just had to get that blanket back." --from "The Tooth Fairy" "I don ́t exactly believe in ghosts or monsters, but I strongly believe that there are strange creatures out there that no one knows about. I ́ve heard their cries many times, especially when lying in my bed at night. Sometimes, thinking about the strange creatures gives me the shivers up my spine.... There is no use in calling my mother or father when I ́m scared because they never believe me, of course. All they say are things like: "There are no strange creatures making noises, Becca. It ́s just your runaway imagination." Or, "We can have your ears checked next week." --from "The Grand Adventure" "He galloped down an alley, only to be cut off by a large black wall. The wall seemed to balk and shift. Then he realized it was not totally black, but had small planet-like dots that co

Download or read book The Year of Less written by Cait Flanders and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Year of Less In her late twenties, Cait Flanders found herself stuck in the consumerism cycle that grips so many of us: earn more, buy more, want more, rinse, repeat. Even after she worked her way out of nearly $30,000 of consumer debt, her old habits took hold again. When she realized that nothing she was doing or buying was making her happy—only keeping her from meeting her goals—she decided to set herself a challenge: she would not shop for an entire year.The Year of Less documents Cait’s life for twelve months during which she bought only consumables: groceries, toiletries, gas for her car. Along the way, she challenged herself to consume less of many other things besides shopping. She decluttered her apartment and got rid of 70 percent of her belongings; learned how to fix things rather than throw them away; researched the zero waste movement; and completed a television ban. At every stage, she learned that the less she consumed, the more fulfilled she felt.The challenge became a lifeline when, in the course of the year, Cait found herself in situations that turned her life upside down. In the face of hardship, she realized why she had always turned to shopping, alcohol, and food—and what it had cost her. Unable to reach for any of her usual vices, she changed habits she’d spent years perfecting and discovered what truly mattered to her.Blending Cait’s compelling story with inspiring insight and practical guidance, The Year of Less will leave you questioning what you’re holding on to in your own life—and, quite possibly, lead you to find your own path of less.

Download or read book Eating My Way Through Baseball written by Barry Weinberg and published by Gatekeeper Press. This book was released on 2020-03-22 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What an amazing journey for Edith and Harold's only Son! I have spent 33 years in the Major Leagues, traveling around the world eating at the best restaurants, such as Tramonti in Delray Beach, Florida to La Scarola in Chicago IL to Hunan Homes in San Francisco, CA. I have shared meals with some of the world's greatest people such as Neil Armstrong, Charles Barkley, Bob Knight, Yogi Berra, Thurman Munson, Stan Musial, Red Schoendienst, Jack Buck and so many more. My spectacular journey includes stories from behind-the-scenes of my professional baseball career that, until now, were only told in clubhouses, dugouts, or when out to dinner with me. Life is a journey...enjoy the meal! Bon Appetit!

Download or read book Above Us Only Sky written by Chris Volkay and published by Cacoethes Publishing. This book was released on 2008-05 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Future events result in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam consolidating into one new religion, with a new all-powerful god, Godyallah. Science, meanwhile, is feverishly attempting to create the world's first genetically re-wired and superior human being. These two opposing forces race toward each other, until finally, the world stands on the brink of annihilation.

Download or read book Love Overpowers Everything written by Ingrid V. Hogan and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2016-03-31 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Christian romance story, this is the exciting tale of Thomas A. Jones, a CEO and president of a family-owned multimillionaire company, a handsome, educated bachelor who is well known by all as the most popular guy, and Charli A. Hines, a young beautiful valedictorian, well-educated Christian girl whose life is challenged by many trials and tribulations. Charli and Thomas fell in love from the moment they met at the ballroom dance. Due to their different lifestyles, family, and friends, they are faced with many obstacles to date, let alone being in love. In this book, she teaches him how God is love and he is the center of everything and in everyone, and he introduces her to the world. It is never too late to meet that special person that you were predestined to meet and fall in love.

Download or read book Running Times written by and published by . This book was released on 2007-12 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Running Times magazine explores training, from the perspective of top athletes, coaches and scientists; rates and profiles elite runners; and provides stories and commentary reflecting the dedicated runner's worldview.

Download or read book Given to Fly written by K.L. Montgomery and published by Mountains Wanted Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-15 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can you break your vow if it's the only way to save yourself? Annelise thought her purpose in life was to get married and have babies. That's what her family and church have been telling her since she was a little girl. But when her marriage turns rocky, and she struggles with her weight and infertility, she fears the childhood dream thrust upon her will never come true. Then she meets Trek Blue, the father of a little girl in her preschool class. After losing his wife to cancer, he's moved to Indiana with his two young children to seek a fresh start. In need of a friend, Trek is immediately drawn to Annelise, who begins to think of him as a confidante and bright spot in her otherwise dreary life. But when the two grow close enough to raise eyebrows, she is forced to make a choice. Will Annelise honor her faith, family, and wedding vows? Or will she spread her wings and fly away?

Download or read book Leonard Maltin s Movie Guide written by Leonard Maltin and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 1643 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Previously published as Leonard Maltin’s 2015 Movie Guide, this capstone edition includes a new Introduction by the author. (Note: No new reviews have been added to this edition) Now that streaming services like Netflix and Hulu can deliver thousands of movies at the touch of a button, the only question is: What should I watch? Summer blockbusters and independent sleepers; the masterworks of Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and Martin Scorsese; the timeless comedy of the Marx Brothers and Woody Allen; animated classics from Walt Disney and Pixar; the finest foreign films ever made. This capstone edition covers the modern era while including all the great older films you can’t afford to miss—and those you can—from box-office smashes to cult classics to forgotten gems to forgettable bombs, listed alphabetically, and complete with all the essential information you could ask for. With nearly 16,000 entries and more than 13,000 DVD listings, Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide remains “head and shoulders above the rest.” (The New York Times) Also included are a list of mail-order and online sources for buying and renting DVDs and videos, official motion picture code ratings from G to NC-17, and Leonard's list of recommended films.

Download or read book Tales from the Minnesota Twins Dugout written by Kent Hrbek and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-02-21 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Tales from the Minnesota Twins Dugout, this fan favorite looks back at his playing career in Minnesota. Many stories revolve around the championship seasons of 1987 and 1991. Hrbek also shares his memories of the late Kirby Puckett and of his close friendship with third baseman Gary Gaetti. Kent Hrbek’s Tales from the Minnesota Twins Dugout is a humorous, insightful, and at times heartbreaking story of one of the most memorable eras in team history, from one of Minnesota’s very own.