Download or read book Play Their Hearts Out written by George Dohrmann and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2012-02-07 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A tour de force of reporting” (The Washington Post) from a Pulitzer–prize winning journalist that examines the often-corrupt machine producing America’s basketball stars “Indispensable.”—The Wall Street Journal “Often heart-breaking, always riveting.”—The New York Times Book Review “Tremendous.”—The Plain Dealer Winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting• Winner of the Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Youth Sports Using eight years of unfettered access and a keen sense of a story’s deepest truths, journalist George Dohrmann reveals a cutthroat world where boys as young as eight or nine are subjected to a dizzying torrent of scrutiny and exploitation. At the book’s heart are the personal stories of two compelling figures: Joe Keller, an ambitious coach with a master plan to find and promote “the next LeBron,” and Demetrius Walker, a fatherless latchkey kid who falls under Keller’s sway and struggles to live up to unrealistic expectations. Complete with a new “where-are-they-now” epilogue by the author, Play Their Hearts Out is a thoroughly compelling narrative exposing the gritty reality that lies beneath so many dreams of fame and glory. One of GQ’S 50 Best Books of Literary Journalism of the 21st Century • One of the Best Books of the Year: Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, Kirkus Reviews This edition includes an exclusive conversation between George Dohrmann and bestselling author Seth Davis.
Download or read book Superfans written by George Dohrmann and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2018-02-20 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist pulls back the curtain on the extraordinary inner lives of America’s most obsessive sports fans. There are fans, and then there are fanatics. In this wondrously immersive look at American sports fandom, George Dohrmann travels the country to find out what distinguishes an ordinary, everyday enthusiast from that special breed of supporter known as the superfan. In Minnesota, Dohrmann meets newly minted generals of the Viking World Order, a Minnesota Vikings affinity group organized along military lines. In Oregon, he shares a few beers with a determined soccer fan who amassed—almost singlehandedly—a four-thousand-strong cheering section for the fledgling Portland Timbers. In Illinois, he talks with the parents of a five-year-old boy whose intense hatred of Tom Brady went viral on YouTube. Through these and other intimate profiles, Dohrmann shows us the human faces behind the colored face paint, the real people inside the elaborate costumes who prowl the stands and parking lots at stadiums from coast to coast. In addition to the fans themselves, Dohrmann also talks with the experts who study them. He uses the latest thinking in sports psychology—some of it learned during a spirited round of miniature golf with a group of professors at the annual Sports Psychology Forum—to unravel the answers to such burning questions as: How does fandom begin? What are its effects on everyday life? When does it go too far? For everyone who’s ever body-painted their torso with the team colors of their alma mater before heading off to a sports bar—or even just screamed at their television during the NBA Finals—Superfans offers an entertaining and insightful exploration of the many ways human beings find meaning in something bigger than themselves. Featuring photos of the Rally Banana, Timber Jim, the officers of the Viking World Order, a pair of Kentucky Wildcats tattoos, a Kevin Durant jersey torched by a jilted fan, and more. Plus analysis of the . . . Arizona State Sun Devils • Chicago Bears • Dallas Cowboys • Green Bay Packers • Indianapolis Colts • Milwaukee Brewers • Nebraska Cornhuskers • New England Patriots • Oklahoma City Thunder • Philadelphia Eagles • San Diego State Aztecs • Seattle Seahawks “Well reported and meticulously researched . . . Dohrmann is a respected, diligent sportswriter and has been so for years—you don’t get Pulitzers for message-board posts.”—The Wall Street Journal
Download or read book In My Heart written by Jo Witek and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrate feelings in all their shapes and sizes in this New York Times bestselling picture book from the Growing Hearts series! Happiness, sadness, bravery, anger, shyness . . . our hearts can feel so many feelings! Some make us feel as light as a balloon, others as heavy as an elephant. In My Heart explores a full range of emotions, describing how they feel physically, inside, with language that is lyrical but also direct to empower readers to practice articulating and identifying their own emotions. With whimsical illustrations and an irresistible die-cut heart that extends through each spread, this gorgeously packaged and unique feelings book is sure to become a storytime favorite.
Download or read book Pick Up Game written by Marc Aronson and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nine all-stars in the field of YA lit contribute stories. . . . An anthology of stand-alone stories that invite — no, demand — a straight read-through." — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review) Nine of YA literature’s top writers, including Walter Dean Myers, Rita Williams-Garcia, Adam Rapp, Joseph Bruchac, and Sharon Flake reveal how it all goes down in a searing collection of short stories, in which each one picks up where the previous one ends. Characters weave in and out of narratives, perspectives change, and emotions play out for a fluid and fast-paced ode to the game of street basketball. Crackling with humor, grit, and streetball philosophy, and featuring poems and photographs by Charles R. Smith Jr., this anthology is a slam dunk.
Download or read book A High Five for Glenn Burke written by Phil Bildner and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 2021 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2020 A 2021 ALA Rainbow Book A Bank Street Best Book of 2021 A heartfelt and relatable novel from Phil Bildner, weaving the real history of Los Angeles Dodger and Oakland Athletic Glenn Burke--the first professional baseball player to come out as gay--into the story of a middle-school kid learning to be himself. When sixth grader Silas Wade does a school presentation on former Major Leaguer Glenn Burke, it’s more than just a report about the irrepressible inventor of the high five. Burke was a gay baseball player in the 1970s—and for Silas, the presentation is his own first baby step toward revealing a truth about himself he's tired of hiding. Soon he tells his best friend, Zoey, but the longer he keeps his secret from his baseball teammates, the more he suspects they know something’s up—especially when he stages one big cover-up with terrible consequences. A High Five for Glenn Burke is Phil Bildner’s most personal novel yet—a powerful story about the challenge of being true to yourself, especially when not everyone feels you belong on the field.
Download or read book Hand Me Down Dream Essay written by George Dohrmann and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2012-02-07 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this eBook exclusive essay, Pulitzer Prize–winning sports journalist George Dohrmann follows a father and son separated by prison bars—but bonded by their pursuit of basketball glory. The dream of playing big-time basketball never came true for Bruce Nelson, so he passed it on to his son Roberto. His every waking moment as a father was devoted to securing Roberto a Division I scholarship. Oftentimes he worried that his son’s lack of competitive fire might put that dream in jeopardy—when in fact it was Bruce’s own actions that would do so. When Bruce is forced to monitor Roberto’s progress from behind penitentiary walls, his influence recedes—and so too does Roberto’s commitment to the aspirations they once shared. In a story that combines deep insight into family relationships with the deft storytelling that distinguished his award-winning Play Their Hearts Out, George Dohrmann follows Roberto as he addresses his life’s most difficult decisions in the absence of his best friend and most constant companion. In doing so, Dohrmann sheds new light on the larger story of basketball dreams and the pressures they place on young athletes. Includes an excerpt from George Dohrmann’s Play Their Hearts Out, winner of the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting and the Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Youth Sports. Praise for Play Their Hearts Out “Often heartbreaking, always riveting.”—The New York Times Book Review “Tremendous.”—The Plain Dealer “Indispensable.”—The Wall Street Journal “A tour de force of reporting, filled with deft storytelling and vivid character studies.”—The Washington Post “One of the finest sports books of all time.”—Harper’s Magazine “Amazing stuff . . . the Friday Night Lights of youth basketball.”—Leigh Montville, author of The Big Bam “A landmark achievement in basketball journalism.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) NAMED ONE OF THE BEST SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES • THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR • KIRKUS REVIEWS
Download or read book We Play Ourselves written by Jen Silverman and published by Random House. This book was released on 2021-02-09 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After a humiliating scandal, a young writer flees to the West Coast, where she is drawn into the morally ambiguous orbit of a charismatic filmmaker and the teenage girls who are her next subjects. FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD • ONE OF BUZZFEED’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “A blistering story about the costs of creating art.”—O: The Oprah Magazine Not too long ago, Cass was a promising young playwright in New York, hailed as “a fierce new voice” and “queer, feminist, and ready to spill the tea.” But at the height of all this attention, Cass finds herself at the center of a searing public shaming, and flees to Los Angeles to escape—and reinvent herself. There she meets her next-door neighbor Caroline, a magnetic filmmaker on the rise, as well as the pack of teenage girls who hang around her house. They are the subjects of Caroline’s next semidocumentary movie, which follows the girls’ clandestine activity: a Fight Club inspired by the violent classic. As Cass is drawn into the film’s orbit, she is awed by Caroline’s ambition and confidence. But over time, she becomes troubled by how deeply Caroline is manipulating the teens in the name of art—especially as the consequences become increasingly disturbing. With her past proving hard to shake and her future one she’s no longer sure she wants, Cass is forced to reckon with her own ambitions and confront what she has come to believe about the steep price of success.
Download or read book Play Your Heart Out written by Crystal Kaswell and published by Crystal Kaswell. This book was released on 2016-05-22 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He parties like a rockstar. She's there to make sure no one finds out... Jess James has her eye on the prize. She is finding the money to pay for law school. Period. It doesn't matter how lonely she feels three thousand miles from home, how exhausted she is from working overtime as a cocktail waitress, or how deep the knife wound in her back cuts. She is going to be a lawyer, whatever it takes. Only she doesn't have what it takes. She can barely afford to pay her rent. Sinful Serenade bassist Pete Steele has enough to pay Jess's rent and buy her a small island in the Caribbean. The famous, talented rock star has everything... except the one thing his manager wants. Pete rose to fame as a devoted boyfriend. Doesn't matter that his ex slept with his best friend. He needs to stop screwing his way through Los Angeles to keep the record company happy. The sweet blond waitress is exactly the girl he needs on his arm if he wants to clean up his dirty reputation. Their arrangement is simple: he pays her tuition, she plays his girlfriend. They'll lie to the world but not to each other. Especially not when they're alone, in his bed, him figuring out exactly which buttons to push to get her moaning his name. Jess is good at keeping up appearances. She can play the enigmatic rock star's girlfriend. But Pete shouldn't play games with a girl who's been broken before... ***Play Your Heart Out is a full-length, standalone romance set in the Sinful Serenade universe.*** Sinful Serenade, a new adult romance series, follows the men of rock band Sinful Serenade and the women they love. Each book can be read as a standalone.
Download or read book The A A U Wasteland written by Dave Taylor and published by Xulon Press. This book was released on 2014-08-11 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In their book "The AAU Wasteland," Coach Dave Taylor and Eli Gonzalez pull back the rug on the AAU and no one is safe, whether they are players, coaches, parents, the NCAA, the NBA, or major shoe companies. Far too many young, influential, and talented basketball players put their hopes into this broken system, only to become non-functioning members of society. However, there is hope! Coach Taylor and Mr. Gonzalez provide a solution that can make the sport of basketball a pure journey to enrich lives once again. If anyone can speak on the current realities of the AAU, it's Dave Taylor. He has played both high school and college basketball. He has coached Division I basketball for four years and was a head varsity basketball coach at the high school level for fifteen years in California. Taylor has been coaching high profile AAU teams and running camps for youngsters with exceptional talent for over twenty years. He currently runs the NATIONAL Jr. Phenom Camp since it started over ten years ago and has also been involved with national AAU programs such as Double Pump and the West Coast All-Star camp for decades. He oversees camps all across the country and has gone to Tokyo, Australia, Beijing, Singapore, and other countries to teach and coach the game of basketball. He will soon run the Plumlee Big Man Camps and other camps for NBA players. He was a character in and was a source of information for the New York Times Best Seller "Play Their Hearts Out" and is featured in the basketball documentary Hoop Dreams 2. Dave Taylor either directly coached or had in his camps current NBA players such as James Hardin, Carlos Boozer, Paul George, Clay Thompson, Drue Holiday, John Wall, Trevor Ariza, Gilbert Arenas, Mike Dunleavey Jr, the Lopez twins, and many more. Eli Gonzalez is a contracted ghostwriter for Xulon Press who previously coached a high school varsity boy's basketball team. Together they intricately weave a story of innocence lost, peppered with stories of NBA legends, and advice from Coach John Wooden. It also includes Coach Taylor's advice to players, parents, and coaches on leveraging the sport to a better future.
Download or read book Hearts Unbroken written by Cynthia Leitich Smith and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith turns to realistic fiction with the thoughtful story of a Native teen navigating the complicated, confusing waters of high school — and first love. When Louise Wolfe’s first real boyfriend mocks and disrespects Native people in front of her, she breaks things off and dumps him over e-mail. It’s her senior year, anyway, and she’d rather spend her time with her family and friends and working on the school newspaper. The editors pair her up with Joey Kairouz, the ambitious new photojournalist, and in no time the paper’s staff find themselves with a major story to cover: the school musical director’s inclusive approach to casting The Wizard of Oz has been provoking backlash in their mostly white, middle-class Kansas town. From the newly formed Parents Against Revisionist Theater to anonymous threats, long-held prejudices are being laid bare and hostilities are spreading against teachers, parents, and students — especially the cast members at the center of the controversy, including Lou’s little brother, who’s playing the Tin Man. As tensions mount at school, so does a romance between Lou and Joey — but as she’s learned, “dating while Native” can be difficult. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey’s?
Download or read book Changing the Game written by John O'Sullivan and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2013-08-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A powerful guide for both parents and coaches who want kids to have fun, enjoyable, and meaningful youth sporting experiences . . . I highly recommend it!” —John Ballantine, president and co-founder, Kids in the Game The modern-day youth sports environment has taken the enjoyment out of athletics for our children. Currently, 70% of kids drop out of organized sports by the age of thirteen, which has given rise to a generation of overweight, unhealthy young adults. There is a solution. John O’Sullivan shares the secrets of the coaches and parents who have not only raised elite athletes, but have done so by creating an environment that promotes positive core values and teaches life lessons instead of focusing on wins and losses, scholarships, and professional aspirations. Changing the Game gives adults a new paradigm and a game plan for raising happy, high performing children, and provides a national call to action to return youth sports to our kids. “Changing the Game is, well, a game changer. It explores in both depth and breadth the youth sports experience, its blood, sweat, and tears. Any parent who wants their children to gain the physical, psychological, emotional, and social benefits of what sport has to offer (and isn’t that every parent!) better read this book. It will make you a better sports parent, and it will ensure that your children get all the good stuff and avoid most of the bad stuff from participating in sports.” —James Taylor, Ph.D., author of Positive Pushing: How to Raise a Successful and Happy Child
Download or read book When the Garden Was Eden written by Harvey Araton and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-10-18 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of The Boys of Summer and The Bronx Is Burning, New York Times sports columnist Harvey Araton delivers a fascinating look at the 1970s New York Knicks—part autobiography, part sports history, part epic, set against the tumultuous era when Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, and Bill Bradley reigned supreme in the world of basketball. Perfect for readers of Jeff Pearlman’s The Bad Guys Won!, Peter Richmond’s Badasses, and Pat Williams’s Coach Wooden, Araton’s revealing story of the Knicks’ heyday is far more than a review of one of basketball’s greatest teams’ inspiring story—it is, at heart, a stirring recreation of a time and place when the NBA championships defined the national dream.
Download or read book Playing from the Heart written by Peter H. Reynolds and published by Candlewick Press. This book was released on 2016-04-12 with total page 33 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "When a young boy Begins to play on the family's piano, reveling in the fun of plunking the keys, his father signs him up for lessons so he can learn to play properly. Raj learns notes, then scales, then songs, and finally classical pieces his father can recognize and be proud of. However, the more skilled he becomes, the less he enjoys playing--until he grows up and stops playing altogether. But when his father becomes ill and requests that Raj play for him, will Raj remember how to play from the heart?"--Provided by publisher
Download or read book Thunderbowl written by Lesley Choyce and published by Orca Book Publishers. This book was released on 2004-04-01 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jeremy's band is hot--really hot. Thunderbowl is on the way up and they have had their first big break--a long-term gig at a local bar. The only problem is that while Jeremy should be doing his homework and keeping up in school, he is spending most nights in a rowdy club, trying to keep the band together while his life is falling apart. Trying to balance his dreams of success with the hard realities of the music business, Jeremy is forced to make some tough choices. Also available in Spanish.
Download or read book Beep written by David Wanczyk and published by Ohio University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-12 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Beep, David Wanczyk illuminates the sport of blind baseball to show us a remarkable version of America’s pastime. With balls tricked out to squeal three times per second, and with bases that buzz, this game of baseball for the blind is both innovative and intense. And when the best beep baseball team in America, the Austin Blackhawks, takes on its international rival, Taiwan Homerun, no one’s thinking about disability. What we find are athletes playing their hearts out for a championship. Wanczyk follows teams around the world and even joins them on the field to produce a riveting inside narrative about the game and its players. Can Ethan Johnston, kidnapped and intentionally blinded as a child in Ethiopia, find a new home in beep baseball, and a spot on the all-star team? Will Taiwan’s rookie MVP Ching-kai Chen—whose superhuman feats on the field have left some veterans suspicious—keep up his incredible play? And can Austin’s Lupe Perez harness his competitive fire and lead his team to a long-awaited victory in the beep baseball world series? Beep is the first book about blind baseball.
Download or read book Crimes of the Heart written by Beth Henley and published by Dramatists Play Service Inc. This book was released on 1982 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE STORY: The scene is Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of the family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital. Lenny, the oldest sister, is unmarried
Download or read book Drums Girls and Dangerous Pie written by Jordan Sonnenblick and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brave and beautiful story that will make readers laugh, and break their hearts at the same time. Now with a special note from the author! Steven has a totally normal life (well, almost).He plays drums in the All-City Jazz Band (whose members call him the Peasant), has a crush on the hottest girl in school (who doesn't even know he's alive), and is constantly annoyed by his younger brother, Jeffrey (who is cuter than cute - which is also pretty annoying). But when Jeffrey gets sick, Steven's world is turned upside down, and he is forced to deal with his brother's illness, his parents' attempts to keep the family in one piece, his homework, the band, girls, and Dangerous Pie (yes, you'll have to read the book to find out what that is!).
