Download or read book Underbelly Hoops written by Carson Cunningham and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2012-01-16 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: UNDERBELLY HOOPS covers Carson Cunningham's final season in the storied and now defunct Continental Basketball Association (CBA). In the process, it takes a sober look at minor league professional basketball, as Cunningham tries to navigate a poor relationship with his coach and yet finish his career on his own terms by playing a final season and winning a championship. As UNDERBELLY HOOPS shows, the CBA was a realm where hopeful players desperately hung on and crusty motels might very well have no clocks. It was a place where a trainer could be ordered to fill the visiting team's cooler with warm shower water and a coach might tell a player (namely, Cunningham) that he was focusing too much on his marriage and child rather than basketball. It was also a place where entire hotel wings could become saturated with the pungent smell of marijuana. And yet, even as it chipped away at your dignity and made little economic sense to remain, the CBA drew you in with the allure of action and the prospect of an NBA call-up. And it could inspire, like when you and your teammates caught a rhythm that made you remember why basketball is such a beautiful game, or when you saw guys continue to strive, to persevere, even if their dreams weren't fully realized. "The hoops answer to Ball Four. By turns funny and poignant—and always self aware—this book allows fans into the locker room and huddle, yes, but also into the cortex of a professional basketball player. If Carson Cunningham could have jumped, run and created his shot off the dribble as masterfully as he writes and observes, he'd be starring in the NBA." —L. Jon Wertheim, Senior Writer for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED

Download or read book Lakota Hoops written by Alan Klein and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-12 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over 150 years the Lakota have tenaciously defended their culture and land against white miners, settlers, missionaries, and the U.S. Army, and paid the price. Their economy is in shambles and they face serious social issues, but their culture and outlook remain vibrant. Basketball has a role to play in the way that people on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation configure their hopes for a better future, and for pride in their community. In Lakota Hoops, anthropologist Alan Klein trains his experienced eye on the ways that Lakota traditions find a seamless expression in the sport. In a variety of way such as weaving time-honored religious practices into the game or extending the warrior spirit of Crazy Horse to the players on the court, basketball has become a preferred way of finding continuity with the past. But the game is also well suited to the present and has become the largest regular gathering for all Lakota, promoting national pride as well as a venue for the community to creatively and aggressively confront white bigotry when needed. Richly researched and filled with interviews with Pine Ridge residents, including both male and female players, Lakota Hoops offers a compelling look at the highs and lows of a community that has made basketball its own.

Download or read book Basketball Jones written by Todd Boyd and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2000-09 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It began with Magic, Bird, and Dr. J. Then came Michael. The Dream Team. The WNBA. And, most recently, "Spree" Latrell Sprewell--American Dream or American Nightmare?--the embodiment of everything many believe is wrong--and others believe is exciting--about the game. Today, despite the NBA strike, despite home run derbies, despite football's headlock on network television ratings, despite the much-heralded return of baseball, basketball has assumed a role in American culture and consciousness impossible to imagine 20 years ago, when arenas were empty and the NBA finals were broadcast via tape delay in the wee hours. So what happened? How did a "black sport," plagued by drug scandal and decimated by white flight, come to achieve such prominence? What are the subtle and not-so-subtle racial codes that define how the game is played and perceived, and the reception of its high-profile stars? What does the shift in popularity from the predominantly white, working-class ethos of baseball to the black, urban ethos of basketball suggest about contemporary life in America? What linkages exist between basketball and hip-hop culture and how did these develop? How has the arrival of women on the scene changed the equation? Bringing together journalists, cultural critics, and academics, this wide-ranging anthology has something for everyone, from hard-core fan to casual observer. Contributors: Todd Boyd, Kenneth L. Shropshire, Gerald Early, James Peterson, Susan J. Rayl, Davis W. Houck, Mark Conrad, Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Earl Smith, Sohail Daulatzi, Larry Platt, Tina Sloan Green, Alpha Alexander, Tara McPherson, Aaron Baker.

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 Crossed Up written by M L Rosynek and published by FriesenPress. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 167 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Basketball is a way of life for this Texas team, but they soon discover that they might be encountering much more than just a fast break. Magic, mayhem, an angry pirate, and elements from the past help unite two worlds. Despite impending danger, this group of boys manage to maintain an unbreakable bond which demonstrates what the true meaning of "team" really is. Loyalty, brotherhood and a surprise visit from one of the NBA's all-time greats become the backdrop for solving a century old mystery set along a hazy Galveston coast.

Download or read book Ball Don t Lie written by Matt de la Peña and published by Delacorte Press. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Newbery Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author Matt de la Pena's Ball Don't Lie "is a must-read." [The Bulletin] Sticky is a beat-around-the-head foster kid with nowhere to call home but the street, and an outer shell so tough that no one will take him in. He started out life so far behind the pack that the finish line seems nearly unreachable. He’s a white boy living and playing in a world where he doesn’t seem to belong. But Sticky can ball. And basketball might just be his ticket out . . . if he can only realize that he doesn’t have to be the person everyone else expects him to be. Matt de la Peña's breakout urban masterpiece, Ball Don’t Lie takes place where the street and the court meet and where a boy can be anything if he puts his mind to it. ★"[An] inspiring story. Sticky is a true original, and de la Peña has skillfully brought him to life."-School Library Journal, Starred "Riveting...Teens will be strongly affected by the unforgettable...basketball action; and the questions about race, love, self-worth, and what it means to build a life without advantages."-Booklist "Stunningly realistic."-VOYA "Gritty and mesmerizing."-Kirkus Reviews "I have never before seen blacktop ball depicted so well. In this novel, you will find its flash, its power, and its elegance without chains. This is powerful stuff."-Antawn Jamison, forward for the Los Angeles Clippers "Truly authentic in its examination of both the game I love and the invariable missteps toward manhood. You cannot fail to be moved by the eloquence and truth of this story."-Rick Fox, former forward for the Los Angeles Lakers An ALA Best Book for Young Adults An ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers

Download or read book Can I Keep My Jersey written by Paul Shirley and published by Villard Books. This book was released on 2007 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering an often hilarious, occasionally heart wrenching memoir of his life as a professional basketball player, Shirley details his years playing in America, Spain, and even Siberia.

Download or read book Advantage Disadvantage written by Yale R. Jaffe and published by Yale Jaffe. This book was released on 2008 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Corruption, greed, and betrayal drive the adults who surround a talented high school basketball player in Advantage Disadvantage, a sports thriller.

Download or read book The Jump written by Ian O'Connor and published by Rodale. This book was released on 2005-02-19 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follows the journey to stardom of a promising young high school basketball player as, already sporting a multi-million dollar sneaker deal, he prepares to make the jump directly to the NBA.

Download or read book Before the Curse written by Randy Roberts and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2012-01-15 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the Curse: The Chicago Cubs' Glory Years, 1870–1945 brings to life the early history of the much beloved and often heartbreaking Chicago Cubs. Originally called the Chicago White Stockings, the team immediately established itself as a powerhouse, winning the newly formed National Base Ball League's inaugural pennant in 1876, repeating the feat in 1880 and 1881, and commanding the league in the decades to come. The legendary days of the Cubs are recaptured here in more than two dozen vintage newspaper accounts and historical essays on the teams and the fans who loved them. The great games, pennant races, and series are all here, including the 1906 World Series between the Cubs and Chicago White Sox. Of course, Before the Curse remembers the hall-of-fame players--Grover Cleveland Alexander, Gabby Hartnett, Roger Hornsby, Dizzy Dean--who delighted Cubs fans with their play on the field and their antics elsewhere. Through stimulating introductions to each article, Randy Roberts and Carson Cunningham demonstrate how changes in ownership affected the success of the team, who the teams' major players were both on and off the field, and how regular fans, owners, players, journalists, and Chicagoans of the past talked and wrote about baseball.

Download or read book Exordia written by Seth Dickinson and published by Tordotcom. This book was released on 2024-01-23 with total page 606 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Crichton meets Marvel’s Venom in award-winning author Seth Dickinson’s science fiction debut “Viciously funny, vivid to the point of horror, and entirely profound.”—Arkady Martine “Magnificent. . . . A science fiction action juggernaut.”—Tamsyn Muir “Anna, I came to Earth tracking a very old story, a story that goes back to the dawn of time. It’s very unlikely that you’ll die right now. It wouldn’t be narratively complete.” Anna Sinjari—refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker—has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. Enter Ssrin, a many-headed serpent alien who is on the run from her own past. Ssrin and Anna are inexorably, dangerously drawn to each other, and their contact reveals universe-threatening stakes. While humanity reels from disaster, Anna must join a small team of civilians, soldiers, and scientists to investigate a mysterious broadcast and unknowable horror. If they can manage to face their own demons, they just might save the world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book American Hoops written by Carson Cunningham and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Those who avidly followed the on-court acrobatics and off-court celebrity of the OC Dream TeamOCO in Barcelona in 1992 would hardly recognize what passed as basketball fifty-six years earlier, when the United States first played the game in the 1936 Olympics. In those early days of menOCOs Olympic basketball, many teams lacked basic skills, games were played in the pouring rain, only seven players could suit up, and the rules allowed only two substitutions and no time-outs. How this slow, low-scoring sport became the breakneck game that enraptures millions worldwide is the story of American Hoops.In this fascinating history of Olympic basketball on the world stage and behind the scenes, Carson Cunningham presents a kaleidoscopic picture of the evolution into the twenty-first century of one of AmericaOCOs most popular sports. From clashes between celebrated egos and thrilling action on the court to the intense rivalries of the Cold War and technological advances in everything from television to sports equipment off the court, American Hoops follows the fortunes of Olympic basketball, in the United States and internationally, as it developed and emerged as one of the most challenging and entertaining sports in the world.Cunningham traces how the modifications made by the International Olympic Committee and the International Basketball Federation have transformed the game of basketball over the years, from the Berlin to the Beijing Olympics. His book offers a remarkable view of the changing world through the prism of Olympic sport."

Download or read book Pitino written by Rick Pitino and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2018-09-04 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On September 26, 2017, the biggest recruiting scandal in college basketball history sent shock waves through the world of sports. Caught up in a massive FBI and NCAA investigation—and the intense media spotlight—was Rick Pitino, the Louisville Cardinals’ Hall of Fame coach. Here, from Pitino himself, comes the real story of the ongoing case and the hard truth about how college hoops has been pushed to the brink of disaster by greed, bad actors, and shoe company money. Rick Pitino has spent a lifetime in basketball. He is the recruiting and coaching maestro behind Final Four appearances with three different teams, and National Championships at two of them. He worked the early days of the legendary Five-Star camp and scouted players without the influence of agents, runners, or shoe companies. And he has run today’s recruiting gauntlet of sports apparel marketing, corrupted assistant coaches, unethical youth coaches, and powerful organizations hellbent against him. Rick Pitino has seen it all, dealt with it all, and now tells it all. Pitino is the story of an epic coaching career and the evolution of NCAA basketball to the multi-billion-dollar enterprise it is today. It is also a master’s course on the arts of coaching and recruiting. And in the telling, the one and only Rick Pitino lays all his cards on the table in addressing scandals of his past and the current headline-grabbing investigation that led a packed Board of Directors at Louisville to derail his career.

Download or read book Cathedrals Of Sin written by John LeVatte and published by John LeVatte. This book was released on 2012-05-09 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " Journalist Max Wainright gets an early morning call from his editor telling him that one of the most violent criminals in the city's history is dead. He was murdered, literally torn to pieces, and the cops have no leads. After his visit to the crime scene, Wainright is convinced a madman is on the loose. But as he digs deeper, he comes into contact with one of the most prolific killers ever. To a city with no name he has come to end the reign of terror being inflicted on the city's inhabitants by a shadowy criminal organization and a religious zealot bent on returning the citizenry to a new Eden. Some will live, others will not, but all will pay a price for their Cathedrals of Sin. "

Download or read book Sneak Peek for Exordia written by Seth Dickinson and published by Tordotcom. This book was released on 2023-11-28 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award-winning author Seth Dickinson explodes into a new genre with this new standalone novel, a science fiction debut. Download a FREE sneak peek today! “Anna, I came to Earth tracking a very old story, a story that goes back to the dawn of time. it’s very unlikely that you’ll die right now. It wouldn’t be narratively complete.” Anna Sinjari—refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker—has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. While humanity reels from disaster, she must join a small team of civilians, soldiers, and scientists to investigate a mysterious broadcast and unknowable horror. If they can manage to face their own demons, they just might save the world. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Download or read book Foul Lines written by Jack McCallum and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-02-07 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From two senior Sports Illustrated writers comes an explosive, fast-paced satire that will do for today's NBA what North Dallas Forty did for the NFL a generation ago. Just months from his Yale graduation, street-smart whiz kid Jamal Kelly leaves school to take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join the front office of the Los Angeles Lasers. Once on the West Coast, Jamal gets a quick introduction to a subculture awash in big egos and fast cars, as well as an introduction to the charms of the team's new hard-charging beat writer, Jilly Forrester. In the spirit of Primary Colors and The Devil Wears Prada, Foul Lines peels back the curtain on the trappings of big-time professional basketball. No other sport encapsulates so many cultural hot-button topics, and Foul Lines at once exposes and lampoons this parallel universe.

Download or read book The Commonwealth Saga 2 Book Bundle written by Peter F. Hamilton and published by Del Rey. This book was released on 2014-07-15 with total page 2778 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Earning comparisons to such sci-fi/fantasy greats as Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, and George R. R. Martin, Peter F. Hamilton is a one-of-a-kind voice in space opera. His interstellar adventures are hugely ambitious, wildly entertaining, and philosophically stimulating. Now Hamilton’s centuries-spanning Commonwealth Saga—the linked novels Pandora’s Star and Judas Unchained—is available in one epic eBook bundle. Contains a thrilling preview of Peter F. Hamilton’s upcoming novel, The Abyss Beyond Dreams, set in the same universe as the Commonwealth Saga. PANDORA’S STAR JUDAS UNCHAINED 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars, contains more than six hundred worlds interconnected by a web of transport “tunnels” known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: over one thousand light-years away, a star . . . disappears. Since the location is too distant to reach by wormhole, the Second Chance, a faster-than-light starship commanded by Wilson Kime, a five-times-rejuvenated ex-NASA pilot, is dispatched to learn what has occurred and whether it represents a threat. Opposed to the mission are the Guardians of Selfhood. Shortly after the journey begins, Kime wonders if the crew of the Second Chance has been infiltrated. But soon enough he will have other worries. Halfway across the galaxy, something truly incredible is waiting: a deadly discovery whose unleashing will threaten to destroy the Commonwealth . . . and humanity itself. Praise for the Commonwealth Saga Pandora’s Star “Should be high on everyone’s reading list . . . You won’t be able to put it down.”—Nancy Pearl, NPR “An imaginative and stunning tale of the perfect future threatened . . . a book of epic proportions not unlike Frank Herbert’s Dune or Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy.”—SFRevu “Recommended . . . A large cast of characters, each with his own story, brings depth and variety to this far-future saga.”—Library Journal Judas Unchained “An interstellar suspense thriller . . . sweeping in scope and emotional range.”—San Antonio Express-News “Hamilton tackles SF the way George R. R. Martin is tackling fantasy. . . . There’s a sense of wonder here that’s truly unchained.”—SF Reviews “Richly satisfying . . . wonderfully imagined . . . Hamilton adroitly leaps from the struggles of one engaging, quirky character to another.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)