Chester Marcol was a Polish immigrant who spoke no English when he discovered football by accident in 1965 as a shy high school student in Imlay City, Michigan. By 1972, he was a household name in Wisconsin after being named National Football League rookie of the year with the Green Bay Packers. Known for his frizzy hair, thick glasses, and powerful right leg, he led the league in scoring in two of his first three years and was among the top place-kickers in the game. Marcol authored one of the most famous plays in franchise history in 1980, when he caught his own blocked field goal in overtime and ran for a touchdown in a thrilling 12-6 season-opening victory over the Chicago Bears.In his autobiographyAlive and KickingMarcol talks about the hurdles he overcame as a Polish immigrant to become an NFL star, provides a no-holds-barred look at his alcohol and substance abuse that cost him his football career and family, and for the first time publicly, he discusses his suicide attempt in 1986 that continues to affect his health to this day. A member of the Packers Hall of Fame, Marcol lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where he works as a certified alcohol and drug abuse counselor and fights the daily battle to remain clean and sober.
The author of the acclaimed Vietnam series sets his sights on World War II. "All the sizzle, chaos, noise and scariness of war is clay in the hands of ace storyteller Lynch." -- Kirkus ReviewsTheo has always looked up to his older brother, Hank, but never more so than the day Hank enlisted in the US Navy. Not to be outdone, Theo followed his older brother's lead in joining the war effort -- but preferring the wide open sky to the untamed ocean, Theo chose to serve with the Army Air Force.As a gunner on a B-24 Liberator, Theo is enthusiastic about his crew's mission to save all of Europe from the Nazis. Fearlessness is a requirement for dog fights at 50,000 feet. But when Theo's brother goes missing in the Pacific, fear start creeping in. Can Theo keep his head in the game while he awaits word of his brother's fate?
"For years the members of the large and pathologically litigious Gaines family have seen one another only across the courtroom or across the casket. For this family, a revered and time-honored tradition has been, as soon as one member dies, to lose no time in contesting the will, aided by the warring (and related) law firms of Shapolsky and Shapolsky and Shapolsky & Shapolsky." "Now their endless family squabble takes a new turn when fresh-faced young banker Amelia Vanderbilt helps Harry Gaines, 92-year-old patriarch and possessor of a multimillion-dollar fortune, draft a will requiring his fractious heirs to "get along" - or lose the whole $60 million bundle. But each of the many Gaineses has his own ideas about how to spend the money - and "getting along" happens only when two join forces to sue a third." "Will Sam David's bribes work and allow him to construct three Trump Toweresque skyscrapers with the money? Or will Dwight David, ne'er-do-well and Cap d'Antibes denizen, open a disco? Will the money be used to fund homeless shelters or to open a museum of stunt car driving? What will the two Shapolsky law firms do if they lose their best (and only) clients? And what secrets is Amelia hiding as she tries to shepherd the Gaineses into an agreement?" "But can the Gaineses agree on anything? Or will a hundred years of spite and an army of greedy lawyers spoil the last hope for family peace? Greed can turn even the nicest people into Borgias - and the Gaineses aren't all that nice to begin with." "In this comic twist on the family saga, Michael Levin demonstrates the sure sense of comedy and irony that earned praise for The Socratic Method and Settling the Score, with a cast of memorable characters and a plot that has more twists than a Shapolsky legal argument."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
From running with the infamous Calton Tongs to running Calton Athletic, David Bryce's life story is a remarkable account of crime, violence, alcoholism and drug addiction in Glasgow's gangland. A respected 'hard man', Bryce worked his way through most of HM's prisons in Scotland before an epiphany in 1977 made him realise that he was a hopeless alcoholic who needed help. A five-year battle followed, during which he sank into the abyss of heroin addiction before finally getting clean. In 1985, in an effort to help others who were struggling against substance abuse, Bryce set up Calton Athletic, a football team and social group made up solely of recovering drug addicts. Reformed gangster Jimmy Boyle was one of the first to have faith in Bryce and Calton Athletic, but the club eventually won widespread respect. Gordon Brown, then a young MP, was so impressed that he wrote an article for The Observer which led to a TV film starring Lenny Henry and Robbie Coltrane. In the '90s, Ewan McGregor, Irvine Welsh and the Trainspotting crew sought Bryce's advice and friendship during the making of the internationally acclaimed cult film, while Robbie Williams begged to switch nationality and play for Calton Atheltic in an 'England v. Scotland' celebrity charity match. Bryce's uncompromising belief that the only way to come off drugs is to go cold turkey and stay completely clean saw him clash with government agencies over the 'harm-reduction' policy of recent years. The club's statutory funding was withdrawn in 1998, but today Calton Athletic are still providing an invaluable lifeline while the 'official' drugs policy has become increasingly discredited. Alive and Kicking is an inspirational tale of survival and success against the odds.
Despite the fact that his brother is missing in action in the Pacific theater, Theo McCallum, a gunner on a B-24 Liberator returns to his unit in Europe to continue the war because he feels that the other men in his unit feel like family to him--and he cannot believe that his brother is actually dead.
The revolution began with the simple act of a mother kicking a ball to her daughter. An English soccer trainer noticed, and praised her form. "Too bad," she replied, "there's no soccer league for mothers." Who could know that so many lives would change as a result of that simple exchange? In the suburban enclave of Montclair, New Jersey, as in so many communities around America, there was nothing new in the sight of mothers driving their minivans to soccer practice. What was new was that these women were driving to their own practices instead of dropping off their kids and watching from the sidelines. For the generation that grew up before Title IX's mandate of equal athletic opportunity, the field of play was a male preserve; girls watched and cheered. The lessons that sports are supposed to teach -- team spirit, overcoming adversity, playing to win without rancor or anger -- were restricted to this young boys' network; how could women help win the Battle of Waterloo when they'd been kept off the playing fields of Eton? The women of Montclair were mostly of that pre-Title IX generation, and many of them had never played competitive sports in their lives. In Alive and Kicking, Harvey Araton follows these women through their turbulent first two seasons. He turns his keen sportswriter's eye onto the battles, both on the field and in the psyche, that these women wage as they try to play a sport without compromising their values. He also shows the divisions that wrack the league when a slightly younger generation gets involved in the games, a generation raised without ambivalence about beating an opponent, willing to take a dangerous chance for a winning goal, even if it means running over the woman in their way. But most of all he describes the women who gain in confidence and ambition, like one of the league's pioneers, who finds the strength to leave a tired marriage, buoyed by her accomplishments on the field -- as well as the few who find themselves left behind by the achievers, those for whom this exposure to sport will leave the scars known to all who've been the last to be selected for a pickup game. The rise of women's sports -- symbolized by the ecstatic reaction to the U.S. Women's World Cup soccer team -- has been a significant change in the social landscape. This thoughtful, thought-provoking book examines the questions that should underlie this radical change, but too often have not: As sports change women, can women change sports? Is the male play-to-win model the only one that works? Does it work? Through the experiences of these smart, mature women, we learn much about the workings of games and societies -- and the difficulty of questioning patterns so deeply entrenched that we barely know we can question them at all.
The Rochester Lancers certainly lived in interesting times. They helped save the North American Soccer League from extinction They had passionate owners and players, and seemingly was always on a rollercoaster as they struggled to survive during their 14-year existence. During that time, they won a championship, became the first American pro soccer team to participate in the Concacaf Champions Cup (with surprising results), won a marathon soccer game. At times, they seemed to go through coaches as quickly as some people change underwear, making for some intriguing scenarios. The team endured some interesting plane and bus rides and called a stadium that had seen better times home. The Lancers' roster was represented by more than 40 nationalities.
Football is full of magical memories on and off the pitch, so why not rekindle them all with this book. Whether it be stickers or subbuteo, programmes or pogs, TV shows or table football, every fan's favourite piece of football nostalgia is collected in this fun look back at the beautiful game's most treasured mementoes, moments, and memorabilia. From the fun to the farcical, classic to cringe, everything football fans hold dear to their hearts is included in one place for the very first time! How much can you remember? This is as much a history of football and how it has evolved into the global sensation it is today as it is of the trinkets and collections adorning the ardent fans' shelves. With its fun layout, this will be the perfect companion to football fans of all ages, from the swapping cigarette cards in a cold playground generation to the Pro-Evo-but-Fifa-is-better kids of today.
Alive and Kicking This collection of twenty short stories by ten leading Iranian women writers introduces many of them to English-speaking audiences for the first time. These are successful authors whose books are widely read and appreciated by Iranian readers. Some have won awards and many of their books have been reprinted multiple times.These writers live in different parts of the Islamic Republic of Iran and work in a wide range of professions. They write under difficult circumstances since all their works are scrutinised by the Ministry of Guidance before permission to publish is granted, often after substantial rewriting, cutting and editing. Getting published thus requires a great deal of energy and persistence, making the authors' efforts to keep Iranian culture alive even more admirable.The stories range over the recent past and the present and explore themes such as love and its ending, desire, friendship, the strains and frustrations of family life, the challenges of the workplace. Some are highly realistic while others are fantastic and surreal. The female characters in the stories are often strong and independent, sometimes angry and rebellious. In this way the collection provides a series of portraits of women's lives in modern-day Iran.
The story of Heart is a story of heart and soul and rock ’n’ roll. Since finding their love of music and performing as teenagers in Seattle, Washington, Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson, have been part of the American rock music landscape. From 70s classics like “Magic Man” and “Barracuda” to chart- topping 80s ballads like “Alone,” and all the way up to 2012, when they will release their latest studio album, Fanatic, Heart has been thrilling their fans and producing hit after hit. In Kicking and Dreaming, the Wilsons recount their story as two sisters who have a shared over three decades on the stage, as songwriters, as musicians, and as the leaders of one of our most beloved rock bands. An intimate, honest, and a uniquely female take on the rock and roll life, readers of bestselling music memoirs like Life by Keith Richards and Steven Tyler’s Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? will love this quintessential music story finally told from a female perspective.
