Finally, a crossword dictionary with all the words solvers need--and none of the ones they don't! When it comes to puzzle dictionaries, it's the "quality" of what's inside that counts. To make the dictionary even easier to use, the most popular answers stand out in easy-to-see red, while charts highlight frequently sought-after information such as Oscar winners and Popes' names. Crossword fans will keep this right next to their favorite puzzles!
The definitive work on the language of baseball—one of the “Five Best Baseball Books” (Wall Street Journal). Hailed as “a staggering piece of scholarship” (Wall Street Journal) and “an indispensable guide to the language of baseball” (San Diego Union-Tribune), The Dickson Baseball Dictionary has become an invaluable resource for those who love the game. Drawing on dozens of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century periodicals, as well as contemporary sources, Dickson’s brilliant, illuminating definitions trace the earliest appearances of terms both well known and obscure. This edition includes more than 10,000 terms with 18,000 individual entries, and more than 250 photos. This “impressively comprehensive” (The Nation) book will delight everyone from the youngest fan to the hard-core aficionado.
Still not sure what makes a sinker different from a curve? Can't remember when the M&M boys played with the Yankees? Want to know where the "seventh-inning stretch" comes from? Then you've done the right thing by picking up this book - the most complete collection of baseball terms and slang to be found between two covers. Impeccably researched, The New Dickson Baseball Dictionary covers all the bases.
When the Lights Went Out tells the story of a moment in the 1987 World Junior Championship that forever changed the lives of the players involved, and ignited a debate that has yet to subside about the way the game is meant to be played. When Team Canada skated onto the ice that night in Piestany, Czechoslovakia, they thought they were 60 minutes away from a gold medal. Future superstars like Brendan Shanahan and Theo Fleury, pitted against Russians like Alexei Fedorov and Alex Mogilny, dreamed of returning to Canada in glory. Instead, they were sent home empty-handed, bearers of a legacy that would follow them throughout their careers. No one who saw it will ever forget it. The mere mention of Piestany evokes the image of twenty fights breaking out all over the ice as players rushed to their mates’ defence, of haymakers, stick-swinging, and even kicking, of a referee skating off the ice in shame. ESPN hockey writer Gare Joyce tells the story of the game that marked the last time Canadian and Soviet players squared off as enemies, rather than potential team mates in the NHL. It tells the stories of the combatants on the ice. Of the coaches behind the bench. Of officials, international hockey executives, members of the media and even politicians who were caught up in the intrigue.
There is only one sport, outside of actual combat disciplines, where two participants can square off in old fashioned, bare-knuckle pugilism without facing swift ejection. Hockey has long held a place for two willing combatants, and it has been said that "no one goes for popcorn during a fight." Fans know what to expect on the ice from players with nicknames like Knuckles, The Grim Reaper, The Bruise Brothers, or The Hammer. Yet off the ice, the men who step into these brutish roles are often the kindest, gentlest and most popular players on a team--not to mention some of the best storytellers to ever lace up skates.Tough Guys honors the experiences of these NHL enforcers throughout history. Author and longtime broadcaster Dale Arnold profiles fighters across eras, sharing their journeys, struggles, and moments of glory.
George Plimpton takes to the ice with the Boston Bruins in this memorable portrait of the rough-and-tumble world of professional hockey, repackaged and featuring a foreword from Denis Leary and never-before-seen content from the Plimpton Archives. In Open Net, George Plimpton takes to the ice as goalie for his beloved Boston Bruins. After signing a release holding the Bruins blameless if he should meet with injury or death, he survives a harrowing, seemingly eternal five minutes in an exhibition game against the always-tough Philadelphia Flyers. With reflections on such hockey greats as Wayne Gretzky, Bobby Orr, and Eddie Shore, Open Net is at once a celebration of the thrills and grace of the greatest sport on ice and a probing meditation into the hopes and fears of every man.
Celebrate another historic gold medal with the behind-the-scenes story of the Canadian World Junior program, from bestselling author Mark Spector. On the World Juniors hockey stage today, Canada is known as the team to beat. They hold the record for the most gold medals won (eighteen since the tournament’s inception), their games draw millions of fans each year, and the tournament serves as a showcase for each year’s best talent. But things weren’t always so rosy. For years, Canada languished in obscurity at the World Juniors. Wearing the red-and-white wasn’t a mark of honour but merely a sideshow to the players, owners resented the interruption to their league operations, and Canada was an afterthought at the tournament. Canada was supposed to be better at hockey than any nation on earth, but no one took them seriously. So, the team set out on a reclamation mission. The Program of Excellence was born, and with it, a new hope for hockey’s future in Canada. No more would Canada be content with merely showing up. Instead, each year, the country would send its best talent—from Gretzky to Lemieux to Crosby to McDavid—to reclaim its spot at the top of the hockey world. Tracing the owner disputes, off-ice antics, and riveting on-ice action of nearly forty years at the World Juniors, Road to Gold is full of inside stories from hockey greats. And, this edition features a new chapter reliving the amazing final game against Russia in January 2020 that brought the gold medal back to Canada. Funny, smart, and clear-eyed, Mark Spector traces the remarkable rise of the Canadian World Junior program and shows how Canada created not just a new team, but a new dream for the sport.
Games between the Dodgers and Giants are never just another day at the ballpark. Dating back to the late nineteenth century—when the teams embodied the competitive spirit of rival metropolises of New York and Brooklyn—the Giants-Dodgers rivalry gained intensity throughout the early twentieth century. The cheering and jeering continued unabated until 1957, when the clubs backed the moving vans up to the Polo Grounds and Ebbets Field, and took their rivalry to new venues in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Indeed, Brooklyn-New York baseball was a tough act to follow, but the West Coast version didn’t take long to fire up the emotions. Only six games into the first West Coast season, the clubs had their first beanball dustup. The venue had changed but the venom remained, and the rivalry became author Joe Konte’s obsession. Fifty-eight years ago, he attended one of the first Giants-Dodgers games ever played outside of New York. A longtime newspaper editor and baseball fiend, Konte understands what is so special about this storied rivalry. And so—via statistical analysis, game summaries, roster scrutiny, manager matchups, season recaps, and more—he has put together a rivalry bible. Revised and updated to include the events of the last three seasons—from the Giants’ 2014 World Series win and the Dodgers’ playoff runs—Giants vs. Dodgers captures the spirit and intensity of one of the greatest rivalries in American sports.
Ken Carson's career as rink rat, athletic trainer and executive has spanned sixty years from junior hockey to the NHL and from major-league baseball to the minors. Carson has sharpened skates with Bobby Orr as his helper; been frightened out of a wrestling ring by Yukon Eric; lived at the arena in Rochester, N.Y.; stitched up players for the Pittsburgh Penguins; celebrated the Blue Jays' first AL East championship on the turf of Exhibition Stadium as the team trainer who doubled as director of team travel. He was the first trainer for two expansion teams in two sports, the Penguins and the Blue Jays, participating in the 1976 NHL All-Star Game and the 1980 MLB All-Star Game. In 1987, Carson became the Blue Jays' director of Florida operations, which included the role of general manager of the Class A team at Dunedin. As a respected minor-league executive, he became president of the Class A Florida State League in 2015. Carson's story, as told to Toronto sports writer Larry Millson, offers a unique perspective of sports over the generations....
The world of sports is tough, competitive, and often hysterical. Steve Moore highlights the humor of sports and creates moments of absurdity in his comic strip In the Bleachers. In this e-book original compilation, the sport of baseball is lampooned on and off the field. From an umpire-vaporizing homemade laser to an all-too-true riff on the inexpiable infield fly rule, the ironic illustrations that Steve Moore is known for make good fun our of America's pastime. This latest compilation of In the Bleachers features Steve Moore’s unique comedic style that has propelled his career from journalism to TV/feature film animation. He has had huge success in the industry with two animated feature films and 26 animated shorts for ESPN. Moore’s success has not diminished his devotion to his comic strip as he continues to draw from his experience to give each of his comics a fresh and hilarious take on sports.
