Former NBA All-Star Caron Butler and acclaimed author Justin A. Reynolds tip off the first book in a new middle grade series about a young boy trying to make his mark on an AAU basketball team coached by a former NBA star in his hometown. Perfect for fans of The Crossover and the Track series. A Junior Library Guild Selection! Tony loves basketball. But the game changed recently when his best friend, Dante, a hoops phenom, was killed by a police officer. Tony hopes he can carry on Dante’s legacy by making the Sabres, the AAU basketball team Dante took to two national championships. Tony doesn’t make the team, but Coach James likes what he sees from Tony at tryouts and offers him another chance: join the team as the statistician. With his community reeling and the team just finding its footing on the court, can Tony find a path to healing while helping to bring the Sabres a championship?
Today's National Basketball Association commands millions of spectators worldwide, and its many franchises are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But the league wasn't always so successful or glamorous: in the 1940s and 1950s, the NBA and its predecessor, the Basketball Association of America, were scrambling to attract fans. Teams frequently played in dingy gymnasiums, players traveled as best they could, and their paychecks could bounce higher than a basketball. How did the NBA evolve from an obscure organization facing financial losses to a successful fledgling sports enterprise by 1960? Drawing on information from numerous archives, newspaper and periodical articles, and Congressional hearings, The Rise of the National Basketball Association chronicles the league's growing pains from 1946 to 1961. David George Surdam describes how a handful of ambitious ice hockey arena owners created the league as a way to increase the use of their facilities, growing the organization by fits and starts. Rigorously analyzing financial data and league records, Surdam points to the innovations that helped the NBA thrive: regular experiments with rules changes to make the game more attractive to fans, and the emergence of televised sports coverage as a way of capturing a larger audience. Notably, the NBA integrated in 1950, opening the game to players who would dominate the game by the end of the 1950sdecade: Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, and Oscar Robertson. Long a game that players loved to play, basketball became a professional sport well supported by community leaders, business vendors, and an ever-growing number of fans.
This easy-to-read guide, filled with illustrations and action photographs, contains everything for the fan and non-fan alike to understand and enjoy the sport of basketball. Each section stands alone, so it can be used as a handy reference guide, and it is so lightweight it can easily be taken to games. The book includes:- The Rules of Basketball Simplified - What to Look For During Play - Statistics Explained - The NBA Draft - The Road to the NCAA Final Four - College Rule Differences - Stars and Great Teams -- Past and Present - A Complete Glossary The popularity of basketball has exploded over the last decade or so. Attendance has doubled and annual merchandise sales are now approaching $3 Billion! Yet many people still do not grasp the basics of the sport. This handy spectator guide will help you better understand the game so you can discover why basketball is America's fastest growing team sport.
“Take a Shot! is a fast and furious ride. It’s Moneyball meets The Hangover! I love it almost as much as my Oscar and Lombardi Trophies.” — Steve Tisch, Chairman, New York Giants & Academy Award–winning producer, Forrest Gump Take a Shot! is the incredible true story of how three unlikely partners—world-famous fitness icon Jake Steinfeld, former Princeton University lacrosse star Dave Morrow, and son of a TV preacher Tim Robertson—broke all the rules and beat all the odds to create Major League Lacrosse. This book will take you on a roller-coaster ride through the ups and downs of starting a business—and not just any business, but a professional sports league built around America’s oldest and most tradition-bound game. Today, Major League Lacrosse is entering its 12th season, and the sport has exploded into the fastest-growing game in the U.S. But it wasn’t always that way . . . not even close. For four crazy, chaotic years, from 1998 to 2001, Jake, Dave, and Tim faced enormous obstacles and endless challenges in their lonely battle to make their lacrosse dream come true. From the earliest inspiration—Jake’s chance reading of a magazine article that got the ball rolling—to the wild search for investors and owners, to the insane setbacks that nearly derailed the league time and time again, to the emotional and triumphant debut of Major League Lacrosse, Take a Shot! is an action-packed, thrill-a-minute adventure story. But this book is also about friendship under fire. It tells the tale of three men from vastly different worlds—Jake, the brash Hollywood icon and driving force behind Major League Lacrosse; Dave, a shy Ivy Leaguer from blue-collar Detroit and the ultimate fish out of water; and Tim, the son of TV evangelist Pat Robertson and a multimedia mogul—who teamed up to try the impossible: start a professional sports league from scratch at a time when other leagues were crashing and burning around them. When Jake recruited Dave to be his partner, neither had any idea what was in store for them, nor what it took to start something like this (after all, who does?). But they had something more important: a gut instinct that, from day one, they could always trust each other. And so, with only a handshake, they ignored all the naysayers who warned them that they were doomed to fail and together built Major League Lacrosse, weathering every crisis and shrugging off each disaster along the way. And in the process, their partnership evolved into an enduring friendship, as Jake helped Dave blossom into a big-time entrepreneur, and Dave—at a crucial moment with everything on the line—came out of his shell and justified Jake’s relentless faith in him.
This bundle presents Doug Lennox’s popular trivia book series in its entirety. These books will provide years and years of fun, with countless questions to be asked and tons of knowledge to be learned. The books cover general trivia but also such topics as sports (baseball, hockey, football, golf, soccer, among others), Christmas and the Bible, disasters and harsh weather, royal figures, crime and criminology, important people in Canada’s history, and so much more! Along the way we find out the answers to such questions as: Why do the British drive on the left and North Americans on the right? What football team was named after a Burt Reynolds character? Who started the first forensics laboratory? Which member of the British royal family competed at the Olympics? Lennox’s exhaustive series is fun for all ages. Includes Now You Know Now You Know More Now You Know Almost Everything Now You Know, Volume 4 Now You Know Big Book of Answers Now You Know Christmas Now You Know Big Book of Answers 2 Now You Know Golf Now You Know Hockey Now You Know Soccer Now You Know Football Now You Know Big Book of Sports Now You Know Baseball Now You Know Crime Scenes Now You Know Extreme Weather Now You Know Disasters Now You Know Pirates Now You Know Royalty Now You Know Canada’s Heroes Now You Know The Bible
The easy way to get the ins, outs, and intrigue on this beloved sport The National Basketball Association (NBA), with 30 teams and an average attendance of more than 17,000 spectators per game, is the richest and most popular basketball league — and arguably the most viewed American sport — in the world. This new edition of Basketball For Dummies not only covers the rules and regulations of the NBA, but offers coverage on the WNBA, NCAA, and international basketball leagues. Basketball For Dummies is a valuable resource to the many fans of this beloved sport, covering everything from players and personalities in the game to rules, regulations, and equipment. Completely updated with information and intrigue that's occurred in the sport since publication of the previous edition, Basketball For Dummies gets you up to speed on everything from NCAA Tournament brackets to college players en route to the NBA. Coverage of the rules and regulations of the NBA Interesting topics like LeBron the Phenom, ESPN'S influence on the NBA, and the UCONN women's basketball dynasty Digger's take on John Wooden Whether you're a basketball player or a courtside spectator, Basketball For Dummies is a slam-dunk of information and intrigue for anyone who loves the sport.
“The strong take from the weak, but the smart take from the strong.” So said Pete Carril’s father, a Spanish immigrant who worked for thirty-nine years in a Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, steel mill. His son stood only five-foot-six but nonetheless became an All-State basketball player in high school, a Little All-American in college, and a highly successful coach. After twenty-nine years as Princeton University’s basketball coach, he became an assistant coach with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings. In 1997 he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Coach Carril inspired his teams with his own strength of character and drive to win, and he demonstrated time and again how a smart and dedicated team could compete successfully against bigger programs and faster, stronger, more athletic players. His teams won thirteen conference championships, made eleven NCAA Tournament appearances, and led the nation in defense fourteen times. Throughout his reflections on a lifetime spent on the basketball court and the bench, Carril demonstrates deep respect for the contest, his empathy and engagement with the players, humility with his own achievements, a pragmatic vision of discipline and fundamentals, and an enduring joy in the game. This is an inspiring and wonderful book, even for those who never made a basket.
Doug Lennox, the world champion of trivia, is back to score touchdowns, hit homers, and knock in holes-in-one every time with a colossal compendium of Q&A athletics that has all anyone could possibly want to know about sports, from archery and cycling to skiing and wrestling and everything in between.
