Formed in 1967, the NFL's Central Division — the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, and Minnesota Vikings — quickly earned the nickname “Black and Blue Division” due to the teams' fierce, physical play. This behind-the-scenes history recalls 40 years of great plays, gritty players, memorable seasons, and crucial games through first-rate photographs and first-hand interviews with players, coaches, and officials. Berghaus’s All-Time Black and Blue team, where nastiness is just as important as greatness, provides plenty of fodder for discussion.
Get ready for a 100% chance of scientific fun with The Everyting Kids’ Weather Book filled with hundreds of fun facts, puzzles, and games! Have you ever wondered what happens in the eye of a tornado or how hurricanes gain their strength? From lightning and snow-day blizzards to rainbows and monsoons, The Everything Kid’ Weather Book gives you an exciting look into all the action that happens in the sky, including: -The difference between cirrus and stratocumulus clouds -How meteorologists predict the weather -What the term “a perfect storm” means -How to build a weather station of your own -Why storms depend on how cold and warm fronts interact -How to create weather experiments at home -The effects of global warming on our planet Filled with hundreds of exciting facts and thirty fun weather puzzles and games, The Everything Kids’ Weather Book is perfect for finding out how a barometer works, which cloud is a nimbus cloud, what causes hailstorms—and everything in between!
Funny, fierce, and gritty, Bleeding Blue recounts every struggle and success of Wendel Clark’s rough-and-tumble journey to becoming one of hockey’s greatest heroes. As a young boy growing up in Kelvington, Saskatchewan, Wendel Clark never dreamed of an NHL career. The pro league just seemed too far away from the young man’s small-town life in the Prairies. But Wendel had a talent for hockey that was surpassed only by his love for the sport, and it wasn’t long before he embarked on a path that would take him away from his hometown to a new life. Wendel honed his talents in cities across western Canada and earned a reputation as a force to be reckoned with on the ice. Drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs first overall in the 1985 NHL Entry Draft, Wendel burst onto the pro scene and immediately made an impact, all the while staying true to his roots. As he learned from the players around him, Wendel steadily matured into a respected leader. He soon assumed the mantle as the Leafs captain, and his willingness to lay it all on the line transformed him into a player who could inspire courage in his teammates and fear in his opponents in equal measure. The future seemed limitless for the young star. But just as Wendel’s talents were set to peak, everything unraveled. Years of no-holds-barred, physical play were taking their toll, and soon his greatest competitor wasn’t anyone on the ice, but his own body. Every movement brought agony, every shift was a challenge, and every game meant the decision to keep fighting. But as Wendel’s body broke down, his resolve only grew. Determined to succeed no matter what the cost, Wendel set out on a course that would allow him to keep doing what he loved and that would turn him into one of the most beloved hockey players of all time. Emotional and uplifting, Bleeding Blue is the story of a man who refused to say no, who wore his heart on his sleeve, and who would do anything to keep going, even when everything told him to quit.
Immortalized in the film A League of Their Own, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League debuted in 1943 as a way to fill ballpark seats should Major League Baseball suspend operations during World War II. Any fan expecting to see a watered-down version of the game was in for quite a surprise. The women on the field proved every bit as tough and competitive as their male counterparts, running with abandon, diving for catches, and sliding fearlessly, all while wearing uniforms with short skirts. This work examines the history of the league as seen through the eyes of the players and management and the experiences of the South Bend Blue Sox--one of only two teams to play in all 12 seasons of the league. Although players never saw themselves as revolutionaries, these daring heroines helped pave the way toward greater freedom of choice for the generations of women who followed.
There are many reasons why British summers are either non-existent or, alternatively, held on a Thursday. Many of these reasons are either scientific, mad, or both-but all of them are wrong, especially the scientific ones. The real reason why it rains perpetually from January 1st to December 31st is, of course, irritable Chinese Water Dragons. Karen is one such legendary creature. Ancient, noble, nearly indestructible and, for a number of wildly improbable reasons, working as a real estate agent, Karen is irritable quite a lot of the time. But now things have changed, and Karen's no longer irritable. She's furious.
Call it the forgotten rivalry. The Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers may not share geographical boundaries, and today they don’t even play in the same division, but for a period of time in the 1970s Dodgers vs. Reds was the best rivalry in Major League Baseball. They boasted the biggest names of the game—Johnny Bench, Steve Garvey, Pete Rose, Don Sutton, and Ron Cey, to name a few—and appeared in the World Series seven out of nine years. In Cincinnati Red and Dodger Blue: Baseball's Greatest Forgotten Rivalry, Tom Van Riper provides a fresh look at these two powerhouse teams and the circumstances that made them so pivotal. Van Riper delves into the players, managers, executives, and broadcasters from the rivalry whose impact on baseball continued beyond the 1970s—including the first recipient of Tommy John surgery (Tommy John himself), the all-time hit king turned gambling pariah (Pete Rose), and two young announcers who would soon go on to national prominence (Al Michaels and Vin Scully). In addition, Van Riper recounts in detail the 1973 season when both teams were at or near their peak form, particularly the extra-inning nail-biter between the Reds and Dodgers that took place on September 21 and effectively decided the divisional race. Cincinnati Red and Dodger Blue includes never-before-published interviews with former players from the rivalry, providing a personal and in-depth look at this decade in baseball full of upheaval and change. Baseball’s realignment in 1994 may have rendered this great rivalry nearly forgotten, but its story is one that will be enjoyed by baseball fans and historians of all generations.
Elmo wants to go sledding — but it's a beautiful late-spring day without a snowflake in sight. So Elmo asks his friend Abby Cadabby to change the weather. But sometimes Abby's spells create some wonderful wackiness...