Who won the first professional sports championship for the city of Anaheim? Which Roller Hockey International team owner posed for Playboy? Which RHI team's logo did Sports Illustrated describe as looking like "a malevolent vacuum-cleaner attachment?" Which coach won two championships for two different teams in RHI's first two seasons? Why were fans nearly ejected from the Oakland Skates' arena for celebrating a hat trick? All those questions and more are answered in "Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks: A Rocking History of Roller Hockey International." Author Richard Graham takes you behind the scenes to show how Dennis Murphy created Roller Hockey International, and why Murphy might be the most unlikely, least known and most influential visionary in North American professional sports history. RHI was a professional league that ran from 1993-1999 and soared and then crashed much like the inline skating craze of the 1990s. Full of thrills, spills and body checks, along with an abundance of humor, "Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks" is the story of a niche sport and a professional league that dared to dream big.
"From the top of his Stetson to the tip of his fancy cowboy boots, Henry Tyroon, independent oil wildcatter, is pure wheeler dealer--a larger-than-life-sized combination of supersalesmanship, big ideas, and an unerring instinct for a quick profit. From his natural habitat of Texas, Henry comes to New York in search of "mullets" (which is Texas-talk for well-heeled potential investors) but his attention is diverted when he meets the attractive Molly Thatcher, a struggling young Wall Street securities analyst. Molly's interest in Henry derives from the fact that she hopes to sell him shares in Universal Widget, a mysterious little company which has been turned over to Molly as her last chance to make good and hold her job. Henry's interest in Molly is of a more romantic sort, but he is delighted to chat about widgets (for openers), after which it's on to a series of wild escapades--ending up first in the clutches of the Justice Department (they are innocent, as it turns out) and then in each other's arms. A rollicking, hilarious study of what happens when a Texas wheeler dealer and a proper girl from Philadelphia meet in Manhattan, and combine their talents for creating mayhem in the various worlds of art, high finance, and romance"--Dramatists Play Service website, viewed July 12, 2017.
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the king dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The pope and most of Europe oppose him. The quest for the king’s freedom destroys his advisor, the brilliant Cardinal Wolsey, and leaves a power vacuum and a deadlock. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell. The son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a bully and a charmer, Cromwell has broken all the rules of a rigid society in his rise to power. Narrowly escaping personal disaster—the loss of his young family and of Wolsey, his beloved patron—he picks his way deftly through a court where “man is wolf to man.” Pitting himself against parliament, the political establishment and the papacy, he is prepared to reshape England to his own and Henry’s desires. In inimitable style, Hilary Mantel presents a picture of a half-made society on the cusp of change, where individuals fight or embrace their fate with passion and courage. Wolf Hall re-creates an era when the personal and political are separated by a hair’s breadth, where success brings unlimited power, but a single failure means death.
Who won the first professional sports championship for the city of Anaheim? Which Roller Hockey International team owner posed for Playboy? Which RHI team's logo did Sports Illustrated describe as looking like "a malevolent vacuum-cleaner attachment?" Which coach won two championships for two different teams in RHI's first two seasons? Why were fans nearly ejected from the Oakland Skates' arena for celebrating a hat trick? All those questions and more are answered in "Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks: A Rocking History of Roller Hockey International." Author Richard Graham takes you behind the scenes to show how Dennis Murphy created Roller Hockey International, and why Murphy might be the most unlikely, least known and most influential visionary in North American professional sports history. Despite his rather leprechaun-like stature, "Murph" had tall dreams, a gift of gab and the ability to bring together a diverse group of people to work toward a common goal. After seeing some children playing hockey on inline skates on a suburban street, Murphy was inspired to create a professional league that ran from 1993-1999 and which soared and then crashed much like the inline skating craze of the 1990s. What's best about this book, however, are the stories that Graham has collected from the league's founders, team owners, players, administrators, referees and fans. You will alternately be amused and astounded by some of the hilarious events, player pranks, episodes of shortsightedness shown by some of the league's founders and team owners, the controversy over the league's puck and more. Particularly moving are the stories of players whose dreams of playing professional sports came true in Roller Hockey International. Full of thrills, spills and body checks, along with an abundance of humor, "Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks" is the story of a niche sport and a professional league that dared to dream big. With its hundreds of stories about players, coaches, managers, team owners and league administrators, Graham's book is similar in scope and depth to "Loose Balls" Terry Pluto's classic about the American Basketball, and as funny as Jim Bouton's "Ball Four" (but not as mean). Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks chronicles the fastest rise and fall of any sports league in modern history, and countless hours of research, interviews and off-the-record conversations have paid off for Mr. Graham and the reader. We meet the wheelers (the players), most of who were minor-league ice-hockey journeymen. These players were propelled by a new sport to take center stage at major NBA and NHL arenas during the summer months, fulfilling their dreams of fame and not so much fortune. Next are the dealers like Dennis Murphy, with connections so strong he could gather the top 10 sports moguls in a room with a single phone call. The disappointing saga of the puck specifically designed for roller hockey, which was counted on to supply the bucks to bankroll the league (imagine if the NBA earned a royalty for every basketball sold in the entire world), is a lesson that even today's big-league commissioners should heed. All sports fans and especially those who want to understand the operations of a league and its teams will benefit from this book. Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks: A Rocking History of Roller Hockey International recounts the six crazy seasons of Roller Hockey International and could well become the next great sports movie -- featuring characters even the greatest scriptwriters couldn't create. The foreword was written by Jeanie Buss, a former Roller Hockey International team owner and a current executive vice president for the 16-time NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers. For wild action (both on and off the playing surface), humor and the true story of Roller Hockey International, Wheelers, Dealers, Pucks & Bucks can't be touched with a 10-foot-long hockey stick.
Named to ten BEST OF THE YEAR lists and selected as a William C. Morris Award Winner,The Serpent King is the critically acclaimed, much-beloved story of three teens who find themselves--and each other--while on the cusp of graduating from high school with hopes of leaving their small-town behind. Perfect for fans of John Green's Turtles All the Way Down. "Move over, John Green; Zentner is coming for you." —The New York Public Library “Will fill the infinite space that was left in your chest after you finished The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” —BookRiot.com Dill isn't the most popular kid at his rural Tennessee high school. After his father fell from grace in a public scandal that reverberated throughout their small town, Dill became a target. Fortunately, his two fellow misfits and best friends, Travis and Lydia, have his back. But as they begin their senior year, Dill feels the coils of his future tightening around him. His only escapes are music and his secret feelings for Lydia--neither of which he is brave enough to share. Graduation feels more like an ending to Dill than a beginning. But even before then, he must cope with another ending--one that will rock his life to the core. Debut novelist Jeff Zentner provides an unblinking and at times comic view of the hard realities of growing up in the Bible belt, and an intimate look at the struggles to find one’s true self in the wreckage of the past. “A story about friendship, family and forgiveness, it’s as funny and witty as it is utterly heartbreaking.” —PasteMagazine.com “A brutally honest portrayal of teen life . . . [and] a love letter to the South from a man who really understands it.” —Mashable.com “I adored all three of these characters and the way they talked to and loved one another.”—New York Times
The paleontologist and professor of anatomy who co-discovered Tiktaalik, the “fish with hands,” tells a “compelling scientific adventure story that will change forever how you understand what it means to be human” (Oliver Sacks). By examining fossils and DNA, he shows us that our hands actually resemble fish fins, our heads are organized like long-extinct jawless fish, and major parts of our genomes look and function like those of worms and bacteria. Your Inner Fish makes us look at ourselves and our world in an illuminating new light. This is science writing at its finest—enlightening, accessible and told with irresistible enthusiasm.
Out of Control chronicles the dawn of a new era in which the machines and systems that drive our economy are so complex and autonomous as to be indistinguishable from living things.
Lovingly nicknamed the Igloo, the Civic Arena was home to the Pittsburgh Penguins until 2010 and hosted some of the most important sports and entertainment events in Steel City history. During the glorious Mario Lemieux era, the venue hosted four Stanley Cup Finals, including three championship-winning seasons. Muhammad Ali KO'ed Charlie Powell in 1963 there. It was home to Duquesne Basketball in the arena's early days and has hosted some of the University of Pittsburgh's most important basketball games as well. Some of the biggest acts in music history have rocked the Igloo's seats, including Elvis, the Beatles and frequent favorite, Bruce Springsteen. Join local sports and media writers as they recall the greatest moments in Civic Arena's storied history.
