Other books that might interest you

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  Sacre Bleu - Zidane to Mbappé A...

  Spiro Matthew

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  Remember when Zinédine Zidane lifted the World Cup in 1998? Kylian Mbappé doesn't. The forward wasn't born when the French team first became world champions. But it was Mbappé's unique talent that helped France reach the summit of world football once again in 2018, erasing years of failure, rancour and shame.
  For Les Bleus, the road between these two highs was blighted by bitterly painful lows. Zidane's headbutt; a players' strike; infighting and recriminations; even sex scandals and blackmail. Mbappé witnessed it all as he honed his prodigious talent in the banlieues of Paris, and his story embodies France's journey from disaster to triumph.
  In Sacré Bleu, Matthew Spiro traces the rise, fall and rise again of Les Bleus through the lens of Kylian Mbappé. Featuring a foreword by Arsène Wenger and interviews with leading figures in French football, Spiro asks what went wrong for France and what, ultimately, went right.

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  Once in a Lifetime: the...

  Gavin Newsham

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  The “compelling . . . detailed and thoughtful account” of the rise and fall of the Cosmos, New York’s first superstar soccer team (Kirkus Reviews).   In the summer of 1977, soccer was poised to finally conquer America and the New York Cosmos were the premier sports team of the city. They boasted the greatest roster of the world’s best players—notably, Brazil’s international sensation Pelé—ever assembled for any sport. For a time, they were the darlings of the press. Their first game was televised in twenty-two different countries. They were favorites at Studio 54. They partied behind the velvet ropes with Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger. Less a growing sports phenom than a pop-culture happening, the hottest ticket in town drew the likes of Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Henry Kissinger, and Robert Redford. Warner Brothers chairman and Cosmos owner Steve Ross may not have known a goalkeeper from a zookeeper, but in a city awash in celebrity and decadence, Ross knew spectacle. He also knew how to make a dollar, and stars.   But as the Cosmos players soon became enmeshed in a world of millionaires, gangsters, groupies, glamour, power struggles, alcoholic excess, drugs, disco and very public fistfights, they were set for a heartbreaking and inevitable fall. “Colorful and keen . . . [and] detail-rich, this unlikely drama of a quintessentially American flirtation” (Publishers Weekly), “is a gripping evocation of a glorious but brief moment when the beautiful game had the US entranced” (Time Out London).

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  Is the Baw Burst? Rangers...

  Iain Hyslop

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  In the 2010/11 football season, Iain Hyslop embarked on journey which would take him to 44 football matches, from Peterhead to Berwick and Dingwall to Dumfries, across a single season. His travels led to the production of the first edition of this book — the unofficial review of Scottish Football. This new edition brings his commentary bang up-to-date as he follows Rangers in their first games as part of the third division and explores the effect the recent shake up will have on Scottish football. He covers everything from the weather to the pies, giving comments, criticism and suggestions for improvement as the voice from the terraces. The focus here is on the fans' experience of a football match. Hyslop takes a step back from the political and financial issues which engulf Scottish Football to present his vision of the beautiful game as it should be.

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  When You Come to a Fork in the...

  Yogi Berra, Dave Kaplan

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  Everyone knows Yogi Berra for his famous non sequiturs : "It ain’t over ’til it’s over." "It gets late early out here." "The future ain't what it used to be." They seem like throwaway lines, but over time they reveal deeper meanings—playful truths, like Zen koans. Yogi's not trying to be mystical, but his seemingly simple phrases reveal the depth and wisdom of his mind. 
  In this  book, Yogi takes his experiences as one of baseball's all-time heroes and turns them into funny, appealing, and moving essays on the game of life. His philosophy is plainspoken and down-to-earth, hones through more than 50 years of reflecting on the game of baseball: "Keep trying. Stay humble, Trust your instincts.  Most importantly, act.  When you come to a fork in the road, take it." 
  In his inimitable style, using apt examples from his personal trove of baseball stories, Yogi tells us what really matters in life; what it takes to win, how to learn from losses, how to remain true to yourself, and how to be happy even when life is throwing you nothing but knuckleballs.

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  Toe Blake - Winning Is Everything

  Paul Logothetis, Scotty Bowman

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  The first ever biography of Toe Blake — Hockey Hall of Famer and eleven-time Stanley Cup winner
  		 
  “Holy Dirty Dora!” Hector “Toe” Blake would bark while pacing behind the Montreal Canadiens bench, hands thrust into his pockets, jawing at chewing gum before intentionally banging his forehead into the glass that separates players and fans. No lead was safe or sufficient for the lifelong hockey man at the helm of the greatest dynasty in NHL history. As a player, Toe won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Maroons before captaining a stumbling Canadiens organization to glory and a pair of Cups. As the Habs coach, Toe cemented the team’s status as lords of the league with eight more.
  		 
  Born into a family of 11, Blake emerged from the poverty of the Depression and a youth spent working the mines of Sudbury’s Nickel Belt to find junior hockey success and an unlikely shot at the NHL. While a fiery temper and penchant for stick-swinging nearly railroaded Toe’s promise, the Canadiens recognized his talent and leadership, and he went on to spend more than 50 years with the organization.
  		 
  History remembers Toe being hoisted onto the shoulders of his beloved players, waving his signature fedora and sipping from the Cup, but behind the success was a man driven by fear and an obsessive desire for victory. Despite personal tragedy, Toe always put winning first, and as a result, there are few coaches in any sport who have enjoyed Blake’s success and even fewer who endured the toll that came with it.

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  220 Triathlon: How to Build an...

  Jack Sexty

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  Jack Sexty looks at how well lab numbers can predict performance

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