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Sports Books,

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by dkphxf, Dec 1, 2010.

  1. Ilmago

    Ilmago Guest

    I'm thinking of getting Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero by Montville. Have you read it already? If so, what were your thoughts?
     
  2. dkphxf

    dkphxf Member

    Has anyone read "The Wave" by Susan Casey? The excerpt recently in SI was pretty good.
     
  3. accguy

    accguy Member

    Totally second the recomendation of Dohrmann's "Play Their Hearts Out."

    Very, very good.
     
  4. Shaggy

    Shaggy Guest

    I've read several of the ones nominated here. My thoughts

    1. Open by Andre Agassi. Incredibly good book. I zipped right through it. He's an inspiring story because he was on top of the world, crashed and burned, and rebuilt it all from the ground up.

    2. The Perfect Mile. This book is a few years old but it's a winner. I wasn't into track and field or running when I read it and I loved the book. Great research and story telling.

    3. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning. I was inspired by the ESPN series. An outstanding topic. New York City was crazy in 1977. It was about 35-40 percent sports-related, but I was more interested in the stuff about the blackout, the Son of Sam, etc. Very good read.

    4. The Last Great Fight. On Buster-Tyson. Good historical account of a shocking sports moment. Not my favorite book but I did enjoy it.
     
  5. jackfinarelli

    jackfinarelli Well-Known Member

    Just finished "More Than A Game" by Brian Billick with Michael MacCambridge.

    FWIW, I found it informative and well written.
     
  6. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    My entries:

    1) Heaven is a Playground, Rick Telender (a bit dated, but it's a book about hopes and dreams, as much as hoops)
    2) You Know Me Al, Ring Lardner (Rich, descriptive writing in a long-forgotten style; still funny 100 years later)
    3) The Natural, Bernard Malamud (I love the movie more than most; the book is darker and great in a different way)
    4) North Dallas Forty, Peter Gent (Perfect time to read, with the passing of Don Merideth, too!)
    5) A Sense of Where You Are, John McPhee (just because he is one of the best reporters and writers of the past 50 years; interesting to read about a young Bill Bradley too)

    More recent good ones (well, sort of recent):
    1) Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand (probably belongs on my top list)
    2) Sandy Koufax, A Lefty's Legacy, Jane Levy
    3) When Pride Still Mattered, David Maraniss
    4) Joe DiMaggio, A Hero's Life, Richard Ben Cramer
    5) Steinbrenner, The Last Lion of Baseball, Bill Madden
     
  7. Den1983

    Den1983 Active Member

    "Play Their Hearts Out" is top notch. Amazing read, especially for basketball fans.
     
  8. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    Intriqued, I did a search for Furman Bisher and Wally Butts, and got a link to this SI story from 1966 by Bryant, as told to. Interesting read, and the more you read about this, the harder it seems to be to know who to believe.

    http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078953/6/index.htm
     
  9. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

  10. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    Bisher had a hard-on for Bear, only forever.
     
  11. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    True dat. Bisher's Saturday Evening Post story on Bryant's role in brutality in college football --- stemming from the Darwin Holt cheap shot on Georgia Tech's Chick Graning in 1961 --- was a big reason Bryant went so hard after the SEP on the game-fixing story.

    Bryant won a huge settlement in the case, but that doesn't mean there wasn't something to the fix. The SEP just went about its reporting in such a haphazard way.

    ...

    And speaking of out-of-print titles, Willie Morris' "The Courting of Marcus DuPree" is definitely worth a read if you can find it. I got a paperback copy off eBay years ago, but there aren't too many of them floating around these days.

    Maybe the success of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary will lead to a re-printing. Let's hope so.
     
  12. dkphxf

    dkphxf Member

    In case anyone is looking for books, I recently got hooked on this website paperbackswap.com. It's a cheap way to get used books (or even newish ones).
     
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