Professional Sports

Bloodsport is the story of the creation of America's deal culture and the battle for control of America's corporations. Told through the fascinating, complex, and often flawed characters who created a new era, it begins as the '60s are ending, with the rise of the conglomerates, those vast assemblages of corporate assets. It rolls through the crisis-wracked '70s and the birth of the hostile deal then careens into the '80s, when the deal culture of mergers and acquisitions is truly unleashed.

Dennis Murphy is without question the greatest professional sports promoter in U.S. history. He single-handedly created the American Basketball Association, World Hockey Association, World Team Tennis, Roller Hockey International, and many other professional sports leagues.

Are you settling for less than your full potential? Ryback, also known as "The Big Guy", may seem like he has it all - success as a professional athlete, health, money, and a physique to envy. But in Wake Up! It's Feeding Time he reveals that he hasn't always been so successful; he had to earn it. The key to his success - and yours too, if you heed his advice - is to "believe in yourself, even when nobody else does", set smart goals, and work toward achieving them.

This is the story of Marcus Rashford - one of the brightest young stars on the Manchester United books and future England goal-scoring legend. From tough beginnings in Manchester, Rashford has proven to be one of the Premier League's shining stars, scoring twice in his senior debut, scoring in his first Premier League match and scoring in his England debut in 2016. The future can only get better!

ESPN's rise is one of the most remarkable stories about business and sports in our time, and nobody can tell it better than George Bodenheimer. It may be hard to believe, but not long ago, getting sports updates was difficult and frustrating. ESPN changed everything. George Bodenheimer knows. Initially hired to work in the mailroom, one of Bodenheimer's first jobs was to pick up sportscaster Dick Vitale at the Hartford airport and drive him to ESPN's main campus - a couple of trailers in a dirt parking lot. But as ESPN grew, so did George's status in the company.

Leigh Perkins bought Orvis in 1965 and over the next thirty years would revolutionize the catalog industry as he successfully blended his love for the outdoors with his business acumen. A Sportsman's Life is the story of a man, his company, and his love of the outdoors, his commitment to conservation, and his infectious enthusiasm for the good life.

This bundle contains both Mae Jemison: An Extraordinary Life and Serena Williams: An Extraordinary Life. Learn from the lives of two extremely successful, intelligent, inspirational women.

Professional football in the modern era is played every bit as much in the mind as on the pitch. More and more it's becoming clear that natural talent is nowhere near enough to sustain a career in the modern game. Players need to be smart; not academically but in terms of their thinking. The ones who are dedicated, with mental resilience and a winner's psychology are prospering and will continue to do so as the game evolves. The stupid footballer is dead.

An exclusive look at England Rugby from a former player with a unique perspective. Nobody has spent as much time in the front line of rugby union's first two dramatic decades of professionalism - as a player, coach and administrator (blazer) - as Rob Andrew, or taken as much flak, all this in the wake of one of the most distinguished and successful of England Rugby playing careers.

A Nigerian native who emigrated to the United States at age 11, Alex Owumi's exploits on the basketball court earned him a college scholarship to Georgetown University. Undrafted by the NBA, Owumi pursued his basketball dream overseas, eventually signing with Al-Nasr of Libya, a state-run athletic club privately funded by the family of Libyan president Muammar Qaddafi.

Documenting multiple challenges at every turn - as a target for racism from society at large and sexism both inside and outside of the Negro League - this is the unique story of the first woman to play professional baseball on a men's team, breaking barriers in sports while believing, "There's got to be a first in everything. Maybe it will be me." The text explains that as players began to leave the Negro League for major league teams, Toni Stone seized her only opportunity to play professional ball and replaced Henry Aaron on the Negro League's top team.

A volte capita che a un uomo le sue gesta gli sopravvivano nel tempo, allora smette di essere semplicemente un uomo, "esce" dalla storia e diventa un mito. È quanto accaduto ad un giovane esuberante nato e cresciuto alla periferia di Modena, che con la sua passione assoluta per i motori si è conquistato il titolo di "grande Drake". Il nome di quel giovane era Enzo Anselmo Ferrari, più comunemente conosciuto come Enzo Ferrari.

In this multipurpose guide to the sport of tennis, a former highly ranked British junior provides a raft of practical tips for improving your game while uncloaking the myths that surround the halcyon turf of the professional game. This audiobook outlines all the key basic tennis techniques, provides you with the best drills to improve your game, and explains how to develop the skills professional players possess.

The use of analytics in sport is now well embedded. Marginal gains, the bedrock upon which the cycling coach Dave Brailsford built his greatest successes, are cornerstones of most sports nowadays. But, until recently, that did not apply to the biggest sport in the world. Not in soccer. It was as though this simplest of sports is too complicated for statistics. Or that only one statistic counts, the number of times the ball hits the back of the net. "The only statistic that counts", there’s an often used and annoying stock term.

In a rhythmic celebration of sport and play, four-time Grand Slam champion and tennis superstar Naomi Osaka shares key steps to becoming a true champ, including being kind, working as a team, doing your best, and most importantly, having fun.

This audiobook tells the story of the production of wrestling from black and white TV straight to the Internet. First, I discuss about the transition period from black and white TV to color TV and the transition to cable TV. It was the height of the territory wars, which featured the broken up territories of the NWA and the WWWF which became the WWF when Vince McMahon took over.

The first of Plimpton's remarkable forays into participatory journalism, Out of My League chronicles with wit, charm, and grace what happens when a self-professed amateur has the chance to answer every fan's question: could he strike out a major league star? Plimpton's inspired idea - to get on the mound and pitch a few innings to the All-Stars of the American and National Leagues - begins as a fun-filled stunt and comes to a deeply hellish, nearly humiliating end.

By studying this playbook, aspiring and rookie NBA and NFL athletes will be able to create a blueprint to prepare them to navigate the world of professional sports and successfully transition into the final stage of their lives. This playbook takes a proactive approach in addressing the common issues that plague athletes, enabling them to move forward strategically and with purpose.

This is The Shift, where “for the love of the game” has given way to an exclusive world of wealth and greed. Learn about it from someone who has lived it as a coach, mentor, and most importantly, as a father.

How much does your bank or building-society savings account pay? Is it 2%, 3% or maybe you’ve found a good deal online and managed 5%. What if there was a technique that delivered a 30% return month in, month out. Would you be interested in an investment system that had turned $1000 into $8000 in just one year? Would you like to find out how that $8000 turned into $64,000 in under 18 months? Craig Beck uncovers the closely guarded secret-investment system of European professional gamblers.