Sports Basketball

The National Basketball Association is a place where white fans and Black players enact virtually every racial issue and tension in US culture. Following the Seattle SuperSonics for an entire season, David Shields explores how, in a predominantly Black sport, White fans - including especially himself - think about and talk about Black heroes, Black scapegoats, and Black bodies. Critically acclaimed and highly controversial, Black Planet was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN USA Award, and was named one of the Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 1999.

Set against a backdrop of social change during the 1970s, State is a compelling first-person account of what it was like to live through both traditional gender discrimination in sports and the joy of the very first days of equality - or at least the closest that one high school girls’ basketball team ever came to it.

By 1977 the University of Evansville’s Purple Aces basketball team had won five small-college national championships. With a charismatic young coach and a freshman phenom, this small Indiana city hoped to see its team shine in the national spotlight. Then, on a foggy night, after just four games, the plane carrying the team and its coach crashed after takeoff, killing everyone on board.

In Carl Martin’s take-no-prisoners examination of big-time college basketball and the money machine it has become, he peels back the veneer. Now for the first time the soft underbelly of big-time college hoops is probed by someone who has actually been there, done that. Martin tells the full and true story of what drove his father’s obsession to open his heart and his wallet to those kids. What really happened before and after the roll-over accident that triggered an FBI investigation of the University of Michigan’s Fab Five and triggered a nationwide scandal?

June 19, 2016: the greatest moment in Cleveland sports history, when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Finals and broke the Cleveland Curse. It was the triumph fans had been waiting 52 years for, and it wasn't easy to get there - but thanks to LeBron James, an audacious plan to build a winning team, a couple of maverick GMs, and an incredible community of fans, it happened, and 2016 saw the birth of a new Cavaliers dynasty.

Julius Erving, aka Dr. J, was a wizard with the basketball, performing feats the world had never seen before: midair spins and whirls punctuated by powerful slam dunks, which he was the first to glamorize. In a career that lasted from the 1970s well into the 1980s, he was one of the first players to make extemporaneous individual expression an integral part of the game, setting the style of play that has prevailed ever since. He's also long been respected as a gracious, dignified, and disciplined man. As there are great men of history, there are great men of sports, and Dr. J is just such a man.

By 1970 racial tension was at a breaking point in the Southern town of Gallatin, Tennessee. Desegregation had emotions running high. The town was a powder keg ready to erupt. But it was also on the verge of something incredible. Eddie Sherlin and Bill Ligon were boys growing up on opposite sides of the tracks who shared a passion for basketball. They knew the barriers that divided them - some physical landmarks and some hidden in the heart - but those barriers melted away when the boys were on the court.

Pete Axthelm follows the 1969 - 70 season of the New York Knicks and provides a parallel focus on basketball as it was then played in the black neighborhoods of New York City. Throughout, he writes clearly, intelligently, and passionately about the game, bringing alive the players’ efforts, accomplishments, and failures.

Cosa fa del basket uno dei giochi più belli al mondo? Tutto. Flavio Tranquillo racconta il suo amore per il Gioco, quello vero, in un saggio emozionante come una gara 7 delle Finals Nba: quattro quarti - senza dimenticare post e pre game - per scoprire la storia, i protagonisti e le strategie attraverso l'occhio esperto di chi la palla a spicchi l'ha sempre vissuta da vicino, cercando di trasmetterne il fascino e la magia di uno sport in cui il singolo può emergere ma, alla fine, ciò che conta davvero è sempre e solo la squadra.

On September 26, 2017, the biggest recruiting scandal in college basketball history sent shock waves through the world of sports. Caught up in a massive FBI and NCAA investigation - and the intense media spotlight - was Rick Pitino, the Louisville Cardinals’ Hall of Fame coach. Here, from Pitino himself, comes the real story of the ongoing case and the hard truth about how college hoops has been pushed to the brink of disaster by greed, bad actors, and shoe company money.

Expanded and updated with a new epilogue, Madeleine Blais’ book tells the story of a season in the life of the Amherst Lady Hurricanes, a girls’ high school basketball team from the Western Massachusetts college town. The Hurricanes were a talented team with a near-perfect record, but for five straight years, when it came to the crunch of the playoffs, they somehow lacked the desire to go all the way. Now, led by senior guards Jen Pariseau, a three-point specialist, and Jamila Wideman, an All-American phenom, this was the year to prove themselves.

At age 26, Joanne P. McCallie, a.k.a. Coach P, began her career at Maine, where in the span of eight years, she elevated the women's basketball program to a very competitive team that outdrew the men's crowds, a rarity in college sports. Over her tenure, she created the Choice Not Chance (CNC) philosophy, training kids how to think and focus on making the correct choices in life. She imparted her passionate philosophy to all of her players and now brings it to her efforts as head coach at Duke. Choice Not Chance highlights McCallie's lessons for building a fierce competitor.

This audiobook contains the UNIQUE unfiltered, unedited, and previously unreleased interviews conducted by Dr. Elliott Haimoff of Afterburner Enterprises of the long-time LA Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, and his daughter, Jeanie Buss, who is now the President and controlling owner of the Lakers.

Collectively, Rick Pitino, Jim Calhoun, and Gary Williams have won more than 2,300 games and six national championships and reached thirteen Final Fours. Before Pitino became the face of the Providence, Kentucky, and Louisville programs, before Calhoun turned UConn into a national power, and before Williams brought Maryland to its first national championship, these coaches cut their teeth in front of modest-sized crowds in college gymnasiums of Boston during the '70s and '80s. Boston Ball charts how this trio of coaches, seemingly out of nowhere, started a basketball revolution

Far beyond simply being a sports league, the NBA has become an entertainment and pop culture juggernaut. From all kinds of team logo merchandise to officially branded video games and players crossing over into reality television, film, fashion lines, and more, there is an inseparable line between sports and entertainment. But only four decades ago, this would have been unthinkable.

Embark on a transformative journey through the riveting audiobook "Ball Ain't Life," narrated by the esteemed author Coach Nix himself. Crafted from years of wisdom gathered on bleachers, planes, and even bustling automobiles, this audiobook is a beacon of guidance for parents and support groups navigating the dynamic realm of grassroots basketball. Coach Nix's unparalleled philosophy illuminates the path to strategically "using the game", fostering holistic success while evading common pitfalls that obstruct progress.

Three decades of Illinois basketball viewed from the cheap seats at State Farm Center . . .The 200 Level: An Illinois Fighting Illini Basketball Fan’s Journey offers an in-depth look at the program’s history from the 1990s to present. Mike Carpenter reflects on his personal experience as a fan through all the eras, from Henson to Kruger, Self to Weber, Groce to Underwood, and everything in between. A lifelong townie, radio and podcast personality, and diehard fan, Carpenter charts the highs and lows of Illini basketball over the last 30+ years.

Kobe is one of the most well-loved and also most hated players in the game. Everything you need to know about basketball's greatest is in this book! Honor the memory of Kobe Bryant by learning about his amazing life! The tragic death of Kobe Bryant shocked the entire world. He was a household name, known and admired even by people who don't care much about basketball. Now is the perfect time to look back at his life and career. This book aims to provide a complete overview of Kobe Bryant's impressive career and the challenges that he had to overcome.

Porter Moser, one of the most inspiring and driven Division I basketball coaches today, offers a practical, motivating guide to help build character, transform failure into success, find purpose, and live an authentic life through energy and positivity. Porter Moser knows what it’s like to live and work with determination, passion, and grit. He also knows what it’s like to keep front and center the core values of faith, family, honesty, and integrity.

Harvey Araton is one of New York's - and the nation's - best-known sports journalists, having covered thousands of Knicks games over the course of a long and distinguished career. But the person at the heart of Our Last Season, Michelle Musler, is largely anonymous - except, that is, to the players, coaches, and writers who have passed through Madison Square Garden, where she held season tickets behind the Knicks bench for 45 years.