Sports Politics

When Billie Jean King trounced Bobby Riggs in tennis's Battle of the Sexes in 1973, she placed sports squarely at the center of a national debate about gender equity. In this winning combination of biography and history, Susan Ware argues that King's challenge to sexism, the supportive climate of second-wave feminism, and the legislative clout of Title IX sparked a women's sports revolution in the 1970s that fundamentally reshaped American society.

In Circling the Bases, leading sports economist Andrew Zimbalist continues his discussion and analysis of the major issues and challenges confronting the sports industry in the second decade of the 21st century. Presenting a general overview of the sports business at the college and professional levels, this volume places concerns such as the antitrust status of sports leagues, the stalled progress of gender equity in college sports, and the control of performance enhancing drugs in historical context.

In Sit Down and Cheer, Martin Kelner traces the development of this relationship from its humble origins in the 1960 Olympics, by way of the first-ever Match of the Day in 1964, through to the financial impact of Sky, right up to the high-tech gadgetry of our present-day viewing. Insightful and very funny, this is an entertaining exploration of two major national pastimes and not to be missed.

John Tournour, known to his many listeners and fans as JT the Brick, is one of the biggest sports radio personalities in America. Making it as a sports radio host is almost impossible, and JT went about it in a fearless way, leaving a lucrative position as a Merrill Lynch stockbroker to pursue his dream. But Tournour's hardest challenge would come when his best friend and mentor, Andrew Ashwood was diagnosed with cancer.

Take a rollicking tour through the sports world of 1996, when debuts, comebacks, movies, and pop culture crossover changed the sports landscape forever. From college to the Olympics to the pros; from the NBA to golf, tennis, and boxing, 1996 was home to athletes and teams who were among the best marketed, most beloved, colorful, and greatest in history. Sportswriter and author Jon Finkel uncovers the stories behind the stories while interviewing a who's who of '96ers to reveal in thrilling detail how their collective influence on sports and pop culture still resonates to this day.

Women in Sports highlights the achievements and stories of 50 notable women athletes from the 1800s to today, including trailblazers, Olympians, and record-breakers in more than 40 sports. The athletes featured include well-known figures like tennis player Billie Jean King and gymnast Simone Biles, as well as lesser-known champions like Toni Stone, the first woman to play baseball in a professional men's league, and skateboarding pioneer Patti McGee.

From the New York Times best-selling author of Brady vs. Manning and dean of football writers - an audiobook that explores the many interesting facets to NFL quarterbacks and their relationships with their fathers. My First Coach goes behind the scenes to explore the unique relationship between these and other quarterbacks and their fathers, as well as investigate various approaches to parenting through their stories. Can young athletes overcome helicopter parents? How did the kids with NFL aspirations deal with their fathers who'd already made it?

An NFL tight end for the New Orleans Saints and a widely read and followed commentator on social media, Watson has taken the Internet by storm with his remarkable insights about some of the most sensitive and charged topics of our day. Now, in Under Our Skin, Watson draws from his own life, his family legacy, and his role as a father to sensitively and honestly examine both sides of the race debate and appeal to the power and possibility of faith as a step toward healing.

Harvard Square is at the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is the business district around Harvard University. It’s a place of history, culture, and some of the most momentous events of the nation. But it’s also a gathering place for some of the city’s homeless. What is life like for the homeless in Harvard Square? Do they have anything to tell people about life? And God? That’s what Harvard student John Frame discovered and shares in Homeless at Harvard.

This audiobook is the window into the underground world of cheating at the highest levels, which set off a frenzy of activity and hand-wringing in the offices of Major League Baseball and Congress. Through the authors' pursuit of sources and documents, they were able to open for public view a world in which elite athletes trade money and risk their health for the edge that will allow them to run faster, hit harder, and compete longer, and then cash in on the fame and wealth.

Beyond the sports and weather chatter and silence that characterize many male conversations, there is often brokenness. Emptiness. Shame. Have you ever been pushed into a men's group because someone said it was the right thing to do? In Bond of Brothers, Yoder calls disappointed, disenchanted, and lonely men to authenticity. To rediscover joy, to find satisfaction, by finding out what real male friendship and relationship is all about.

A philosophical musing on sports and play, this wholly inspiring and utterly charming reissue of Bart Giamatti's long-out-of-print final book, Take Time for Paradise, puts baseball in the context of American life and leisure. Giamatti begins with the conviction that our use of free time tells us something about who we are. He explores the concepts of leisure, American-style. And in baseball, the quintessential American game, he finds its ultimate expression.

From ancient times to the modern era, martial arts has consistently evolved over the centuries and continues to evolve and thrive today. At the turn of the 20th century, martial arts saw perhaps its greatest evolution as many Japanese and Okinawan martial arts masters of the time no longer looked at martial arts as a mere tool of warfare, but instead as systems that have immeasurable mental and physical health benefits.

In Sacred Brotherhood, Warren and Ari Levenbaum share how Law Tigers — the nation’s premier motorcycle injury program — got started, hit the road running, and has been serving lawyers and their clients, allowing them to enjoy life to the fullest. Inside, you’ll learn about the early years, the culture of motorcyclists, how the Law Tigers program operates, and how you can benefit by joining this band of brothers.

In order to mate in the same freshwater stream where it was spawned, the salmon swims 1,000 miles or more and overcomes countless obstacles, from trawling nets to 12-foot-high waterfalls. To catch the King of Fish at the end of its incredible journey, the Anglo-Saxon angler subjects his pride, his bank account, and his taste buds - poached milk, anyone? - to similar dangers. Nine out of 10 salmon do not make it back to the sea once their spawning run is finished; nine out of 10 sportsmen return to the hotel empty handed when the fishing day is done.

The first true national and international sports celebrities were boxers in the late 1800s. Soon after the abolition of slavery in the United States the first World Champions of the sport were crowned. As the Champion of the World these boxing heavyweights were held on a pedestal of athletic dominance, and in the eyes of some white Americans, and many of those in the boxing community, these champions had to be white, anything else would challenge the belief of white Anglo-Saxon superiority that many white Americans were clinging to at the time.

As children, we are captivated by stories of huge fantastical creatures, such as the wooly mammoth and the pterodactyl. The prevailing wisdom is these species are long extinct, but new evidence uncovered by author Gerald McIsaac casts doubt on these widely held assumptions. McIsaac gathered stories from the elders of the First Nation, those who were formerly referred to as Indians, Native Americans, or Aboriginals.

I had a hunch we'd be champions! The most unlikely story in the history of sport, told by our greatest football writer. On 25th March 2015, when King Richard III, recently rescued from a municipal car park, was reburied in Leicester Cathedral, his beloved football team had just lost 4-3 to Tottenham Hotspur and were bottom of the Premier League, relegation certainties. With King Richard finally at rest, everything changed for Leicester City.

When Andrew Shanley realized that his sons, aged 10 and 13, were lacking the integrity and honesty he expected of them, he was shocked. He had believed they shared his values; now he struggled to find a way to teach them ethics before it was too late. Being a golfer with an enduring love of the game, Shanley decided that by teaching his sons golf, he could effectively instruct them in what really matters - how to be men.

''Because it's there''. Today the question ''why do this?'' is included in nearly every mountaineering story or interview. Meanwhile, interest in climbing is steadily on the rise, from commercial mountaineering and climbing walls in university gyms and corporate workplaces to the flood of spectacular climbing imagery in advertising, cinema, and social media.