Book DescriptionPistol is more than the biography of a ballplayer. It's the stuff of classic novels: the story of a boy transformed by his father's dream--and the cost of that dream. Even as Pete Maravich became Pistol Pete--a basketball icon for baby boomers--all the Maraviches paid a price. Now acclaimed author Mark Kriegel has brilliantly captured the saga of an American family: its rise, its apparent ruin, and, finally, its redemption. Almost four decades have passed since Maravich entered the national consciousness as basketball's boy wizard. No one had ever played the game like the kid with the floppy socks and shaggy hair. And all these years later, no one else ever has. The idea of Pistol Pete continues to resonate with young people today just as powerfully as it did with their fathers. In averaging 44.2 points a game at Louisiana State University, he established records that will never be broken. But even more enduring than the numbers was the sense of ecstasy and artistry with which he played. With the ball in his hands, Maravich had a singular power to inspire awe, inflict embarrassment, or even tell a joke. But he wasn't merely a mesmerizing showman. He was basketball's answer to Elvis, a white Southerner who sold Middle America on a black man's game. Like Elvis, he paid a terrible price, becoming a prisoner of his own fame. Set largely in the South, Kriegel's Pistol, a tale of obsession and basketball, fathers and sons, merges several archetypal characters. Maravich was a child prodigy, a prodigal son, his father's ransom in a Faustian bargain, and a Great White Hope. But he was also a creature of contradictions: always the outsider but a virtuoso in a team sport, an exuberant showman who wouldn't look you in the eye, a vegetarian boozer, an athlete who lived like a rock star, a suicidal genius saved by Jesus Christ. A renowned biographer--People magazine called him "a master"--Kriegel renders his subject with a style that is, by turns, heartbreaking, lyrical, and electric. The narrative begins in 1929, the year a missionary gave Pete's father a basketball. Press Maravich had been a neglected child trapped in a hellish industrial town, but the game enabled him to blossom. It also caused him to confuse basketball with salvation. The intensity of Press's obsession initiates a journey across three generations of Maraviches. Pistol Pete, a ballplayer unlike any other, was a product of his father's vanity and vision. But that dream continues to exact a price on Pete's own sons. Now in their twenties--and fatherless for most of their lives--they have waged their own struggles with the game and its ghosts. Pistol is an unforgettable biography. By telling one family's history, Kriegel has traced the history of the game and a large slice of the American narrative. "Why Pistol?"An Exclusive Essay by Mark Kriegel"Why Pistol?" I'm asked that all the time.Pete Maravich became famous in the late 1960s, while setting scoring records at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. I'm not a son of the South. Nor, at 44, do I have any meaningful recollection of basketball's boy wizard in his floppy-socked prime. I grew up in the Seventies, on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, a few blocks from Madison Square Garden. I was a fan of the Knicks and their star guard, Walt "Clyde" Frazier. In terms of basketball style, Clyde and Pistol were antithetical. Frazier's flamboyance--I recall committing his "wardrobe stats" to memory--was not apparent on the court. Rather, he was celebrated as a dogged defender. His game was wise, economical, his gaze expressionless. Maravich, by contrast, was considered a head-case. His eyes were sad--even a kid could see that. Still, there was a distinct exuberance in the way he moved. No one moved like that, before or since. Continue reading "Why Pistol?"
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UConn was a fledging women's basketball program that had been to one Final Four as of 1995. Tennessee was the king of the hill having won 7 National Championships and having produced some of the greatest women's players of all time. Pat Summitt was and is the head coach and is widely considered to be one of the top coaches in women's or men's college basketball history. In fact, she turned down the Tennessee head men's coaching job. She agreed to play Geno Auriemma and UConn in 1995 in an epic battle in Storrs, CT. UConn won that game and won the National Championship that year and off and running was the series. It has produced as much if not more drama than Red Sox-Yankees, Cowboys-Giants and Knicks-Celtics. It has been compared to Carolina-Duke on the men's side. It is certainly produced more National Championships than both of those schools."What Duke and North Carolina represent in men's college basketball, UConn and Tennessee represent in women's college basketball, the greatest rivalry in the game. Two teams that when pinned against one another in 1995 for the National Championship changed the sport of women's college basketball forever. The cast of characters from the polarized Hall of Fame coaches to the all-American icons have raised the bar, the talent and the media awareness at the national level. Although the characters change from year to year, the national fever of this matchup continues to grow. It is an ongoing saga that defines women's basketball and encapsulates all that is good and possible about athletic competition. Any young player should read this book and understand that without these teams, these coaches, these players, we would be watching women's basketball exclusively in March at the Final Four." Colleen Healey, former UConn women's basketball player."Every sport needs its standard bearers and that is what Tennessee and UConn are in collegiate women's basketball." Chris Gobrecht, Head Women's Basketball Coach, Yale University
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The man who called the shots for some of the greatest heroes in the history of basketball reveals the innovative business secrets that catapulted him to the top of his game.Basketball Digest called superagent David Falk one of basketball’s most influential people, second only to NBA commissioner David Stern. Falk has represented more NBA first-round draft selections, lottery picks, Rookies-of-the-Year, and All-Stars than anyone else in the business. Now, he shares the fascinating insider details of how he negotiated lucrative contracts for superstars like Michael Jordan and Alonzo Mourning (changing the NBA’s entire salary structure in the process), learned from his mistakes, and branded and marketed some of the greatest basketball players in history as the fledgling team sport grew into a multibilliondollar business.
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Hawkeyes for Life shares the passion of devoted University of Iowa sports fans. From watching Nile Kinnick lead the renowned Ironmen in 1939 to following the Hawkeyes to Florida bowl games in recent years, the book takes readers inside Hawkeye Nation, getting to know fans and how they have shown their strong support for the Black and Gold. It also visits with former members of the Hawkeye marching band, cheerleaders, and those who have dressed the part of Herky.
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Remember Hoosiers? Truth be told, the passion and intensity of Indiana high school basketball goes far beyond anything Hollywood might conjure up. Tournament brackets are studied and memorized. Tickets are always sold out, pep rallies jammed. Then comes game time: sneakers tearing up hardwood floors, cheerleaders's pom-poms flashing at courtside, wave upon wave of cheers raining down from the rafters after every basket, steal, and no-look pass. This comprehensive, revised, and updated edition of Tourney Time includes the complete scores of every tournament game from 1911-2003. Year by year, school by school, the reader can see how each team advanced in pursuit of the ultimate Hoosier hoops dream. Tourney Time is a treasure for Indiana high school basketball fans, the ultimate wager-settling reference, and a catalog of athletic achievement.
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The Great Divide is the absorbing inside story of two great English rivals, Arsenal and Spurs, and their rise to the challenges of the 1999-2000 season, now updated with three chapters on the 2000-2001 campaign. Not a match-by-match account, but an odyssey through the events and issues that shaped the game during the 1999-2000 season. The Great Divide reveals the way the two clubs are seen by the people who matter: the managers, the players, the directors, the fans and the media. For Arsenal the priority is a winning team. At Tottenham the priority has appeared to be to ensure good business. Now The Great Divide is fully updated in paperback, immediately after a period of high activity in north London. Arsenal and Tottenham are set to clash in the semi-final of the FA Cup in a year ending in a '1', and the Gunners have also made it through to the last stages of the Champions League. Meanwhile a new dawn may again be breaking at Spurs, as Sugar has finally relinquished the chairmanship, making way for Enic, who swiftly sacked George Graham when he appeared to be making progress, but have replaced him with one of White Hart Lane's favourite sons in Glenn Hoddle. Are the good times set to roll again? With unprecedented access to the boardroom, the press box, as VIP corporate freeloaders and as fans, Alex Fynn and Olivia Blair give a unique perspective on the state of play at two great football clubs. But this is not just a tale of the great north London rivalry, The Great Divide is a story of the money, hard graft, and the commerclalism rampant in the Premier League.
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This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by Thomson Gale on March 31, 2007. The length of the article is 765 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation DetailsTitle: Woodke holds off Axemen.(Sports)(South Eugene spoils a no-hitter in the seventh before the Highlanders halt the rally for 4-3 win)Author: Gale Reference TeamPublication: The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)Date: March 31, 2007Publisher: Thomson Gale Page: B5Distributed by Thomson Gale
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If a Frenchman goes on about seagulls, trawlers and sardines, he's called a philosopher. I'd just be called a short Scottish bum talking crap' - Gordon Strachan. Unpredictable and quick witted, Gordon Strachan has been one of the greatest exponents of the post-match interview. As a manager, first at Coventry City and then Southampton, Strachan's comments were guarenteed to be at least as entertaining as the actual match itself. His contribution to this much miligned ritual alone would be enough to guarentee his a special place in the history of British football, but it cannot obscure his major achievements as a player in the top flight, winning championships and cups on both sides of the border, earning fifty caps for Scotland and playing in two World Cup Finals. From Dundee to Aberdeen and then to Manchester United and Leeds, Gordon Strachan has forged a career which many can envy. In this updated edition of his critically acclaimed biography, author Leo Moynihan reveals a man who was passionate and tireless as a player, and has shown himself to be as equally committed and fiery as a manager.
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